Tiranna – 17 Billyard Avenue – Elizabeth Bay – NSW

Tiranna – 17 Billyard Avenue – Elizabeth Bay NSW

Victorian marine villa · Built c.18801890 · Standing — private residence (marketed 2026)

Billyard Avenue is one of those Elizabeth Bay cul-de-sacs where the harbour still feels close enough to touch — Boomerang down the street, McElhone Reserve and the marina at your feet, Elizabeth Bay House up the slope. Tiranna is the five-level Victorian pile that has somehow stayed freestanding while most of Macleay’s old estate dissolved into flats. The live post was thin auction copy. This scrapbook fills what can be checked and flags what can’t.

At a glance

• Address: 17 Billyard Avenue, Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011
• Built: approximately 1880 (current marketing / live blog); some agent copy says c.1890 — flag conflict
• Style: Victorian multi-level residence (five levels; harbour-oriented)
• Site: elevated parcel about 607 m²; internal living space reported ~1,000 m²; soaring ceilings cited ~3.4 m
• Rooms (as marketed 2026): 10 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, lift to all levels, 3 lock-up garages
• Ownership note (agent claim): only five owners in nearly 150 years — treat as marketing until title chain checked
• Heritage: within the Elizabeth Bay / Rushcutters Bay heritage conservation area pattern (City of Sydney); no individual SHR entry found in this research pass do not claim State listing without Schedule 5 / SHR confirmation
• Fate / current use: Standing — restored as private family home; marketed 2026 with $30m auction guide (Pillinger / Simon Exleton); September auction date cited in marketing

Site & setting

Tiranna sits at the quieter end of Billyard Avenue — dress-circle Elizabeth Bay, carved from Alexander Macleay’s original marine estate that once spilled gardens down to the bay. Neighbours and near-neighbours on this blogs beat include Boomerang, Jenner House, and the museum piece Elizabeth Bay House. The outlook is north-easterly across Elizabeth Bay toward the Heads; McElhone Reserve and the marina sit in the foreground of modern agent photography.

The Aboriginal Country is Cadigal / Gadigal land of the Eora Nation — as for all of Port Jacksons southern shore. European subdivision of the Elizabeth Bay estate through the later nineteenth century produced the villa streetscape of which Tiranna is a surviving freestanding chapter.

Timeline

• c.1880 / c.1890 – Tiranna built as a private Victorian residence on Billyard Avenue (date conflict between marketing sources; Sands / rate-book confirmation needed).
• Late 19th–early 20th c. – Private house chapter (owner names not verified from ADB / Dictionary of Sydney / Heritage NSW in this pass do not invent).
• 1940s–1980s Converted to three whole-floor apartments, then operated as a high-end guest house (consistent claim across 2026 marketing and the live blog).
• 1988 – Purchased by John Pooley and Prudence Harper for $1.1 million — reported as more than seven times the then Sydney median house price (~$150,000 cited in press).
• 1988–2020s – Restored back to a single private family home; lift and modern services; 2020 upgrade cited for boutique-hotel / compliance readiness (lift, bathrooms, electrical, plumbing, fire safety).
• 2021–22 – DA D/2021/1261 for boarding-house / rear addition scheme refused by City of Sydney Local Planning Panel (8 June 2022) — planning history, not a heritage verdict.
• 2026 Marketed with ~$30 million auction guide; auction date cited as 15 September (confirm closer to publish).

Architecture & interiors

What the marketing and the live scrapbook agree on: a five-level Victorian residence on a tight elevated lot, freestanding, with harbour views and enough internal volume (~1,000 m² claimed) to have absorbed apartments and a guest-house phase without disappearing. Features repeatedly cited: lift to all levels, high ceilings, restored Victorian detailing, three garages.

What we do not yet have from Heritage NSW or Dictionary of Sydney: a secure architect attribution, original room schedule, or fabric analysis. Treat decorative claims in agent copy as unverified until a conservation report or rate-book / Sands trail is in hand. The closest architectural neighbour often named in copy is Jenner House — useful for readers, not a proven authorship link.

People & anecdotes

The only named modern custodians securely repeated in press are John Pooley and Prudence Harper, who bought in 1988 and held for nearly four decades — the longest chapter claimed for the house. Earlier owner names are not confirmed here from ADB, Dictionary of Sydney, Heritage NSW, SLNSW catalogues, or Trove article text in this research pass. Leave them blank rather than guess from estate-agent folklore.

The guest-house decades (1940s–1980s) fit a familiar Elizabeth Bay pattern: big Victorian houses broken into flats or rooms when servants vanished and rates rose — then, occasionally, put back together by someone stubborn enough to reverse the carve-up.

Image gallery guidance

Do not invent URLs — search and embed with acknowledgement. Keep any historic views already on the live post.

1. Current / recent exterior from Billyard Avenue Search: agent photography 2026; City of Sydney street views. Caption idea: *Tiranna still freestanding on Billyard five levels over the bay.*

2. Harbour / Heads outlook from upper floors Search: marketing gallery; private photos with permission. Caption idea: *Why Billyard was dress-circle — Elizabeth Bay to the Heads.*

3. Jenner House / Boomerang context shots Search: existing blog posts; SLNSW Elizabeth Bay collections. Caption idea: *Same street culture — Jenner and Boomerang as the comparable survivors.*

4. Elizabeth Bay House & McElhone Reserve Search: Museums of History NSW; City of Sydney archives. Caption idea: *Macleays estate broken up — Tiranna one late Victorian remnant of the slope.*

5. Trove / Sands Directory pages for “Tiranna” + Billyard Search: Trove newspapers; Sands online. Caption idea: *Owner trail to chase Sands and SMH, not agent myth.*

What stands today

Tiranna stands as a private residence at 17 Billyard Avenue. It is not a house museum. As of the 2026 marketing campaign it was offered at auction with a multimillion-dollar guide after nearly forty years in one family’s hands.

