In the early 1950s, the Council of the Western Australian Historical Society (it added ‘Royal’ to its title in 1963) had an ambition for a permanent headquarters. They already had a name for it. They were going to call it Stirling House to honour the founder of the Swan River Colony and had their Museum and Library Building Fund made tax-deductible to help raise funds for the project.
The Council wasn’t overly ambitious, their dream only extended to an office, space to display their museum treasures and paintings, shelves for their donated books and hundreds of historic documents. The dream didn’t extend to a hall for the monthly lectures. Eventually, a 1920s house at 49 Broadway, Nedlands was purchased by the Society in April 1964. It cost £8,500 with the State Government giving a grant of £1,000. The photograph shows the house in 1965.
