The Residency, Bunbury, Heritage site in Bunbury, Australia.
The Residency is a single-storey brick and iron building with rendered details and a bull-nosed verandah, designed in the Victorian Regency style. It stands on Stirling Street in Bunbury on the site of a former blacksmith, and was first named Treverton. The design is attributed to architect Robert Balding and the construction to contractor Joseph Hedley.
The Residency was built in 1896 for William Henry Timperley, Resident Magistrate of the Wellington District, on the site of a former blacksmith. The Public Works Department bought it for £1,500 in 1904, and it housed successive magistrates until about 1932. From 1990 to 2001 the Bunbury Arts Council leased it to the Youth Hostel Association.
The property's name, Treverton, likely comes from Timperley's 1899 book Harry Treverton: A Story of Colonial Life. The Timperleys held social events here, including afternoon tea with Premier Sir John Forrest and his wife in November 1899 and a celebration after the Siege of Ladysmith in March 1900.
The Residency is a private residence on Stirling Street in East Bunbury, so it is seen from the street rather than entered. It stands within the East Bunbury Heritage Area, renamed in 2019, alongside other heritage buildings. The single-storey brick and iron house with its bull-nosed verandah is best viewed from the public footpath.
The site was a blacksmith's before the house was built, and the property was first called Treverton, a name likely taken from Timperley's 1899 book Harry Treverton: A Story of Colonial Life. From 1990 to 2001 the building served as a Youth Hostel Association backpacker hostel, with a separate ablution and laundry block added at the rear.
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