Living in History: Tasmania's Historic Homes, the People who Built Them, and Those who Live in Them Now 9781742694153, 1742694152

Title page ; Dedication ; Contents ; Foreword ; 1. StrathAyr ; 2. Ratho ; 3. Tasman Island ; 4. Rouseville ; 5. Haggerst

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Living in History: Tasmania's Historic Homes, the People who Built Them, and Those who Live in Them Now
 9781742694153, 1742694152

Table of contents :
Title page
Dedication
Contents
Foreword
1. StrathAyr
2. Ratho
3. Tasman Island
4. Rouseville
5. Haggerstone
6. Government House
7. Cullenswood
8. Panshanger
9. Hamilton Old Schoolhouse
10. Ashby
11. Shene
12. Bowood
13. Fulham
14. Ormiston House
15. The Jolly Farmer Inn
16. Wybra Hall
17. Woodlands
18. Selborne
19. Clifton
20. Elphin House
Acknowledgements and further reading.

Citation preview

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LIVING in HISTORY

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LIVING in HISTORY

Tasmania’s historic homes, the people who built them, and those who live in them now

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALICE BENNETT TEXT BY GEORGIA WARNER

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Alice — To my little family, my husband Tom and our dog Rosie

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Georgia — To Nick and our family

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Foreword

1

StrathAyr

2

Ratho

12

Tasman Island

24

Rouseville

36

Haggerstone

46

Government House

58

Cullenswood

70

Panshanger

78

Hamilton Old Schoolhouse

88

Ashby

98

Shene

108

Bowood

120

Fulham

130

Ormiston House

140

The Jolly Farmer Inn

150

Wybra Hall

162

Woodlands

172

Selborne

182

Clifton

192

Elphin House

204

Acknowledgements and further reading

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Contents

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Foreword

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This is the second collaborative work of Georgia Warner and Alice Bennett. The first was the successful Country Houses of Tasmania, published by Allen & Unwin in 2009. Once again Alice and Georgia have turned their attention to the many beautiful historic homes spread across Tasmania. The pictorial descriptions of the interiors, exteriors and gardens of the twenty properties in Living in History, including Government House, are quite stunning, complemented by the skilful design of text and photographs. The photographs depict the houses as they are today: many still lived in, used and loved, as they have been for over a century. The text breathes life and colour into the histories of the twenty houses, with vivid descriptions of how the homes came to be built, and then developed and changed over time. What makes this book different is that the history of the houses is told through the stories of the owners and occupiers. Living in History is a book full of interesting people and intriguing histories linked together and uplifted by outstanding, and sometimes surprising, photography of beautiful houses. The quality of text, imagery and design ensures that this is no mere coffee-table production. It is a book that adds considerably to our social history.

Peter Underwood AC Governor of Tasmania

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STRATHAYR The hop kiln house

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StrathAyr, at Richmond, was once home to one of Britain’s most celebrated convicts, a political prisoner who still inspires thousands of people to march in his home town of Tolpuddle, in Dorchester, every July. In a small sandstone cottage adjacent to the iconic StrathAyr hop kiln–homestead the leader of the so-called Tolpuddle Martyrs, George Loveless, lived for a time in the 1830s while he worked as a ticket-of-leave convict on what was then an expansive sheep property. Loveless was an agricultural labourer and reputedly the finest ploughman in Dorchester. To the great displeasure of landowners and the authorities, he became involved in a campaign to secure better wages for farm labourers in his district. In 1833 Loveless led the creation of the Friendly Society for Agricultural Labourers, an early and apparently peaceful trade union. The British Whig Government was twitchy about any unrest from the workers, the French revolution fresh in its mind. As Loveless left his wife and three children for work one morning, he was arrested along with five other members of the Friendly Society, including his brother. They were tried by a hostile jury for the crime of holding secret meetings and sentenced to seven years’ transportation. In the account he later wrote of some of his experiences, The Victims of Whiggery, Loveless wrote: We were taken to the County Hall to await our trial. As soon as we arrived we were ushered down some steps into a miserable dungeon, opened but twice a year, with only a glimmering light; and to make it more disagreeable, some wet and green brushwood was served for firing. The smoke of this place, together with its natural dampness, amounted to nearly suffocation and in this most dreadful situation we passed nearly three whole days …

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As to the trial I need mention but little; the whole proceedings were characterised by a shameful disregard of justice and decency; the most unfair means were resorted to in order to frame an indictment against us … Two days after this we were again placed at the bar to receive sentence, when the judge told us, that not for anything that we had done, or, as he could prove, we intended to do, but for an example to others, he considered it his duty to pass the sentence of seven years’ transportation across his Majesty’s high seas upon each and every one of us.

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Loveless’ five colleagues were transported to Botany Bay. He alone was singled out for Van Diemen’s Land. He wrote of that voyage:

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After having stripped off everything, and putting on a new suit for sea, irons as well, we went on board the ‘William Metcalfe’, lying at Spithead, where we remained till the 25th of May. In the afternoon we weighed anchor, and the next evening bid farewell to England, having passed the Land’s End. I now began to think I had seen and heard but very little. A small bed, pillow, and blanket were allowed for each man, which would have contributed greatly to our comfort, had there been room sufficient to have laid on them, but we could not. A berth of about five feet six inches square was all that was allowed for six men to occupy day and night, with the exception of four hours we were allowed daily on deck, two hours in the forenoon, and two hours in the afternoon for air. For nearly ten weeks out of fourteen I was not able to lie down at length to take rest. But what then? I was a prisoner, and there is no pity.

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Once home to one of Britain’s most celebrated convicts, a political prisoner who still inspires thousands of people to march in his home town of Tolpuddle, in Dorchester, every July. 01 A window in the small sandstone cottage adjacent to the StrathAyr homestead that was once home to one of Britain’s most celebrated convicts. 02 The barn section of the two-storey home was built from bricks believed to have been shipped out as ballast. The Casimatys had to cut through them to create new windows and allow light into their home. 03 The King Billy pine–shingled roof of one of the twin roundels. 04 The roofline on the spacious sandstone barn behind the homestead.

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Loveless arrived in Hobart on 4 September 1834 and was put to work on chain gangs building roads, before being assigned to the government farm at New Town as a stock keeper. In 1836 he received a ticket of leave that enabled him to work on nongovernment labour until further notice. He placed an advertisement in a newspaper seeking a master, and retired Prussian army major William de Gillern from GlenAyr, now StrathAyr, answered that call. Back in England, the transportation of the six Tolpuddle Martyrs had unleashed an unprecedented reaction: there were protests in the streets, one apparently drawing a crowd of 100,000 people, and petitions signed by 800,000 people were presented to parliament demanding their return to England. The campaign eventually worked. In his kindness de Gillern had allowed Loveless to read his newspapers once they had arrived by ship many months after their issue. In September 1836 Loveless, aged thirty-nine, was at StrathAyr with an April edition of the London Dispatch when he read that he had been granted a pardon and was to have all expenses paid—and every necessary comfort afforded to him—on the trip back home. There had been no word from the authorities about this! After much to-ing and fro-ing with the authorities, who it appears tried to stall him in Van Diemen’s Land for as long they could, Loveless left Hobart for home in early 1837. Difficulties he encountered with landowners saw him and his family relocate

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05 Enormous fireplaces in the converted roundels are reminiscent of the original plenum chambers. 06 The former home of convict George Loveless is now the head office of a thriving international turf business; the surrounding land now highly productive thanks to irrigation. 07 A candelabra found by the Casimatys on a trip to England lights the roundel space.

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to Canada, where he died in 1874. Celebrations take place in Tolpuddle every year to honour the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the birth of the trade union movement in England. StrathAyr was originally part of a larger property called GlenAyr, which was divided after World War I as part of the soldier settlement scheme. Its first owner, Alexander Paterson, came to Tasmania on the Castle Forbes (along with Alexander Reid, see Ratho on page 12). William de Gillern bought the property in around 1829, but ten years later he became insolvent when a deliberately lit fire destroyed his uninsured barn, hay stacks and wheat store and the property passed into his financier’s hands. It was leased by pioneering Tasmanian hop grower Ebenezer Shoobridge. He built a large twin-roundel hop kiln and elaborate irrigation schemes but found what many subsequent generations of farming families would also experience in the Coal River Valley—the area could be punishingly dry without irrigation water. A dam that was built to water the hops collapsed one night, apparently after ticket-of-leave prisoners got drunk and sabotaged the dam wall, thus putting an end to the hop-growing venture. The Shoobridges eventually relocated their enterprise to New Norfolk, where the industry flourished. StrathAyr was acquired by current owners Bill and Janet Casimaty in 1957, by which time the homestead was in ruins and had to be demolished. The Casimatys decided to convert the hop kiln into their home. For years it had been used for shearing sheep

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and the manure build up inside was 1.5 metres deep. There was no plumbing or power connected. However, with twin roundels and a barn at the back under the cooling floor, the kiln, although derelict, was certainly large enough to become a homestead. The internal entry for one of the two roundels had been bricked up so it could be used as a water tank; apparently someone had died during construction there and dogs would not enter this supposedly haunted part of the building. Also, in the barn section—where convicts once slept—two tiny windows with bars allowed only the faintest glimmer of light through. Friends warned the Casimatys they were crazy to even contemplate the conversion, well ahead of its time in Tasmania, but they had learned of it being done with hop kilns in Kent and pressed ahead regardless. The Casimatys undertook the conversion in two stages, starting with the twostorey barn section. They cut through the brick—believed to have been imported to StrathAyr as ballast as opposed to being locally or convict made—to create more windows and light, putting in place appropriate reinforcements to ensure the building was well supported. The ground floor became a modern kitchen, lounge and bathroom, while the bedrooms were upstairs.

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08 The spacious sandstone barn behind the homestead. 09 A seamless blend of old buildings and modern engineering and comfort.

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It had for years been used for shearing sheep and the manure build up inside was 1.5 metres deep. There was no plumbing or power connected.

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When their second child was on the way and space was becoming an issue, the Casimatys began converting the two roundels at the front. The beams supporting the upstairs drying floor were dropped to create ceilings of similar height in both storeys of the building. Enormous fireplaces were installed in the downstairs part of both roundels to recreate the original plenum chambers. These are now a lounge room and office area, while the bedrooms remain on the first floor. Shingling the roofs was another challenge at a time when the art had all but died out in Tasmania; however, the Casimatys found a Derwent Valley local who could do the job and the shingles lasted for decades. They were replaced again in 2008 with long-lasting King Billy pine. The revolving turrets on top of the kilns were rotten and removed, and it is hoped they will eventually be replaced.

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10 The ruins of the original GlenAyr homestead, described in 1841 as ‘embracing all the comforts of a gentleman’s house, so perfect as to leave nothing to be desired’.

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11–12 The gardens around StrathAyr are now flourishing, after a slow beginning atop solid sandstone.

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Because the hop kiln was built on solid sandstone, it has been difficult to get a garden to grow. It is a very different story with the surrounding StrathAyr farming land, some of the state’s most productive, now that water has been brought to the Coal River Valley via the Craigebourne dam, a project Bill was instrumental in securing through the Coal River Valley Products Association that he helped form. When he took on StrathAyr Bill was quick to realise that he needed to diversify out of wheat and wool; the Casimatys grew mushrooms for a time in an old dairy. A Nuffield scholarship led to Bill investigating turf farms in the United States and England, and this ultimately spawned one of Tasmania’s most innovative agricultural enterprises. The little stone cottage that was once Loveless’ home is now the bustling headquarters of StrathAyr Turf International. Bill’s turf, which is also farmed in Victoria, can be found on such hallowed grounds as Lord’s Cricket Club, the MCG, NFL stadiums in the United States and Hong Kong’s Happy Valley and Sha Tin racetracks. StrathAyr also produces wine through its GlenAyr and Tolpuddle vineyards. Due to its excellent quality the fruit is used for such highly regarded labels as Domain Chandon. Both the GlenAyr and Tolpuddle brands are ones Bill intends to build, promoting the remarkable connection to the Tolpuddle Martyr who once lived in his company’s head office.

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RATHO

Australia’s oldest golf course

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Ratho, in Tasmania’s Central Highlands, is home to the oldest golf course outside Scotland. Its idyllic sheep-grazed fairways sweep around the iconic Ratho homestead, a building that was immortalised in an 1838 painting by the renowned landscape artist John Glover. The original course was laid out by Ratho’s pioneering settlers over one hundred and fifty years ago, and today this historic Bothwell property is part of a major drive to turn Tasmania into an international golfing mecca under the stewardship of Rathoraised entrepreneur Greg Ramsay. Scotsman Alexander Reid I was a partner in the Edinburgh mercantile business Liddell and Reid. Its offices were 200 metres from the Leith Links golf course, which by the 1800s had a golfing pedigree that dated back centuries. From his office Reid could have watched golfers hitting their featheries around the course, and perhaps this piqued his interest in the sport. A few years after his business went bankrupt Reid quit Scotland for a new life on the other side of the world with his wife Mary and children Jane and Alexander II. In 1821 he was granted two parcels of land on the Clyde River at Bothwell, the largest of which he named Ratho after the farm in Scotland where he grew up. The Reids spent their first three years at Ratho in a small turf hut before a permanent home was built. Jane later wrote of some of her memories there, including the time the hut was attacked by bushrangers one night when Alexander Senior was away. An armed bushranger guarded the door to prevent Mary and her children escaping while other members of the gang used axes to break open boxes and chests of drawers in search of loot. Jane wrote: ‘My mother, with her usual admirable composure, told them it was a pity to destroy the furniture, and if they were determined to help themselves, she

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01 The approach to Ratho—home to the oldest golf course outside Scotland. 02 The old oven in the warm and welcoming kitchen. 03 Generously proportioned cedar-dressed rooms flow, one into the next. 04 An antique chair rests beside the graceful, low sash windows of Ratho. 05 The property is announced by a sign sporting the homestead’s distinctive columns. 06 Bolt locks have stood the test of time.

would open the drawers, and getting her bunch of keys, threw everything open.’ The bushrangers left the following morning, ‘taking as much as fourteen men could carry in sheets’, but they left behind a telescope that today remains in the hands of Reid descendants. Jane described how her little brother Alexander II begged the bushrangers not to take his father’s telescope, and they agreed. Jane also wrote:

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My mother often said the three years spent in the snug little cottage were wonderfully comfortable; but she had the happy art of cheerful contentment with her lot. Yet there was enough to try her in many ways—all the external comforts to which they had been accustomed quite out of their reach, and no safety but simply in trusting to God; for every night my father had his loaded pistols and drawn sword laid on the sea-chest that stood beside his bed and answered for a table, as the bushrangers’ first visit made him expect a second, for by that time many runaway convicts were prowling about the bush and treating other settlers as they had done us. Stonemason Andrew Bell built the distinctive homestead at Ratho, although it has been enlarged and altered over the years. It is a single-storey home in old colonial Georgian style. The front is of dressed stone from the Bothwell district; the side walls are made of rubble. The home has an unusual design—current owner and historian Mary Ramsay describes the home as a grand front for a series of smaller cottages, all of them interlinked. The home’s most distinctive feature—captured in the famous Glover painting that now hangs in Hobart’s Tasmanian Club—is its long pedimented timber front verandah. This was designed as a Grecian Ionic-style colonnade, but with no marble or stone being available for the columns tree trunks were ingeniously used instead.

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An armed bushranger guarded the door to prevent Mary and her children escaping while other members of the gang used axes to break open boxes and chests of drawers in search of loot. 04

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These wooden columns supported carved wooden Ionic-style capitals beneath a deep entablature until the 1960s when, having rotted, they were replaced with new eucalypt columns. From this exquisite ‘bush Greek’ verandah, sandstone steps flanked by old New Zealand cabbage trees lead down to a fine garden surrounded by a formal hedge. It is possible the garden was modelled on the old church yard at Ratho, Scotland; the two gardens have almost identical layouts. A six-panelled front door leads into a forward section of the home that consists of four generously proportioned rooms elaborately dressed in cedar. These lead into the ‘cottage’ extensions to the homestead on the western side of the building. Attic rooms have been added upstairs more recently. Three Gothic-style chimneys on a diagonal provide a distinctive break in the roof line, although only two are real—the third is for show and made of tin—and inside twelve fires would often be going at once to keep the place warm. Several other families from the east coast of Scotland had travelled to Australia on the same ship as the Reids, and at least four of these also established Links golf courses on their land grants in the Central Highlands. So before the first golf course in the United States was even established in 1888 the fledgling Tasmanian farming community of Bothwell already boasted about five.

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07 Mary and Richard Ramsay continue to restore the numerous substantial outbuildings. 08 The elaborate timber work of the octagonal former fowl house. 09 Ratho’s iconic ‘bush Greek’ columns—the uneven surface of the Eucalyptus trunks can be seen, supporting wooden Ionic-style capitals beneath a deep entablature.

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It is likely that in those first years of golf at Ratho there was no organised golf club. The Reids would have simply invited their friends around for a game, and the course would have been used for other sports such as croquet. In 1902 when the Bothwell Golf Club was formed, games would rotate around the various courses in the district until Ratho was the only course that remained. In the late 1830s the Reids travelled to Scotland for seven years, leasing Ratho out for the handsome sum of £1000 a year. Back at Ratho in the 1850s they befriended the famous Irish exile John Mitchel, who was serving a conditional ticket of leave in Bothwell. Mitchel was sentenced to fourteen years’ transportation for treason– felony—he had written articles, deemed treacherous, that rallied against British rule of Ireland. He was one of seven leaders of the so-called Young Irelanders that were sent to Van Diemen’s Land for similar nationalistic ‘crimes’. Mitchel was allowed to live in a small cottage in the village with fellow Young Irelander John Martin. In 1851 Mitchel’s wife and five children joined him at Nant cottage. Mitchel became particularly fond of Alexander II and Jane. As he wrote in his publication Jail Journal: It gave me a sort of home feeling when I found myself, for the first time in two years, seated in the pleasant parlour of Ratho; the home of a most amiable and accomplished Edinburgh family; the social tea table presided over by one of the most graceful and elegant of old ladies; the books, music, flowers—and the gentle converse of high-bred women, could not fail to soothe and soften an exasperated soul in any but its very darkest hour …

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10 The finial on the old fowl house is rumoured to represent a golf ball on a tee. 11 Bolts secure the wall of one of Ratho’s substantial outbuildings. The Ramsays have updated guttering and roofing as they continue to maintain and care for the estate.

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12 Ratho’s eclectic exterior—current owner and historian Mary Ramsay describes the home as a grand front for a series of cottages, all of them interlinked. 13 The oldest, but with a strong future—Greg Ramsay is working to place Ratho, now an eighteen-hole course, on the international golfing map. 14 A discreet tray allowed waste to be quietly taken away from the Ratho outhouse.

Four of the Young Irelanders famously escaped to America, and Mitchel’s flight to freedom was the stuff of legend. Four of the Young Irelanders famously escaped to America, and Mitchel’s flight to freedom was the stuff of legend. He strode into the Bothwell police station to honourably renounce his parole—or his promise that he would not to try to escape— and then made a daring bid for freedom by riding across Tasmania’s rugged central plateau in the depths of winter on a horse lent to him by Reid. He was harboured at Westbury for a time while soldiers searched for him. After several failed attempts to escape in boats from the north of Tasmania, Mitchel was secreted at night onto a passenger ship in Hobart and made his way to New York, where he was hailed a hero and greeted with a thirty-one-gun salute. He later wrote to Alexander II from New York: ‘We would like much just to be assured that we are sometimes mentioned in your evening circle, while your father is sitting at the fire with three pairs of slippers on, and your mother and Mrs Williams [Jane] sewing or reading beside him.’ The Reids remained at Ratho until the 1930s, when Alexander III sold the property to the Stenhouse family from Devonport and moved to Hobart. Alexander Fyfe Stenhouse, Mary Ramsay’s grandfather, was a fisherman who bought Ratho for its

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Golfers should watch out for the sheep, which are used to keep the grass on the playing areas short just as they did when the Reids first developed this course all those years ago.

