Notre Dame University ND12 - Formerly Seaman's/Sailor’s Rest and Port Lodge
28 Marine Terrace
Architecture: This two storey building has a bracketed parapet and pediment. A recessed central bay contains the main entrance of the building. There are two original arched windows on the west side of the façade- with multi paned fanlights and sided by pairs of small columns.
Lot 1377 was originally Crown land. In 1892 the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in WA. One of the ‘departments of labour’ taken up by the members was work amongst sailors. It was thought very important to give visiting seamen a ‘retreat’ or an alternative place to recreate than pubs. Rooms were at first procured at the Masonic Hall, in Marine-terrace, and the rent, which was 30s. a week, was guaranteed by thirty ladies. (reference)
The Fremantle branch of the WCTU included some of the most well known and respected women in Fremantle including Grace Ogilvy Ferguson, Mrs. J.M. Ferguson, the West Australian president, Emily Hanlin, Mrs R. Hanlin, the wife of Reverend Hanlin of the Scots Church (reference) and Rosa Henriques Smith, Mrs T. Smith, wife of Captain Smith of the Customs schooner Meda. The WCTU had plans to enlarge their facilities and land next door to the Masonic Hall was given to them for this purpose. Some men were ‘astounded’ the Government had granted the land to the ‘ladies’ and there was an attempt to take over the enterprise from them. All three women had the support of their husbands who spoke on their behalf at a large public meeting held at the Fremantle Town Hall in June 1897, saying men should only be on the committee to help raise the necessary funds:
The Mayor stated that some misunderstanding had arisen between the gentlemen on the committee and the representatives of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and it seemed to him that they had now to decide whether the proposed home was to be conducted as a national institution or as a Sailors' Rest on the same lines as it had hitherto been carried on. Captain Smith said that the Women's Christian Temperance Union had for the past five years conducted the Rest, but the ladies wished to extend the scope of their operations by erecting a commodious hall, and although they had some funds they had not sufficient to carry out their object… (reference)
The funds were soon raised by public subscription and the first Seaman’s Rest (Port Lodge) building was constructed by architect W. A. Nelson and builder T. Game. The foundation stone was laid by Sir John Forrest on 9 October 1899. On the ground floor there was a concert hall, reading and writing rooms, a refreshment bar, dining room and kitchen. The upper storey was mainly bedrooms.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union ran the establishment until the depression when they relinquished their control to the British Sailor's society.
Reverend George E Beasley worked at the British Sailors' Society Sailors Rest in Marine Terrace in 1941/1942. (reference)
Brick additions were added in c.1942 by Allen & Nicholas Architects. See the image of Sir James Mitchell unveiling the plaque at the opening of the extensions in May 1950. (reference)
The façade and windows were changed in 1958, and brick additions built along Croke Lane by Cameron Chisholm & Nicol.
It was used as a boarding house in 1976 and named Port Lodge. When Notre Dame University leased the building in 1992 it had been used as backpackers budget accommodation and a refuge for homeless men and was in terrible disrepair. (reference)
1992- Notre Dame
In August 1992 NDUS sent its first group of twenty-five Study Abroad students who spent one semester in Fremantle, housed on Campus in the newly ‘renovated’ Port Lodge on the Esplanade which was leased by the University. The arrival of this first cohort of NDUS students was a significant demonstration of tangible support by Father Malloy for UNDA. Indeed, the advent of these NDUS Study Abroad undergraduate students was a great morale booster for the young UNDA and gave life to its tiny Fremantle Campus. NDUS agreed to send, each semester, a cohort of twenty-five Arts and Letters or Business undergraduate students, together with a senior faculty member who would oversee the NDUS students and contribute to the teaching program of the University. The Port Lodge Rector was an important part of this founding spirit. Early Rectors who made a big contribution included Brother Bill Greening cfc, Alan O’Neill, Sean Lennon and his sister, Molly Lennon, and Patricia Rangel. These NDUS ‘pioneers’ became an integral part of early UNDA Campus academic life and social activity.
From the Founding and Establishment of Notre Dame, 1986-2014 by Peter Tannock 2014 (reference)
1994 Notre Dame University bought The Port Lodge.
Lot 1377
OCCUPANTS
1901 - 1938 Sailor' Rest / Sailor' Institute
1903 Mrs J K Renton, matron & caretaker
1904
Mrs S Feltham, matron
Feltham, William, caretaker
1905
Miss Jackman, superintendent
Adams, Andrew, caretaker
1906
Mrs Knight, superintendent
Turner, Henry J, caretaker
1907 Goate, S, caretaker
1908 - 1911 Mrs C Knight, superintendent
1912 Nurse Ryrie, superintendent
1813 - 1916 Miss Jessie Forsyth, superintendent
1917 - 1919 Mrs Bessie H Santesson, superintendent
1920 - 1922 Miss Frances McCabe, superintendent
1923 Mrs A G Harris, superintendent
1924 Miss Axwell, superintendent
1925 - 1926 Miss Haxell
1927 - 1928
A A Shapcott, superintendent
Mrs J Wood, matron
1929 Mrs Tennyson Smith, superintendent
1930 R L Mansfield, superintendent
1931 - 1938 Charles H Taylor (1931-1934: superintendent; 1934-1938: port missionary)
1938 - 1940 Police Station