What you can do:

• Walk Billyard Avenue and read the freestanding Victorian massing against the flat towers — note the elevated siting and harbour orientation from the street.
• Pair with Elizabeth Bay House (Museums of History NSW) and the surviving Jenner / Boomerang stories on this blog.
• For planning / heritage status, check City of Sydney LEP Schedule 5 and the Elizabeth BayRushcutters Bay HCA mapping before asserting any listing.

Sources & further reading

• Live scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2026/08/tiranna-17-billyard-avenue-elizabeth.html
• NSW Planning Portal — DA D/2021/1261 (17 Billyard Avenue; refused 8 June 2022): https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/daex/determined/17-billyard-avenue-elizabeth-bay-2011
• City of Sydney Local Planning Panel issue — D/2021/1261
• Contemporary marketing / press (facts to verify against titles): Pillinger Estate Agents campaign; property press JulyAug 2026 citing 1988 $1.1m purchase and $30m guide
• Jenner House (comparable neighbour on this blog): existing Potts Point / Elizabeth Bay posts
• Museums of History NSW — Elizabeth Bay House (estate context): https://mhnsw.au/
• Dictionary of Sydney — Elizabeth Bay / Rushcutters Bay place entries (estate context): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/
• Trove search “Tiranna” + “Billyard” + “Elizabeth Bay for owner trail
• Sands Directories — Billyard Avenue listings (SLNSW / City of Sydney)

Research gaps (honest): Dictionary of Sydney, Heritage NSW SHR, ADB, and SLNSW catalogue searches in this pass did not return a dedicated Tiranna building entry with early owner or architect. Enrich from rate books, Torrens title, and Trove before claiming Victorian-era biography.

Related on this blog

• Elizabeth Bay House Elizabeth Bay
• Jenner House Potts Point (search Jenner)
• Boomerang – Elizabeth Bay (search Boomerang)
• Tudor – Elizabeth Bay

Keep existing historic / listing photos on this post; add SLNSW or Trove scans where noted in Image gallery guidance above, with captions and credits.

Tusculum Part 2 – 1–3 Manning Street – Potts Point

Tusculum – 1–3 Manning Street – Potts Point – NSW

Built c.1831–1836 · Architect John Verge · Standing — Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter HQ

On Woolloomooloo Hill — before the flats, before the Cross, before Manning Street filled in — stood a parade of white Regency villas meant to prove that Sydney had a gentry of its own. Most of that skyline is gone. Tusculum is one of the stubborn survivors: John Verges stucco villa for merchant A.B. Spark, episcopal town house for Bishop Broughton, Italianate-fronted mansion for the Longs, private hospital, American Red Cross wartime billet, near-ruin — and today the living headquarters of the architects of New South Wales.

**At a glance**

- Address: 1–3 Manning Street, Potts Point (AIA NSW Chapter lists **3 Manning Street**)

- Built: c.18311835/36 (SHR construction years 1831–1837; Verge ledger through 1836)

- Architect: John Verge (original); later works associated with John Frederick Hilly (likely, Long era) and John Burcham Clamp (1905–06 stair / billiard room)

- Style: Colonial Regency villa, later overlaid with mid-Victorian Italianate two-storey Ionic verandahs

- Original owner: Alexander Brodie Spark (merchant); built largely as an investment

- Famous early tenant: Bishop William Grant Broughton, 1836–1851

- Heritage: NSW State Heritage Register #00027 (2 April 1999); Permanent Conservation Order 1979; Register of the National Estate; National Trust

- Fate / current use: Standing — restored 1985–87; NSW Chapter HQ of the Australian Institute of Architects under long lease; events, meeting rooms, gallery

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### Site & setting

The Aboriginal name recorded for Potts Point is **Derrawunn**. In the late 1820s the rocky ridge inland from the point was still **Eastern / Woolloomooloo Hill** — close to town, high enough for harbour and mountain views, and far enough from the crowded Rocks to tempt Sydney’s “pure merinos.”

Governor Ralph Darlings 1828 subdivision created large “town allotments” under strict **villa conditions**: one approved house per grant, set in gardens, generally facing the town, and built to a substantial standard. Spark’s grant of more than nine acres (September 1828) was unusual in going to a private merchant rather than a senior civil servant. From the water and from Sydney Town the finished white villas read as a civic advertisement genteel New South Wales, on show.

Tusculum once sat near the centre of its own garden, lawn and shrubbery, with coach-house and stables, and a frontage that related to Woolloomooloo Bay. Subdivision from the 1840s onward (and especially late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century cutting-up) ate the grounds. Manning, Hughes and Tusculum Streets tell the story in their names. Today the villa is hemmed by flats — Art Deco towers toward Macleay Street, lower blocks to the west — with a reduced forecourt and the 1980s AIA wing behind. The spacious marine-villa setting is gone; the house is not.

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### Timeline

- **1823** – Alexander Brodie Spark arrives Sydney as a free settler (*Princess Charlotte*); builds a shipping and mercantile fortune (ADB).