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15 Then as now, sheep crop the grass on the picturesque range. 16 A circle drive leads to the facade. 17–18 The centuries old brickwork of Ratho’s outbuildings. 19 The sandstone bird bath in the homestead’s graceful formal gardens.

prized trout fishing but couldn’t abide the cold there. He converted Ratho into two ‘apartments’ so a manager and his family could live in one section at the rear of the home full time and his family could use the front half when they were there. A kitchen, bathroom and sunroom were added to the front section of the home. Stenhouse also covered the external walls of Ratho with pebbled stucco, which was fashionable in the 1930s; this was later removed and the walls re-pointed, the entablature repaired and the rotten wooden columns replaced. Mary and Richard Ramsay, along with their children, are continuing to farm Ratho, restore the home and its many significant outbuildings and promote their property’s rich golfing heritage as part of a wider push to put Tasmania on the international golfing map. Greg Ramsay, who runs the golf course, also helped create the Barnbougle Links at Bridport, now regarded as one of the best Links golf courses in the world. Ratho has recently been expanded to an eighteen-hole course and is open year round to the public. Golfers should watch out for the sheep, which are used to keep the grass on the playing areas short just as they did when the Reids first developed this course all those years ago.

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TASMAN ISLAND Wild and inhospitable

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Some of the tallest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere separate Tasman Island from treacherous Southern Ocean seas and the outside world. There is no white sandy beach on this deserted isle—just dolerite rock soaring 250 metres up out of the sea. Severe winds pummel the small plateau on top of the island, which is scattered with cavernous sinkholes that have swallowed many animals over the years. It is a dangerous, isolated and forsaken place. But for most of the 1900s Tasman Island was a thriving lighthouse station, home to one of Australia’s tallest lighthouses, three lighthouse keepers, their families and their farm. It was always difficult to find people who could bear the trials of living and working in this wild, inaccessible outpost located just off Tasmania’s south-east coast. The winds on the island are so strong the lighthouse tower used to violently sway and tanks full of water would literally fly off the island, as a pig sty once did with the Christmas pig still inside it. A fair dose of courage was needed just to get to Tasman Island in the first place— sailing rugged seas and then scaling the sea cliffs to reach the plateau, without even a beach to land on first. That the lighthouse and three Federation brick cottages were built on the island at all was nothing short of remarkable. There had been talk of establishing a lighthouse near Tasman Island for decades before work finally began in the early 1900s. The tower was pre-fabricated in England and hauled onto the island in circular cast-iron parts that apparently weighed more than one tonne each. These were bolted together and positioned on a concrete base 26 metres in circumference. The cost of constructing the light station was £22,000—a huge sum in those days—and the difficulties associated with getting all the materials to the building site contributed greatly to the cost. In order to get those building materials onto the island they had first to be lightered

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There were no telephones and no electricity; the loneliness could literally drive the island’s inhabitants mad.

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off a steamer into a small punt. If the seas were calm enough the punt would move in close to the cliffs on the island’s north-eastern corner, where a ledge had been cut into the cliff face 30 metres above the water. A steam-powered crane was fastened to the ledge, still some 200 metres below the cliff top. The crane would pluck the load from the punt below and land it on the ledge, after which trolleys or trams loaded with goods could be winched to the top along a near-vertical haulage track. In a 1905 report detailing progress on the construction of the Tasman Island light station, the Mercury explained: A considerable amount of preliminary work has been done at the island by the contractors, under somewhat exceptional difficulties, the place being so inaccessible. The haulage track from the NE landing to the top has been formed and the line laid half-way. This work has been very difficult, owing to the steepness of this side of the island, the grade averaging 1 in 1.5. The track which is ten feet wide has had to be cut out of the rock, necessitating a great deal of blasting. The tram, which will run on wooden rails, laid on sleepers, will be hauled by an oil engine. A double line has been laid so that one truck will go up and another down simultaneously. 04

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01 Now empty, these rooms were once home to lighthouse keepers and their families. 02 One of the three cottages the lighthouse keepers and their families lived in—built of brick, cement, with iron roofs and glass-enclosed verandahs as protection against the violent winds. 03 A flying fox was used to deliver animals, supplies—and people—to the island. A cable was strung between the rock on the left, and the platform built on the cliff face to the right. A wicker basket, which was suspended from the cable, would be dropped onto a small boat to collect the cargo and then hoisted to the ledge.

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Once goods had reached the top of the haulage way they were transferred to a horsedrawn tramway for the final leg to the highest point on the island, 276 metres above sea level and the site of the Tasman Island lighthouse. A flying fox was later installed to deliver people, animals and supplies to the island. Its cable was strung between the cliff-face landing ledge and a nearby rock in the sea. A wicker basket was suspended from the cable and, if the seas were right, it would be dropped onto a small boat, loaded up and then hoisted tortuously onto the landing ledge. This terrifying first taste of life on Tasman Island for its lighthouse keepers and their families wasn’t without its mishaps. Tragedy struck in the 1920s when a new crane suddenly collapsed while being installed on the landing ledge. A worker was flung into the water below and his body was never recovered. John Cook, a lighthouse keeper at Tasman Island from 1968 to 1971, recalls the wicker basket toppling over when it missed its landing on the boat and sending three men into the ocean, one of whom couldn’t swim. They survived. On another occasion the gate on the basket didn’t shut properly, leaving the poor woman being hoisted up high hanging on for dear life. On 2 April 1906 the Tasman Island light cast its signature character—a single flash every 7.5 seconds—over a 1500 nautical square mile distance for the first time, vastly improving safety for boats coming into and out of Hobart via the aptly named Storm Bay. The lighthouse was manned by three keepers, who each worked four hours on, eight hours off every day and night of the year. Fifteen minutes before sunset the head keeper would light the lantern in the tower using vaporised kerosene. It was his

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04 Inhabitants of the island used to face a perilous ascent to the island’s surface. Everything—from the original building supplies to the lighthouse lantern to food—needed to be hauled up these steep cliffs.

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05 Lighthouse keepers would look seawards every half hour, searching for signs of vessels passing their remote home. 06 The island teems with visiting bird life—here black cockatoos fly at sunset. 07 Across Tasman Passage, the cliffs of mainland Tasmania can been seen. The Blade—a steep rock cliff jutting out over the sea—is today a magnet for daring rock climbers. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

08 Supplies were hauled along these spectacularly positioned tracks to the highest point on the island by horse-drawn tramway. 09–10 The island was rapidly denuded of trees for firewood, but life remains, even in these extreme climes of Tasman Island.

duty and that of his assistants during their watches to ensure the light did not go out before dawn and to rotate the lighthouse lens by pulling 160-kilogram weights driving a grandfather clock–like assembly. Although the lighthouse tower was freezing inside, heating was banned in case it sent the keepers off to sleep. John Cook would wear pyjamas, four sets of clothes and a rug in an attempt to stay warm. Every twenty minutes the on-duty keeper would have to register on a clock that they were still awake, with the records sent to Hobart each quarter for scrutiny. Every three hours keepers would relay weather reports to nearby Bruny Island. They were not permitted to leave the tower during their shift. During the day the keepers would be required to look seawards every half an hour and report any vessels they saw, in between tending to never-ending maintenance on the island and the small farm they ran for fresh milk and meat. Each keeper was entitled to three cows, three calves and a horse—all brought to the island via the flying fox or crane and then the tramway. The head keeper was allowed one hundred and fifty sheep, and his assistants twenty each. The sheep were shorn and the wool baled up and sent off the island for sale. One sheep would usually be slaughtered every fortnight for meat. Mutton birds also provided a supplementary meat source for many years, and vegetables grew well in the fertile Tasman Island soil. This was just as well, as mail and groceries only came once a fortnight and bulk orders once every three months. For the first twenty years that Tasman Island operated as a light station the only form of emergency communication with the outside world was via message pigeons. Three would be sent at any one time, as only one would ever usually make it. Wireless

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11 The two-hundred-and-fifty-metre sea cliffs which completely encircle the island are some of the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere. 12 The lighthouse and keepers’ cottages. 13 Tasman Island lighthouse is one of Australia’s tallest. The keepers would work four hours on, eight hours off, for every day and night of the year, keeping its signature single flash every 7.5 seconds beaming over the Southern Ocean. 14 While their cottages were close, lighthouse keepers and their families rarely mingled.

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communication was established in the 1930s, but this was only between Hobart, and Maatsuyker and Bruny islands, for emergencies and relaying the weather reports. There were no telephones and no electricity; the loneliness could literally drive the island’s inhabitants mad. According to John Cook it was compulsory for keepers to be married, although he arrived at Tasman Island with his girlfriend. He received a letter from his superiors about twelve months into the job advising that he had a week to get married or be fired. But getting off the island was just as difficult as getting on, and rough seas made it impossible for Cook and his new fiancée to depart via the flying fox. With their dogs and their suitcases—they weren’t sure if they were coming back—they had to scale an old track down the cliffs on the other side of the island and jump into a dinghy as it got close. They all ended up in the water, unsure now whether it was a wedding or a funeral that awaited them, but returned married within the seven days to continue their post. The cottages that the keepers and their families lived in were basic but comfortable enough. Built of brick and cement and with iron roofs, their verandahs were fully enclosed with glass to provide protection from the violent winds. The cottage outbuildings were also joined under the one roof to provide greater protection from the elements. The cottages had wide L-shaped hallways lined with Baltic pine floorboards and high skirting boards. The original tongue-and-groove Baltic pine ceilings had to be lowered after hail caused the tongues to fall out. Stove heaters—which keepers made sure never went out—provided the oven, hot water and heating for each cottage. Tasman Island’s thick forest was rapidly denuded for firewood, after which hauling and stacking coal became a bane of the lighthouse keepers’ existence. Fencing was vital to protect children and livestock from falling off the sea cliffs or into sinkholes. Families tended to grow rapidly during a Tasman Island stint; children were usually home schooled and then sent to boarding school. There was little time for relaxation on the island. There were always jobs to do and the keepers—who usually came from military service backgrounds—were fastidious

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about keeping the place as neat as a pin. Rare down times would be enjoyed in their gardens, having picnics overlooking the spectacular sea cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula and going for a fish from the flying fox basket. Surprisingly, the lighthouse keepers and their families didn’t mix much, although it was extremely important they got along. Tempers could flare over the most mundane of issues and some people simply did not have the temperament to withstand the isolation—on one occasion with tragic results. Herbert Yates was a lighthouse keeper at Tasman Island in the 1950s. The isolation apparently drove him to drink, in turn causing him to behave monstrously towards his partner, Rita. (Notwithstanding lighthouse policy, they were unmarried.) She was comforted by a relief keeper on the island, Robert Tregenza, and the two began a dangerous affair. They ended up escaping off the island and fled to Victoria. It is said Yates was apoplectic with rage when he found out what had happened. He tracked the couple down and shot Tregenza dead before turning the gun on himself. The Tasman Island light was automated in 1976, and the station was unmanned the following year. The cottages and other buildings were left to ruin, while weeds took hold of the gardens and the haulage track. In 2005 the Friends of Tasman Island was formed to arrest the decline and preserve the cultural and natural heritage of the island. This highly dedicated group of volunteers visits the island every three months 18

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15 Just a pane of glass protected the inhabitants from the winds of the Southern Ocean. 16 Isolated, windswept Tasman Island. For the first twenty years this place was manned the only emergency communication was via message pigeons. 17 Often from military backgrounds, the lighthouse keepers would keep the lighthouse fastidiously clean. 18 Home amid the cliffs. 16

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The winds on the island are so strong the lighthouse tower used to violently sway and tanks full of water would literally fly off the island, as a pig sty once did with the Christmas pig still inside it. to undertake maintenance and conservation with the assistance of the Parks and Wildlife Service and Rotary. John Cook was Australia’s second longest-serving lighthouse keeper, working in the job from 1969 to 1993. Some of his other postings were Maatsuyker Island, Eddystone Point and Bruny Island. He now lives in Opposum Bay with his wife Lorraine and is writing his memoirs. He returns to the island every year as a guide for Rotary, but it’s not the same arriving by helicopter, carrying mobile phones that work. It saddens Cook that Tasman Island is in need of any upkeep and repair at all. It used to be the pride of the lighthouse keepers to keep Tasman Island immaculate: as Cook walked up the stairs to the lighthouse tower every night he would carry a rag in one hand to ensure he didn’t leave so much as a fingerprint on the polished brass in the lantern room.

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ROUSEVILLE One of Hobart’s finest homes

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When Alfred Kennerley left his grand Hobart residence, Rouseville, to the Anglican Church after his death in 1897, some of his relatives were less than impressed. They launched legal action against this and other contentious aspects of the will, claiming that Kennerley had not been of sound mind when he had made it twenty years previously, shortly after being paralysed by a stroke. During the ensuing trial some of Hobart’s most respected residents came before the court to discuss the state of Kennerley’s mind at the time. Most said of the former premier of Tasmania, two-time Lord Mayor of Hobart, magistrate and noted philanthropist that while of bad bodily health, his mind was perfectly clear. The will was upheld. As Kennerley had wanted, Rouseville was sold around 1900 and the proceeds distributed to his beloved All Saints Church in South Hobart. The stately sandstone mansion has only changed hands twice since then. Kennerley was born in London in 1810 and migrated to New South Wales twentyone years later. His ample means entitled him to a land grant at Rooty Hill, Sydney and within a few years he added significant further land-holdings in rural New South Wales and Parramatta to his name. In 1834 he married Jane Rouse, a daughter of prominent New South Wales grazier Richard Rouse; they had no children. The Kennerleys continued to acquire more land in New South Wales and returned to England twice to live before they were encouraged by friends to move to Hobart in 1857. Thus began an illustrious period of public service for Alfred Kennerley, culminating in his election to the Tasmanian Legislative Council in 1865 and tenure as Tasmanian Premier for three years from 1873. Kennerley championed compassionate causes such as the welfare of destitute children and deserted wives. He was also a well-known philanthropist who founded the Kennerley Boys Home for orphans in 1869 and served on numerous boards, including those of the Benevolent Society and the General Hospital Board.

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In 1869 the Kennerleys built Rouseville on a large block of land at the top of Davey Street, in South Hobart. They engaged prominent Tasmanian architect Henry Hunter to design the 900-metre-squared residence, which cost £3400 to build. Apart from the addition of bathrooms Rouseville has not been altered structurally since it was built. It is an imposing two-storey sandstone residence partly concealed from public view by the high, original sandstone wall that surrounds it. This affords the home privacy and peace, despite it being located just a stone’s throw from the Hobart CBD. The home’s many fine details include fine iron guard rails on the windows and balconies, bay windows, an entry portico with composite column, window mullions, sandstone quoins, a slate roof and enormous chimney stacks. The gardens surrounding the home were also designed by Henry Hunter and are heritage listed. They consist of extensive box hedging in rows and circular patterns, with roses and irises bursting out from within. A Colebrookdale fountain near the original front gate is another stylish feature. Adjoining the rear of the homestead are a substantial stone coach-house and stables, both with slate roofs. 04

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01 The Colebrookdale fountain in Rouseville’s formal gardens. 02 The stone and slate-roofed coach house and stables. 03 Secret garden: a cast-iron and timber gate leads into the serene formal gardens, all a stone’s throw from Hobart’s CBD. 04 Ornate column capitals on the imposing facade. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

Inside the home the woodwork is all Baltic pine. The rooms are magnificently proportioned, with high ceilings, ornate ceiling roses and feature windows. These include a large ecclesiastical stained-glass window on the main stairwell and a stained-glass fanlight over the front door. Matching sidelights were smashed by vandals some years ago and had to be replaced. The downstairs has the formal sitting room, a smaller sitting area, formal dining room, and a modern kitchen at the rear in the kitchen’s original location. There are two sets of stairs leading up to two large bedrooms and a smaller butler’s bedroom on the second floor. There is a maid’s bedroom on the third floor, and several smaller rooms associated with the original maids’ quarters can be found in the stone outbuildings adjoining the house. A few months prior to his stroke, Kennerley’s adored wife died, leaving him both an invalid and broken hearted. He stepped away from public life but continued to live at Rouseville, where he managed his many business affairs. When Kennerley passed away at Rouseville his estate included significant landholdings in New South Wales and Tasmania, property in London, bank shares and government securities. It was distributed among relatives, friends, servants, charities and the Anglican Church. The Chapman family, graziers from Ouse in the Central Highlands, became the new owners of Rouseville. Successive generations used the house as their city residence and their children stayed here while attending Hobart schools. Rouseville was commandeered by army officers during World War II, and according to the current owners, grenades have even been found out the back.

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05–06 The formal gardens surrounding Rouseville were designed by noted architect Henry Hunter, who also designed the house.

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07 Rouseville is home to owner Peter Thiessen’s collection of Tasmanian and Australian Colonial art and furniture, the work of a lifetime. 08 The large stained-glass window on the main stairwell. 09 Roses burst out from their extensive box hedging surrounds. Their scent is carried throughout the home. 10 The imposing manor has been sold only three times since it was built, and, apart from the addition of bathrooms, has not been structurally altered.

In 1974 the Chapmans sold the property to Dr Wallace Williams, who invested a considerable amount of time and effort refreshing the home. He removed the dark wallpaper and linoleum floor coverings, polished the floorboards and modernised the kitchen and bathrooms. When Dr Williams sold the home in 1985 to antiques collector Peter Thiessen and his wife Kay there was little for them to do but move in, although over the years they have added their own personal touches to the place. The Thiessens had been looking for a new home in Hobart for almost a year when friends suggested they take a look at Rouseville. The most important criteria for Peter was that the home could accommodate and showcase his incredible collection of antiques and art. With its lofty ceilings and abundant wall and floor space, Rouseville fitted the bill perfectly. At the time it was the most expensive house ever sold in Tasmania. More than twenty-five years on the Thiessens have no plans to leave their glorious home. They’re even contemplating installing a lift so that they can stay at Rouseville in old age without having to retreat to the ground floor. One of the features they love most about their home is the fact that between them, grandchildren and guests all the rooms are in regular use, and they hope to keep it that way. Peter has collected antiques and art since his twenties, his passion being Tasmanian and Australian colonial furniture and art with historical significance. He has a story to tell about almost every single item in Rouseville, such as the circa 1835 corner cupboard he recently bought that has turned out to be the bottom part of another cupboard he bought back in 1995, or the long-lost portrait of his wife’s greatgrandfather that he chanced upon at a Launceston antiques auction.

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11 The drawing room, resplendent with fine antiques, overlooks the formal gardens. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

12 Although the house is filled with antiques it has the feel of a home and not a museum. Grandchildren and the old dog are welcome to play throughout the home. 13 Due to the large rooms and high ceilings, artworks too large for a most homes can grace the walls. This portrait was just one of Peter Thiessen’s many ‘finds’.

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The art on the walls ranges from colonial pieces to modern items, portraits of wartime leaders, a piece from Frank Sinatra’s collection and stunning works painted by Kay Thiessen. Years ago an antiques dealer passed some of his trade secrets on to Thiessen and urged him to buy a large ruby glass chandelier that was coming up for sale at a house auction near Richmond. To his regret Thiessen never made it to the auction. But years later when he was looking through Rouseville in 1985, the distinctive chandelier was hanging in the drawing room. Thiessen hadn’t made it to the auction, but Dr Wallace Williams had. The art on the walls ranges from colonial pieces to modern items, portraits of wartime leaders, a piece from Frank Sinatra’s collection and stunning works painted by Kay Thiessen. Fittingly, in the entry hall hangs a fine nineteenth-century portrait of Alfred Kennerley.

