William Bold

Early life

Bold was born at Birkdale near Southport, Lancashire. After education in Lancashire and the Haberdashers' School in London he was an apprentice electrical engineer on the Forth railway bridge at Queensferry, Scotland, in 1888 to 1890. After returning to London he taught himself shorthand and worked as a clerk-typist with an Australian mercantile firm in the Baltic Exchange. He migrated to Western Australia in 1896 at the suggestion of a relative living in Fremantle.

Western Australia

In Perth Bold worked briefly with a merchant, and in the same year of his emigration he was clerk-typist to the town clerk of the city of Perth. He became acting town clerk on 27 November 1900, after H. E. Petherick was forced to resign. The council initially rejected his application for the vacant office and appointed a Melbourne candidate, who resigned ten days later. Bold's reappointment in an acting capacity in April 1901 was approved only after long debate and a close vote. On 30 September he was appointed town clerk, the youngest in any Australian capital.

Town clerk

Bold used as a model the technically efficient Birmingham of Joseph Chamberlain and expanded the size and improved the quality of city staff and streamlined its operations. He became a driving force in policy formation, preparing detailed reports for councillors and intervening in council debates. By 1905 some regarded him as the real mayor. Bold is described in the Australian Dictionary of Biography as an advocate of “municipal socialism”:

He and the mayor T. G. Molloy, a kindred spirit, partly convinced and partly tricked the council in 1908 into buying out the Perth Gas Co., which produced both gas and electricity; a costly and controversial purchase at the time, it eventually proved a valuable asset to the city. In 1912 Molloy and Bold also fought hard to secure the tramways company, but were outmanoeuvred and outbid by the Scaddan Labor government.

Planning strategies

In 1914 the council sent Bold on a tour of Britain and North America to gather information about municipal experiments and improvements. On his return he refined his 'Greater Perth' concept to include satellite garden and seaside suburbs, a redeveloped civic centre similar to Chicago's, and an overall plan on 'City Beautiful' lines. The 'Greater Perth' movement made some progress during World War I when Leederville, North Perth and Victoria Park voluntarily joined Perth; but the inner western suburb of Subiaco remained independent. In 1917, on Bold's recommendation, the 526 hectare Limekilns Estate in the western suburbs, by land already owned by the city, was bought. Sir James Mitchell's state government passed the City of Perth Endowment Lands Act in 1920 which enabled the council to develop and sell land in its trust. In the mid-1920s the council, at Bold's suggestion, invited architects to design satellite towns on the new lands. Floreat Park, Wembley Park and City Beach owed much to Raymond Unwin's writings and the 'City Beautiful' movement. The designs clearly showed the effects of Bold's 1914 tour with its parkways, boulevards, playing fields and gardens. Early homes there were functional and cheap enough for the thrifty worker, for Bold was a strong advocate of 'national efficiency'. In 1928 the first Australian town planning Act was passed by state parliament. It owed much to the Town Planning Association of Western Australia, established in 1916, and whose principals were Bold, Carl Klem, and the architect and city councillor Harold Boas. In 1930 Bold and Boas persuaded the council to establish a town planning committee.

Later career

In the 1930s Bold’s ideas were less successful. The creation of Riverside Drive in 1937 enhanced the city foreshore but public criticism of his administration culminated in 1938 in a Royal Commission. One critic was David Davidson, Perth’s first town planning commissioner, who alleged health and building regulations were not being observed and that there were too many slums.

Bold's contention that there had been only minor irregularities was accepted, but the commission recommended immediate revision and updating of the by-laws. Though it described him as 'very efficient and conscientious', the report recognized that in pursuing his 'City Beautiful' ideals he had become a little careless in his administration of the central city area. In his long typescript reminiscences, written in 1944, Bold did not mention the royal commission, though it had dominated his life at the time. At the request of the mayor and council, he deferred his retirement through World War II and, although ill, resigned only after he had trained a successor.

Bold was awarded a C.B.E. in 1948.

Other interests

Bold was organist and choirmaster at the Hornsey Road Methodist Church, London, from 1892 to 1896. He was assistant organist at St George's Cathedral, Perth, and from 1897 organist at Wesley Church, Perth and later at St Aidan's Presbyterian Church, Claremont. He was also a Rotarian and, at one time, a Freemason.

Family and estate

Bold married Nellie Cooper on 9 October 1907 at Claremont; they had three children. He died at Tresillian Hospital, Nedlands, on 25 November 1953 and was cremated. His estate of £7927 was left to his family.

Bold Park and Reabold Hill

Bold Park, a 437-hectare A-class reserve in Perth’s western suburbs, is named for him. Within the Park, Reabold Hill is named for Bold and for Mayor of Perth Frank Rea. Reabold Hill is 93m high and is the highest natural peak in the inner metropolitan area.