- **1 Jan 1827** – Spark writes to Colonial Secretary **Alexander McLeay** seeking a building allotment east of Woolloomooloo Bay (quoted MHNSW / Abbott & Little). *(McLeay is not Tusculum’s owner — his own Verge house is Elizabeth Bay House.)*

- **Sept 1828** Spark granted 9+ acres on Woolloomooloo Hill.

- **1 June 1830** – Spark sends a house plan to the Colonial Secretary, wanting it more “ornamental”; Verge’s ledger first records the commission in **1831**.

- **1831c.1835/36** – Tusculum built under Verge; liveable by about 1835; ledger details continue to 1836. Named for ancient Tusculum near Rome.

- **1836** – Alterations for first long tenant, Bishop **William Grant Broughton**; Broughton household moves in. Verge involved in modifications (including expanding rooms onto the verandah per MHNSW).

- **1836–1851** – Broughton’s almost entire Australian episcopacy centred here; garden, library shelves (1839), hospitality; after Government House, the colonys leading domestic address (SHR).

- **1840s** Depression; Spark mortgages Tusculum (ADB: £6000) and sells assets; insolvency 1844. First estate subdivisions; Broughton loses part of his cherished garden.

- **1848** – Broughton renews lease seven years at 300 p.a.; SMH sale notice describes stone house, verandah, hall, drawing & dining rooms (~26 × 18 ft), study, basement kitchen/cellarage, coach-house and stables (MHNSW quoting *SMH* 6 Sep 1848).

- **Oct 1850** – Conference of Australasian Bishops accommodated at Tusculum.

- **1851–52** – Broughton leaves; **William Long** purchases (DoS: 3010) and occupies from 1852.

- **1850s–1870s** – Long-family modernisation: slate roof, windows, chimneypieces, SE extension; earlier verandahs replaced/extended as two-storey **Ionic** colonnades (cast iron and wood) — likely **J.F. Hilly** (stylistic attribution). Italian moulded stonework ordered for rooms (MHNSW).

- **1876** – William Long dies; son **William Alexander Long** inherits; later lets to approved tenants including Mayor **W.P. (Sir William) Manning**.

- **21 Oct 1904** – Auction; **Lewis Edward Isaacs** buys house lot for £3,750; **Burcham Clamp** alters staircase/stair hall (builder John White).

- **1906** – **Orwell and Alfred Phillips** purchase; Orwell later sole owner; billiard-room addition likely Clamp.

- **1919** – Harold **Cazneaux** photograph published in *Art in Australia* special *Domestic Architecture in Australia* (Hardy Wilson collaboration) — early architectural celebrity for the house.

- **1927–28** – Further sale and subdivision; from **1928** leased as private hospital (Isabel Christie); operating theatre and sterilising room inserted (1928 Ross & Rowe works documented in SHR).

- **1930s** – Surrounding flats rise; curtilage shrinks to roughly today’s footprint (SLNSW notes flats obscuring front by mid-1930s).

- **WWII** – American Red Cross officers’ club / convalescent use; basement air-raid shelter reported (MHNSW).

- **Post-war–early 1980s** – Nursing home / later religious centre; vacancy, squatters, vandalism, fires to rear additions; main joinery and panelled ceilings survive.

- **Dec 1979** – Permanent Conservation Order.

- **April 1983** – First compulsory resumption under the **NSW Heritage Act 1977** (~$1.03m).

- **198587** – Clive Lucas conservation; Levine & Durbach competition wing for RAIA; restoration evokes early–mid Victorian period.

- **11 March 1988** Official opening by the Premier of NSW.

- **2 April 1999** – Entered on NSW State Heritage Register (#00027).

- **2011–13** – Further renovations addressing damp (MHNSW).

- **Today** AIA NSW Chapter headquarters; villa used for meetings, gallery and receptions; rooms for hire.

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### Architecture & interiors

Tusculum began as a large **two-storey Regency** villa in stuccoed brick — Verge at the height of his Sydney practice (ADB: colony’s high-water mark of austere Regency stucco). It is one of the few Sydney colonial houses that still show the full “villa” diagram: principal floors above, **basement service rooms and stair** below — upstairs/downstairs domestic administration made visible in plan (SHR).

Early descriptions and the 1848 sale notice give the bones: verandah; ground-floor hall opening to drawing and dining rooms linked by folding doors; study, store, butlers pantry and servants’ room; four bedrooms and dressing room above; kitchen, servants’ room and cellarage below; substantial coach-house and three-stall stables with loft.

Heritage statements long credited **cedar** joinery (said imported from Lebanon) in panelled ceilings and later verandah work, and **marble** flooring and chimneypieces said to come from Tusculum in Italy — the latter now noted as removed (SHR). Treat those material stories as heritage-register tradition unless you have a current fabric survey in hand.

What you see from the street today is heavily shaped by the **Long** decades: a fine classical **two-storey verandah of the Ionic order on three sides**, probably completed in the late 1870s (SHR), transforming a Regency villa into a mid-Victorian Italianate mansion. High shuttered French doors open onto the broad verandahs. The matching portico/porte-cochère on the garden side was removed in the later twentieth century. Edwardian **Clamp** work remade the staircase and stair hall (retained in the 1980s conservation as significant). Hospital-era accretions on the verandahs were later stripped back.

Clive Lucas leading Verge authority directed the 1980s conservation to reveal original form while keeping key later layers. Behind the villa, the **Levine & Durbach** Institute building (national competition win) holds auditorium, offices and foyer gallery — 1980s architecture deliberately paired with the conserved colonial house.

