Swan Barracks

The first two storeys of Swan Barracks central stone building, and the drill hall behind it, have the distinction of being among the oldest buildings in Northbridge. After the British Military left in 1863, their barracks proved unsuitable for the Western Australian volunteer militia, and there was no other building available. 

The army’s administrative staff had two small offices in the basement of the Government buildings on St George’s-terrace, and the soldiers were forced to train in the old Wesleyan Lecture Hall on the corner of Murray and William Streets. This was far from adequate for their needs. As result, in 1895 a new drill hall was planned as part of a larger military headquarters on a block of land facing Beaufort and Francis Streets, near the future museum and public library. 

However, delays happened because there were repeated changes to the design administration block, which caused repeated halts to the work. As a result, the drill hall was not completed until late 1896. 

The architect had designed the main entrance as a ‘Byzantine style’ castle, which was thought to be appropriate for a military building. The limestone used for the façade was transported from Rottnest Island. A lobby on the first floor of the stone administration building gave access to a single room above, mainly to access the flagpole. 

The iron drill hall with a wooden floor at the rear was to be 30m long and 18m wide, running parallel to Francis Street. These dimensions allowed ample room for military exercises. The distinctive curved trussed roofing used on the hall, quite modern for the time, was the same as that used for another military drill hall built in 1895 in Holdsworth Street, Fremantle. 

In 1900 another drill hall was built west of the existing structure. The hall was designed, and the construction supervised, by J. J. Talbot Hobbs, a prominent local architect who was also a major with the volunteers. Hobbs’s talents as an architect were somewhat overshadowed by his fame as a soldier. He commanded the Australia Corps as Lieutenant General Hobbs from 1918-19. This second drill hall, known as Artillery Drill Hall, was demolished in 1955. 

Following Federation in 1901, the new Commonwealth took over the drill halls and administration building. 

When the third storey was added to the Francis Street frontage in 1910, the stone administration building took on the form that has been part of the Northbridge landscape ever since. The next addition to the expanding complex was the two-stage construction of the red brick and stone buildings on Museum Street. The first portion, the three-level building at the northwest corner of the site, had been built in 1905. Six years later the second stage filled the remaining Museum Street frontage as well as taking up part of the western Francis Street frontage. These western buildings were modified significantly in 1936-37 to provide an entrance, staircase and fireplace for the officers’ mess on the corner of Museum and Francis Streets. 

In 1928, as the headquarters of the 5th Australian Division, it was realised that the complex did not yet have an official name. It was known variously as ‘Drill Hall, Perth’, ‘Defence Department’, or simply ‘Headquarters’. In that year it was decided to give it the name Swan Barracks. 

Although the records are unclear, due to wartime secrecy, the east wing on Francis Street and the northeast wing on Beaufort Street were probably built in 1941 to cater for the increased  

Swan Barracks remains one of Perth’s most distinctive buildings and today it is used as backpacker accommodation, while the old drill hall has been converted into a bar. 

West Australian 23 January 1896 

West Australian 23 January 1897 

Daily News 10 January 1928 

West Australian 14 January 1937