History
The imposing building on the 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres) site overlooks the harbour city and was the largest public building constructed by convicts in the State after the Fremantle Prison which had been built in the 1850s. The design, in colonial gothic style was by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Henderson, the Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia, and built to accommodate 50 people. Over the next thirty years a number of additions were incorporated, principally designed by government architect George Temple-Poole.
The Asylum continued to operate for its intended purpose through to the early 1900s, when following two suspicious deaths which provoked comment from the local press, the Government set up an enquiry which concluded with a recommendation that the building "...be demolished as unfit for purpose for which it is now used." Patients were then moved to alternative locations in the metropolitan area between 1901 and 1905.
The building was used shortly after for housing for homeless women and later as a midwifery school. Until World War II it was known as the Old Women's Home. During World War II it became the headquarters for the American armed services based in Western Australia, who built the asbestos-clad laundry building on the north-east corner of the site.
After the war the Arts Centre building was used for a time as an annexe of Fremantle Technical School, and in 1957, the State Education Department proposed its demolition to use the land as playing fields for the adjacent John Curtin High School. A public outcry and opposition campaign led by the Mayor of Fremantle, Sir Frederick Samson halted the demolition. After many years of lobbying for State and Federal government funding, a major restoration project commenced in 1970 and since 1972 it has housed the Western Australian Maritime Museum (now relocated to Victoria Quay), and Fremantle Arts Centre.
In 2001, the City of Fremantle adopted the Fremantle Arts Centre Conservation Plan, a guide for its conservation. In January 2007, conservation works were completed with the gable finials on the west façade restored to their original state, following their demolition at the turn of the 20th century.
On 20 July 2009 it was announced that the Immigration Museum will be closed as it was the least visited of the states museums, items in the collection will be placed into storage for conservation though items on loan will be returned. Amid criticism for the closure due to the WA Government Budget reductions Arts Minister John Day said that the closure will allow for the expansion of Fremantle Arts Centre.
The US Navy's laundry building was recommended for demolition by the Western Australian Museum (who used it as a restoration laboratory 1970-2005).
Read more about this topic: Fremantle Arts Centre
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