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14 The stained-glass fanlight over the front door. 15 Elaborate window frames and columns on the facade. 16 For a nineteenth-century house, Rouseville is remarkably warm and filled with light. No doubt the owners of Rouseville over the years have enjoyed looking out over the gardens from this seat below the generous bay window. 17 Every corner of every room boasts fascinating items from Thiessen’s impressive collection.

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The rooms are magnificently proportioned, with high ceilings, ornate ceiling roses and feature windows.

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HAGGERSTONE A labour of love

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When it comes to turning dilapidated old buildings into the epitome of chic, Lydia Nettlefold has the Midas touch. The self-confessed Francophile was bitten by the renovation bug in her early twenties, when she bought a condemned church rectory in Richmond in south-eastern Tasmania and created her first stylish home. She followed suit with a swag of other properties throughout Tasmania, including more recently the Red Feather Inn just south of Launceston. Lydia transformed this set of Georgian sandstone buildings, once part of a coaching inn, into one of Tasmania’s finest luxury retreats. Her style is described as Georgian dancing with French provincial. For Lydia, no detail is too minor and every aspect of every room and garden alcove is fit to grace a magazine cover. It’s not surprising then that Lydia’s latest project is one that has generated significant interest. Her three-year transformation of Haggerstone has been her all-time greatest renovation challenge. It looks set to prove her finest work, and her most meaningful, too. Haggerstone is a 150-hectare property on the outskirts of Perth, about 20 kilometres south of Launceston. Hawthorn hedgerows stripe lush green hills, and the outlook is to the dramatic mountain bluffs that make up the Great Western Tiers. The homestead was built by convict labour for early settler and Perth publican John Dryden, a descendant of the famous seventeenth-century English poet and playwright of the same name. He ran the former Crown Inn at Perth in the north-east of Tasmania. Haggerstone, about 5 kilometres from the inn, was his country estate. The homestead was built five years after Dryden’s arrival, from bluestone quarried on the property. The building consists of four well-proportioned rooms in a simple Georgian design, with an attic upstairs and a kitchen underneath the house that is accessed from outside. Exquisite cedar joinery was used throughout, and in one of the main

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front rooms highly unusual acacia panelling is evident. All the rooms were built with French doors rather than windows. The bluestone exterior was originally rendered with lines drawn on it to imitate facing stone. In the perfectly preserved kitchen underneath the house, where you might ordinarily expect to find a cellar, is a large fireplace that has a series of strange channels built into the chimney. These channels were used to direct heat from the fire into all the internal convict-brick walls, an ingenious form of central heating in the 1830s. The bluestone outbuildings at the back of the homestead include a stunning barn and stable, the remains of a two-storey wall, an old pig sty and chook house and a small hut said to have accommodated poet Henry Lawson’s son Joseph for a time. During the 1900s Haggerstone was leased and then purchased by the Saunders family before it was put up for sale in 2007. By this time the homestead and many of the outbuildings were tired. All that Lydia saw in Haggerstone was an opportunity to create something exceptional with the buildings and to use the farm to supply fresh, quality produce to the Red Feather Inn and its recently established cooking school. (Lydia also has a passion for food, and trained at the London Cordon Bleu School and the La Varenne cooking school in Paris.) One of the first priorities for Lydia and partner Andrew was getting the farm into the state they wanted, bringing water to the property to safeguard against drought, building fences and giving the hawthorn hedges a long overdue trim. Sheep, cattle and pigs that now graze contentedly will ultimately feature in many of the Red Feather cooking classes, which range from beef and lamb butchery to smoking and curing meats and célèbrer le cochon (celebrate the pig).

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By this time the homestead was dilapidated and many of the outbuildings were in a serious state of disrepair, some of them just a mass of rubble.

01 Farm animals graze contentedly.

The Haggerstone orchard, which will feature persimmon, almond, quince and pomegranate, will also eventually supply the inn, as will the herb garden and the artichokes and olives planned for the courtyard in front of the rebuilt bluestone barn. The task of restoring the Haggerstone homestead and outbuildings kept a stonemason on site for the best part of three years to repair and replace all the stone and convict brick. At one point three stonemasons were employed at the same time. Render concealing the home’s beautiful bluestone exterior was removed as was the slate roof, which was replaced with corrugated iron. Convict-built brick chimneys were pulled down, replaced and rendered for safety reasons, and the bricks were used to fill gaps between the roofline and the exterior walls. A simple portico to go over the front door and a stone terrace wrapping around the house were constructed. Interior fittings, such as cedar mantelpieces, were removed in order to be restored properly and then refitted. The underground kitchen was cleaned out and its walls hard plastered to create a unique space that will likely feature in future Red Feather Inn cooking classes. A stunning modern addition was also built in the form of a vast new open-plan kitchen, dining and living area adjoining the original building. The area is enclosed by frameless glass and bi-fold doors that open onto the terrace. This room features

04 Views from the upstairs dormer window extend to a lake at the foot of the garden.

02 Haggerstone boasts substantial bluestone outbuildings.

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03 Along with sheep, cattle and pigs, contented chickens now call Haggerstone home.

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05 Shadows from scaffolding fall on internal shutters during the renovation process. 06 A stonemason was employed for three years to repair all the stonework on the property. 07 A unique space: the underground kitchen beneath the house was cleaned and hard plastered.

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recycled Baltic pine floorboards, a huge open fireplace and an amazing set of old Italian shop doors framing the walk-in pantry. A conservatory will be built at the back of the home. French shutters will go on every set of French doors in the house so they can be left open at night. Bathrooms will feature the latest in luxury design, and the two spare bedrooms in the attic have been designed with grandchildren firmly in mind. As with everything Lydia touches, when the interior fit-out of Haggerstone is finished in 2011 it will surely be a sight to behold. There is much more driving Lydia’s restoration work that than merely the creation of a new home. Where the impressive bluestone outbuildings are located at the rear of the homestead Lydia is working on her plans to create a four-roomed retreat and art studio for people suffering depression. Tragically, Lydia lost her son Ed to suicide in 2009. Since then she has thrown herself into a range of initiatives supporting people suffering depression and trying to prevent other families from suffering a similar tragedy. More information about those initiatives can be found at www.edbonnin.com.au. Lydia took up residence in the refurbished Haggerstone in late December 2010. One of the most exciting aspects of this long-awaited move was having the wall space to showcase a giant portrait of Ed by Archibald Prize finalist Richard Onn. The Haggerstone retreat is expected to welcome visitors from 2012, offering the chance to make a real difference to the lives of others through Lydia’s incredible talent for creating beautiful places out of derelict buildings.

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08 The lush green hills surrounding Haggerstone, twenty kilometres from Launceston. 09 One of the first acts of the new owners was to bring water to the property to safeguard against drought. 10 Haggerstone is a thriving farm. 11–12 Chimneys were removed, replaced and rendered, for safety. 13 The wind vane on one of the many bluestone outbuildings at Haggerstone. 14 Archibald prize finalist Richard Onn’s portrait of Ed.

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The task of restoring the Haggerstone homestead and outbuildings was so monumental that it kept a stonemason on site for the best part of three years to repair and replace all the stone and convict brick. 14

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15 Wine is stored in a nook at Lydia’s acclaimed Red Feather Inn. 16 Lydia’s style, displayed here at the Red Feather Inn, is described as Georgian dancing with French provincial. 17 The Georgian facade of the inn. 18 A birdcage atop a French wrought-iron table in the Red Feather Inn garden.

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GOVERNMENT HOUSE One of the Commonwealth’s finest vice-regal residences

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Hobart’s Government House is considered to be one of the most splendid viceregal residences in the Commonwealth of nations. A seventy-one-room castellated sandstone mansion in neo-Gothic style, it is encircled by a dry moat and set on 15 hectares of landscaped surrounds overlooking the majestic River Derwent. Its completion in 1858, after four decades of delays and false starts, is said to have signalled a transition of the Van Diemen’s Land colony from penal outpost to civilised society. It heralded a new start, following the end of transportation and the renaming of the colony as ‘Tasmania’. It also illustrated a shift from colonial style architecture to the more ostentatious Victorian style of the day. English novelist Anthony Trollope wrote of the building in 1873: ‘It is, I believe, acknowledged to be the best belonging to any British Colony … it lacks for nothing necessary for a perfect English residence.’ More than one hundred and fifty years after it was built, Government House still successfully fills its role as a grand residence for the governor of Tasmania and his or her spouse. It also houses offices for the governor’s staff and is the distinguished setting for formal hospitality such as state dinners, receptions and investitures. Bedrooms are always on stand-by for visiting royalty, heads of state and ambassadors.The fascination that Tasmanians have with this building is demonstrated by the thousands who turn up for its annual open day, some of whom come faithfully every year. The first governor to reside in this palatial abode, Sir Henry Fox Young, moved in on 2 January 1858. The erection of the new building came about after fifty years of complaints about the previous government house, which by contrast was considered one of the worst vice-regal lodgings in the British Empire. That building was located near Hobart’s Franklin Square and started out as a crude brick cottage for Lieutenant Governor David Collins.

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The complaints began in 1809 when William Bligh, of mutiny on the Bounty notoriety, stayed for a brief period following his deposition as New South Wales governor in the Rum Rebellion. Bligh described it as a ‘poor miserable shell, of three rooms, the walls a single brick thick, and neither wind nor water proof, lately built and without conveniences’. New South Wales Governor in chief Lachlan Macquarie agreed in 1811, declaring it absolutely necessary that a new government house be built in Hobart Town as soon as the means of the government allowed. He even selected a site for the building on a hill overlooking Macquarie Point—where the Hobart Cenotaph is now located—for its commanding views over the River Derwent and the town. Instead, sadly, only further patch-up jobs, additions and alterations were made to the existing building. By 1825 Lieutenant Governor George Arthur complained: ‘The building … was in such a ruinous state on my entering it that Colonel Sorell assured me he was always in the greatest alarm when it blew hard, fearing it would come down and bury his family in the ruins.’ Arthur managed to secure agreement from London to construct a new government house on the site recommended by Macquarie so many years earlier; however, this site was now reserved for a battery so the present location, nearby Pavilion Point, was chosen instead. Government architect John Lee Archer drew up plans for an elegant new building with a classical portico entrance. Soon after some initial quarrying work began at the site it was decided to abandon construction of a new building and instead to add more rooms to the existing government house again.

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Its completion in 1858, after four decades of delays and false starts, is said to have signalled a transition of the Van Diemen’s Land colony from penal outpost to civilised society. 02

01 The Royal Coat of Arms on the southern facade. 02 The seventy-one-room neo-Gothic mansion is one of the finest vice-regal residences in the Commonwealth. 03 The immaculate grounds cover more than 4 hectares and five full-time gardeners are employed to maintain them.

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It wasn’t until 1840 that permission was once more granted for a new government house to be built. Governor Sir John Franklin ensured that a foundation stone at Pavilion Point was laid immediately, even though it was two further years before a design for the building was approved. James Blackburn, an architect and engineer who was transported to Van Diemen’s Land for forgery, designed an enormous castle-like government house with three large sections joined by corridors. The main building was to be the residential block, flanked on the right by an administrative wing and on the left by a ballroom. Eight Corinthian columns were to grace the entrance to the main building. Blackburn estimated that by using stone quarried on site and convict labour the cost of the new building would not exceed £14,593. The plans were approved in March 1842, and Blackburn was engaged as superintendent. Work at last began on the new vice-regal abode Macquarie had proposed over thirty years previously. In May 1842 architect William Porden Kay arrived in the colony—it is said at the urging of his uncle, Governor Franklin and his wife, as they were unimpressed that the two leading architects in Hobart at the time, Blackburn and James Thomson, had both been convicts. Amid accusations of nepotism, Kay was appointed Director of Public Works and requested that work on the new government house stop while he undertook an assessment of the cost and suitability of Blackburn’s design. Blackburn was subsequently ordered to discontinue work so that a new building could be erected from a design by Kay. Walls that had already been built to Blackburn’s design were torn down. Because of a deteriorating economy, it wasn’t until 1855 that

04 Gardens surround the main tower, which features the first public clock in the colony.

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05 One of the four statues at the end of the long hallway. This figure represents the city of Dublin. She is wearing a coronet atop a shamrock wreath, and in her left hand is an Irish harp, decorated with the female winged figure popular in the nineteenth century.

work finally commenced on Kay’s government house. This one was completed and the building that stands today is rightfully considered his masterpiece. The body of the building is of brown sandstone, contrasting with white sandstone for the quoins, window surrounds and window mullions. Much of the sandstone was quarried on site; the main quarry has been turned into a delightful ornamental lake. Exterior features include two-storey bay windows, three towers—two with castellated parapets—individually carved chimney pots and gargoyles. The Royal Coat of Arms adorns the southern facade of the building, and at the western tower entrance to the building is a bas-relief of the Great Seal of Van Diemen’s Land. Timber used for joinery included local woods, cedar from New South Wales and teak from the convict hulk Anson, which was moored in the River Derwent and used to house female convicts for six years from 1844. Slate for the roof was brought out from Wales. The clock in the main tower, from where the flag flies to indicate the governor is in residence, was the first public clock in the colony and was initially housed in the tower of a Hobart church. By 1857 Kay turned his attention to furnishings and fittings for the new building. He insisted that much should be ordered from England, as there was nothing in Old Government House that he considered fit for the new residence apart from a few chairs. Some £6000 was paid to Trollope and Sons, London decorators to Her Majesty, for furniture and decoration of the new government house, much of which remains in

06 State dinners are held in the dining room, which is decorated with handpainted ceiling panels. 07 The intimate French-style boudoir, where ladies retired after dinner. The French wallpaper is handpainted.

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08 The ornate fountain outside the southern facade of the residence. This lawn affords sweeping views of the River Derwent. 09 The many rooms leading off the main hallway on the first floor of the house are filled with priceless art and furniture. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

10 Portraits of current and former members of the Royal Family hang throughout the house. 11 The acoustics of the grand ballroom are so fine that musical groups often record there. 12 Some six thousand pounds was paid to Trollope and Sons of London for furniture and decoration of the new Government House, much of which remains in use today. 13 One of several grand pianos in the building.

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daily use today. Ironically, though, it is the pieces that date back to Old Government House that are considered the most significant in its important collection of paintings and furniture. Several items inside Government House were designed in the style of the brilliant Gothic revival architect and designer Augustus Pugin. The wallpaper in the ballroom is a direct copy of the wallpaper Pugin designed for the interior of the House of Lords in London. Minton tiles line the entry hall, which leads into a long main hallway graced by elegant arches and natural light provided by an atrium. At the end are four life-size statues: one of Queen Victoria, the others representing Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin. The main dining room, where state dinners are held, is decorated with handpainted ceiling panels. The panels contain the arms of England, Scotland and Ireland and have been restored over time by conservators from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The dining room opens onto a small ante drawing room and then the main drawing room, which has elaborate plasterwork ceiling and ornate furnishings. Off this room is an intimate French-style boudoir, to where the ladies could retire. It features handpainted French wallpaper and renaissance-style cupids painted on the ceiling. The largest of the state rooms is the ballroom, which is most often used today for receptions and investitures. Its vast floor is constructed entirely of Huon pine, and above is a decorated vaulted ceiling. Three large mirrors on the dais were the largest in the southern hemisphere when they were installed. A beautiful double-glazed

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Some £6000 was paid to Trollope and Sons, London decorators to Her Majesty, for furniture and decoration of the new government house, much of which remains in daily use today. 13

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14 A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. 15 The body of the building was constructed from brown sandstone, much of which was quarried on site. 16 The main tower, where the flag flies to indicate the governor is in residence.

stained-glass window, depicting the Royal Arms, was lit internally by a gas jet so it could be seen at night. The window is now electrically lit. Three magnificent chandeliers hang in the ballroom, each of them containing 4117 pieces of Bohemian crystal that take a week to clean. They were made by F&C Osler, Birmingham, who was considered to be the most important chandelier manufacturer in the second half of the nineteenth century. They also created crystal furniture for the maharajahs’ palaces and the giant crystal fountain for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. The acoustics in the ballroom are so superb that the room is used from time to time by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and other musical groups to record CDs. It is not entirely clear who designed the ornate gardens of more than 4 hectares. Porden Kay’s name appears on the first known plan of the garden, although there is also an argument that it was the work of William Thomas. Whoever was responsible, their foresight in planting trees that would frame the building beautifully more than a century later is remarkable. Today, five full-time gardeners are required to maintain the gardens. The total cost of the new Government house and its furnishings was more than £67,000, well and truly blowing the expected £43,000 budget. Some costs were covered by the sale of materials from Old Government House, which was demolished. But the budget over-run meant the intended conservatory was not completed until 1991, when it was constructed based on Kay’s original drawings. Twenty-six governors and their spouses have resided in Government House since Sir Henry Fox Young moved in all those years ago. In an essay on British establishment aspirations titled ‘Government House, Tasmania’, Jessie Serle wrote: Beside daunting administrative duties, these representatives of the Crown were expected to give a lead in moral, social, intellectual and aesthetic matters, and in these areas, the island seems to have been in the shade, if not total eclipse, during most of the first 50 years of settlement. It was not until society had shaken down and a decent Government House had been built in the 1850s that the sun broke through and governors took their rightful place in the firmament.

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CULLENSWOOD Legge family home since the nineteenth century

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Cullenswood, a romantic Georgian rubble-stone mansion that has been home to the Legge family since the late 1820s, is tucked in a vast English-style park on the banks of the beautiful Break O’Day River. Successive generations of Legges have made their mark on this picturesque Fingal Valley farming property, and also in various other fields of service from the church to science and natural history, the military and civic affairs. Robert Vincent Legge, the Tasmanian family patriarch, came to Van Diemen’s Land in 1826 with his four sisters. The children of an Irish barrister who had fallen on tough times, they made the courageous decision to pack up a few precious belongings and start a new life on the other side of the world. The four sisters all married soon after their arrival in Hobart Town, enabling Robert to turn his attention to taking up a 607-hectare land grant. Government surveyor John Helder Wedge had recently described fertile plains to the west of the distinctive north-eastern Tasmanian peak St Patrick’s Head, inspiring Legge to head that way from Hobart with his small band of assigned convict servants and a flock of sheep. Just a few miles to the west of St Patricks Head, on the banks of the Break O’Day River, Legge found the land he was looking for and named it Cullenswood after his Irish home. The first few years in this cold, isolated and barely settled valley could not have been easy. According to historian Karl von Stieglitz, Robert’s first home at Cullenswood was nothing more than a hollow tree. But fast forward ten years and Legge had civilised Cullenswood sufficiently to return to Ireland in search of a wife. In 1839 he married Elizabeth La Penotiere, the daughter of John Richards Le Penotiere who, as commander of the schooner Pickle, had delivered the news back to England of Lord Nelson’s victory and mortal wounds in the Battle of Trafalgar.

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The newlyweds returned to Cullenswood and in the following year their twentyseven-room homestead was completed, complemented by fine rubble stone outbuildings and a sprawling garden down to the river’s edge. A religious man, Robert also built a beautiful Anglican church on his property in 1847 to provide a place of worship for his family, workers, tenant farmers and other residents of the small village that had sprung up on his land as well as parishioners in the district. Robert and Elizabeth had six children at Cullenswood, three of whom died young. They returned to England in 1853 with their surviving children and remained there for some time. Their eldest son, William Vincent Legge, was sent to Bath to be educated at the tender age of twelve and then to France and Germany, before being sent to Woolwich to train for the Royal Artillery while his parents returned home to Van Diemen’s Land. Thus began a distinguished military career for Colonel Legge, who served with imperial troops in Melbourne and Ceylon, and in Africa with Lord Baden Powell, before returning to Van Diemen’s Land to become lieutenant colonel and commandant of the Tasmanian military forces. There he trained troops for the Boer War and completed the installation of batteries on the River Derwent in Hobart that featured the most modern equipment available. Colonel Legge also had a lifelong interest in natural history. While in Ceylon, and as secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, he rejuvenated the run-down museum at Colombo. In 1880 he published the monumental work The History of the Birds of Ceylon. He also wrote the Systematic List of Tasmanian Birds in 1887.