**Architect note:** Verge’s authorship of the original villa is secure (ledger + SHR). Attribution of the Ionic verandah campaign to **Hilly** is persuasive but stylistic. Do not credit Alexander McLeay as owner or client — he was the Colonial Secretary across town at Elizabeth Bay House, another Verge masterpiece.

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### People & anecdotes

**A.B. Spark** was the merchant who named houses after classical Italy (**Tusculum**, **Tempe**) and lived the boom-and-bust of the 1830s–40s. Tusculum marked his rise; his failure to settle there marked the slide — Bank of Australia collapse, guarantees for bankrupt friends, mortgage, sale, insolvency (ADB). He poured affection into Tempe on the Cooks River instead, entertaining hundreds there in a single busy year (1839). Tusculum was the showpiece investment on the Hill; Tempe was home.

**Bishop Broughton** made the unfinished house decent, planted roses and a kitchen garden, shelved his library against damp, and still grumbled that it was “a sad, imperfect place and anything but episcopal” then renewed the lease anyway because the air and the outlook answered. For fifteen years church politics, education fights, and colonial hospitality ran through these rooms. In October 1850 Australasian bishops crowded in for their conference — Emily Crawley’s letter sketches the bedding arrangements. After Government House, this was the address that mattered.

**William Long**, emancipist publican turned wine merchant, bought respectability in stone and cedar. His and his son’s alterations — Ionic verandahs, Italian enrichments, slate instead of shingle are why Tusculum reads mid-Victorian from the footpath. Later names on the visitors book of ownership and tenancy include politicians and lawyers (**Kater**, **Sir James Martin**), Lord Mayor **Sir William Manning**, and the **Phillips** brothers (Orwell’s name echoes in nearby Orwell Street / Orwell House territory on this blog).

Twentieth-century chapters are less glamorous and just as telling: private hospital beds where drawing rooms had been; Red Cross officers in wartime; then neglect so severe the State stepped in with the Heritage Act’s first compulsory rescue. That 1983 resumption is itself a heritage landmark — proof that NSW had decided some houses were not disposable. Paul Keating’s later association with lobbying for the architects’ lease (and a suite in the complex) is a modern footnote often repeated in secondary sources.

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### Image gallery guidance

Do not invent URLs — search these collections and embed with proper acknowledgement. The existing 2017 post already holds several historic views and estate plans worth keeping or re-crediting.

1. **Early photographic views of Tusculum (c.1860s–1880s)**  

  Search: existing blog images; SLNSW / Trove digitised photos “Tusculum Potts Point”; City of Sydney archives.  

   Caption idea: *Tusculum when the grounds still breathed — verandahs and garden before the flat boom.*

2. **Harold Cazneaux, Tusculum, for *Domestic Architecture in Australia* (1919)**  

   Search: SLNSW archival record 110051389 (PXA 731 album); *Art in Australia* special number.  

Caption idea: *Already a classic by 1919 Cazneauxs Tusculum in Hardy Wilsons circle.*

3. **Matthew James MacNally, watercolour of Tusculum, 1932**

   Search: SLNSW archival record 110318466.  

  Caption idea: *1932 — hospital years beginning, flats closing in (MacNally).*

4. **Tusculum Estate subdivision plans (1842, 1852, 1871, 1928)**

   Already on the existing post; also Trove / NLA map searches “Tusculum Estate Woolloomooloo”.  

Caption idea: *Watch the acres shrink estate plans from Spark’s grant to the 1928 carve-up.*

5. **Portrait of A.B. Spark, 1836, by Forbes Mudie**  

   Search: SLNSW (ADB cites P2/373).  

   Caption idea: *The merchant who named it — A.B. Spark, 1836.*

6. **William Grant Broughton portraits (e.g. William Nicholas, 1843)**

   Search: SLNSW; ADB Broughton page.  

   Caption idea: *First Bishop of Australia — Broughton, master of Tusculum 1836–1851.*

7. **Contemporary AIA / Manning Street views**  

  Search: Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter media; Wikimedia Commons “Tusculum Potts Point”.  

   Caption idea: *Still standing — Verge’s villa as NSW architects’ home, Manning Street.*

8. **Compare set: Rockwall and Elizabeth Bay House**

Search: SLNSW *Villas of Darlinghurst* exhibition material; MHNSW.  

   Caption idea: *Verges surviving hilltop kin — Rockwall next door in spirit; Elizabeth Bay House for McLeay.*

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### What stands today / how to see it

Tusculum **stands**. It is not a house museum on daily public opening like Elizabeth Bay House, but it is very much alive as the **NSW Chapter headquarters of the Australian Institute of Architects** at **3 Manning Street, Potts Point**.

What you can do:

- Walk Manning Street and read the villa from the footpath — Ionic verandahs, stucco, reduced forecourt, flats pressing close.

- Check **architecture.com.au** (NSW Chapter) for events, talks, and **room hire** — the restored villa hosts meetings, exhibitions and receptions; public access is typically via Institute programs rather than open-house tourism.

- Pair the visit with surviving neighbours on this blog’s beat: **Rockwall** (Verge), and across to **Elizabeth Bay House** (Verge for Alexander McLeay — Museums of History NSW house museum).

- Remember the lost setting: Woolloomooloo Bay frontage and multi-acre gardens survive only in plans, early photos, and street names (Tusculum Street included).

