Fight to save heritage pub from demolition
The historic Rockingham Hotel in Perth is under threat of demolition and historians aren’t happy.
Local historians view the hotel as the last physical remnant of Rockingham’s early history, however
Rockingham City council is currently assessing two planning proposals: a request for the pub’s Local Heritage List status to be modified, and another seeking approval for its demolition.
CLE Town Planning + Design representing Foreshore Group Pty Ltd is behind the proposed demolition.
Foreshore purchased the property earlier this year, for a reported $11.6 million for the 11,497sqm site. Their application is for a “tavern and function centre complex” as part of a staged development for the Kent St site.
The “likely operator” would be hospitality heavyweights Three Pound Group, which owns popular Perth venues including The Camfield, The Reveley and The Stables Bar.
Short-stay accommodation, office spaces, apartments and ground-floor retail, food and beverage outlets are also being considered for the site.
The construction would require the demolition of current buildings, including the hotel, nightclub and Bottlemart bottle shop. Limestone walls and trees would also fall victim.
The application says Foreshore Group is seeking “the City’s urgent consideration of the proposed demolition following the identification of structural defects and hazardous materials in the buildings and ongoing anti-social behaviour with recurring trespassing and vandalism causing a risk to the public”.
Further to this the hotel’s categorisation on its Local Heritage Entry List is at risk from moving from A for sites of “exceptional” historic significance to C – a site with moderate historic significance.
The hotel was built in 1898.
Rockingham Museum curator and historian Wendy Durant said demolition “would be a devastating loss to our heritage”.
“That’s the last remnant of the town of Rockingham as it was, that’s the last remnant of the port — there’s nothing else left there,” she said.
“We’ve lost our jetties. There were three jetties that made up the port, we have none of those anymore.
“We have none of the other buildings. We’re gradually just wiping everything out.”
Durant hopes that if the demolition is approved, the owners can “incorporate the hotel into it and leave the front stone two-storey frontage”.
“It’s a valuable asset and people like to come to heritage buildings — I don’t get what the problem is,” she said.
Rockingham Historical Society president Carol Durant said likened the demolition to “ripping the heart out of Rockingham”.
“Its preservation is not merely about bricks and mortar; it’s about honouring our roots. We should advocate for its preservation to maintain its cultural significance and to ensure that future generations can appreciate its beauty and historical value.”
Rockingham residents have until November 8 to have their say.
Jonathan Jackson, 19th October 2023
