Australia one hundred years ago was without doubt a land of incredible opportunity. A population of less than 4 million spread across a vast land – the opportunities were limitless.
Thomas Scott Plunkett of New South Wales arrived in the west and started work as a carpenter. By 1903 Thomas had progressed from being a labourer to tendering to build complete houses from his premises in Smith Street, Highgate. The original ‘Plunkett Home’ that Thomas used as a residence adjacent to his business premises in Smith Street still stands today, a testament to the man’s design and construction capabilities.
The business remained small until the 1920’s when Charles Plunkett began to expand the scope of its services and capabilities. Charles knew from his father that the key to home building was offering the buyer a package that included both the home and the land. As a result, many homes were built on land in the new suburbs that were growing around the city of Perth. Thus the Plunkett family was instrumental in developing suburbs such as Inglewood, Mt Lawley, Maylands, Mt Hawthorn, South Perth, Nedlands and Claremont.
Despite the onset of the Depression, Plunkett continued to grow through the late 20’s and 30’s under the stewardship of Charles Plunkett. Throughout the 1930’s the company diversified establishing a saw mill to service their existing timber and joinery business, adding a cabinet works, plasterboard and plaster products, and finally concrete roofing tiles.
Late in 1939, Australia committed to war in support of ‘Mother England’, and the pace of growth for both the company and the state of Western Australia slowed. During the war years, Plunkett was obliged to close some of its divisions and little housing was built. Many employees joined the ranks soon after the hostilities broke out, but the expertise of those remaining was in demand, and the company was heavily involved with Western Australia’s war effort building military camps, munitions works and airstrips.
By the fifties, Plunkett was the only building company in Australia to provide all of its own materials. This allowed them to service the rapidly growing demand driven by a surging population and a booming economy. It was at this time that Plunkett’s decades of experience really came to the fore, as the company led the home building industry through a period of rapid change, creating what is now known as the Display Village. By building ‘spec homes’ in the same street, often side by side, and opening them to the public before selling them, Plunkett gave potential customers a unique opportunity to assess the designs and see the workmanship first hand before committing to build.
The company continued to lead the industry, introducing the state’s first 20 year structural guarantee in 1951, and developing building techniques that allowed quality homes to be built faster than ever.
In 1964, when Plunkett became the first home builder to create an ‘all gas appliance’ Display Home, in Baker Road, Hamilton Hill, over 3000 people turned up to the opening day, marveling at the new technology.
The company was also a leader in making it easy for many of the British migrants who flocked to WA in the 60’s to settle. Many people visited the Plunkett office in London and were given assistance in planning for their arrival at Fremantle.
In the final decades of the twentieth century, as the population of Perth raced through the one million barrier and new suburbs popped up everywhere, Plunkett remained one of Western Australia’s most respected and successful home builders.
The last twenty years or so has seen a revolution in design and home building practices, with many new Plunkett Homes containing rooms and areas incomprehensible to earlier generations, such as Home Theatres, Media Rooms and Alfresco Entertaining. Today Plunkett also offers inclusions such as security systems, climate controlled air-conditioning, solar hot water systems and other items once considered luxuries.
While office premises Change, the number of staff may increase and our homes may look different to what they did one hundred years ago, our building practices, commitment and pride in being Plunkett Homes remains just as strong.