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### Sources & further reading

- NSW State Heritage Register — Tusculum (SHR 00027): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045157  

- Museums of History NSW — Tusculum story: https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/tusculum/  

- Dictionary of Sydney Tusculum: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/tusculum  

- Dictionary of Sydney — Potts Point: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/potts_point

- ADB — Alexander Brodie Spark: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/spark-alexander-brodie-2684  

- ADB — William Grant Broughton: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/broughton-william-grant-1832

- ADB — John Verge: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/verge-john-2757  

- Australian Institute of Architects — NSW Chapter (Tusculum HQ): https://www.architecture.com.au/nsw-chapter  

- SLNSW — Cazneaux / *Domestic Architecture in Australia* album: https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110051389

- SLNSW — MacNally, *Tusculum*, 1932: https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110318466  

- Clive Lucas & Partners, *Tusculum… conservation analysis and draft conservation policy*, 1985  

- Terry Kass, *History of “Tusculum”, 1–3 Manning Street, Potts Point*, Heritage Council of NSW report, 1983  

- Graham Abbott & Geoffrey Little, *The respectable Sydney merchant A. B. Spark of Tempe*, Sydney University Press, 1976  

- State Library of NSW, *Villas of Darlinghurst* exhibition catalogue, 2002

- *Sydney Morning Herald* sale notice, 6 September 1848 (via MHNSW / Trove)  

- Existing scrapbook post (images & clippings): https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2017/08/tusculum-potts-point.html

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### Related on this blog

- [Rockwall – Potts Point](https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/07/rockwall-7-rockwell-crescent-potts.html) (Verge neighbour)  

- [Elizabeth Bay House – Elizabeth Bay](https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/elizabeth-bay-house-elizabeth-bay-new.html) (Verge for Alexander McLeay)  

- [Orwell House – Orwell Street – Potts Point](https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/09/orwell-house-orwell-street-potts-point.html)

- [John Verge – Colonial Architect](https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/07/john-verge-colonial-architect-new-south.html)  

- Bonus neighbour: [Tempe House Tempe](https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2022/12/tempe-house-tempe-wolli-creek-sydney.html) (Sparks favoured Verge villa)

*(Expand the thin 2017 stub in place, or republish under the fuller title and keep the old URL as the canonical post.)*

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### Suggested title options

1. **Tusculum – 1–3 Manning Street Potts Point – NSW** (template match; recommended)  

2. **Tusculum – 3 Manning Street Potts Point – NSW** (matches AIA street listing)  

3. **Tusculum (AIA NSW HQ) – Manning Street – Potts Point – NSW** (flags current use)

Optional subtitle line: **Built c.1831–1836 · Architect John Verge · Standing — AIA NSW Chapter headquarters**

Weemala - Home Of Incurables - Ryde - New South Wales

Strickland House (Carrara) – 52 Vaucluse Road – Vaucluse – NSW

Strickland House (Carrara) – 52 Vaucluse Road – Vaucluse – NSW

It is well worth the trip to Strickland House in that Vaucluse Area. Almost a day trip. One of those spots that if you didn’t know it existed, youd never know it was there. It includes small bays like Milk Beach, Shark Beach & Vaucluse House Beach further along. As well as a walking trail around the Points. Nielsen Bay National Park holds most of the area. & have a beach with a shark proof net. 

Strickland House Comes As a sight to behold really. Unfortunately all the Appointments & Effects from the residence has been removed & we are just left with the shell of a house. Still standing in grandeur at the edge of the harbour with some of the most stunning harbour views in Sydney. You Can See the Harbour bridge & Opera House Together as well as the inner Coastline of Double Bay Darling Point & Rose Bay

The house itself is just a remnant of the past it has had  with 

Victorian Italianate marine mansion · John Frederick Hilly for John Hosking, c.185556 Standing NSW Government / public grounds (NPWS Strickland Estate) SHR #00722

Milk Beach, Hermitage Foreshore Track, and a white Italianate pile that still owns its lawn to the water — Carrara, renamed Strickland House when it became a women’s convalescent home under Governor Sir Gerald Stricklands name. Seventy-five years of hospital use outlasted the private-residence chapter, then the community fought off boutique-hotel & sell-off schemes so the foreshore stayed public. This is one of the eastern suburbs’ great still there” stories.

At a glance

• Address: 52 Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030 (Woollahra LGA); c.4.8 ha harbourside estate
• Traditional Custodians: Aboriginal Country of the harbour’s southern shore (Cadigal / related Eora framing acknowledge; deepen from local Aboriginal sources at publish)
• Original name: Carrara (private villa); renamed Strickland Convalescent Home for Women 1915 (after Sir Gerald Strickland, NSW Governor)
• Built: c.1855–1856 for John Hosking (first elected Mayor of Sydney, 1842–43 — ADB); architect John Frederick Hilly; SMH tender for walls 15 April 1856

• Style: Early Victorian Italianate marine mansion dressed sandstone (historically painted), colonnaded verandahs, striking two-storey segmental / semicircular bay to the harbour
• Outbuildings: original stables/coach house; 1930s Georgian Revival dormitories and nurses home from hospital phase
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00722 (listed 2 April 1999; curtilage extended to whole estate 2012); former Register of the National Estate (1978)
• Fate / current use: Standing — grounds open sunrise to sunset for passive recreation (NPWS Strickland Estate); house generally closed except guided tours / heritage events; film location use continues

Site & setting

Part of William Charles Wentworths larger Vaucluse holdings excised as a marriage portion for daughter Thomasina and Thomas Fisher (1830s–55); they returned to England without building. The parcel escaped the subdivision that ate most marine villas. Today it sits beside Nielsen Park / Greycliffe, above Milk Beach, on the Hermitage Foreshore walking spine, with borrowed bush backdrop and 180-degree harbour views toward Rose Bay and the city.

