One of several buildings comprising the Albany convict labour hiring depot (Depot 41). In 1872 the barracks building was converted into a civilian Gaol. It is now leased to the Albany Historical Society and shows Gaol life.
Open 10 am to 4 pm daily
A small admission fee applies.
Completed in 1850, the original building served as a store and office for the nearby convict-hiring depot. The building was substantially extended to become the Government Residency in 1873. In 1953 the then magistrate moved to other quarters complaining that the Residency was cold, damp and uncomfortable. Opened as a site of the Western Australian Museum in 1975, it now contains displays showing the natural and social history of the region.
Open 10am until 4pm daily.
ANZAC DAY 1pm until 4 pm
A small admission fee applies.
This was the original seawall. The map at this site shows the shoreline in 1854 and today.
The original Amity was built in Canada in 1816 and it carried the first settlers to Albany, arriving on 24 December 1826, and anchored near this site. The Brig Amity replica was constructed in 1976.
Built originally as a fisherman’s cottage, it was purchased by the Mouchemore family during the 1890s. It was one of only five buildings in the area.
Adjacent to the town’s swimming beach, the building would be soaked by waves during storms. The Cottage is opened to the general public on special occasions by the Albany Historical Society on behalf of the Albany City Council.
Marks the point where Major Lockyer raised the flag to proclaim Frederickstown part of the British Empire on 21 January 1827. The settlement was officially named Albany in 1832.
Major Lockyer built the first cantonment around this area in 1827. It included the Commandant’s residence, a hospital, cookhouse, morgue, powder magazine, barracks, vegetable garden, kitchen, and quarters for officers, commissariat, blacksmith’s shed, boat shed, saw pit and flagpole. The area remained the centre for the town’s recreation until the advent of the motor car. Local Aboriginal people used to congregate here.
Of unusual gabled design, this cottage was originally built in the 1830s at Point King, from bricks which arrived from England as ship’s ballast. Purchased by Henry Wollaston in 1850, it was dismantled and reconstructed at the present site. There have been many alterations since then.
Constructed by John Morley, of wattle and daub with a shingle roof, this was one of the earliest buildings in the settlement. It was later purchased by Patrick Taylor, who lived the rest of his life here. It is now leased to the Albany Historical Society.
Open 11 am to 3 pm. A small admission fee applies.
These buildings are fine examples of the later Victorian style. The walls of the church are constructed of local granite and the windows framed by elaborate brick. Built in 1903, the manse features elegant ornamentation and turned verandah posts. It was a gift to the church by prominent merchant John Robinson and his wife.
The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist is the oldest church to be consecrated in Western Australia. The ceremony was conducted by Bishop Short from Adelaide on October 25th, 1848. At consecration, the church could accommodate the total population of the town – 170 people. Construction began in 1841 and went through many stages. The Rectory was commenced in 1850. Walls were of ‘cob’ – a traditional mixture of clay, marl, chalk, gravel and straw, 45 cm thick. The brick upper floor was added in 1875. A second rectory was built behind the original in the 1980s.
The first purpose-built legal chambers in the Great Southern of WA, built for the Albany law firm Haynes Robinson. At the time it was described as ‘fitted with speaking tubes, gas lighting and electric bells’.
Originally built for the Union Bank, which was a great rival of the Bank of Western Australia. The Union Bank paid an unheard of 600 pounds for the site. Competition between the two banks caused an ‘interest rates war’ in Albany.
The original section, built as a shelter for cab drivers, was the gift to the community of lawyer Frank Rawlings Dymes and his heiress wife Ellen Belinda. It was later expanded to include a women’s rest centre and public toilets.
Reflected Albany’s importance as a seaport, rail freight and passenger terminal. It was built on the site of an 1850’s wooden inn, the Chusan Hotel, which was named for the first P & O Line mail steamer to visit Albany.
This was a classic country store. Originally several buildings erected over a number of years, holding separate enterprises included a bakery, tea rooms, a rural merchant and accommodation. The original 1887 bakery remains at the rear.
The building was designed by architect George Temple Poole. The rare convolute arch doorways is constructed of local granite in the ‘dry stone’ (faced but not fixed in cement) style by local stonemason W Trott.
Also rare is a large external British coat of arms carved in Sydney freestone. The building also housed the Albany Police Station until about 1970.
©Albany Historical Society (Inc) August 2022
This heritage walk trail, known as The Amity Trail, was established in June 2000 as a City of Albany and WA Museum-Albany millennium project.
Follow the route shown on the map and marked by mosaic tiles in the pavement. The mosaics were created by Albany schoolchildren and community members for the millennium.