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The last original pub left standing. It was renamed in 1990 but operated as the Railway Hotel since at least 1896. The present building is the hotel's second iteration – built after the original wood and corrugated iron structure burnt down in 1902. It was known for having the cheapest beer in town – a reputation it still holds today due only to a lack of competition.
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No one is certain when the oven was built, only that a succession of owners kept it in use until the 1940s. The tin shed bakehouse and accompanying store are long gone, leaving only a disintegrating block of bricks hung with a heavy iron door that must have seen a lot of loaves come out of it over the years.
The first hotel in town and the only one to have never caught fire. Now a private residence.
With a graceful façade befitting its name, this was the pre-eminent hotel during Menzies' golden years. The stonewalled rear section forms its humble beginnings in 1896. The foundations are said to conceal a time capsule containing coins and a newspaper. The hotel built its reputation and was extended several times under successive owners who, despite the hotel's sterling reputation, ended their tenure in bankruptcy. A fire in 1902 sparked a significant addition of the brick street frontage, including five bedrooms and a billiard room. The town's declining fortunes took the hotel down with it and it ceased trade in 1922. The visitors centre occupies the building now.
The original post office on this site was little more than a wood framed tent. A more substantial structure was built in 1896 on Brown Street, designed by legendary public works architect George Temple-Poole. An extension was made in 1903 out to Shenton Street to provide enough room for the 26 staff. The town's decline led to its closure in 1952, when it became a private residence. The owners demolished the original Brown Street section, leaving the part you see today.
The most significant building in town started out far more diminutively in 1896 as council offices. Subsequent extensions completed by 1901 added the stone façade and clock tower, oddly without a clock for the first few years. In 1904 a clock was ordered from London, but the steamship SS Orizaba that held the clock ran aground off the coast of Fremantle. Though much of the cargo was salvaged, Menzies' new clockface was not recovered and was thought to have sunk to the sea floor with the ship. The clock tower remained empty till 1999 when four new clock faces were built in Perth and installed to celebrate the Millennium.
If your kids need to cool off in 30+ degree heat, this children's water playground offers that chance without the need in going to a pool. The park uses recycled water.