13/03/2023
NORTH PERTH, 1902 - A SMALL HOUSE FOR A LARGE FAMILY:
6 Angove Street, North Perth, in 1902 - residence of the Hahn-Johnson family. The photograph features Rachel Johnson holding Phemie (the first Johnson baby), Emily and Bob Hahn (children of her first marriage at the age of 15 to Adolph Hahn, who died in 1899 from pneumonia) and Bob Johnson, a former boarder and her second husband. Bob was an examiner on the railways and supplemented his wage with bee keeping and selling honey in the North Perth area. This small house was home to the seven Hahn children and eight Johnson children, and was typical of many families’ living conditions in this period.
“In 1928 my Aunty Mignonette had put down £50 deposit on a new home costing £750 on the corner of Hobart and London Street to give her parents a permanent home.
It was a two-bedroom house. My grandfather built a dado and put latticework along the back verandah. Grandad and Grandma slept in the first bedroom. The second bedroom housed two small beds and my Aunty Eva and my mother slept in that bedroom. The back verandah: my Uncle Roy, Uncle Bill, Uncle Alf and myself slept along beds on the enclosed verandah. The front verandah had blinds and sometimes someone would sleep there.“ ~ Harold Peake
Image: Marj Cook
Book: Our Town - Early photographs from the Town of Vincent Local History Collection 2007
City of Vincent Library
John Carey MLA Office - Member for Perth
