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West Perth Harvest House
Harvest House is one of the last nineteenth-century residences remaining on Harvest Terrace, a reminder of a time when this part of West Perth was a prestigious residential address overlooking the city. The two-storey Victorian Italianate building was constructed in 1893 for Thomas Sherwood, a military officer and public figure in colonial Western Australia. The house was originally known as Kalmeta, although the origin of the name remains unknown.
Interestingly, the name Kalmeta appears elsewhere in Western Australian records, including an eight-room villa at 178 Newcastle Street in 1897, a six-room house at 194 Stirling Street in 1907 and Cottesloe tea rooms near Beach Street, in 1931.
Major Thomas Sherwood - Pre 1914
Western Australia, Perth Infantry Volunteers
Building the house
The house is believed to have been designed by prominent architect Joseph John Talbot Hobbs, who was a close friend of the Sherwood family. It was reportedly constructed by Mr Barry, who also worked on Parliament House. Built from brick with a corrugated iron roof and timber detailing, the residence originally featured a two-storey verandah facing Harvest Terrace. Although altered over time, much of the original building remains intact.
Later occupants
Following the death of Carolina Lydia Sherwood, wife of Thomas Sherwood, in 1927, the property entered a period of transition.
In 1928 the two-storey residence was advertised for sale or lease and later auctioned by Cecil Dent Ltd. Contemporary advertisements described the building as containing a drawing room, dining room, six bedrooms, kitchen, pantries and bathroom, together with a carriage shed and laundry. During this period the house also hosted an exhibition of oil and watercolour paintings by artist Clement Charles Kennedy.
From the late 1920s the former residence appears to have been converted into flats and boarding accommodation. Elizabeth Horswill is believed to have leased the property and managed it as flats, with numerous tenants recorded throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Advertisements from the period offered bed-sitting rooms and self-contained flats with two, three or four rooms for lease.
A number of notable events occurred during this period. In 1937, furniture and possessions from one of the flats were sold at auction. In 1940, elocution and singing teacher Hugh Torrance Hardie was found dead in one of the flats from carbon monoxide poisoning. Several more auctions of furniture and household goods were held during the 1940s and 1950s as tenants came and went.
Commercial tenancies
By the 1950s the building was increasingly being used for commercial and office purposes. Occupants included Mayfair Trading Co Ltd, Atkins MacLean Pty Ltd and later the Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia.
During the 1970s-1990s the building accommodated a variety of professional offices, including land agents, real estate businesses, medical organisations, business brokers, Justices of the Peace and parliamentary offices. The State Government acquired the property in 1982 and it has remained in public ownership since.
2021 - 2024
Occupancy timeline
1893-1927
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Thomas and Carolina Sherwood
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Lenna Grace Copeland & Thomas Edward Copeland (1909)
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J. F. Fowler and wife (1910)
1928-1955 - Boarding house and flats era
1928 - Property offered for sale or lease by Cecil Dent Ltd
1928 - Clem C. Kennedy exhibition
1929-1930 - Elizabeth Horswill
1930 - Thomas Walker
1931-1932 - May Hume boarding house
1932 - Vincent William Fosbery
1933 - Vacant
1934-1935 - I.M.F. Stewart, Mrs A. Taylor and E.F. White
1936-1937 - Elizabeth Brown
1938 - Elizabeth Williams
1939 - Vacant
1940-1949 - Various tenants including Hugh Torrance Hardie, Stan S. Davies, Mary Lackman, Albert and Lilian Heaney, and Mayhew
1956-1982: Commercial and community use
1956 - Mayfair Trading Co Ltd
1956 - Atkins MacLean Pty Ltd
1958 - Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia
1971-2000: Professional and Government Offices
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Kenneth Edward Eather
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Raymond John Conrad
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Edward Bryce Groom
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Southern Cross Co-operative Society Ltd
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West Region Realty
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Community Co-operative Stores Ltd
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T.H. Dudley & Associates
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WA Deputising Medical Service Inc
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General Drilling Co Pty Ltd
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Swan Business Brokers
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Keith McCallum Dowding
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Ernest Francis Bridge
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Murray Davidson Nixon MLC
Harvest House At 7 Harvest Terrace, Perth,
Headquarters Of Women's Service Guilds Of Western Australia
Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia
Founded in 1909 under the chairmanship of Edith Cowan, who later became Western Australia's first female Member of Parliament, the organisation campaigned for a wide range of social reforms and women's rights. Among its goals were equal pay for equal work, equal guardianship rights for children, greater representation of women on public boards, the appointment of women doctors and lawyers, and improvements to welfare, health and education services.
The Guild was involved in the establishment of a number of organisations and institutions including King Edward Memorial Hospital, the Kindergarten Union, the National Council of Women, Mount Henry Women's Home, the Silver Chain Nursing League, the Girl Guides Association of WA, the Australian Federation of Women Voters (AFWV), the Town Planning Association, Fairbridge Farm School and the Children's Protection Society.
The Women's Service Guilds remained active until 1997, when the organisation was wound up. Harvest House served as its headquarters from 1956 to 1982.
Government ownership
The State Government purchased the property on 14 July 1982 and it has remained in public ownership since. More recent occupants have included Agricultural Region MLC Darren West in 2014 and North Metropolitan MLC Alison Xamon in 2018.
Heritage listing
Harvest House was recognised on the City of Perth Heritage List in 2008 and entered on the State Register of Heritage Places in 2021. The heritage listing recognised the building for its architectural value as a Victorian Italianate residence and its associations with Thomas Sherwood and the Women's Service Guilds of Western Australia.