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Colonel Legge farmed Cullenswood until his death in 1918. He is buried in the graveyard of the church his father built. 01 The rubble-stone buildings and surrounding gardens on the banks of the Break O’Day River. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

02 Rain falls on the barn set in the lush gardens of Cullenswood. 03 An early painting of Cullenswood that still hangs in the home. 04 Robert Vincent Legge built this church on the Cullenswood grounds to provide a place of worship for his family, the workers, tenant farmers and the small village on his land. It is still in use today.

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05 Portraits of Legge ancestors hang on Cullenswood’s walls. 06 Leadlight windows are among the many charming features of this home. 07 The current occupants of Cullenswood have attended diligently to the home’s maintenance and restoration.

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He was a member of various zoological, geographical and ornithological societies, including being the founding president of the Ornithologists Australia body. In 1907 the highest peak on the northern Tasmanian mountain Ben Lomond was named Legge Tor in his honour, as he laboured long and hard to ascertain the height of various peaks in this range. Colonel Legge farmed Cullenswood until his death in 1918. He is buried in the graveyard of the church his father built. Colonel Legge’s son Robert, who shared the love of birds and natural history, took over the management of Cullenswood after his father’s death. He and his wife, an acclaimed New Zealand contralto singer, accumulated a significant collection of Aboriginal stone artefacts and donated these to the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston. Robert Vincent Legge’s great-great-grandson Robert, the current owner of Cullenswood, has given untiring service to his community as a long-serving alderman and mayor of the Break O’Day Council. He and wife Jean gain a huge sense of pride from living in the home the Legge forebears built. Many old portraits of ancestors hang on the Cullenswood walls, alongside modern photographs of the more recent generations who will one day occupy this home. Various descendants have made physical impressions on the home, with a number of additions and internal and external changes over the years as well as diligently attending to maintenance and necessary restoration works. The most recent changes have transformed Cullenswood into a lighter, modern and warm abode. Some of the charming features of the home include its relatively small, elegant rooms enclosed by 45-centimetre-thick stone walls, leadlight windows, pressed tin ceilings and thick shutters to protect from bushranger attacks. The service wing of the

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08–09 Autumn in the vast English-style park adjoining the house. 10 The home has many small, elegant rooms. 11 One of the many ancestral portraits that hang in the home; alongside pictures of the latest generations of Legges at Cullenswood.

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The most recent changes have transformed Cullenswood into a more light, modern and warm abode.

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house, which included an old dairy and bacon hanging area, today has a number of modern uses, including accommodating the office from where Robert attends to his many mayoral duties. The Cullenswood outbuildings, rubble stone stables and coach house adjacent to the home are considered to be of major heritage interest as they are superbly constructed and totally intact. They are situated in an extensive park-like setting that conceals the home from view of passing traffic on the nearby Esk Highway and which features many exotic trees, including the biggest redwoods in Australia. Abutting the highway and just a couple of kilometres west of the township of St Mary’s is Christ Church Cullenswood and its rectory. Surrounding this pretty gothic bluestone building is a graveyard where many of the Tasmanian Legge family descendants lie. And while the church is no longer in regular use it has recently played host to family weddings and christenings, boding well for many more generations of Legges to come at Cullenswood.

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PANSHANGER Classic Georgian architecture

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The Archers of Van Diemen’s Land were once Tasmania’s greatest land-holding family. Thomas Archer, the head of the dynasty, came to the colony in 1813 and was successful enough to inspire his father and three brothers to also make the move. Before long the four Archer brothers had acquired huge wealth and tens of thousands of hectares of prime Tasmanian farmland. They constructed stately homesteads as a testament to their newfound affluence. Joseph Archer, the eldest of the brothers, arrived in Tasmania in 1821 and was granted over 800 hectares of land on the Lake River adjacent to brother Thomas’ estate of Woolmers. Joseph called it Panshanger after the seat of Earl Cowper in his home of Hertford. It was a name that suited the property, for Pan was the Greek god for shepherds and flocks and hanger meant a resting place on the side of a wooded hill. One of Panshanger’s many distinctive attributes is its striking setting at the top of a wooded hill that overlooks the Lake River. Joseph and his wife Elinor built their first home, a small brick cottage, in the 1820s. They upgraded to a stately sandstone homestead sometime between 1829 and 1835; no records exist to confirm the start and end of construction, but a lithograph of Panshanger by colonial artist W. Lyttleton is dated 1835. It depicts the homestead fully built, looking down over the river and across to an imposing castle-like pigeon tower that was designed as much to be eye-catching as to accommodate Archer’s message pigeons. The castellated pigeon tower is now located on another property across the river. It is thought the design of the Panshanger homestead was influenced by an Italian villa the Archers saw on a four-year sojourn to Europe although Edith Craig, in Early Houses of Northern Tasmania, writes: ‘In fact the classical style was the epitome of Georgian architecture (derived from early Greek and Roman forms).’

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01 Imposing gates to Panshanger: Pan was the Greek god for shepherds, and a hanger meant a resting place on the side of a hill, perfectly capturing Panshanger’s elevated position. 02 The neoclassical facade features seven bays and a four-pillar portico. 03 This pool was originally built as a pond for trout. 04 A quiet garden nook.

No architect for Panshanger has been discovered; however, its sophisticated facade suggests the handiwork of a trained professional, with its seven-bay neoclassical facade of sandstone and four-pillared portico set on a raised sandstone patio. The raised patio can be accessed from the cedar-shuttered windows that are set in each bay. The front door opens onto a grand entry foyer lined with unusual patterned sandstone pavers. On the left is a grand dining room with elaborate cedar joinery; on the right is a generously proportioned drawing room that features an exquisite white marble mantelpiece adorned with cupids. This is one of twelve original fireplaces in the home; one employee worked full-time just to keep the fires going. At the end of the entry foyer are four symmetrical cedar-panelled archways framing the cross hall that leads to the home’s northern and southern bedroom wings. The northern wing includes an 1860s addition of night and day nurseries built by Joseph Archer II to accommodate his growing brood. In front of the home an immaculately kept lawn slopes towards a line of trees and shrubs down to a kitchen garden on the banks of the river. Panshanger’s outbuildings include an imposing coach house and stables, convict cells and a highly elaborate brick water tower—castle-like in appearance and highly

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functional in its time as well. The water tower, with its castellated parapet, stored water that was pumped from the nearby river by a horse-powered pump into a Huon pine tank and then distributed to the homestead and gardens. It apparently doubled as a shelter for the Panshanger women if the men were away and there was any threat of a bushranger attack. At the turn of the century the tower was increased in height by one third with the addition of a lead-lined tank. An account in the Mercury of Panshanger in 1883, and reproduced in Craig’s Early Homes of Northern Tasmania, reads as follows:

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In front of the home an immaculately kept lawn slopes towards a line of trees and shrubs down to a kitchen garden on the banks of the river.

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Panshanger from the south has the appearance of a castle (being built on a knoll like nearly every homestead). The river answers for all purposes for a moat and is spanned by a bridge not too large for a drawbridge.

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05 The original brick cottage was linked to the homestead by the addition of a kitchen in the early twentieth century. 06 The Panshanger gardens are considered nationally significant. 07 The grand foyer, lined with unusual patterned sandstone pavers.

Above the dense foliage of willows that skirt the river bank a square battlemented tower raises its head and half-hidden behind pines and other trees the severe outline of the house is made out in the crest of a knoll … Panshanger house faces the east, is single storied, built of freestone on a raised terrace in the simplest Grecian style. The front rooms are lighted by double doors glazed from top to bottom, which open into the terrace two steps above its level ... The contour of the building in front is rigidly classic, not an angle being softened, nor straight line of frontage toned by the slightest departure. The wealth that enabled Archer and many other early farmers like him to construct such a fine home was generated in no small part by success at growing grain crops. The grain seed brought out from England was much more suited to the Tasmanian climate than that of New South Wales, and the Tasmanian harvest was able to save Sydney from starvation. Tasmania became known as the bread basket of the colony. As his prosperity in the colony grew so did Joseph’s prominence, and he became the first member for Longford in the Legislative Council. But he died suddenly in 1853, an event described by the Launceston Examiner as a ‘public calamity’. Among the 8 hectares of parkland and garden surrounding the homestead stands the obelisk wife Elinor erected in honour of Joseph after his death, where she said his

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08 The 8 hectares of parkland boasts pines, laurels, elms, oaks, beeches, lindens, cedars and silver birches, many of them planted by Maree Archer. 09 A cottage amongst the gardens. 10 The elaborate fireplace in the drawing room features a white marble mantelpiece adorned with cupids.

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11 The horse-operated cider press remains—in the 1850s Panshanger produced cider for the Victorian goldfields. 12 The castellated brick water tower doubled as a refuge for Panshanger women in the event of a bushranger attack. Water was pumped by horse power into a Huon pine tank in the tower from the nearby river, and then distributed to the homestead and gardens.

‘perseverance, energy and industry have rendered a large portion of the trackless wilds of this island productive by cultivation and introduced the habits and improvements of civilised life’. Joseph died childless and Panshanger passed to his favourite nephew Joseph Archer, the second surviving son of Thomas at Woolmers. Nephew Joseph added the nursery wing to the home to accommodate his nine children. The Archer dynasty faded over the years. In 1908, with no Archer sons interested in taking on the property, or perhaps in farming it with their notoriously difficult father, Panshanger was put on the market and bought by pioneering Queensland goldminer Thomas Mills as a wedding present for his son Charles. The story goes that Mills, who had started with nothing as a nineteen-year-old emigrant from England, sent Charles to seal the deal. Charles hired a horse and carriage and came to Panshanger dressed in his top hat and tails in order to create the right impression, as Archer was apparently only interested in selling it to a gentleman.

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By this time Panshanger had deteriorated. Many improvements were required after Charles returned to Panshanger from distinguished service in World War I, where he was second in command of the Third Australian Light Horse Regiment AIF. Gorse and rabbits had taken over the property. It was recorded in 1918 that some 120,000 rabbit skins were sold from Panshanger. Charles and his wife removed three attic rooms upstairs and joined the original brick cottage to the homestead, creating an internal kitchen in between. The gardens were rejuvenated and significant improvements were made to the farm, particularly when sons Maurice and Ernest took more of a managerial role and later under the management of current owner George Mills and his wife Maree. Forty loads of ironstone gravel were removed from a courtyard at the rear of the house to transform it into a courtyard garden; the orchards grow everything from walnuts to feijoas, and still boast the old 1850s horse-operated cider press from when Panshanger produced cider for the Victorian goldfields. Panshanger and its original 2023 hectares of farmland have been meticulously 12

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A major part of the appeal for Panshanger’s owners is its privacy, being accessed via treelined lanes that stretch many kilometres from the nearest public road and bordered on two sides by the Lake River. 16

13 An outbuilding on the Lake River banks. 14 The clean, dramatic and austere symmetry of Panshanger’s Greek revival facade. 15 Panshanger is a very private estate: this tree-lined lane stretches many kilometres to the nearest public road, and the Lake River forms the boundary to half the property. 16 The imposing two-storey coach house.

maintained and developed by the Mills family ever since their purchase. The farm is today considered to be one of Tasmania’s best, while the gardens are nationally significant. The parkland surrounding Panshanger homestead includes many trees that were planted by the Archers, such as pines, laurels, elms and oaks, and many more added by Maree that have now matured such as beeches, lindens, cedars and silver birches. A major part of the appeal for Panshanger’s owners is its privacy, being accessed via tree-lined lanes that stretch many kilometres from the nearest public road and bordered on two sides by the Lake River. A spacious wing of the house has been converted into a luxury bed and breakfast, so the public can experience its grandeur. More information can be found at www.panshanger.com.

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HAMILTON OLD SCHOOLHOUSE The school at the heart of the town

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Hamilton is an historic farming hamlet on the banks of the Clyde River, in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley and Highlands. The town was settled in 1821 and swelled as some of the new colony’s wealthiest individuals were granted large swathes of farming land in the surrounding district. By the late 1850s, Hamilton boasted several pubs and breweries, a church and several shops. It was at this time that the local community began clamouring for a public school. According to an Archives Office of Tasmania report dated 1963, the secretary to the Southern Board of Education wrote to the colonial secretary on 15 July 1857, asking that the government grant it an unsold block of Crown land for a school. Local residents had raised 150 pounds towards the cost, and the government would contribute a further 300 pounds. The land was granted soon afterwards and the building erected in 1859 at a cost of 750 pounds. The imposing two-storey sandstone building with gothic features, twelve-paned windows and a stone bellcote, has been a significant part of the Hamilton community and streetscape ever since. The schoolhouse was built for the children of the labouring classes in Hamilton. In the early years attendance was not compulsory—many working-class children apparently didn’t go to school because child labour was so prevalent at the time. Nonetheless, an Education Department report dated 1863 showed that the Hamilton school had 70 students. The report said: The children are steadily advancing, and having been well taught for three years, they are much above the average of country schools. 40 write, the elder

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ones very fairly. 31 do geography, 22 arithmetic. 20 girls learn sewing. History is taught orally, as well as singing. The order in the School is admirable. The answering of the head class is very good. The schoolhouse at Hamilton is a new and excellent building, and the tuition is thoroughly satisfactory. In some respects, especially in arrangement and discipline, this School is a model. The inhabitants take interest in its working and it is very well attended by the Church of England clergyman, the Rev G Wright, and has many visitors. The Master is able, zealous and fond of study. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

Up until the 1930s, classes were conducted in one large room occupying most of the building’s lower floor—the headmaster and his family lived in the rest of the building. There was no front entrance to the schoolhouse—just two side entrances, one for girls, the other for boys. In the 1930s, the Hamilton school relocated to a weatherboard building next door and the old sandstone schoolhouse became solely the headmaster’s residence. At this time, the front entrance to the building was created, the two side entrances were filled in and the single classroom was converted into two substantial living areas, separated by a wide hallway. But in the 1960s, the building was abandoned. It had become so derelict that the Education Department threatened to bulldoze it. At this the Hamilton community sprang into action to save the old schoolhouse, forming the Hamilton Schoolhouse Preservation Committee and raising almost one thousand dollars for urgent repairs to stabilise it. 04

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By the late 1850s, Hamilton boasted several pubs and breweries, a church and several shops. It was at this time that the local community began clamouring for a public school.

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01 The Hamilton schoolhouse was erected in 1859 after popular demand for a school in the prospering farming district. Residents raised 150 pounds towards the cost. 02 The Wards replaced the bellcote as part of their restoration of the ruined schoolhouse. 03 Until the 1930s, the headmaster and family occupied the first floor of the schoolhouse. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

04 Using old sandstone and convict bricks from other historic buildings in Hamilton that had been recently demolished, the Wards built a perimeter fence, rear courtyard and sympathetic outbuildings.

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05 The twelve-paned windows look onto the verdant farming land of the Derwent Valley and highlands, on the bank of the Clyde River. 06 A nod to the rich pastoral tradition of Hamilton and surrounds. 07 The new staircase built by the Wards—the original had fallen apart.

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Then, with the Education Department’s blessing, they placed an advertisement for its sale, hoping that new owners would take care of the rest. In November 1971, young Sydney couple Jan and Harry Ward were visiting Tasmania when they saw the ad for the derelict building. The ad, which touted the old schoolhouse as the ideal place for an arts and crafts tourism venture, immediately appealed to painter–weaver Jan and photographer–woodturner Harry. Despite the work to be done, the Wards agreed to buy it as soon as they saw it. They returned to Sydney to quit their jobs, pack up all their worldly possessions and prepare to move to a town for which the main attraction to tourists, at the time, was that it was located on the main road between Hobart and the state’s west coast. But in between the Wards agreeing to buy the building and returning to Hamilton to complete the transaction, the Education Department had a change of heart and decided it was only prepared to lease the building rather than sell it. A telegram to this effect was dispatched to the Wards, but they never received it. The Wards only learned the sale had fallen through when they arrived in Hamilton with all their belongings. They settled for a lease and proceeded to pour their hearts and money into the building’s restoration. It was a herculean task. One of the reasons the building had been abandoned in the 1960s was the staircase to the second storey had fallen apart. When the Wards first arrived, they had to go up the stairwell on a rope. Bit by bit, they restored the ruin. They built a new staircase, plumbed the building and added bathrooms, repaired walls that were falling down, stripped the paint off the floorboards, replaced the bellcote and, using old sandstone and convict bricks

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08 In the 1930s, the front entrance to the building was created, the two side entrances were filled in and the single classroom was converted into two substantial living areas, separated by a wide hallway. 09–10 Autumn in the gardens surrounding the Hamilton schoolhouse. 11 An Act of Parliament was required to allow the schoolhouse to be sold.

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from recently demolished historic buildings in Hamilton, built a perimeter fence, rear courtyard and sympathetic outbuildings. The Wards operated a Devonshire tea room and art gallery from the Old Schoolhouse for about five years, bore their children there, and became well-known figures in the local community. Eventually they convinced the government to sell the Old Schoolhouse to them, which required a special Act of Parliament. Before long, however, they had to sell, finding that making a living out of tourism in this part of the world at that time was no easy task. The building has changed hands several times since, operating for many years as a successful bed and breakfast establishment. In 2008, the Old Schoolhouse was bought by London husband and wife Mark Belcher and Lisa Grosser, who wanted a change of lifestyle for themselves and their two young children. They made the Old Schoolhouse their family home, transforming the two front rooms into a grand living area and well-proportioned office. A modern kitchen is downstairs, while four bedrooms and four bathrooms are located on the second and third floors, where the headmaster and his family used to reside. The Belchers provide bed and breakfast accommodation in one of the sandstone outbuildings and the 1930s weatherboard school. Although the Hamilton school relocated to a new site in town many years before eventually closing altogether, the Old Schoolhouse retains a special significance for the people of Hamilton and there’s never any shortage of passers-by stopping to see where their forebears once went to learn.

