Old Perth Boys School

Beautiful old building in the heart of Perth. Fortunate to attend a Curtin Uni sponsored seminar there.

Thank goodness it is still standing surviving the wrecking ball

Managed by National Trust of Australia WA since 1970s
History goes back to the European settlement of the swan river
In 1829 Henry Reveley was assigned and purchased the land on which he constructed a water driven flour mill

The original landscape of Perth city was swampy and drained to the river, streams ran off what is now St Georges Terrace in many places, here, and there was another one at government house
In the early days of the settlement, schooling of children was a matter of concern. The first schools were mainly privately (church) run and occupied various places around the town
And in 1851 the Reveley’s Mill lots were purchased by the Government for the construction of a public school.

The school – the building we are looking at now, was completed in 1854

The architect was William Roach Jewel, Government Clerk of Works, who was responsible for many of Perths early public buildings, and he was heavily “influenced” by the Colonial Secretary of the time, William Sanford. – so some things never change –

Sanford was a Cambridge and Eton educated man and his vision was that the school should have an ecclesiastical look, hence is appearance as a neo Gothic style church, and to this day it is often mistaken for a church although it was specifically built as a school.

The building has gone through many additions and subtractions over the years and was used a school/education building into the late 1970s when it was transferred to the National Trust to ensure its proper care and conservation. The Trust headquarters were housed here until the mid 1980s, when it was leased out and used as a cafe.
Various conservation and repair works were carried out until 2010 when development of City Square (Brookfield Plaza ) commenced.