Samson House (1888-89), the buildings and their setting, constitute a rare and intact example of a distinctive residence. It is believed to be the first house to be designed by Sir J J Talbot Hobbs, one of Perth's prominent and prolific architects.
Samson House is important as an early example of Victorian vernacular style of
architecture enhanced by its garden setting. The garden provides an important context for the house and enhances the aesthetic and functional relationship between the dwelling and the outbuildings.
Samson House is important for its close association with the Samson family for nearly 100 years. The Samsons contributed significantly to the development of Fremantle in a commercial and civic sense, particularly Sir William Samson who was the mayor of Fremantle for twenty-one years.
Samson House was built for Michael Samson, the eldest son of the pioneer trading family. The house was built in two stages, 1888-89 and 1899-90, by builder John Hurst, who emigrated with Hobbs to the colony. The first building stage cost 1,050 pounds complete with fittings.
In 1866, Michael Samson accompanied the explorer Walter Padbury on an expedition north. He named Point Samson (near Cossack) and Mounts Samson, Lionel, Fanny and Michael during this expedition.
Samson also travelled to northern China as an accountant to a coal mining company, where he remained for twelve years allegedly becoming personal financial adviser to the Dowager Empress.
He returned to Fremantle with a cache of Chinese goods and took a position with the Customs Department. Michael Samson was elected Mayor of Fremantle in 1905, as had his elder brother, William Frederick in 1892-93. Michael Samson died while in office and was accorded 'the last of the great Masonic funerals'.
For two years, c 1928-30, the house was leased for use as a boarding house.
In 1930, Michael Samson's brother Frederick moved into the house with a number of other bachelors. He married Daphne Marks in 1935 and it is believed that this was the occasion of some redecoration in the house as it was in the garden. In 1931, Frederick Samson formed his own real estate business. He was elected to City of Fremantle Council in 1936, the beginning of a thirty-seven year career in local government that led to a record twenty-one year term as Mayor (1951-72). Daphne Samson died in 1953.
Frederick Samson's widowed sister, then living in Melbourne, returned to Fremantle to become Lady Mayoress. The brother and sister team became well known for their hospitality.
Frederick Samson was a prime mover in the salvage and restoration of the old Lunatic Asylum as the Fremantle Museum, which experience may have inspired him later to bequeath his own family home as a museum.
In recognition of his long service to local government, Frederick Samson was knighted in the New Year's Honours of 1962. Sir Frederick retired from the mayoralty in May 1972 and died in 1974.
The house was the home of two generations of notable Samsons, a family famous for their early and continuing activity in commerce and public affairs both on local and State levels.
The site is now vested in the Trustees of the WA Museum having been so willed by Sir Frederick Samson in 1968. Since December 1995, Samson House has been occupied by the WA Museum.
Source: Australian Heritage Database - (
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