It Definitely Wasn't Her

I was photographing the old Bank of New South Wales/Westpac building at 452 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth, when I started chatting to a lovely lady named Marie.

At first, I actually thought she was the owner of the building, whom I’d previously spoken with via Messenger on several occasions, particularly because she was telling me about the difficulties she was having trying to get assistance and support from local government, building authorities and workplace commissions.

Approved works included the demolition of the original rear garage as part of additions and a change of use, with contractors engaged to undertake the project. Once demolition had taken place, however, work came to a halt, leaving part of the building exposed to the elements. For years, rain has continued entering the rear section of the property, contributing to the deterioration of original timber floors and other historic building fabric.

Rather than being able to simply resume construction, the owner has spent years navigating building legislation, engaging lawyers, compiling evidence, commissioning new plans, paying for them to be prepared and eventually obtaining a new building permit so the damaged section can finally be rebuilt. Throughout that time, the building has continued to deteriorate while commercial rates, utilities and other ongoing costs have remained.

I feel like I’ve failed her because, other than using my Facebook platform to keep the issue in people’s minds, I don’t really know how else to help. I hope to try again with these photos.

Marie was a lovely lady, probably in her early 60s. She was clearly very intelligent and one of those people you could happily chat to for hours.

She said she found it sad that so many buildings, particularly beautiful heritage buildings, are being demolished. I told her I was trying to photograph as many as I could before they disappeared, but that obtaining permission was almost always impossible.

That surprised her. Perhaps it would surprise a lot of people.

I told her I felt like I was the biggest criminal in Western Australia because I’d photographed around 750 buildings over the years. She laughed.

So, as it turned out, she wasn’t the building owner at all.

When she came out of the coffee shop a few minutes after I first saw her, I asked if she was (building owner's name). I thought she said yes, so jokingly I replied, "I think I saw you on Crime Stoppers."

It definitely wasn’t her but what a lovely young lady to have a quick chat with.