92 King Street — Streets of East Freo

ARCHITECTURE

Federation / Terrace w Georgian Influences

No. 92 (previously was no. 172) King street is a pair of single storey cottages constructed in timber framing and weatherboard cladding with a hipped ‘M’ format corrugated iron roof. It is a simple expression of the Federation Bungalow style applied to a modest scaled duplex. The front elevation is symmetrically planned with a full width bullnosed verandah supported on timber posts. Entry doors are equally offset from the party wall. The doors are flanked by single pane double hung sash windows. A parapet wall divides the duplex. The roofscape includes elaborately capped chimneys.

HISTORY

AIF 1916, William Augustus Champion (Regimental number 2519) Occupation Labourer, 92 King Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia, Married, Age at embarkation 35. Next of kin Mrs Catherine Mary Champion

1908 Prize Letter-172 King-street, East Fremantle- Dear Uncle Tom, Your pretty postcard to hand this morning, and was surprised, although pleased, to get it. You mention the concert in East Fremantle. I went to it, and was glad to hear you liked it. I thought it very good, too. I never had any tickets to sell for the concert. I would like to hear from you again soon. Love, from my little sister Jean and myself, Your loving nephew, Stewart Simes, aged 11. (reference)
1915 Second prize is awarded to Mrs. Gentry, 172 King-street, East Fremantle; A Substitute For Ice—If you wish to cool anything very quickly, take a vessel of cold water and squeeze the blue-bag into it until it becomes a dark blue color. Then add a handful of salt, and in this water place your jug of lemonade, milk, or jelly. It is a splendid substitute for ice. (reference)
1915 Prized Recipes; Fourth prize is awarded to Mrs. Gentry, 172 King-street, East Fremantle, for recipe A Cheap Ginger Cake, Required: One pound and a quarter or flour, 1lb. of treacle, ½ lb. of sugar, ¼ lb. of butter, two eggs, our tablespoonfuls of ground ginger. (reference)
1915 Recipes. Mrs. Gentry, 172 King-street, East Fremantle; Jellied Bananas.—Peel eight or ten not overripe bananas. (reference)
1916 Birth on August 14, at 172 King-street, East Fremantle, to Mr. and Mrs. Mick Connolly—a son. Both well. (reference)
1924 Motor Registrations, no. 1405, B.S.A., to A.G. Gascoigne, 172 King-street, East Fremantle. (reference)
1930 Birth on January 12, at King Edward Memorial Hospital, to Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Mollan, of 172 King-street, East Fremantle—a daughter (Lilian Agnes Violet). Both well. (reference)

1935 Mr. Sidney Taft, a ‘sustenance’ worker of 172 King-street, East Fremantle was a second class passenger in the Lusitania, which was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. He came to Western Australia in 1929, and was a bedstead maker by trade. He claimed to have made the first iron bedstead in Western Australia, but during the depression was unable to get employment in his trade and had no option but to take sustenance work; ‘grubbing' trees on the pine forest at Applecross. He tells his story:

1935 Sinking Of The Lusitania. A Survivor in This State. The publication in The West Australian of May 8 of a reference to the sinking of the giant Cunard Liner Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915, resulted in the discovery of a survivor of the disaster, who is now living In Fremantle. He is Mr. Sidney Taft, of 172 King-street, East Fremantle. After reading the report, which referred to the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, he gathered together some souvenirs of the occurrence and brought them to this office… Born in Warwickshire of Welsh parents, Mr. Taft was a craftsman in the American Postal Machine Company when the Great War broke out. He resigned his post and boarded the Lusitania at New York with the intention of returning to Britain to enlist for active service. The disaster changed his plans, but he later joined the British Army and spent four years in France. "I can remember the Lusitania sailing from New York at 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, May 1, 1915."' he said. "It has often been said that warnings were issued before the start of the voyage regarding the danger from German ships in waters adjacent to the British Isles, but I heard nothing to that effect. In fact, some passengers were transferred from another ship to the Lusitania only a few hours before she sailed. I asked about this danger when I booked my passage and I was told that the liner would be escorted on the voyage." "We were just off the Irish coast, about 8 miles from Kinsale, when a torpedo from a German submarine struck the Lusitania," he added. "I had just finished lunch and was in a bathroom at the time. I remember being blown up and then I found myself in the water. I swam for a nearby boat, which was crowded with about 20 people, and I stayed there until we were picked up by a fishing smack, called the Pall, which took us to Kinsale, where we were landed at midnight. I lost everything I had, including all my money and tools. I was doubled up with cramp when I got to the boat, but managed to hang on long enough. Only 764 people survived; 1,142 were drowned." (reference)
Another version of Mr Taft’s story can be read here (reference) and his story was corroborated here. (reference)