William Bold - Later Career

Later Career

In the 1930s Bold’s ideas were less successful. The creation of Riverside Drive in 1937 enhanced the city foreshore but public criticism of his administration culminated in 1938 in a Royal Commission. One critic was David Davidson, Perth’s first town planning commissioner, who alleged health and building regulations were not being observed and that there were too many slums.

Bold's contention that there had been only minor irregularities was accepted, but the commission recommended immediate revision and updating of the by-laws. Though it described him as 'very efficient and conscientious', the report recognized that in pursuing his 'City Beautiful' ideals he had become a little careless in his administration of the central city area. In his long typescript reminiscences, written in 1944, Bold did not mention the royal commission, though it had dominated his life at the time. At the request of the mayor and council, he deferred his retirement through World War II and, although ill, resigned only after he had trained a successor.

Bold was awarded a C.B.E. in 1948.