A riverside mansion in Peppermint Grove that was bequeathed to the University of Western Australia will be auctioned to fund professorial chairs in education and tropical microbiology.

The property, owned by the Chapple family, was built in 1941 and boasts uninterrupted views over Freshwater Bay.

It was the childhood home of Marjorie Le Souef and her sister Joyce Chapple who lived there until they died in 2008 and 2010, leaving bequests to the university.

A portion of the sale of Mrs Le Souefs share in the house will help establish a professorial chair in tropical microbiology in the name of her late husband Leslie Ernest Le Souef, who was a surgeon and one of the longest-standing members of the universitys senate.

During the Second World War, Dr Le Souef commanded the Seventh Field Ambulance AIF in Libya, Crete and Greece from 1940 to 1941.

He was a prisoner-of-war in Crete from 1941 to 1945 and became a colonel.

Miss Chapples portion of money will help establish a professorial chair in education in honour of her parents, Charles and Ethel Chapple, and will also set up a scholarship for a disadvantaged student.

Miss Chapple joined the Peppermint Grove Red Cross in 1939.

She was commandant of the Australian Red Cross Field Force in Malaysia in the 1960s and in 1973 was awarded the Red Cross Societys Distinguished Service Award.

Mrs Le Souef was Chairperson of the War Widows Guild of Australia.

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Mansion to be auctioned for UWA