SHR significance hangs on that intact house-to-water relationship: carriage loop, terraces, croquet green, mature exotic and native plantings (Moreton Bay figs, hoop pines, stone pines, giant bamboo, Canary Island date palms, etc. — cite SHR plant lists, do not invent specimens)..

• 1830s–55 – Wentworth family portion to Thomasina Fisher; no house built.
• Charles Lowe – May have begun building; on-sold (SHR phase list).
• 1855–56 – John Hosking commissions J.F. Hilly; Carrara built; family lives here into the 1870s.
• 1876/79–88 Henry Moore MLC chapter (occupy from 1879; purchase often dated 1883); open-house society life; marble dogs at the porch in housemaid memoir.
• 11 Dec 1888 Purchased by Arthur Wigram Allen with brother Boyce Allen; Boyce family residence; Arthur’s photography documents the estate.
• 18991902 Let to Wilfred Inman as boys preparatory school early home of what became Tudor House, Moss Vale.
• 1902–14 – Allen family / tenants (Sands occupants include Garvan, etc.).
• 1914 NSW Government purchase via Foreshores Resumption Scheme (“public recreation ground at Rose Bay” / add to Nielsen Park intent).
• 1915–33 – Strickland Convalescent Home for Women opens.
• 1933–60 – Convalescent hospital for men and women (men’s facility amalgamated from Denistone House); 1930s dormitory blocks built.
• 196089 – Strickland House Hospital for the Aged / nursing home; closes December 1989.
• 1990s2010s – Urban park declaration pathway (Fahey 1994 public access); repeated community campaigns against lease/hotel/sell-off; conservation works to exterior and stables; June Poland memorial seat 2015.
• 2 April 1999 SHR listing; whole-estate curtilage gazettal 2012.
• Film note (secondary but repeated): Baz Luhrmanns Australia (Government House Darwin double); other screen uses cited in heritage narratives — verify titles at publish if naming.
• Today Public grounds; house used for tours/events/filming under government control.

Architecture & interiors

Carrara is one of Hilly’s best-known surviving domestic works (with nearby Greycliffe). Two-storey dressed sandstone with attic; asymmetrical verandahs; two-storey segmental bay with Doric colonnade on the west — an early and striking feature. Formal rooms around a central hall; cedar French doors to harbour views; Italian marble chimneypieces and high-quality cedar joinery noted in SHR aesthetic assessment; cellar under dining room.

Service wings to the east around a courtyard (later infilled/ramped in hospital years). Stables L-shaped dressed sandstone with idiosyncratic unfinished-looking detailing (quoins on one corner only, brick gable over stone, projecting blocks) — rare and characterful.

1930s Georgian Revival dormitories (north and south) and nurses’ home mark the Health Department chapter without erasing the 1850s villa.

People & anecdotes

John Hosking (18061882) Merchant; married Martha Terry (Samuel Terrys daughter); first elected Mayor of Sydney (ADB). Built Carrara as his marine villa after the 1840s crash had already wrecked his public career a second-act harbour dream.

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Henry Moore (18151888) Wharf owner (Moores Wharf, Millers Point), early P&O agent, MLC. Housemaid memoir (published tradition via A Girl at Government House / Poland materials) remembers marble hall, marble dogs, four gardeners, and “open house daughters keep as memoir colour, not inventory gospel.

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Allen brothers — Link to Toxteth Park / Allens legal dynasty; Arthur’s camera leaves an Edwardian visual archive of Carrara. Isabella Dundas met Boyce while visiting relative Admiral Fairfax at Admiralty House neat cross-harbour anecdote grounded in contemporary marriage reportage.

Wilfred & Mary Inman — School founders; Mary a daughter of Sir James Martin; childhood ties to Greycliffe and Woollahra House (Inman’s own later writing quoted in heritage narratives).

Sir Gerald Strickland Name donor for the 1915 convalescent home (wife Lady Edeline’s name went to Greycliffes hospital phase).

June & Peter Poland / WHHS — Late-20th-century save-the-estate campaigners; booklet Carrara/Strickland House, the Finest Site on the Foreshores of Sydney Harbour.

Image gallery guidance

1. West bay / colonnade from Milk Beach or Hermitage Track Search: NPWS; creative-commons harbour photos. Caption idea: Carrara still owns its lawn to the water.

2. Arthur Wigram Allen photographs (1903–05) Search: SLNSW Allen albums; Dictionary of Sydney media. Caption idea: Edwardian Carrara Allen’s camera before the hospital years.

3. Stables / coach house Search: conservation works photography (2013 roof/stone restoration noted in heritage narratives). Caption idea: Idiosyncratic stone — the unfinished quoins that make the stables rare.

4. 1930s dormitory blocks in context Search: NPWS estate map / factsheet. Caption idea: Seventy-five years of convalescence left their own architecture.

5. Vaucluse House & Greycliffe pairing Search: MHNSW; this blog. Caption idea: Wentworth country three survivor mansions on one foreshore walk.

What stands today

The mansion and stables stand. Grounds of Strickland Estate are open sunrise–sunset for walking and picnicking (NPWS rules: no alcohol, no amplified music, no solid-fuel BBQs, no marquees; group bookings for 20+). House interior access is limited to guided tours / special open days check Nielsen Park office / NPWS listings.

