PAINTING, HISTORY - FRED SAW'S HOUSE AND SHOP
1965Water colour painting of a house alongside a shop surrounded by trees and natural bush with a dirt road along the front of the buildings. A horse is tethered alongside the shop. The buildings were erected by Fred J Saw, grandfather of Donor. Buildings were in Railway avenue opposite the railway station.
Painting owned by the Green family and painted by E.M. Barett of the house and shop Frederick 'Fred' John and Hannah Catherine Saw built in Armadale in 1898 on Railway Avenue, opposite the Armadale train station, and near the corner with Fourth Road. The house and shop are believed to have been the first of either built in Armadale. The only other known existing retail business in Armadale was the Narrogin Inne. In the West Australian newspaper on 7 September 1898 described the establishment as an 'eating house' that was also licensed to sell 'colonial wines'. The shop's prime location meant it could take advantage of the staff and passengers at the train stations as well as the homes that were being built on new land developments nearby. The store was primarily run by Hannah.
In 1916 Hannah provided snacks, tea and lunch to the volunteer workers building the Armadale Memorial Obelisk.
Fred and Hannah were married in Kelmscott in 1883. Fred's brother married William had married Hannah's sister Frances three years earlier. The Saw family owned land south of Kelmscott in what would become known as Armadale. Fred's father had founded the Narrogin Inne in 1856.
In 1895 Fred was elected to the newly formed Kelmscott Road Board. That same year he was briefly appointed as the Road Boards first Secretary (the equivalent of the CEO today). He would act in the position a second time between1896 and 1898.
The Green family and the Saw family married into each other.
Details
Details
E M Barrett
HIGH
Historic: Image of the first shop and house built in Armadale by Fred Saw. Fred Saw and the Saw family played an important role in getting Armadale as a town established in the late 1890s and early 1900s
Rarity: Only this painting and one image in Birtwistle Local Studies Library of Saw's house and shop
Representativeness: The start of commercial enterprise in the Armadale CBD
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Provenance:
