History of the Cottage

The building that is now called Colin Moore Community Centre was a small cottage for market gardeners that used to farm in this area.  The cottage was built in 1934 by Matt and Stan Skender who lived there with their children until 1955. Two years later, the second owner, George Glamuzina, sold it to Charlie Vranjes who worked the land on that corner of the lake as a market garden growing onions until 1965, at which time it was resumed by the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority.  The cottage was left vacant for some time, fell into disrepair and we believe was due for demolition. 

 

In 1995, some 30 years later, the Balcatta Rotary Club undertook to restore and extend it in order to turn it into a community resource centre, vested in the City of Stirling, who licensed the property to the Club for the project.   The facility has been primarily used as a playgroup.

 

The refurbishment project was co-ordinated by Colin Moore who put a lot of his own time into the project.  Colin was a member of the Karrinyup Rotary Club which established the Balcatta Rotary Club, of which he was a charter member.  Colin remained with the Balcatta Club after it was founded.   Colin was the owner of Odin Auto Parts and passed away on 30 June 2005. 

 

The Lake Gwelup Primary School ran the kindergarten there, shared with the playgroup, for some years until it outgrew it. After much lobbying a transportable classroom was then provided in 2002 for the Kindergarten to be based at the school.