Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"Robert Thompson McMaster (1865-1915) was born 29 December 1865 in Melbourne, according to his own testimony published in the Cyclopedia of Western Australia of 1912. McMaster stated that he attended Scotch College at Melbourne until sixteen years of age, when he was articled to well-known architect Michael Egan, and served eight years' indentures. Perhaps giving a clue to the location of his formative years, a newspaper article of December 1882 notes that a Robert McMaster was a prize-winner at Footscray State Night School; and in 1900 his father was living at Charles Street, Footscray.

With economic depression crippling Melbourne in the early 1890s, McMaster was one of the earlier band of young Victorian architects who fled to Western Australia, probably arriving at Fremantle on the SS Tenterden in October 1891. He initially joined the architectural staff of the Public Works Department, but in July 1892 advertised that he had established himself in practice on his own behalf at Perth, continuing until 1899, when he ‘retired from the profession’. In the Western Australian Directory of 1893-1894 Robert is listed in partnership with engineer Frederick George Renou, who had married at Footscray in 1891, perhaps indicating an earlier association with McMaster..." - READ MORE LINK (www.architecture.com.au)