1890s – James Thomas Peet sets up Peet & Co. Ltd. (real estate agents) in Perth, Western Australia

James Thomas 'JT' Peet (1863-1935) migrated to Victoria, Australia from England in the 1880s.

View the Jolimont Estate poster

By the early 1890s he had founded a real estate agency, Peet & Bastow, in Melbourne. His partner was Austin Bastow who was later to become Mayor of Subiaco. JT Peet had a particular interest in Western Australia and in around 1892 Peet & Bastow began marketing Wanneroo Park (now Bayswater, North Perth and part of northern Dianella).

JT Peet eventually moved to Perth in July 1895 and soon set up his real estate business, Peet & Co. Ltd., in an office on William Street, close to the present-day Raine Square. He soon became a Sworn Valuer and a Government Land Agent.

JT Peet continued the marketing of land subdivisions around Perth. Early examples include Jolimont Estate (Subiaco) and City View (South Perth) - both in 1896 - and the subdivision of the southern end of Garden Island, which the Commonwealth Government then compulsorily acquired in 1915 for the future Naval Base.

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