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ASHBY Two houses in one

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Ashby was originally convict built in 1838 for Arthur Leake, one of six sons of pioneering pastoralist John Leake. The Leake family arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1823 with a handful of Saxon merino sheep from Germany, and settled on an 809-hectare land grant at Campbell Town in the Northern Midlands that was named Rosedale. John Leake promptly left for Hobart to forge a career as a banker while his eldest son William ran Rosedale, before the two switched places some years later. John Leake accumulated significant additional land-holdings in the Midlands as his wealth and influence grew. Two of his other sons moved to South Australia; another moved to Victoria where he practised medicine. The youngest, Charles, eventually farmed Rosedale and was instrumental in establishing the Campbell Town water supply from the lake named in his honour. Arthur, meanwhile, went farming at Ashby and on an adjoining property, Lewisham. A conservatory and side wing were subsequently added to the original four-room, two-storey house. Numerous outbuildings were also constructed from bricks made on the property. Arthur established a sheep stud at Ashby using stock from the Rosedale flock, and the property has produced wool ever since. Arthur did not have children of his own but adopted his niece Letitia following his brother Edward’s death. When Arthur died in 1890 he left Letitia a wealthy heiress. Twelve months later she married Sydney man Charles Billyard; their wedding at Ashby was unlike anything the district had ever seen. In A Short History of Ross historian Karl von Stieglitz wrote: Never had such a wedding been seen in Ross as that of Miss Letitia. After the main ceremony and breakfast were over, everyone, rich and poor, in the district

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01 Leadlight windows in the Victorian wing of the house. 02 The impressive Victorian two-storey ‘extension’ to the original Georgian structure. It features a rusticated stone facade, a gable and flag mast, bay windows, a cast-iron verandah and a porch with a carved keystone on its arch. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

03 The next generation of Bennetts of Ashby: Alice, Percy and Dougal. 04 The original front door into the Georgian wing of the house.

was invited to Ashby to eat and drink to the bride’s health. The festivities continued with dancing and merriment for a whole week. The Billyard-Leakes, as they became known, left after the wedding for New South Wales and later England. Ashby was put on the market and was leased for a time before it was bought by merino breeder William Henry Bennett, who farmed the neighbouring 2306-hectare property Bloomfield. When Bennett bought Ashby in the early 1900s he decided that extensions to the homestead were in order. The original house was a fine example of early Georgian architecture but was too small for Bennett’s family, comprising wife Sarah and five children. Bennett’s renovation was hardly low key. He built an imposing two-storey building that became the new front half, while the original homestead became the back half and the two sections were connected by a two-storey infill. The new part of the home was in striking Victorian style, with a rusticated stone facade, gable and flag mast, bay windows, cast-iron lace verandah, porch with carved keystone on its arch and two-paned windows. It contrasted starkly with the classic Georgian architecture on the original side, which had a convict brick and stucco facade, simple two-storey pilasters on the corners and nine- and eighteen-paned windows. That the house contains two such distinct architectural styles that work so well together makes Ashby unique. Inside, it’s hard to pick which part is which as one section moves seamlessly into the other, although the different window styles are an

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excellent guide and apparently the Georgian section was better built, requiring far less maintenance that the newer half. There was something of an interlude to the Bennett ownership of Ashby during World War II. Ross, the nearby village, was home to a military camp during the war and soldiers either commandeered or were offered Ashby as quarters. Officers moved into the homestead, while lesser-ranking soldiers dug trenches through the immaculate gardens and slept next to them in tents. Maude and Alfred Bennett, who were living in Ashby at the time, relocated to Launceston, apparently being so afraid that the Japanese would invade and take it that they burnt much of their furniture. Maude’s brother Arthur Bennett and his wife Ethel remained on the farm in a weatherboard cottage near the house. When the Bennetts returned to Ashby the entire side wing of the house was in such a state of disrepair it had to be pulled down, along with the conservatory. Around this time Arthur and Ethel’s son Percy moved into Ashby with his wife Mollie. They had three children; one son, Richard, went on to live in the house with his wife Jill and their three children Pip, Will and Sarah. Today it is Will, his wife Nina and their three children Alice, Percy and Dougal who live at Ashby and farm the 2832-hectare grazing and cropping property. The Bennetts of Ashby have always been highly innovative farmers, and while Richard was at the helm the farm expanded and diversified from wool into cropping under irrigation. Will Bennett has developed the irrigation further while also taking 04

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05 Hamish the labrador and the stunning vista from the house. 06 Here the stucco wall of the original Georgian construction and the stone exterior of the Victorian addition meet. 07 The graceful cast-iron lace verandah on the Victorian section of the home, surrounded by flourishing gardens. 08 The elaborate Victorian lock and bell on the front door.

That the house contains two such distinct architectural styles that work so well together makes Ashby unique. merino breeding on the farm into the twenty-first century through a partnership with the New South Wales Yalgoo Stud. As far as Ashby is concerned, successive generations of Bennetts have always maintained a firm belief that they are simply caretakers for the next generation. As a result the homestead is in immaculate condition, as are the extensive grounds that include perfectly manicured gardens, a tennis court and a market-sized vegetable garden. A modern country kitchen and a large living area are located downstairs in the original Georgian section of the home, which features cedar joinery, ornate ceilings and stunning eighteen-paned windows that open onto the back verandah.

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09 The back verandah, graced by eighteen-pane windows. A modern country kitchen and large living area are located at the rear of the house. 10 The carved keystone on the entry porch features a lion’s head motif as well as the year of construction, 1904. 11 The original hand-drawn map of the farm.

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12 The old scoreboard for billiards rests in the dedicated billiards room, filled with trophies for sheep and equestrian events, in the Victorian part of the house. 13 The grand, ornate pressed-tin ceiling in the living room.

Ross was home to a military camp during the war, and soldiers either commandeered or were offered Ashby as quarters. Officers moved into the homestead, while lesser-ranking soldiers dug trenches through the immaculate gardens and slept next to them in tents. A formal dining room and billiards room filled with trophies for sheep and equestrian events is part of the Victorian section downstairs. Linking these two rooms is a flamboyant entry foyer, a vast hallway featuring imposing pillars and a front door surrounded by leadlight incorporating the Bennett family motto With good will serve the king. Bedrooms, modern bathrooms and an office are all on the first floor in both the Georgian and Victorian sections of the house. Just as the Georgian ‘Leake’ section of Ashby merges so well with the Victorian ‘Bennett’ part, so too today have the Leake and Bennett families. Nina is a Leake whose father hails from South Australia. It is to South Australia that two of Arthur Leake’s brothers moved about the time he went farming at Ashby, although to date no direct family link has been established.

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14 Victorian cast-iron lace on the facade. 15 The generously proportioned entry hall with its imposing colonnades. 16 The magnificent outlook from the Ashby homestead, which has seen highly innovative farming practices: from wool to cropping under irrigation to merino breeding. 14

As far as Ashby is concerned, successive generations of Bennetts have always maintained a firm belief that they are simply caretakers for the next generation.

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SHENE Stables so grand

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The stables at Shene are a Tasmanian heritage icon. The massive two-storey Gothic stone building, complete with three-storey tower, was built in the 1850s as a monument to the huge wealth of the owner, lawyer Gamaliel Butler. The stables have often overshadowed the homestead at Shene; in fact, while many Tasmanians are familiar with the stables, which can be seen from the nearby Midland Highway, some are not even aware they sit in the surrounds of a sprawling 1830s homestead. Shene is located in the Bagdad Valley, in Tasmania’s Southern Midlands, and was once a major wheat-growing, orchard and sheep-grazing enterprise. The land was originally granted to Edward Paine, said to have been a grandson of England’s King George III (through a morganatic marriage between his grandmother Hannah Lightfoot and George III). Any royal connections were no help to Paine when he faced bankruptcy as a merchant in London, and in 1819 he left for Van Diemen’s Land to explore new business opportunities. Upon arrival he was granted 323 hectares of land near Bagdad. Paine returned briefly to London, there marrying Gamaliel’s sister Georgina. It is thought that Butler lent Paine some money to establish himself in the new colony. Buoyed by Paine’s reports of the business opportunities in Van Diemen’s Land, Butler and a business partner invested the staggering sum of £10,000 in a shipment of sugar to the colony, where the commodity was in short supply. When Paine and his new wife returned to Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 they were granted an additional 485 hectares of land. But just three weeks later, Paine drowned in the Derwent River when a small boat he was travelling in to inspect more land capsized. His wife was six months pregnant at the time. Butler made arrangements from London to lease out Shene and in 1824—perhaps to check on the welfare of his sister, or more likely the fate of his cargo of sugar—he

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and his wife Sarah came to Van Diemen’s Land. It is thought their visit was only ever intended to be brief, as they left their six young children behind, but the potential he saw in the new colony inspired him to stay. He soon established his own legal practice, the forerunner to Butler McIntyre and Butler, now the oldest continually operating law firm in Australia. He became a director of the Bank of Van Diemen’s Land in 1829 and was also associated with the Commercial Bank. Butler started farming Shene in 1828; the homestead was built around two years later as the Butler country residence. Shene homestead is virtually unchanged today. Set in mature English gardens surrounded by oaks, elms and thousands of old daffodil bulbs, the homestead is an elegant single-storey Georgian Regency–style residence built of sandstone. It features original French doors to flagstone-paved verandahs. The front door has sidelights and a fanlight and opens onto an internal hallway so long and wide previous owners have likened it to a Hobart city street. There are five bedrooms and sitting, dining and living areas with pressed tin ceilings, extensive cedar joinery and fireplaces of marble and blackwood. A sunroom was added later on. Butler’s Hobart residence was the Battery Point mansion Stowell, which he bought from Colonial Secretary John Montagu for £6000. He also accumulated numerous land-holdings around Hobart and other parts of the state through the purchase of location orders from settlers who preferred to exchange their land grants for ready capital. Described as a man of forthright personality and sharp business acumen, he 04

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01 The Shene homestead and stables now sit on 12.5 hectares of land. 02 The single-storey Georgian Regency manor was built in about 1830. 03 The internal hallway is so long and wide it has been likened to a Hobart city street. 04 The kitchen is being returned to its original location at the back of the house, within a section believed to date back to 1822.

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Set in mature English gardens surrounded by oaks, elms and thousands of old daffodil bulbs, the homestead is an elegant single-storey Georgian Regency–style residence built of sandstone. It features original French doors to flagstone-paved verandahs.

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also attracted enemies; leading Van Diemen’s Land civil servant and diarist George Boyes described Butler as one of the ‘richest lawyers and greatest rogues in the country’. By 1874 Butler’s land-holdings around Shene alone totalled 9300 hectares. Butler and his wife had six more children in Van Diemen’s Land. The first six children left behind in London also eventually settled in Van Diemen’s Land as adults; two daughters married early settlers, two sons followed their father into the law, one son achieved eminence as a surgeon, politician and educationalist, and the other, Francis Butler, was an architect. It was Francis who designed the stables at Shene. His other works include the former Memorial Uniting Church and Commercial Bank buildings in Hobart.

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05 The dining room, with its decorative ceiling and blackwood fireplace. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

06 One of the five bedrooms in the Shene homestead. 07 The cedar shutters in the dining room are opened to let in light.

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Built of white Brighton stone in Victorian Gothic style, the building’s three transecting gables and octagonal three-storey tower make a significant impression on the surrounding farming landscape. Inside the eastern end are seven giant cobblestoned stable bays with a hay loft upstairs. Cantilevered stone staircases connected to hay lofts bookend the building, and a stone spiral staircase winds up to the tower above the stables. The keeper of the stables resided in a small room on the first floor with a fireplace. There is also a tack room and a coach house, one section of which was converted to shearing quarters in the 1950s. Francis Butler also designed a major renovation of the Shene homestead; it is believed a second storey was to be added and the scale of the home was intended to equal that of the stables, but the advent of the Victorian gold rush and subsequent exodus of cheap labour from Van Diemen’s Land put an end to that proposal. Gamaliel died in 1852; after the death of his wife Sarah in 1870 Shene and the surrounding Butler land were put up for auction. The main homestead block comprising some 2830 hectares was purchased by Maurice Weston, and subsequently passed through the Hillyard, Munnings and Fhelberg families. Shene became renowned for its fine merino fleece and today is highly regarded for its fat lambs and cattle.

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08 A member of ‘Team Shene’—as the family dogs are called—highlights the scale of the upstairs section of the grand stables. 09 The Gothic two-storey building, built from white Brighton sandstone, is a Tasmanian icon. 10 Some of the seven cobble-stoned stable bays. 11 The view from a Gothic-style arched stable window of the surrounding countryside. 12 One of the rooms in the original, back section of the homestead.

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In 2006 the Shene homestead and stable complex, totalling 12.5 hectares, were bought by a Queensland couple who fell in love with the property when they saw it advertised for sale on the internet. David and Anne Kernke are passionate about heritage properties and have won several awards for conservation of heritage homes in Queensland. They are undertaking extensive conservation work on the homestead and stables, the initial focus being to rectify drainage problems. Their excavations of layers of silt and mud have uncovered a large network of convict built drains around the buildings. The stables have been completely re-pointed and, although the homestead was in excellent structural condition, restoration work will return the kitchen to its original location at the back of the house alongside the meat hanging room and outdoor laundry, within the first section of the homestead believed to have been built around 1822. Owning Shene brings with it a big responsibility, which the Kernkes keenly feel. Their mission is to preserve Shene for future generations and promote its heritage values to the public.

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Built of white Brighton stone in Victorian Gothic style, the building’s three transecting gables and octagonal three-storey tower make a significant impression on the surrounding farming landscape. Inside the eastern end are seven giant cobble-stoned stable bays with a hay loft upstairs.

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Cantilevered stone staircases connected to hay lofts bookend the building, and a stone spiral staircase winds up to the tower above the stables. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

13 The magnificent stables can be seen from the Midland Highway. 14 The stone spiral staircase, which winds up the octagonal tower above the stables. 15 The imposing three-storey tower. 16 The northern end of the stable complex. 17 Decorative stone detail atop the roof. The stables have been completely re-pointed. 18 As a farm, Shene was renowned for its fine Merino fleece. Today, the 12.5-hectare holding is home to some pampered pet sheep.

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BOWOOD Farmhouse chic

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With its endless white sandy beaches, Bridport in north-eastern Tasmania is known for its fishing and tourism, but also for successful vegetable farming. It wasn’t always so: in 1883, the Guide to Excursionists, North East Tasmania said: ‘Bridport is of value solely as a port, the soil is worthless and barren in the extreme, not a blade of feed or greenstuff can be got.’ But many farmers have proved that statement wrong, and none more so than the three families who have called Bowood home over the last one hundred and seventy years. Located about 5 kilometres south-west of Bridport, the original Bowood land grant was for 202 hectares to Peter Brewer in 1838. Brewer arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1824. He became one of the first settlers in this region when he leased land in the Midlands area before being granted Bowood. In 1838 Brewer commenced construction of a ten-room homestead, utilising the services of an ex-convict carpenter and an American stonemason who had deserted from a sealer’s ship. The building took six years to complete whereupon Brewer, his wife and six children moved into a handsome abode of handmade brick, local stone, pit-sawn timber and cedar joinery. Bowood became a major hub of farming and business activity. The Brewers established a store on the property to supply surveyors and new settlers moving through the region, and Bridport’s first post office was established there in 1864. The Brewers also added significantly to their land-holdings, acquiring and leasing many thousands of hectares across the entire north-eastern region for sheep and cattle grazing. Bowood was sold to George and Madge Hirst in 1938. They made significant improvements to the farm, and increased the size of their holdings to 3845 hectares when they acquired surrounding properties. They made several extensions to the

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existing homestead and also developed the Bowood gardens. The property was passed on to David Hirst and John and Philippa Hirst before being sold in 2005 for only the second time in its history. Stephen and Jane Creese, the current custodians, operate a number of northeastern Tasmanian farming properties comprising about 8000 hectares. The operation focuses on the cropping of potatoes, poppies and grass-seed as well as beef and prime lambs. At the time of the Bowood purchase they had already engaged an architect to draw up plans for a new house on one of their other farms, but their latest acquisition saw those plans thrown out the window as they bravely decided instead to renovate the old homestead, the oldest building in the Bridport area. Jane Creese had never lived in an old house or undertaken a renovation before, but she had firm ideas of the outcome—she wanted a comfortable family home first and foremost showcasing the history of the property but also incorporating modern design features. In order to understand the idiosyncrasies of the home and get the best out of it for the future, the Creeses believed it was essential to live in Bowood for a year before starting any work on a revamp. They brought in one of Tasmania’s most acclaimed architects, Robert Morris-Nunn, to design a renovation to development application stage. Those twelve months were challenging, and when the plans were underway the Creeses relocated to another farm. 04

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The resulting transformation of Bowood has been nothing short of astounding. The Creeses have turned an old farmhouse into a beacon of style, seamlessly blending the old with the very latest in modern design. Over the years, Bowood had grown from the initial homestead and external kitchen into a large homestead that incorporated several additions. The renovation involved paring the complex right back to the original dwelling and kitchen and rebuilding some of those additions. To link the homestead to the original kitchen (now a dining room), a modern glass walkway sunroom was added at the back of the homestead. Off one end of the walkway an entire new bedroom–guest wing was constructed. Off the external kitchen a new kitchen, living and family wing was built. The exterior render was removed to reveal beautiful handmade bricks that were re-pointed. A local joiner was engaged to faithfully copy the original cedar doors and frames, which needed replacing. One of the outside doors in this section began life

01 Exterior render was removed to reveal handmade bricks which have now been re-pointed. 02 The kitchen is light, bright and modern, with all mod cons and a series of skylights which bring the room to life. 03 Modern art dominates the walls, and the rustic touches seamlessly blend with modern design.

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The Creeses have turned an old farmhouse into a beacon of style, seamlessly blending the old with the very latest in modern design.

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04 Pit-sawn timber floorboards contrast with modern chandeliers in the original homestead, now the family’s sleeping quarters.

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05 With garden designer Paul Bangay as inspiration, the Creeses are renovating the gardens. 06 Every corner boasts a design feature. 07 The sweep of the driveway leading away from Bowood.

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as a window and incredibly, during the renovation, builders found the old sandstone windowsill buried under a palm tree. The Creeses were thrilled to return it to its rightful place. The original homestead is now the family’s sleeping quarters. Here, modern chandeliers contrast with beautifully polished pit-sawn timber floorboards and the original south-facing front door adorned with fanlight and sidelights. On one of the glass panes the original occupant, Peter Brewer, had engraved his initials. Every room in the house has a design feature—from the concrete benches in the kitchen to the long, raised marble fireplace in the formal sitting room, to the huge steel beams in the sunroom and the extravaganza of Italian travertine tile in the luxurious en suite bathroom. Five hundred square metres of Tasmanian sandstone has been laid throughout the house, and atop it sit many superb antiques acquired largely in Oatlands, Tasmania. Stephen’s mother Pam Creese has had a major impact on the renovation. She made most of the soft furnishings, acted as chief consultant to the builders (owing to her extensive renovation experience) and she has performed tasks ranging from tile grouting to staining woodwork. The interior design of Bowood was left predominantly to Jane, who has a love of both modern design and antiques. She worked out exactly what she wanted in each room of the house, and was determined to attain it even if it meant countless hours scouring the internet trying to find the right design at the right price.

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08 A modern chandelier overlooks framed artwork in the original homestead. 09 A glass sunroom walkway links the homestead with the new bedroom–guest wing and the original kitchen, which is now the dining room. 10 The old blacksmith’s shop is full of interesting old trinkets.

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11 The gardens are park-like, filled with beautiful old trees. 12 The Creeses bravely tackled the renovation of the original homestead, with resounding success.

It was with the soft furnishings where Jane’s rigorous searching paid some of its best dividends. By purchasing direct from the country of origin she was able to bring out Ralph Lauren, Designers Guild and Liberty fabrics for a fraction of the normal cost. These were used to cover everything from bed heads to doonas and the chic lounges in the walkway sunroom area. Modern art dominates the walls, heavily favouring Australian contemporary artists such as Geoff Dyer, Melissa Egan and Boyd Sanday. The garden surrounding Bowood is park like and filled with many beautiful old trees, including an unusual one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old pear tree. Using garden designer Paul Bangay for inspiration, the Creeses are enhancing the surrounds using simple themes. Stephen and Jane have had three children since they moved to Bowood, only adding to the impressiveness of what they have managed to achieve with the old farmhouse. It literally is an oasis at the epicentre of their thriving north-eastern farm holdings, on a property that throughout its history has played a major role in the development of agriculture in this region.

