MHPA holds the archives of the Peninsula Association.
1970s and 1980s
A successful campaign by The Friends of the Peninsula resulted in the first ‘saving of the Peninsula Hotel’ in 1976, when Swan Breweries bowed to public pressure and halted demolition work on the hotel.
The Friends of the Peninsula then provided the nucleus for a new group known as the Peninsula Association, which lobbied to have the Peninsula Hotel used as a community centre for non-profit organisations. The City of Stirling (of which Maylands the formed part) and the Western Australian government each contributed $25,000 toward the building refurbishment and replacement f its fittings and fixtures.
When Swan Breweries transferred ownership of the Peninsula Hotel to the Peninsula Association in 1980, the title deed contained no restrictions or restraints on what the building could be used for at that time or in the future. The Peninsula Association had to be self-sufficient and received no financial support from the City of Stirling.
Under the Peninsula Association’s management, the Peninsula Hotel hosted dances and exhibitions and housed a variety of tenants. The Peninsula Association’s focus on protecting the building resulted in the repainting of some rooms, the rewiring of the building and creation of a self-contained flat for a live-in Warden.
1990s
In 1992, the newly-formed Maylands Historical Society leased an office at the Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula Association arranged for eucalypts planted in front of the building in 1976 to be lopped to protect the building and the power lines.
Learning that the WA Lotteries Commission was establishing a Heritage Grants Fund, the Peninsula Association arranged to have Conservation Plan for the Peninsula Hotel prepared by Considine and Griffiths, Architects. The Peninsula Association used the Conservation Plan to support and application to the lotteries Commission Heritage fun for a grant of $53,000 for necessary repairs to the roof of the Peninsula Hotel. Working bees continued.
When the grant application was rejected on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations regarding improper use of monies and the Peninsula Hotel by the Peninsula Association, the Peninsula Association met with the Minister and representatives of the Lotteries Commission and managed to gain a grant of $53,000. That represented the second ‘saving of the Peninsula Hotel’ .
The Peninsula Association gained further Lotteries Commission grants relating to the Peninsula Hotel:
* $81,700 in 1995 for repairs to the dome, miscellaneous carpentry, a new roof and pillars in the courtyard,
* $18,560 in 1997 for tuckpointing,
* $6,100 around 1998 for purchase of a piano, refrigerator and small items of kitchen equipment, and
* $6,000 in 1999 for preparation of a new Conservation Plan by Considine and Griffiths, Architects.
The Peninsula Association also undertook other work with voluntary labour and at its own expense. The Peninsula Hotel was being used for weddings, parties, concerts, craft shows, open days, photographic shoots for magazines, as the setting for short films and a venue for a ballet set in the old Hotel. Groups leasing office or meeting rooms in the building included Austin Seven Car Club, Colonial Bottle & Collector, Card Collectors Club, German-Australian Society, Humane Society, Maylands Art Group, Maylands Business Group, Maylands Historical Society, Maylands Inter-Agency Group, Maylands RSL Sub-Branch, Maylands Weight Watchers, Maylands Yoga Group, Peninsula Folk Club, Richard III Society, Royal Australian Planner’s Association, Society of St Jude, Timber Floors Association, Tribal Refugees Group, Vauxhall Car Club, Vietnam Veterans Association, WA Folk Federation, WA National Parks and Reserves, Weight Watchers Federation.
In 1998, when Maylands ceased to be part of the City of Stirling and became part of the City of Bayswater, the Peninsula Association lobbied successfully to have Bayswater Council assume responsibility for the Peninsula Hotel building and a deed of transfer was drawn up.
2000 to present
In 2003, the Peninsula Association merged with the Maylands Historical Society to form the MHPA (Maylands Historical and Peninsula Association).
As well as holding the archives, we also hold clippings about the Peninsula Association and the copies of the Conservation Plan it commissioned for the Peninsula Hotel.
For more information
See our Peninsula Association Flickr Album for digitised images and other digitised information.
