Alfred Waterman was the only son of Louis Watermann and Grace McAdam. The family was Jewish and the name Watermann was changed to Waterman after migration to Australia, in response to anti German sentiment. He was born in England on 30th November in 1863. In his younger years he lived in Victoria, was associated with the Shakespearean Society and appeared in many plays as he was a keen dramatist.
When he came to WA he built a limestone cottage with an iron roof.It was located overlooking the ocean, on the corner of Mary St and West Coast Hwy (northern corner).He called the cottage Zephyr Villa.He and his friends used the cottage for weekends away, fishing and socialising.There was a small fisherman’s cottage on the site before the Zephyr Villa.
In front of the Zephyr Villa was a watering well, near the “saddling paddocks”.Drovers driving cattle down the coastal stock route from Dongara used to make Lennard’s Well’s in Watermans Bay a stopover place.The fishermen used to say that when they were out at sea they would line their boats up with the cottage and the well to mark the best spot for whiting.
When living and working in Melbourne he was employed by furniture manufacturers Robertson Moffat, and in 1895 at about the age of 32 he was asked by the company’s management to move to Perth to start and manage a WA branch.This was established at 17/21 Goderich Street, East Perth and Alfred went on to become a shareholder of the business. The wooden school desks with lifting lid, inkwells with bench seats that were popular in the era, were designed by Waterman, with some examples of this style in the Mount Flora Regional Museum
In 1899 he married Lilian (Lily) Hughes.She died in 1908 aged 28 and is buried in the Anglican section for the Old East Perth Cemetery. In 1912, at St John’s Anglican Church Fremantle, married Elizabeth (Bessie) Brooke Goddard. He was 49 years old, and Elizabeth 22 years old.
The Roads Board approached Lily, after his death to suggest she donate a bench seat in commemoration of her husband being one of the foundations settlers of the Watermans Bay area.The bench stood at the foot of Mary Street where the Zephyr Villa used to stand.With the upgrading of West Coast Highway, this bench seat disappeared and in recent time another one was erected in its place.In 2005, the direct descendants of Alfred respectfully requested a plaque be attached to this new bench located on the foreshore at the bottom of Mary Street.It reads ”In commemoration of Alfred (1863-1931) and his wife Elizabeth (1890-1980) Watermans First residence “Zephyr Villa” 1908 corner Mary Street, West Coast Highway."
