Heritage Houses of New Junction – 45 Sayer Street

Council, at its meeting of 03 August 2022 resolved to include 35 new properties into the Local Heritage Survey. This included 9 properties within the New Junction precinct.

History

In 1886, the Midland Railway Company took up significant landholdings in the area and established its operations to build a railway north to Geraldton. The townsite of Midland Junction was gazetted in 1890 and private investor James Morrison, subdivided and sold large parcels of land to new settlers.  With gold discoveries in the mid 1890s, Midland Junction became a hub of the state road and rail system and was a logical site for the government railway workshops which relocated there in 1904.

This portion of Sayer Street was formaThis is an extactlly subdivided in 1914 but homes had been constructed prior to this date.  Sayer Street was named in honour of William Frederic Sayer, legal advisor to the Midland Railway Company. This house was previously designated as 33 Sayer Street.

From research supplied by local historians and readily available information, this residence was constructed c1908 and first occupied by painter Leonard Reginald Penno (1885-1919) born in New Zealand who was a talented artist.  His 1916 work on the Midland Town Hall Honour Roll was honoured in the local press. Leonard (Len) married Ida Castle at Fremantle in 1907. Len Penno was well known in the local community for his skills as an artist, musician and sportsman. He died in 1919, a victim of the 1919 Spanish Flu epidemic.

The next occupants of this place were George Boag Bond (1888-1943) and his wife Nellie Packam. George Bond was born in Scotland and he and his family settled in Midland and George worked as a railway porter.  He enlisted with the AIF during World War One and was wounded by gun shot wounds which lead to the removal of both his eyes.  Whilst recovering in an English hospital he met Nellie Packham and they were married in 1919.  The couple returned to Australia and settled in this Sayer Street house and subsequently had five children.  The Bond family lived at this house until at least the 1950s.

A survey of the property prepared in 1935 for the purpose of planning water and sewerage services, together with aerial photographs since the mid 20th century indicate the place has changed minimally since that time.

Statement of Significance:

The place has aesthetic value as a modest example of Federation era form and detail.

The place has historic value for its association with the establishment and development of Midland in the early 20th century.

This place and the adjacent houses at 41 and 43 Sayer Street have historic value for their association with small scale development which was common in the early 20th century.

The place has social value as a demonstration of the form and scale of housing for working families in the early 20th century.

Management Category:  Category 3 Some/Moderate

This is an extract from the Local Heritage Survey Place Record Form. The main image has been substituted.

For the full Place Record Form  please visit www.newjunction.com.au/about/heritagehousesof newjunction