What you can do:

• Walk Hermitage Foreshore Track from Nielsen Park; detour across the lawn; swim at Milk Beach.
• Pair with Greycliffe and Vaucluse House on this blog for the full Vaucluse marine-villa set.
• Read SHR #00722 before asserting zoning or development history.

Sources & further reading

• Heritage NSW / SHR Strickland House #00722 (history & significance text widely reproduced under CC BY)
• Dictionary of Sydney — Strickland House: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/strickland_house
• NSW National Parks Strickland Estate: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/historic-buildings-places/strickland-estate
• ADB Vivienne Parsons, “Hosking, John (1806–1882)”: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hosking-john-2200
• SMH 15 April 1856 contractors tender for walls (Trove)
• June Poland / Woollahra History & Heritage Society — Carrara/Strickland House… booklet (+ supplements)
• Tanner Architects et al. — Conservation Management Plan (2003) and later CMP updates cited in SHR apparatus
• MHNSW — Vaucluse House / Greycliffe context
• Trove “Carrara” + “Rose Bay” / “Vaucluse”; “Strickland Convalescent”

Research gaps: Pre-contact archaeology summary beyond SHR generalities; current film-permit / tour calendar; confirm exact NPWS vs Government Property management split at publish.

Related on this blog

• Greycliffe – Mona Road – Vaucluse (Hilly neighbour; Lady Edeline hospital twin)
• Vaucluse House – Vaucluse
• Fairwater – Point Piper (eastern harbour wealth; search Fairwater)
• Admiralty House (this batch Dundas/Fairfax marriage anecdote link)
• Kirribilli House (this batch — Arthur Wigram Allen also last private owner there)
• Boomera / Jenner / Elizabeth Bay House for broader marine-villa comparison

Keep existing photos; add SLNSW/Trove images with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

Cranbrook – Bellevue Hill – New South Wales

 

Cranbrook - Bellevue Hill - NSW

Retford Park - Bowral - New South Wales

Retford Park is located on Gundungurra Country and has a European history extending back to land grants made to Edward Riley Snr by Governor Macquarie in 1821. The grand house was built in 1887 by merchant and stockbreeder, Samuel Hordern and his wife Jane nee Booth, and designed by Sydney architect, Albert Bond.

In 1964, James Fairfax AC, former chairman of John Fairfax Ltd (later known as Fairfax Media), bought Retford Park and transformed the agricultural property into a gentleman’s estate. Mr Fairfax was a well-known champion of the arts and generous philanthropist. He always believed that Retford Park should be preserved for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations and in 2016 he gifted his historic home and its magnificent gardens to the National Trust (NSW).

Retford Park, a stunningly beautiful grand Victorian Italianate mansion, designed by Albert Bond, was built by Samuel Hordern (of the well-known retailing family) in 1887, for use as a cattle stud, breeding Jersey and Ayrshire cattle.

1 Exploration Hamilton Hume claimed in 1826 that he and his brother had discovered the country later referred to as the County of Argyll when they travelled through the Bargo Brush to the area around Sutton Forest and Bong Bong in 1814. Being only 17 years old in 1814 Hume was most probably in the company of his uncle, John Kennedy, after whom Kennedy's Brush was named. In Governor Macquarie's view, Kennedy was the first white person to traverse the area. In the following years Hume became associated with most major expeditions in the area and with its general exploration.¹ The 1812-1816 drought catalysed occupation of the region. The County of Cumberland was under the pressure of population growth (due to increased immigration and transportation after the close of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815) and of declining yields from exhausted soils. The effects of drought and caterpillar plagues exacerbated the pressure on land in this period, thus the expansion of settlement was recognised as a necessity and a decision regarding the utilisation of the wild cattle rather than merely protecting them and their grazing lands was imperative. In 1816 John Oxley had obtained permission from Macquarie to send stock to Wingecarribee near the site of the present town of Bowral. He moved 500 head of stock from the Bargo district, becoming the pioneer settler of the region.2 Between 1816 and 1830 exploration intensified: in 1816 Hume further explored the district; in 1817 Throsby, Hume and Wild travelled from the Cow Pastures to the west of Sutton Forest; and in 1818 James Meehan, Charles Throsby, Hamilton Hume and Joseph Wild passed through the Berrima District, splitting into two parties Throsby travelled to the coast via Kangaroo Valley while Meehan and Hume travelled to the Goulburn Plains, in the process the Bargo, Moss Vale, Bundanoon, Marulan, Meryla Pass, Kangaroo Valley and Jervis Bay Districts were traversed. In 1819 Throsby and Wild pioneered the route from Bong Bong to the Bathurst District. Joseph Wild explored the Burragawang area in 1820.3

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J. Jervis,`The Wingecarribee and Southern Highlands District', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol.XXIII, Pt. IV, Sydney, 1937, p. 247; D.N. Jeans, An Historical Geography of New South Wales to 1901, Reed Education, Sydney, 1972, p. 38; J. Jervis, A History of the Berrima District 1798 - 1973, Library of Australian History in association with Wingecarribee Shire Council, 1986, North Sydney, p.9. J. Jervis, `The Wingecarribee ...', pp. 251 - 252. J. Jervis, `The Wingecarribee ...', p. 247; Conservation Planning Issues: A Discussion Paper ... Throsby Park Historic Site, National Parks and Wildlife Service, 1982; D.W. Holland, A History Of The Parish Of Robertson, 1976, p. 23.