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She worked out exactly what she wanted in each room of the house, and was determined to attain it even if it meant countless hours scouring the internet trying to find the right design at the right price. 13 The dining room, with its rough-beamed ceiling, has a wonderful rustic feel. Pendant lamps illuminate the table. 14 Chic lounges in the sunroom. 15 Bowood is every bit a vibrant family home. Olivia Creese is one of three children born to Stephen and Jane since they moved here. 16 Elegance and warmth unite in the children’s rooms. 15

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FULHAM Surrounded by the sea

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Its stunning seaside location has always set Fulham apart from other sheep farms. The 1214-hectare property at Dunalley in Tasmania’s south-east abuts the pristine, turquoise waters of Norfolk Bay, where whales sometimes frolic. Fulham’s colonial Georgian homestead was built to take full advantage of the views, which stretch across the water to the farm’s two islands, the 10-hectare Fulham Island and 60-hectare Smooth Island, and beyond to the nearby Forestier and Tasman peninsulas. Sheep were always the mainstay of this property, but when the wool price collapsed in the 1990s Fulham’s owners transformed into oyster farmers and turned to the sea for alternatives. Fulham was first acquired in 1835 by Francis Desailly, a physician who arrived in Hobart in 1821 with his wife and son. Desailly received a land grant at Jericho, in the Southern Midlands, and appears to have bought, sold and rented several other land grants in that area before obtaining Fulham. Fulham was one of the first settled properties in the Dunalley area and became a noted wheat and sheep enterprise. It is thought that Smooth Island (formerly known as Garden Island) grew vegetables for the infamous Port Arthur penal settlement, which was established in 1830 about 40 kilometres from Fulham. The Fulham homestead was constructed about 1838 to accommodate Desailly and his growing family. Several outbuildings were attached to the homestead, including a blacksmith’s shop, stables and barn with a loft. In 1838 fourteen people inhabited the property, including nine convicts and ticket-of-leave holders. In 1839 Fulham was offered for sale or lease due to Desailly’s declining health. The advertisement in the Courier described an estate possessing: advantages rarely to be met with; 250 acres [10 hectares] of rich wheat land is already in the highest state of cultivation, enclosed and subdivided with

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01 An 1800s letter describes ‘a nice little garden— laid out in such pretty beds’. 02 Fulham Aquaculture carries four million oysters in the pristine, turquoise waters of Norfolk Bay. 03 One of the beautiful private beaches at Fulham. 04 A flagstone-paved verandah and three dormer windows were added at later stages to maximise the view. 05 A previous owner of Fulham commissioned a hand-drawn map of the property.

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substantial fencing. The homestead is most substantial and complete, with good garden and excellent water. The residence (newly erected) comprises 15 apartments, suitable for a family of the first respectability. The produce can be shipped from the farm door … Garden Island is included in the grant. The property didn’t sell and was leased out for several years. Desailly moved briefly to Victoria with his two sons, who were looking for new farming opportunities. Desailly returned to Hobart and died there in 1864, while his sons Francis and George became significant pastoralists in New South Wales. Between them they accumulated forty stations totalling some 452,000 hectares before they were crippled by drought and the mortgagees foreclosed. It is said that as they left the Riverina, defeated, the heavens finally opened and it rained so heavily they got bogged. Fulham was finally sold in 1860. It changed ownership several more times between then and the 1920s, passing through the hands of such prominent Tasmanian families

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as Dixon, Salmon, Freeman and Wise, before it was sold in 1929 to the Gray family, who remain there today. The two-storey brick and stucco Fulham homestead is situated on a small hill not far from the water’s edge, ensuring the magnificent views can be enjoyed through the twelve-paned windows in the two formal front rooms, which feature fine cedar joinery and an original marble fireplace. A flagstone paved verandah facing the sea was later added, and upstairs three original dormer windows were enlarged in the 1950s to maximise the views. The homestead was enlarged at the rear as part of the 1950s rebuild, and the kitchen and service areas were modernised thirty years later. A brick-floored stone cellar runs underneath two rooms and can be reached via a winding stone staircase. It still boasts the original lathe and plaster ceiling and hooks for holding storage goods. Numerous outbuildings were once attached to the rear of the homestead, including a cottage that became Dunalley’s first school. Local identity Edith Scrimger recalled being at lessons here when lines of convicts marched past Fulham on the way to Hobart. It was the end of transportation and the conclusion of the convict occupation of Port Arthur. Another building housed Italian prisoners of war who were detained at Fulham during World War II. One of them turned up at the homestead with his daughter some years ago and said how much he had enjoyed it there, and how well he was treated. These outbuildings have not survived, but their bricks were later used to create a wall around the well-established Fulham gardens. Gabled stables, a shearing shed thought to date back to the first half of the nineteenth century and storage sheds remain outside the garden wall.

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06 Veined white marble and glass decanters combine to emphasise the light and bright interiors.

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07 A crystal glass chandelier hangs in the entrance hall.  08 Bright and airy simplicity: hydrangeas grace the dining room, a masterpiece of white offset by cedar furniture.

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Lisle Jameson, who lived at Fulham in the late 1800s, provided an account of life here in letters to her sister Fanny that are in the possession of the Gray family: It is very quiet here you know, quite out of the world … I have not had the fence of the flower gardens moved yet but it is to be done after we come back from town. It is such a nice little garden—laid out in such pretty beds—and is full of geraniums, chrysanthemums, violets and a few of the commoner kinds of flowers—but I have put in some better kinds. The orchard is very large and very good. I counted 224 trees one idle day when I was walking in it and I think there is every kind of fruit except raspberries which I want to try and get. I have my heart set on having a grand garden with plenty of fruit and vegetables. … the bay is so pretty here with the two islands—the low small smooth one and the larger one which is more distant and covered with trees. The boat here is a large one—too much for one person to manage. We have not been out in [it] yet but intend to go fishing some afternoon when David is not busy. In 1929 southern Tasmanian timber merchant and entrepreneur Henry Gray bought Fulham for his nineteen-year-old jackaroo son Barclay, partly because Henry enjoyed his quail shooting and Smooth Island was perfect for this. The island was one of the

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09 One of the twelve-paned windows in the two formal front rooms, looking out to sea.  10 Fulham’s outbuildings have been, variously, a school and a home for Italian prisoners of war during World War II. 11 The classic symmetry and simplicity of the Fulham homestead. 12 The Fulham estate originally included 101 hectares of wheat land—here a rusty relic of the estate’s former uses. 13 A striking clock, an antique family heirloom, stands at the top of the stairs at Fulham.

property’s best assets from a productivity point of view, at times carrying more stock than the home property, which would have to be shipped there from the Dunalley wharf. Fulham had been virtually unchanged since 1838; only about 100 hectares of the property had been cleared. Barclay further developed Fulham, and created a breakwater at Fulham Point in Norfolk Bay by beaching the 429-tonne hulk Alderbaran, which he bought for £1. In 1944 Barclay married champion golfer Enid Reid, the youngest daughter of Alexander Reid III from Ratho at Bothwell (see page 12). Many important items of Reid family history that relate to Ratho are now at Fulham. Their son Sandy followed in the farming footsteps, and for many years Fulham was a major producer of fine wool, lamb and beef. Sandy and wife Penny were also responsible for putting Smooth Island on the map as an international pheasant and quail shooting destination during the 1990s, and Fulham was renowned for its sailing regattas. Following the wool price collapse in the 1990s Sandy and Penny’s son, Tom, started farming oysters. Fulham Aquaculture now carries about four million oysters, and sells around 1.5 million annually to the eastern seaboard of Australia and Japan. The Grays’ focus is now on farming the pristine waters of Norfolk Bay that have always made Fulham so unique.

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It is thought that Smooth Island (formerly known as Garden Island) grew vegetables for the infamous Port Arthur penal settlement, which was established in 1830 about 40 kilometres from Fulham. 13

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14 The colonial Georgian estate is still a beloved home, more than two hundred years later. 15 An avenue of hawthorne hedge lines the driveway. 16 Looking over the homestead to Norfolk Bay, Fulham Island and the Tasman Peninsula. 17 The remains of the Alderbaran, which previously formed a breakwater on Fulham Point. 18 Whales, seals and dolphins regularly visit the clean waters of Norfolk Bay.

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ORMISTON HOUSE The western frontier

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Fishing and tourism are the mainstays of modern-day Strahan, an idyllic village on Tasmania’s wild West Coast and the gateway to one of the last true wilderness regions in the world. It’s a far more serene setting now than it was in the late 1800s when Strahan was a hub of commercial and industrial activity and the major port servicing the mining boom of Tasmania’s West Coast. The West Coast is world famous for its geology and mineralisation and has supported a mining industry of metals ranging from gold and silver to copper and zinc for well over one hundred years. The industry was born out of the discovery of tin in 1871 at Mount Bischoff near Waratah in north-western Tasmania, which reputedly became the richest tin mine in the world. It inspired many to flock to the rugged and inhospitable West Coast in search of riches, one of whom was Frederick Ormiston Henry, a shrewd Scottish-born entrepreneur who saw a business opportunity to supply provisions to the pioneering prospectors. Henry had worked as a merchant in the Victorian goldfields and in New Zealand and Fiji before he arrived on the West Coast in 1880 with £100 and the tent he would pitch as his first pioneer store. He established his store at Smiths Cove on Macquarie Harbour, preferring this location to the treacherous and exposed main port of the time at Trial Harbour 60 kilometres to the north. A few years later Henry built premises on a new site a few miles to the north in Smiths Cove and other townsfolk soon followed. The new settlement of Strahan, which Henry is credited with founding, was gazetted in 1882. FO Henry Provision Merchant stores soon popped up in major mining settlements throughout the West Coast. Before long Henry had also accumulated a stake in a number of mining leases in the area, courtesy of prospectors promising him a share of any of their finds, rather than money, in return for their supplies. Through this practice, known as grubstaking,

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01 The gardens, reflected here, were little more than a paddock when the current owners took possession.

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02 The Scottish–Australian flag flies over the widow’s walk. Frederick Ormiston Henry was born in Scotland and became a wealthy entrepreneur on Tasmania’s West Coast. 03 The view from the widow’s walk, over Macquarie Harbour. 04 The verandah runs the length of the house, set with wrought-iron lacework and squared Huon pine posts.

Henry ended up with a one-tenth share in a claim that became the Mount Lyell Copper Mine. When he sold those shares in 1897, after they had soared in value from £1 to more than £16, he became the wealthiest man on the West Coast. This enabled Henry to build Ormiston House at Strahan in 1899—then and still the stateliest mansion on the West Coast. Ormiston House is a twenty-room brick homestead in Queen Anne Federation style overlooking Macquarie Harbour, and is virtually unchanged today from when it was built. The exterior of the home is highly decorative with wrought-iron lacework, squared Huon pine posts, large bay windows with ‘rising sun’ motif gables and an eclectic roof line that features a tower and widow’s walk. The widow’s walk, or railed rooftop platform, looks out across Macquarie Harbour and was a particular feature of nineteenth-century North American homes. Wives would stand on the platform and look out to sea to await the return of seafaring husbands, often in vain. From here Henry could watch ships laden with goods for his store coming into port. The home is highly ornate inside with archways, leadlight windows, tiled fireplaces, mantelpieces and over-mantels. Features that would have been highly innovative at the time include skylights and sliding interior Huon pine doors, which are still in use.

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The exterior of the home is highly decorative with wrought-iron lacework, squared Huon pine posts, large bay windows with gables of the rising sun and an eclectic roof line that features a tower and widow’s walk. There is a smorgasbord of woodwork throughout the home, including imported timbers from the United Kingdom, and local specialties such as Huon pine, celery top pine and bird’s eye Huon pine, out of which the main staircase is made. Henry lived in Ormiston House with his wife Mary Alice and their four children until his death in 1916. His son Henry II took over the homestead and the family business, but in 1928 relocated to Queenstown to be closer to the FO Henry head office, whereupon Ormiston became a holiday house and weekender. As the family fortunes dwindled through the Depression and declines in the mining industry, FO Henry stores around the West Coast were gradually closed down and Ormiston began to suffer from neglect. In the early 1970s Henry III had no choice but to sell the property; he subdivided land surrounding the house and sold the mansion

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05 The ornate archway in the entry hall. 06 This egg timer and date keeper was compliments of FO Henry Provision Merchant Stores, which appeared in major West Coast mining settlements in the late 1800s. 07 The highly decorative entryway, replete with leadlight windows, elaborate ceilings and polished woodwork, bestowed a sense of the immense wealth of the owner, Frederick Ormiston Henry. 08 Ormiston House is now an award-winning guest house.

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to Queenstown couple Alexander and Mavis Parnham. They undertook significant restoration works, then in 1982 sold Ormiston to a colourful Tasmanian identity known as John, the Duke of Avram. The Duke placed Ormiston on the market in 1993. Two years later it was purchased by a holidaying Queensland couple who had fallen in love with Strahan and the grand but decaying home its enterprising founding father had built. Mike Fry and Carolyn Nissen both had backgrounds in the tourism and hospitality industry and believed Ormiston House could be brought back to life as luxury accommodation in Strahan, fast gaining popularity as a tourism town. They moved to Ormiston in May 1995 and planned a soft opening of the Ormiston House guest house for October that year, although neither fully appreciated the scale of the restoration that was required nor the challenges of completing them during a West Coast winter. The lathe and plaster ceilings had been extensively damaged through a leaking roof. It took six weeks to replace the roof, a job that involved removing the widow’s walk in order to put new sheet iron underneath. A further six weeks passed before the interior of the home was sufficiently dry for work to begin on the plaster and timber. The place was so damp that mildew was rife and moss had even started to grow. The floors in the front rooms needed re-stumping and significant plumbing work was also needed so that en suites could be installed in each bedroom for the home’s transition to a luxury guest house. Both Carolyn and Mike were fascinated by the story of Henry I, and wanted to transform his home to bring it back to the way it was when he and his family were alive. Working off an old family picture of the Henrys, and with the help of a granddaughter of Henry III, they determined which room had belonged to each original family member, named them accordingly and lovingly decorated them in a style to suit their character. The original master bedroom became Ormiston House’s premier suite, named Henry, furnished in a strong masculine style with the original red and white wallpaper and a stunning cedar wardrobe, the only original piece of furniture still in the house.

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09 The home is close to the treacherous waters of Tasmania’s wild West Coast. 10–14 The beautiful gardens that once surrounded Ormiston House have been recreated by the current owners.

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The gardens outside were not much more than a paddock when Carolyn and Mike moved in, albeit with a magnificent one-hundred-year-old magnolia tree standing in the centre.

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The Jessie room, named after Henry’s lively youngest daughter, features green and white toile wallpaper; the Amelia room is more feminine, with ribbons and bows, which Amelia, Henry’s oldest daughter, used to wear in her hair. The original dining and music rooms—separated by the original sliding Huon pine doors—are the Ormiston House dining and breakfast room; the old drawing room at the front of the home is now an intimate bar. A small room upstairs, underneath the Ormiston House tower, is where Henry is believed to have once had his office and indulged his penchant for snuff. This is now a local history room; named after another of Henry’s sons, Harry Lyell Henry, who died in battle in World War I. The gardens outside were not much more than a paddock when Carolyn and Mike moved in, albeit with a magnificent one-hundred-year-old magnolia tree standing in the centre. They cut in a new driveway and landscaped a garden around the tree to recreate the beautiful gardens that once surrounded Ormiston House, complete with roses, azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons and Huon, King billy and New Zealand kauri pines.

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15 The master bedroom is now the Henry suite, dressed in strong masculine style. 16–17 The highly intricate and ornate facade— Ormiston House remains the stateliest house on the West Coast. 18 Brilliantly coloured leadlight in the sidelight of the entry door.

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There were all sorts of challenges and adventures along the way, but Mike and Carolyn achieved their October opening of the five-star Ormiston House guest house. They have picked up countless tourism awards over the years and are justifiably proud of their restoration of Ormiston House and the work they have done in helping to tell the story of Frederick Ormiston Henry. Mike even wrote a book about Henry and Ormiston House, which he published himself. For Carolyn and Mike retirement in Hobart now beckons, and they hope to hand Ormiston House over to new owners to carry on the work of paying tribute to an important West Coast pioneer and the monument he built as a testament to that success.

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THE JOLLY FARMER INN Artist in residence

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When Michael McWilliams bought the Jolly Farmer Inn at Perth in northern Tasmania in the late 1980s he could envision the outline of a garden. Trees and bushes had been planted by previous owners, but the rest of the paddock at the back of the circa 1826 former coaching inn still needed to be filled. McWilliams saw the potential to create something special in this setting, and he began planting more trees. Species from English oak to golden ash and liquidambar, to pin oaks, silver beech, weeping elm, gingko and fruit trees were planted in abundance, as if McWilliams exactly knew the final masterpiece he had in mind. However, there was no grand plan. The garden simply expanded as McWilliams moved on to creating garden beds, starting close to the old brick inn and slowly moving out. His love of foliage inspired mass plantings of all different shades and shapes of green, from low-lying hostas to soaring gunnera, spiky yucca, sweet epimedium and striking cardoon. McWilliams then liberally applied colour with a profusion of poppies and peonies, irises, roses and verbenas, just to name a few. He also started topiaries from box hedge cuttings, which now provide stunning feature pieces throughout the garden, along with frog and fish ponds, a weeping elm arch, old stables and a little garden shed built of recycled timber that looks like it has always belonged here. A perfectly manicured lawn carpets the .6-hectare sanctuary, which McWlliams still waters entirely by hand. McWilliams’ garden has evolved into such an exquisite composition that it is now in demand for national garden tours and is a much-loved participant in the Australian Open Garden Scheme. This is not particularly surprising, given that McWilliams is one of Tasmania’s most talented artists. The studio where he creates his work is in the midst of his magnificent garden.

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01 A topiary topped water trough for one of McWilliams’ adored pets. 02 Mass plantings of foliage are set off by liberally applied colour from poppies, peonies, irises, roses and verbenas, to name a few. 03 The old brick stables—a reminder of the days when this was a coaching inn. 04 There was no grand plan—the garden grew from bed to bed, starting close to the old brick inn and slowly moving out.

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Built in 1826, the Jolly Farmer Inn is situated on an unsuspecting suburban street in Perth opposite a railway line. This street was once part of the main Hobart to Launceston road, putting the Jolly Farmer in a prime position to capitalise on passing coaching trade. The inn’s first licensee was Allan MacKinnon, who came to Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 and also oversaw prisoners at the Launceston Gaol before establishing the magnificent estate Dalness on a land grant near Evandale. The inn had several other licensees before its demise—and that of many other inns like it—was brought about by the opening of the Hobart to Launceston railway line in 1876. The Jolly Farmer was converted to a private residence and has remained so ever since. Its residents have included poetess Norma Davis (1905–45), who wrote nature poems for the Australian Women’s Mirror and Bulletin magazines and had a collection of her poems, Earth Cry, published in 1943. McWilliams acquired the inn in 1989, partly because he loved the shape of the old building and partly because of the potential he saw to create a garden almost from scratch.

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The Australian Heritage Database describes the Jolly Farmer Inn as an unusual one and a half storey Georgian pub with flanking wings behind parapet walls. The verandah between the two wings has timber posts and simple timber balusters. Three dormer windows upstairs face on to the street. The inn’s old brick stables are located out the back. The interior rooms are cosy, framed by low ceilings and extensive cedar joinery. On the ground level an old kitchen and sitting room occupy one of the side wings. A reception room, hallway and dining room take up the middle, verandah-lined section of the home, and a large bedroom occupies the wing on the other side. Up a steep set of stairs are two guest bedrooms and a bathroom.

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05–08 McWilliams’ collection of colonial furniture is complemented by ceramics, rugs and colonial art—not to mention his own paintings.

The inn had been well looked after throughout its life and was in good condition when McWilliams moved in. He painted over the white walls downstairs to give the place more colour, and upstairs, undertook considerable work to convert three bedrooms into two more generously proportioned rooms, adding a modern bathroom. McWilliams’ parents owned a well-regarded antiques shop in the nearby town of Longford so he grew up around antiques, and he started collecting furniture as a teenager. His collection is predominantly colonial Tasmanian furniture, mainly cedar but also some blackwood and Huon and kauri pine. These stunning pieces are showcased throughout his home and are superbly complemented by smaller collectibles such as ceramics, rugs, colonial art and some of McWilliams’ paintings. Shortly after purchasing the Jolly Farmer Inn McWilliams picked up his paint brush. Although he studied Art at university in the 1970s, McWilliams majored in print making and photography and went on to become a teacher. In the early 1990s he quit teaching and went to work in the Longford Antiques shop, where among other things he restored furniture. One day, an old kitchen table came in for restoration. Its top was covered in caustic and was beyond repair, so McWilliams decided to paint it instead. He turned the table top into a farmyard setting featuring cows and trees. The piece sold and he has been painting ever since. McWilliams has successfully exhibited in Melbourne and Tasmania for more than fifteen years. He was the inaugural winner of Tasmania’s prestigious John Glover

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09 McWilliams’ painting, Ghostly Visions. 10 This new garden shed, built from recycled timber, looks as though it has always been there. 11–13 The .6-hectare sanctuary is in demand for national garden tours, and is also part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme.

