Government Printing Office

The Government Printing Office on Murray Street in Perth was once an institution that played a quiet but very important role from 1870 and onwards. It was essential to how the colony and the state of Western Australia functioned.

 

Richard Pether, who was appointed as the first Government Printer, established a small printing office on the corner of Murray and Pier Streets. Printing presses were relocated from Fremantle Prison and the first publication produced was the Western Australian Government Gazette, dated 2 August 1870.

 

Prior to establishing the Government Printing Office on that site, the land had previously been used for the Poor House and Women’s Immigration Home. Throughout the decades since it was first established in 1851 by a volunteer organisation, it was also known as The Female Home, The Servants Home and The Poor House.

 

As the colonial government expanded, particularly during the gold boom of the late 19th century, the printing building quickly became overcrowded, poorly ventilated and was no longer fit for purpose. By the early 1890s, government publications had grown dramatically in volume and importance, resulting in the decision to construct a new, permanent, purpose-built printing office on the same site.

 

The substantial building that still stands today, was constructed by the Public Works Department between 1892 -1894 and designed by George Temple Poole, Western Australia’s Colonial Architect at the time.

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Poole’s design was large, solidly built and modern for its time, as well as architecturally expressive. The three-storey building consisted of red bricks with contrasting pale rendered bands, the building used tuck-pointed brickwork (a decorative technique where fine white lines are added to mortar joints to give the illusion of extremely precise bricklaying.

 

Architecturally, the building sits in between a Victorian Free Classical and Federation Free Style design, combining classical elements like cornices and symmetry with a more free and inventive approach that included towers, curved bays, domes and varied window designs. The prominent corner tower, capped with a small cupola dome was visually prominent at the intersection of Murray and Pier Streets and still is today.

 

Internally, the building was carefully planned around function. The ground floor housed offices and public counters, the middle floors were used for typesetting and composition and the upper levels were reserved for binding and finishing work. Recognising Perth’s climate and the demanding conditions of print works, Poole incorporated innovative environmental features, which included “patent regulators” (adjustable ventilation devices built into windows that allowed airflow without fully opening them). These were particularly important in an era before air-conditioning, when heat, ink fumes and dust from paper could make working conditions a challenge.

 

As printing demands continued to increase, the building underwent major expansions, starting with a new four-storey eastern wing being added in 1899. It included electric lighting and an elevator, one of the first to be installed in Perth. Further extensions was designed in 1907 by Hillson Beasley, a Public Works Department architect, with later involvement from William B Hardwick. This saw parts of the building constructed to a consistent height and extended along Pier Street, creating the amalgamated structure that survives today.

 

For more than sixty years, the Government Printing Office was responsible for producing parliamentary papers, legislation, official reports and the Government Gazette, documents that reinforced the administration of the state.

 

By the post-war period, however, printing technology had dramatically changed. Presses became larger, heavier and more industrial. In 1959, printing operations were relocated to a purpose-built facility at 22 Station Street, Wembley because it had grown too large and complex for the heritage building to accommodate.

 

After the Government Printing Office vacated the building, it was occupied by the Postmaster-General’s Department, the federal agency responsible for postal, telegraph and telephone services. This department later evolved into Telecom Australia and eventually Telstra.

 

Over the following decades, the former Printing Office remained underused. Heritage listing, high refurbishment costs and changing patterns in the CBD (as government and institutions shifted out of the city) made redevelopment difficult. For much of the late 20th century, the building sat largely dormant, even as Perth lost many other historic structures. It was eventually placed on the State Register of Heritage Places, recognising its architectural quality, association with major government architects and its role in the development of Western Australia’s public administration. The building’s survival owes much to this protection, which prevented demolition but also complicated reuse.

 

A turning point came in the early 2002 when Curtin University identified the site as ideal for a permanent inner-city postgraduate campus. Curtin had operated business education programs in the CBD’s St Georges Terrace since 1993, using leased commercial spaces aimed at working professionals but lacked a long-term home. In 2002, the university completed a major refurbishment of the former Government Printing Office, carefully adapting the interior for teaching, offices and research, while retaining the building’s historic fabric.

 

Today, the building houses Curtin’s Graduate School of Business and associated institutes, giving the structure a new purpose aligned with knowledge, administration and public life. The former Government Printing Office now stands as a rare example of a large colonial government building that has survived, adapted and remained relevant.