Sketch - "Quindalup School" by Mavis Lightly

1967
Subcollections
Overview

Black and white sketch of Quindalup School by Mavis Lightly August 1967

Historical information

QUINDALUP SCHOOL: This building was burnt down Christmas Day 1968. It was built about 1859 - 1862 as a dining hall etc. for 'Ticket of Leave Men' who were sent to work at Yelverton Mill. It was built with several other buildings by H Yelverton for the government of the day - the buildings were, the dining hall, a prison cell, a 2 room cottage that served as a police officers quarters. The Ticket of Leave Men were accommodated in tents. The building operated in later years as a government school. The prison cell was pulled down and the stone used to make and repair local roads. The cottage was in part incorporated in the house built when the property was occupied by John Harwood.
This information was given by Mrs H Yelverton III in an interview February 1969.
Recollections of Mr Henry Yelverton III aged 90 years (1969)
In an interview on 22/1/1969, Mr yelverton discussed the history of the Old Building at Quindalup which was erased by fire on Christmas Day 1968 - and known as the Old School - and sometimes, erroreously as the old Quindalup Gaol. He related how the old building was one of several erected by his grandfather but financed by the Government of the day. The work-force then being ticket-of-leave men, and it was the policy of the day to assist development in this manner.
The Old School caused much interest in recent years being built as a dining room and recreation room for the ticket-of-leave men who had tents near the several buildings in connection with the supplied labour for the Yelverton Mills. A stone cell and a police office (& customs) and a two-roomed cottage was also erected for the housing of the Police Sergeant.
Notes by J.G. Taylor.
Typed: December, 1972:
E.G.G.
as per "copy" supplied.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-124-2023.45
Item type
Themes
Material
Width
34 mm
Height or length
27.5000 mm
Inscriptions and markings

Signature: "Mavis Lightly. August 1967"

Contextual information

Mavis LIGHTLY (nee Allen) was born in Collie on 2 December 1911. Her paternal grandfather was an engineer in the family business W. H. Allen of Belfast, Ireland. When her father was 16 his family migrated to Australia and his father died of a snake bite shortly after their arrival.

Mavis’s father was an engineer and installed engines for the mining industry and her mother was from a farming family in Victoria. Mavis had a happy childhood – she had two brothers, Eric and Jack (who built a garage in Albert Street and named it Allen’s Garage), and three sisters, Ruby, Pearl and Stella, two of whom died as babies. Mavis was the youngest. She started school at five and a half years and left at 15 years but continued being tutored in art. She became an inaugural member of the Art Society in Busselton.

Mavis married Bruce Lightly at 20 years of age in 1932 and moved to Perth when her husband joined the Air Force. After the war, they returned to Busselton where Bruce worked for the Agricultural Bank, then joined Wesfarmers and went farming. They had two children, Lyn Elizabeth (who has three children) born in 1935 and Ian Bruce (who has two children) born in 1940.

Mavis became a serious painter and a student of Margaret Johnson. She used oil and also liked drawing on paper with charcoal being interested in all subjects – landscape, still life, and portraits. Mavis had her first Art Exhibition in 1952 in the Country Women’s Association Hall and every item was sold.

Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack in 1969 at the age of 58 and she sold the house and moved to Perth.

Reference: https://www.busseltonlibraries.com.au/portfolio-items/lightly-mavis/

Year
Primary significance criteria
Artistic or aesthetic significance
Historic significance
Last modified
Friday, 13 February, 2026
Completeness
94
Busselton Historical Society

Busselton Historical Society

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