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landscape prize and a two-time winner of the South Australian Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. McWilliams is usually described as a landscape painter but he is more than that. Animals feature heavily in his works, including farm animals, fish, native animals and McWilliams’ beloved pets, such as Elizabeth, one of his four pampered pugs, and Ike, his now sadly departed Airedale terrier. The animals are usually placed in distinct Tasmanian landscape settings. Often there is a strong sense of humour and irony to McWilliams’ works; Dulcie’s Fresh Spots features a white Friesian cow hanging its black spots on a washing line and in I Think I Can a sheep stands at a clifftop in the Tasmanian wilderness contemplating the jump across to the edge of the next precipice. Other works have a much more serious environmental message. Is that you, Eileen? depicts two cows in a paddock, one cloaked in smog from a controversial proposed pulp mill over the river; while Settling In portrays a red fox curled up on an antique settee placed in a grassland setting. The extinct Tasmanian tiger is in the background, a warning that this is the way other native Tasmanian animals might go as a result of the fox gaining a foothold. McWilliams paints on linen and canvas, as well as wooden panels and antique furniture, as he did when he started working for Longford Antiques, which he now co-owns. Look closely at some of his works and you might also see scenes from the exquisite Jolly Farmer Inn garden.

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14 One of McWilliams’ first jobs when he moved into the Jolly Farmer Inn was to paint over the white walls to give the place more colour. 15–18 McWilliams’ impressive collection of antique furniture is right at home in the circa 1826 former coaching inn. 15

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The interior rooms are cosy, framed by low ceilings and extensive cedar joinery. On the ground level an old kitchen and sitting room occupy one of the side wings.

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19 Collectibles can be found in every corner. 20 Antique ceramics under an upstairs dormer window. 21 Trees and topiary frame one side of the home. 22 The house is decorated in rich, warm tones. 23 McWilliams is usually described as a landscape painter but he is more than that. Animals feature heavily in his work, and are usually placed in distinct Tasmanian landscape settings.

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These stunning pieces are showcased throughout the inn and are superbly complemented by smaller collectibles such as ceramics, rugs, colonial art and some of McWilliams’ paintings.

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WYBRA HALL A new beginning

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It was purely by accident that Wybra Hall entered the lives of the Goudsouzian family from Sydney. On a family holiday to Tasmania, while looking for a place on the Midland Highway where they could turn their car around, they ended up parked outside the front gates. It was hardly an inviting place. A government-owned former institution for wards of the state, it was run down and deserted—many of its beautiful verandahs had been enclosed, the gardens were non-existent and the front gate was padlocked shut. But from the very start Wybra Hall got under the skins of the Goudsouzians. They could not believe the sheer scale of the twenty-four-room Federation mansion, with its double-storey verandahs dripping with cast-iron lacework and wrapping around three sides. They took a photo of the property from the side of the road, and became quietly obsessed with the idea of one day owning the house. That photograph stayed on their fridge in Sydney for two years, until in 1990 the house was theirs. Wybra Hall was built in 1905 for Alfred Taylor Hart, the ninth child and fourth son of wealthy Launceston businessman, miner and parliamentarian William Hart. When William died in 1904 he owned nineteen different farming properties across Tasmania that he left to his many children. Alfred Taylor Hart managed his father’s property Clifton Vale in the southern Midlands, which he inherited along with an Oatlands property. However, evidently neither of these properties suited Hart as a home for him and his family. He bought two parcels of land from Oakwood farm at Mangalore and engaged architects Huckson and Hutchison to design a home for him so grand it became known locally as ‘Hart’s folly’. The Mercury reported that his new home:

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will be a great improvement to the appearance of the district … in fact it will be one of the finest residences in Southern Tasmania … the residence is a handsome brick building with two frontages of two stories, with a lofty and imposing brick tower … the top of the tower being nearly 60 feet high from the ground … the verandahs and balconies are on an elaborate scale … the sanitary arrangements are of the very latest type, including a septic tank.

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William Seabrook, a building contractor responsible for many of southern Tasmania’s finest buildings, constructed the home; the plans of which are featured in the publication Built by Seabrook. Wybra Hall’s twenty-four rooms amount to about 170 square metres and include eight bedrooms, each with a distinctive fireplace. The master bedroom has its own sitting room and staircase access to a tower above. There was also a ballroom and music room and generous servants’ quarters. The heart-shaped driveway and the cast-iron lacework on the verandahs remain two of the home’s most striking features. Outbuildings included stables, a coach house and a number of small cottages, although all but one of the cottages were destroyed in Tasmania’s devastating 1967 bushfires. Hart was innovative for his day: his home was fully piped for gas and had its own gas plant along with a sewerage plant, while the columns on the verandah double as

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01 An old fountain at the front of the homestead. 02 The magestic hall—before the renovation was complete the Goudsouzian children delighted in rollerblading up and down its length. 03 The unusual cast-iron lacework on the facade is one of the home’s most striking features.

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downpipes. Unfortunately, he died suddenly soon after the house was completed and never had the chance to fully indulge his folly, leaving his wife and children an incredible home but very little else to support them. His widow retreated to just a few rooms in the house for everyday use, and when she died in the 1940s Wybra Hall was surrendered to the government—supposedly due to an inability to pay death duties. A few years later the government converted the property into an institution to care for ‘delinquent and seriously disturbed’ boys under the age of fourteen. Wybra Hall also accommodated female wards of the state and, to complete its transformation, a maximum-security juvenile prison compound was built about a metre from the back door. Wybra Hall operated as home for wards of the state until the 1980s. The Goudsouzians were well aware of their new home’s institutional past when they bought Wybra Hall—it was obvious from the decor alone. There were dormitory bedrooms, a hideous communal bathroom with a concrete floor, fluoro lights, exit signs, a depressing masonite kitchen, and lino covered the walls. The inner beauty, though, was still undeniable, from the lofty decorative ceilings to the stunning leadlights, the hand-grained timber-pedimented doors and the timber fretwork in the inglenooks.

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04 The highly ornate in the wild—a curlicued chimney piece set off by gum trees behind.

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05–07 Everything is on a grand scale: from the staircase, to the generous bay windows and the tower that tops the homestead. 08 Leadlight in the front door.

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He bought two parcels of land from Oakwood farm at Mangalore and engaged architects Huckson and Hutchison to design a home for him so grand it became known locally as ‘Hart’s folly’. For the first thirteen years of ownership Wybra Hall was the Goudsouzians’ Tasmanian shack, used only for holidays when odd jobs would be done about the house—times when their two daughters would delight in rollerblading down the massive hall. Then in 2003 they packed up their Sydney home and made the move a permanent one. After just six months of residency a major scandal erupted in Tasmania over past abuse of children in state care, including at Wybra Hall. Unflattering images of their new family home were broadcast over the news for weeks on end. A subsequent inquiry found the abuse to have been widespread across institutions and foster homes in the state, with Wybra Hall becoming a focal point for media coverage of the scandal. The Goudsouzians regretted their move from Sydney but ploughed on with

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09 This is an original artwork from Wybra—it was given to the current owners some years ago by a Hobart woman who wanted to see it hang in its rightful place. 10 Hand-grained timber-pedimented doorways. 11 The depressing masonite banished: the kitchen is now an airy rustic country kitchen. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

12 No detail is overlooked—from the ornate fireplaces to the decorative ceilings and pedimented doorways. 13 Elaborative decorative ceilings and cornices are throughout the home. 14 The lookout—just part of the extensive house now in use and beloved by a family for the first time in the home’s history.

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turning their dream of reclaiming Wybra Hall as a grand family home into a reality. They have slaved over Wybra Hall, removing the remnants of its institutional period and restoring it to grandeur. The worst damage during its days as a boys’ home were done not by the residents but by the government, and the owners are amazed that not a single child’s initial has been engraved anywhere in the house. A significant amount of work has been required, such as opening up the verandahs and replacing fretwork, unbricking the front door and restoring the entry portico, remaking cornices, and repairing ceilings. Approximately six walls were removed to return dormitories to large bedrooms, and the picture theatre carpet and the lino on the walls have been removed and replaced with new carpet and fresh coats of paint. The old masonite kitchen now wears a modern country style, while the former maximum security compound has been transformed into a comfortable, self-contained five-bedroom home. Work is also afoot to create a fine garden, which the property has never had. Hopefully, these improvements will mean that for the first time in its one hundred– year history Wybra Hall will become the regal family home it was always meant to be.

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Hopefully, these improvements will mean that for the first time in its one hundred–year history Wybra Hall will become the regal family home it was always meant to be. 15 The stables and coach house escaped the major bushfires of 1967, which destroyed many of Wybra Hall’s outbuildings. 16 The view from the front door, of farmland in the Southern Midlands. 17 The generous bay windows of the dining room. 18 The grandeur of ‘Hart’s Folly’.

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WOODLANDS The whaler’s farm

Southern right whales seek out calm waters for calving, and they were once present in such significant numbers in Hobart’s River Derwent that they reputedly kept people awake at night with their calls. Early settler Robert Knopwood wrote in his diary after an 1804 crossing of the river: ‘We passed so many whales that it was dangerous for the boat to go up the river, unless you kept near the shore.’ Jorgen Jorgensen, the one-time King of Iceland who was a convict and adventurer and first mate on the Lady Nelson when it berthed at Risdon Cove in 1803, wrote:

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I can boast of being the first to kill a whale in the Derwent. Had its brothers and sisters been warned by the violent death to which their near relative was thus subjected, I would have little hope of living in the grateful remembrance of future whalers; but the contrary is the case, for the destruction of one apparently attracted many hundred of others ... and the rising City of Hobart Town is yearly and rapidly become enriched on the oleaginous remains. Whaling became a flourishing industry for the first settlers of Van Diemen’s Land. The first bay (or shore-based) whaling station was established in the River Derwent in 1805. By the late 1830s there were more than thirty bay whaling stations around Tasmania, and revenue from whale oil and bone exceeded that of any other industry in the colony. For ten years from 1828 it is estimated that whaling entrepreneurs oversaw the slaughter of some three thousand southern right whales in Van Diemen’s Land. Bruny Island, located just off Tasmania’s south-eastern coast, was home to about eight whaling stations. At least two were owned or co-managed by Captain James Kelly. Kelly, born in Sydney in 1791 and regarded as the father and founder of the

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01 Despite being nestled amid established trees, Woodlands has spectacular views on all sides. 02–03 The choice of low-growing shrubs means the cottage garden survives the sometimes windy conditions as well as leaving the spectacular views uninterrupted. 04 The dormer window provides yet another vantage point for the views.

Kelly, born in Sydney in 1791 and regarded as the father and founder of the Tasmanian whaling industry, was also an adventurer, explorer, wealthy businessman and farmer.

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Tasmanian whaling industry, was also an adventurer, explorer, wealthy businessman and farmer. At the age of thirteen Kelly was apprenticed to learn the ‘art of a master mariner’ and started out on the seas as a sealer. In 1815 he circumnavigated Tasmania in a small whaling boat, discovering Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour. He later became the first Australian to penetrate the Antarctic circle in his brig Sophia. He started building a home in Hobart in 1815, which he occupied in 1817—a year later he became the first white settler on Bruny Island when he was granted 80 hectares of land stretching down to what became known as Kelly’s Point, on the tip of North Bruny Island. He called the property Elizabeth Farm, after his wife, and although they resided chiefly in Hobart he built a home here for his family to use. The farm supplied passing ships with sheep, geese, fowl, eggs, pigs, potatoes, wheat, oats, firewood and fresh water from two lagoons. Kelly added to the farm over time, most significantly with the purchase of an additional 810 hectares of land in 1837. In 1819 Kelly was appointed pilot and harbour master at Hobart Town. He assisted in the establishment of the Macquarie Harbour and Maria Island convict settlements but

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05 The converted French whale oil lamp light in the sitting room provides a link to the property’s whaling industry past. 06 An oil lantern next to flowers from the garden. 07 The formal sitting room.

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resigned from government service in the 1820s to pursue his private business interests, whaling on Bruny Island and in other parts of the state chief among them. Kelly was regarded as a prominent and prosperous Hobart identity, but he was also plagued by misfortune. Five of his ten children died prior to 1831, the year his wife also passed away. In the 1840s a surviving son drowned, and yet another died in a whaling accident after being hit by a whale’s tale. In the same decade the whaling industry collapsed as a result of over-fishing and a general economic downturn. Kelly went bankrupt and was forced to assign all his properties to creditors. He returned to work for the port authorities and died suddenly in 1859 at the age of sixty-eight. When Elizabeth Farm was sold part of it was purchased by Anthony Smith Denne, who had arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1820. Denne farmed the property, was the local postmaster and also operated the ferry service between Tinderbox, on the Tasmanian mainland, and Kelly’s Point, which was subsequently named Dennes Point. Soon after Denne built the fine homestead now known as Woodlands, where he lived with his wife and children. Constructed from green forest timber and bricks made in the gully on the property, the house was situated just a short distance from Kelly’s former home. Woodlands was described in 1885 in the Tasmanian Mail: The house is a largish two storey brick building, with broad verandah around three sides, at an elevation of about forty or fifty feet above the sea, and commands a view of the salient points about the lower Derwent estuary as afar

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as Crayfish point on the west side and Rokeby heights, with the mountains of the whole background. Water courses are few on the island, though there are several lagoons, two very nice ones on the Woodlands property.

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Farming on Bruny Island in those early years was tough, and several mortgages were taken out on Woodlands under Denne’s ownership. Also, the isolation of the property did not seem to spare it from bushranger attacks—apparently Denne’s wife had some of her fingers blown off while trying to hold the front door of the home shut on an intruder. Denne passed away in 1873 and his wife twelve years later. The property passed to their eldest son John, and then to his son Henry (Harry) Denne. Harry was considered one of the finest yachtsmen of his day. In 1890 in a shed at Woodlands he built the Volant, which was regarded as one of the fastest boats in the Australian colonies and won more than seventy races. A picture of the Volant hangs proudly in Woodlands today. The main part of the farm and the homestead was sold in 1919 to William Corney. Woodlands changed hands several more times throughout the twentieth century and in 2002 was purchased by Victorian couple Brendan and Marlene Schmidt, who found the property for sale on the internet and fell instantly in love with it. The homestead looks directly onto Storm Bay and across to the Tasman Peninsula. The fluted cliffs of Tinderbox, separated from Bruny Island by the D’Entrecasteaux

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channel, are behind the house, ensuring there are spectacular views on all sides. These views can be enjoyed from the wraparound verandah on three sides of the home, or through twelve-paned windows with the original glass still intact. When the Schmidts moved in Woodlands had been virtually empty for years and was in need of some significant work and general updating. The front garden was started almost from scratch and the kitchen modernised, while in the formal sitting room shag-pile carpet was removed to reveal the original eucalyptus floorboards sawn on the property. A converted French whale oil lamp provides a spectacular empire light in this room. An extension was made to the home where the external kitchen was originally located to house a modern bathroom area. A solid Huon pine staircase leads to two bedrooms and a small balcony, while another two bedrooms and a bathroom are located on the first landing level. The property also includes a heritage-listed shearing

08 The broad verandah wraps around three sides of the home. 09 The view back to Tinderbox, and beyond to Hobart. 10 The Schmidts started the garden almost from scratch. 11 This dining–living room area is part of the sympathetic modern additions that have been made to the house.

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The fluted cliffs of Tinderbox, separated from Bruny Island by the D’Entrecasteaux channel, are behind the house, ensuring there are spectacular views on all sides.

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12 In 2010, a southern right whale returned to the Derwent River to calve for the first time in almost two hundred years—hopefully signalling the river’s return to whale nursery.

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13–16 The owners adore the laid-back life on Bruny Island. Their mixed operation varies from a small vineyard and olive grove, to merino sheep, an orchard, geese and honey.

shed built in the early 1900s, and over 100 hectares of land the Schmidts have been busily turning into a mixed farming operation that includes a small vineyard, olive grove, merino sheep, orchard, geese and honey. The Schmidts adore the laid-back Bruny Island life and their property, which has played such an important role in the history of the island through its association with the Kelly and Denne families and through its Aboriginal links. The property’s two freshwater lagoons are rare for Bruny Island and made this area popular with the local Aboriginal tribe, the Nuenonne people. One of Tasmania’s most famous Aborigines, Truganini, hailed from this tribe. A whale bone on the Woodlands verandah is a reminder of the property’s links to the whaling industry, and remnants of one of Kelly’s Bruny Island whaling stations, at Bull Bay, are close by. After the 1840s industry crash that bankrupted Kelly, whalers who remained in the business concentrated on deep-sea whaling far from shore, as the whales had long since disappeared from the River Derwent and the Tasmanian coast. However, a continuing decline in whale stocks and other economic factors caused the eventual demise of the industry, and the last Tasmanian-based whaling voyage took place in 1900. In 2010, for the first time in almost two hundred years, a southern right whale came back to the Derwent River to calve. Experts hope it is a sign the Derwent River might finally be returning to the whale nursery it was before the mammals were hunted to near extinction by the likes of Captain Kelly.

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SELBORNE

A modern twist to an old architect’s work

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Henry Hunter was Tasmania’s most prolific nineteenth-century architect, designing anything from cathedrals to country churches, halls to hospitals, and schools to sports grandstands and homes for wealthy early settlers. He was in huge demand around Tasmania after opening his architectural practice in 1855. In an article on Hunter published in 1928 his former student Alan Walker wrote: ‘The revival during the middle of the last [nineteenth] century of Gothic architecture found in Mr. Hunter an ardent advocate. This was his favourite style, and it has resulted in some of his best work.’ Selborne in the Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay is a striking example of Hunter’s style. Selborne is believed to have been built for Charles Abbott in 1884, a year after his father Francis died, leaving an estate of £3000. It cost £1977 for builder WH Cheverton to construct a home on land originally granted to whaler and merchant William Morgan Orr in 1838. Charles Abbott’s father Francis was a respected Manchester clock maker who was sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Hobart Town in 1844 for allegedly obtaining two watches under false pretences—a claim Francis Abbott strongly denied. He spent a year on a chain gang south of Hobart, and another three years as an assigned servant, before being granted a ticket of leave and establishing his own watchmaking business in Murray Street, Hobart. Abbott’s wife and children were offered free passage to join him in the colony in 1850. Abbott’s business flourished and he erected many public clocks, including the one at Government House, but he is best remembered for contributions to astronomy and meteorology. The weather observations that he took voluntarily for twenty-five years became the standard reference for the Hobart climate internationally.

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01 The flagstone-paved verandah wraps around two sides of the house.

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02 The formal landscaped gardens include a tennis court, heated swimming pool and water fountain. 03–05 The third story tower appears to have been purpose built as an observatory. It’s surrounded by a widow’s walk that offers spectacular views over Hobart’s River Derwent.

