University of Western Australia - History

History

The original campus was located on Irwin Street in the centre of Perth, and consisted of several buildings situated between Hay Street and St Georges Terrace. Irwin Street was also known as "Tin Pan Alley" as many buildings featured a corrugated iron roof. These buildings served as the university campus until 1932, when the campus relocated to its present-day site in Crawley.

The founding Chancellor, Sir John Winthrop Hackett, died in 1916, and bequeathed property which, after being carefully managed for ten years, yielded £425,000 to the University. This allowed the construction of its magnificent main buildings on the present-day campus. Many buildings and landmarks within the University bear his name, including Winthrop Hall and Hackett Hall. In addition, his bequest funded many scholarships, because he did not wish eager students to be deterred from studying because they could not afford to do so.

A remnant of the original buildings survives to this day in the form of the "Irwin Street Building", so-called due to its former location. In the 1930s it was transported to the new campus and served a number of uses till its 1987 restoration, which saw the original architecture restored and the building moved across campus to James Oval. Recently, the building has served as the Senate meeting room and is currently in use as a cricket pavilion and storage space for the University Archives. The building has been heritage-listed by both the National Trust and the Australian Heritage Council.