Abbott also published many papers on astronomy, some of which were controversial because they were at odds with the northern hemisphere thinking of the time. When he died in 1883 Abbott was regarded as one of the leading astronomers in Australia. Charles Abbott succeeded his father into the Hobart watchmaking business and made a name for himself as an amateur photographer. He died at Selborne just four years after it was built, leaving his widow as tenant for life. In 1902 Selborne and 2 hectares of land, along with two separate 1.2-hectare blocks surrounding it, were put up for auction. The advertisement for the homestead block read: SELBORNE, the well-known residence of the late Charles Abbott, being a substantial dwelling, constructed of brick, containing nine rooms, all in good order, with stable, store, and other usual outbuildings. Selborne is erected upon a triangular piece of land, containing 5 acres 2 roods and 13 perches or thereabouts, having frontages on three streets, viz.. King street West, Parliament street, and the Waterworks road. This lot is very suitable for a gentleman’s private residence, with garden or orchard, and for cutting up into building allotments. However, no sale occurred and it remained under trustee control and in the Abbott family until 1942. In 1901 the house was leased to Charles Ernest Webster, who later became chairman of the well-known pastoral company founded by his father, AG Webster and Sons. Charles was active in community life and was a founding member of the Derwent Sailing Boat Club (now the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania). As well, he was president of the Kingston Beach Golf Club and the local Royal Agricultural Society.

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The weather observations that he took voluntarily for twenty-five years became the standard reference for the Hobart climate internationally.

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06–08 The gracious hall and formal rooms have been maintained with the utmost care and attention. 09 A glorious, coloured ceiling rose sits above the chandelier.

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Original Baltic pine floorboards feature in the formal living areas of the home, which boast high skirting boards, intricate ceiling roses and marble fireplaces.

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Charles’ brother Edwin was also a well-known yachtsman who was involved in the development of the Tassie One Design and Derwent Class yachts and co-authored the Tasmanian classic A Hundred Years Of Yachting. Charles Webster moved from Selborne upon the completion of his grand Sandy Bay home Waimea. In 1942 Selborne was sold for £2250 to Dora Swanton. In the 1960s Dora and husband Godfrey moved into a new, purpose-built home on land subdivided from the property, while Selborne was divided into student flats. In the 1970s Selborne was sold again, and new owners undertook major restoration works and some sympathetic additions. Another change of owner in 2004 saw further sizeable renovations that were a testament to the skill of today’s architects at integrating the very latest in modern design into a heritage-listed home. The current owner bought the property in 2009 and has had the luxury of being able to concentrate on improving the Selborne garden. Built of brick, the home has hipped gable roofs, dormer windows and double-storey bay windows on one side at the front. Original French doors open onto a flagstonepaved verandah that wraps around two sides of the house, leading into a modern conservatory addition. The conservatory incorporates a state-of-the-art kitchen and

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10–11 Selborne is testament to the skill of today’s architects in sympathetically combining modern design into a heritage-listed home. 12 The two-storey dwelling, crowned with a tower, is a striking example of architect Henry Hunter’s work. 13–14 The formal gardens.

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informal living area overlooking formal landscaped gardens that include a tennis court, heated swimming pool, and water fountain. Original Baltic pine floorboards feature in the formal living areas of the home, which boast high skirting boards, intricate ceiling roses and marble fireplaces. A sweeping staircase leads upstairs to four large bedrooms and an award-winning ultramodern bathroom. There is a sandstone-lined cellar underneath the home. Separate studio accommodation and a garage have been created where the stables once stood, retaining the original stable wall. The most distinctive feature of Selborne is its three-storey tower, capped by a very tall hipped roof. The first floor of the tower is an open-arched entry portico; the second storey houses the steep narrow staircase to the top. On the third level is a chamber with glazed windows on all sides, which appears to have been purpose-built as an observatory. It is surrounded by a widow’s walk that can be accessed via a glass door and offers spectacular views on one side of the River Derwent and on the other of Mount Wellington.

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15–18 A mix of native and exotic plants makes a dramatic blend in the formal gardens.

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CLIFTON Heart of the Apple Isle

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A couple of old apple pickers’ huts line the driveway to Clifton in the Huon Valley, remnants from a time when this property was a major player in the industry that led to Tasmania being known as the Apple Isle. Clifton once comprised 52 hectares of apple orchards and 52 hectares acres of hops, plus a sprawling twenty-five-room homestead set in stunning garden surrounds. Almost ten million apples were packed here annually; hordes of workers would descend on the orchards during picking season, many of them staying in little wooden pickers’ huts that were situated on the property. The Tasmanian apple industry collapsed in the 1970s and then again in the late 1990s, causing large-scale industry readjustment. In 2000 the Clifton homestead was sold out of the family, who had farmed apples and hops here for more than one hundred years, and converted into tourist accommodation. The residence is now owned by Stephen and Sonia Fluke, who along with their daughters have been lovingly turning Clifton back into a family home and ensuring that its role in the development of the Tasmanian apple industry is not forgotten. The founder of Clifton was Thomas Jabez Amesbury Frankcomb, a blacksmith born in Somerset, England in around 1824. According to one record Frankcomb sailed to Australia in 1847 and was a church deacon in Sydney before moving to Tasmania three years later and settling at Ranelagh, in the picturesque Tasmanian south. In reality he was a convict sentenced in 1842 to fifteen years’ transportation for malicious stabbing and wounding. It appears that Frankcomb spent his first three years in Van Diemen’s Land at the notorious Southport probation station, the southernmost penal settlement for some of the most hardened convicts.

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01 A door leading into the old sandstone section of the sprawling homestead. 02 Four apple picker’s huts were purchased and moved onto the property by the current owners, to preserve the memory of Clifton’s role in the once burgeoning apply industry in Tasmania. Once, almost 10 million apples annually would be packed at Clifton alone. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

03 The driveway edged with hedges and bushes, including a five-metre high cypress hedge. 04 Clifton is set on 3 hectares of garden and parkland.

From about 1846 Frankcomb was assigned to John Kellaway, a farmer and apple orchardist in the Huon Valley. After three years of servitude he received his ticket of leave and he started his own orchard on 2 hectares of land at Ranelagh. As his prosperity grew he acquired more land, and he built a small cottage. Frankcomb married Elizabeth Dawes in 1855; they had six children. Sometime around 1865 he built a new sandstone cottage on the property, adding to it over the years and creating the sprawling Clifton homestead of today. Four subsequent generations of Frankcombs maintained Thomas’ orchard at Clifton, which grew with the acquisition of further properties and also diversified into hop production and later cherries. They were regarded as highly progressive orchardists who made significant contributions to their industry and local community. Indeed, such was the regard for Clifton and the Frankcomb family that in 1970 Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited to inspect the workings of their applepacking shed. Then the industry’s rapid decline was triggered when Tasmania lost its preferential access for apples to the United Kingdom market. In a double whammy, the market for hops also collapsed about the same time. The apple industry shrunk almost overnight, as an estimated seven hundred orchardists pulled up stumps. While a period of prosperity returned to the industry, viability declined again twenty years later. There are now only about fifty growers left in the state. Total apple production in Tasmania in 2010 was about 25,000 tonnes, contrasting with the 1960s’ export peak of some 126,000 tonnes per annum of apples from Tasmania to the United Kingdom.

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Clifton once comprised 52 hectares of apple orchards and 52 hectares acres of hops, plus a sprawling twenty-five-room homestead set in stunning garden surrounds. As one of the larger and longest established operators Clifton continued in the industry, phasing out of hops in 1995 to focus on apple production. But in 2000 the family homestead was sold, along with 2 hectares of land. A year later TA Frankcomb Pty Ltd ceased operation, and the family’s orcharding interests were split up. The Clifton homestead comprises several sympathetic extensions to the sandstone cottage built by Thomas Frankcomb. That original cottage is now the kitchen, cellar and breakfast room areas of the house. Around 1880 a timber addition was made to the home, and twenty years further on Thomas Frankcomb II added a grand Victorian section. The relative austerity of the sandstone section contrasts dramatically with the elaborate nature of the Victorian section, with its extensive timber panelling and leadlight in the entry hall, timber fretwork, French doors, tall ceilings and generously proportioned rooms, which include a library and enormous formal drawing room. A first-floor verandah section was also part of the later additions, which today houses six bedrooms. 04

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05 Vividly hued stained-glass leadlight. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

06–07 Light floods into the drawing room and sitting room. 08 Willow pattern china on display above a painting of Clifton.

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Clifton is set on 3 hectares of garden and parkland that slopes gently down to the sparkling waters of the Mountain River, providing stunning views from every room. There are towering maples and oak trees, a one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Magnolia grande and a 5 metre-high cypress hedge. Fruit trees abound: cherry plums, apricots, pears, peaches, nectarines, mulberries, kiwifruits and quinces. Just about everything, in fact, except apples. The garden beds brim with roses, foxgloves, lilies, forget-me-nots, poppies, violets, daffodils, bluebells, tulips, lavender and hydrangeas, to name just a few. The garden also boasts a rare and exotic Chilean puya bush, planted around 1930. The bush bursts into large aqua green flowerheads in summer, and is reputedly one of only two in existence in Tasmania. Clifton’s grounds also include a large 1912 hop kiln, which was used for drying hops up until the 1960s. The kiln and press are still intact, and the current owners are planning to undertake the structural work required to make it sound for the future. The homestead, hop kiln and gardens are all listed with the National Trust. A couple from Western Australia purchased Clifton and transformed the larger parts of the home into luxury suites for bed and breakfast accommodation. Clifton

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was renamed Matilda’s, under which name it operated successfully for several years and picked up numerous tourism awards. It was sold again in late 2006 to Stephen and Sonia Fluke, who have spent the last few years returning the building to a family home for their three children. They built two quaint cottages in the grounds of Clifton to provide for the existing tourism accommodation, but these are now reserved for family and friends as the home has completed its transformation back to private residence, with its original name reinstated. The Flukes were captivated with Clifton from the minute they laid eyes on it, as well as with the story of the former convict who established its apple orchard and whose descendants lived in the home he built for well over one hundred years. They recently purchased four of the old orchard’s apple pickers’ cottages to put near the Clifton homestead as a permanent reminder of the important role this property played in the development of the Tasmanian apple industry. 13

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09 Every window affords glimpses of the lush garden surrounds. 10 The timber extension to the original sandstone cottage. 11 Scales hark back to Clifton’s days at the heart of the apple industry—it played such an important role that in 1970 Queen Elizabeth II visited the apple-packing shed. 12–13 Mismatched chairs and striped wallpaper in the dining room, and paint brushes at the ready—Clifton is now a much-loved family home.

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The apple industry shrunk almost overnight, as an estimated seven hundred orchardists pulled up stumps. While a period of prosperity returned to the industry, viability declined again twenty years later.

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14 A perfect spot for tea, in the timber-lined kitchen. 15 & 17 Current owner Sonia Fluke is a talented artist and many of her pieces are displayed around Clifton.

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16 Leadlight in the Victorian section of the home.

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18–19 Clifton’s grounds slope down to the sparkling Mountain River. 20 The hop kiln, listed with the National Trust, was used for drying hops up until the 1960s. 19

Clifton is set on 3 hectares of garden and parkland that slopes gently down to the sparkling waters of the Mountain River, providing stunning views from every room. 202/203

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ELPHIN HOUSE Linking two families and homes

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Every November fairies flock to Elphin House for its annual open garden fete. Dressed up in their winged costumes, children descend on the enchanting garden with the promise of free ice-cream. Their parents come for the chance to enjoy the exquisite setting and to obtain plant cuttings from Lady Sallie Ferrall’s renowned propagation beds. Gardening has been Lady Sallie’s passion since she moved to the historic Launceston residence in 1990. She used her artistic flair to design a formal garden that wraps all around the circa 1858 Gothic homestead, and has spent the last twenty years painstakingly perfecting her plan. Roses abound. From ‘Duponte’ to ‘Le Marc’, ‘Pierre de Ronsard’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Duet’ and ‘Iceberg’, the many-hued roses pour out of their perfectly manicured box hedge borders. They are interspersed with other favourites, such as weeping kashmiriana, white hydrangeas, nandina, succulents, agapanthus, delphiniums, smoke bush, daphne, maple, peony and lemon trees. Shade comes from a giant Atlantic cedar tree, liquidambar and Magnolia grandiflora, while there are topiaries aplenty. The pièce de résistance for Lady Sallie is the thorn tree in the round lawn, which is thought to be a rare Glastonbury species. This non-seeding tree is associated with Christianity arriving in England, and a sprig from it is sent to the Queen every Christmas to decorate her dinner table. It’s thought that the original owner of Elphin House, the Reverend William Dry, may have brought a cutting out from the Glastonbury thorn about the time that he built Elphin House. The Reverend Dry was the younger son of Richard Dry, an Irishman who in 1797 was transported for life to New South Wales on a political charge. Dry Senior spent several years on Norfolk Island and some time in Sydney before he was sent to northern Tasmania to work in the commissariat store. He married a free woman, and in 1809

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01 The conservatory leads onto formal cottage gardens. TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

02 Dappled sunshine falls onto the paved terrace adjacent to Elphin house. 03 Chic black and white tiles make a dramatic blend with the Gothic-style peaked arch door. 04 Fretted timber bargeboards adorn the dormer windows.

their first land grant was awarded to her. It was located in what is today’s Launceston suburb of Newstead and they called it Elphin Farm, building a farm house in which to live. Dry later received a free pardon and became a wealthy farmer, entrepreneur and respected citizen. Indeed, such was Dry’s status in the colony that in 1821 he and his wife were afforded the rare honour of dining privately with Governor Macquarie and his wife. There is a tale that on this night the governor drank too much wine and told Dry he would grant him as much additional land as his wife could ride around in one day. Unbeknown to him she was an excellent horsewoman, and on the appointed day it is said that she managed to secure 12,140 hectares for her husband at Westbury in Tasmania’s central north. This is a good story, but other reports suggest it was largely through good business and purchasing land that it became such a large estate. The Drys called the property Quamby, and in 1828 started the decade-long task of building its magnificent thirty-room homestead. Dry Senior continued to live at Elphin Farm until his death in 1843, whereupon the property passed to William. His eldest son, who became Sir Richard Dry and was Tasmania’s first native-born premier, inherited Quamby.

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The home is asymmetrical and features a steep gabled roof, while fretted timber barge boards adorn the dormer windows on two sides of the house. William Junior became the first native-born Tasmanian to receive Holy orders. He was sent to Cambridge, England, to study at the age of eighteen and was ordained an Anglican minister after graduation. When the Reverend Dry returned to Tasmania with his Scottish-born wife in the 1850s they set about building a new homestead on Elphin Farm that they called Elphin House. Elphin House was built in late Georgian Gothic revival style, of white-painted brick. The home is asymmetrical and features a steep gabled roof, while fretted timber barge boards adorn the dormer windows on two sides of the house. At one stage there were verandahs along the front and the back of the house, although these have long since

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05–06 The house was built from white-painted brick. 07 The warm reds of the elegant sitting room contrast with the lush cool green of Elphin House’s famous gardens.

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Many of the plants in the garden came from Quamby, providing another link between the two properties.

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been removed. A gothic pointed arch leads into a porch with Italian balusters on top, to a pointed arch-shaped entry door. The paint had hardly dried on the new homestead when the Reverend Dry and his wife returned to England, so Elphin House and the farm were leased out and later sold. Quamby too passed out of the Dry family following Sir Richard’s heirless death in 1869. Quamby had several owners over the years, and as early as 1883 Hobart’s Mercury was reporting that the magnificent homestead was in a state of disrepair. But in 1956 the property was bought by aspiring farmer John Barnett, and he moved here with his wife Sallie. John became a highly successful grazier, while Sallie helped restore Quamby to its former grandeur. They raised four sons here before John passed away from motor neurone disease in 1985. Some years later Sallie married Launceston businessman and community leader Sir Raymond Ferrall. It was a case of love at first sight when she saw Elphin House,

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08–12 The rooms are decorated with a sprinkling of florals that reflects the importance of the garden to this estate.

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and after learning of the home’s incredible Dry family connection to her former home of Quamby she was absolutely delighted. When Lady Sallie and Sir Raymond moved to Elphin House twenty years ago they added a north-facing conservatory featuring lancet windows, mirroring many of those in the home and ensuring the new addition blended in perfectly with the old. The home has two generously proportioned formal rooms on the ground floor with bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. A separate staircase from the downstairs kitchen leads to the old servants’ quarters in the attic. A coach house and stables were built adjoining Elphin House, but these have since been demolished. Many of the plants in the garden came from Quamby, providing another link between the two properties.

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Lady Sallie slaves for months to get the garden looking its best for the charity fete, but with each year that passes she suspects her age might prohibit her doing it all over again. However, when she opens the gates to those little fairies and sees the pleasure that two decades of toil in this garden gives to others, Elphin House’s own fairy godmother is determined to keep going for another year. 12

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13–17 Statuary and blooming plants appear in every corner and nook of these famous gardens.

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It was a case of love at first sight when she saw Elphin House, and after learning of the home’s incredible Dry family connection to her former home of Quamby she was absolutely delighted. 13

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Acknowledgements We’d like to express our sincere gratitude to all the wonderful home owners who helped make this book possible. Our warmest thanks also to the Governor of Tasmania, the Honourable Peter Underwood AC; Anne Parker and David Owen at Government House; Carol Jackson and all the members of the Friends of Tasman Island who do such an amazing job conserving the island; John Cook, Jan and Harry Ward and Don Morris. We would also like to acknowledge Sue Hines and Aziza Kuypers at Allen & Unwin. Thank you for your encouragement and support— we have been so privileged to work with you.

First published in 2011 Copyright © Alice Bennett and Georgia Warner 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, London 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com TJ81-6-2011 IMUK AUS0345 Living in history W:220mmXH:280mm 175L M/A Magenta

Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74237 359 1 Internal design by Phil Campbell Printed in China by Imago

pp ii and vi: Rouseville pp iv–v: Tasman Island lighthouse

Further reading Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition, http:// adbonline.anu.edu.au Australian Heritage Database, www.environment.gov.au/ heritage/ahdb Brown, PL (ed.), Clyde Company Papers, Oxford University Press, London, 1941–71 Butler, Geoffrey Travers, Gamaliel Butler: A family history, printed by The Photographic Section, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1961 Chick, Neil, The Archers of Van Diemen’s Land, The Archer Historical Trust, Pedigree Press, Lenah Valley, 1991 Davis, B, Guide to Bruny Island History, Bruny Island Historical Society, Bruny Island, Tasmania, 1990 Duncombe, Kathy, Excursion around North Bruny Island, self published, 2006 Friends of Tasman Island, www.wildcaretas.org.au Fry, Michael, Ormiston House: Stately home of the west coast of Tasmania, self published, 1999 Governor of Tasmania, His Excellency the Honourable Peter Underwood AC, www.govhouse.tas.gov.au Historical Committee of the National Trust Australia (Tasmania), Campbell Town, Tasmania: History and centenary of municipal government, Campbell Town Municipal Council, 1966 Jennings, J, A History of Bridport, self published, 1983 Lucas, Clive and Ray Joyce, Australian Country Houses: Homesteads, farmsteads and rural retreats, compiled by Elaine Rushbrooke, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1987 MacFarlane, WH, History of North East Tasmania, North Eastern Advertiser, Scottsdale, Tasmania, 2007 Mitchel, John, Jail Journal, originally published 1854, MH Gill & Son, Dublin, c. 1913 Ratho 1822, Australia’s Oldest Golf Course, http://rathogolf.com Rigney, Frank, A Midlands Odyssey: A journey through parts of the northern midlands of Tasmania, self published, 2008 Robertson, E Graeme, Early Buildings of Southern Tasmania : Volumes I and II, Georgian House Pty Ltd, 1966 ____ and Edith N Craig, Early Houses of Northern Tasmania, Georgian House Pty Ltd, 1966 Rowntree, Amy, The Story of Government House, Tasmania, Mercury Press, Hobart, 1960 Tasman Island Lighthouse, www.lighthouse.net.au Ward, Malcolm, Built by Seabrook: Hobart buildings constructed by the Seabrook family from the 1830s, self published, 2006 Winter, Gillian (ed.), Tasmanian Insights: Essays in Honour of Geoffrey Thomas Stilwell, State Library of Tasmania, 1992

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