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2 European Occupation 1 Macquarie rewarded Throsby's exploration with a grant of 1000 acres selected from within the explored area. To encourage further settlement in the area Macquarie made other grants. Throsby and five other free settlers took up lands in the Berrima District at Sutton Forest and were victualled from the Commissariat at Liverpool. Throsby was responsible for the construction of the first road from Stonequarry Creek to beyond the Cookbundoon Range which commenced with Wild as overseer. Oxley was promised 2,400 acres in the Parish of Bendooley.4 These initial grants and, more importantly, the establishment of a road into the region marked the areas opening up for settlement. The ten years from 1820 were pioneering years in the region, but settlement was slow and despite its proximity to Sydney, isolated. In 1820 Macquarie selected a site for a village to service the Sutton Forest settlers that was to be called Bong Bong. The district of Sutton Forest was also named by Macquarie at this time and wheat was under cultivation by the settlers. By 1821 James Atkinson had stock at Oldbury, near Berrima.5 In that year James Macarthur noted of the 'new country': I never saw a country more suitable to cattle but it is too wet for sheep. The extent is trifling, perhaps 20,000 acres. Of this Dr. Throsby occupies one half with 800 herds of horned cattle. He has established himself near the river and backed himself in to the Westward by six farms to ninety acres each, the proprietors of which all ran away with the exception of two.

John Oxley was instructed to survey the area onwards from Bargo and through the County of Argyll as far as the Cookbundoon River in 1823. The surveyors played a crucial part in the settlement of the region. After the surveys, title could be given and land taken up with some security of tenure. Bong Bong was the first village surveyed and formed in the region, the first structure being for police use. The cart track to Bong Bong and beyond over the Cookbundoon Range had been completed in 1821. It was the intention of Governor Macquarie that Bong Bong would be developed as the capital of the County of Camden. But the Macarthurs had other ideas, and were to promote Camden as the gateway to the southern highlands. In 1822, Harper surveyed the Mittagong area, the Bong Bong area and then Sutton Forest.7 In 1829 Major Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, selected the site of Berrima whilst planning a new route south; the original road over the Mittagong Range being too steep for horse and bullock drawn traffic. Mitchell believed that the site of Berrima was superior to that of Bong Bong. At any rate, Bong Bong had an uncertain water supply. The area was still isolated and settlement scattered, rugged bushland also provided refuge for escaped convicts and those inclined toward highway robbery. The area, enroute to the south, within a reasonable distance from Sydney, however, was becoming increasingly settled. At this time cattle were the chief stock; being easily driven to the Sydney market. Farms were a mixture of small holdings owned by eхconvicts and large holdings owned by free settlers or ex-members of the administration. Elementary processing of primary produce commenced with the establishment, by 1827, of a post windmill for milling flour at Atkinson's property, Oldbury.9 Between 1850 and 1870 Berrima emerged as the main town in the region, followed in importance by Mittagong and Bowral, these latter more appropriately being called villages. There were also a number of small settlements established in the region and it was the coming of the railway and its specific route that determined those that flourished in these years and those that did not. The establishment of villages was also the result of the occupation of land by selectors after the passage of the Robertson Land Act in 1861: towns were needed to service farming districts. 10 The establishment of the railway marked the beginning of the district's recognition as a tourist resort focussed on Moss Vale and Bowral. It was noted in the Sydney Morning Herald that during 1868: many of the gentry from Sydney coming to the township on a visit and from the salubrity of the climate here induce many to erect country residences, which has already been done by a few. 11

By 1870, the population distribution and general focus of development of the area had shifted from the old road through Berrima to the towns of Bowral, Mittagong and Moss Vale which were on the railway. The resort potential of the southern highlands was recognised as Sydney residents sought relief in the area from the summer heat and the 'miasmas' associated with city living. County residences and holiday accommodation were in demand: boarding houses were built in Moss Vale and Sutton Forest from 1870-71 while country holiday homes began to be built in Bowral from the late 1870s (Bowral was to attract most tourist business from the 1880s).12 The area was drawn into the leisure/resort industry and promoted as the 'Sanatorium of the South'.

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4 Conservation Planning Issues ....; J. Jervis, `The Wingecarribee ...', pp. 252-253. 5 J.Revitt, Historic Berrima, Anvill Press, Narara, 1979, p. 6; Conservation Planning Issues ....; R. Roxburgh, A Brief History of Berrima, Berrima Village Trust. 6 Citted in J. Jervis, The Wingecarribee ..., p. 253. 7 J. Jervis, `The Wingecarribee ...', p. 257; 261 - 262; J. Cavanough, et. al.,988, p. 23; 'Camden Park Conservation Plan', History Report.

8 S.O. Wrightson, Notes on Early History of Berrima Village, Berrima Village Trust, 1968; J.Revitt, op. cit., р. 6. 9 D.N. Jeans, op. cit., p. 103; Conservation Planning Issues.... 10 P. Ashton with K. Blackmore, On The Land: A Photographic History of Farming in Australia, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1987, pp. 25-26; 28. 11 J. Jervis,`The Wingecarribee ...', pp. 277. 12 J. Jervis, The Wingecarribee ...', p. 247; R. Ralph, Hillview, Berrima District Historical Society, 1986, pp 10 - 11; J. Jervis, A History of the Berrima District, pp. 164-170. 13 14 15 SRNSW: Primary Application Packet 5638 at 10/26540. Grant to George Robert Nichols in Trust. SRNSW: Surveyor General, Surveyors' Field Books, No. 185, Harper, SZ968, R. 2624 SRNSW: Surveyor General, Letters Received from Surveyors, Larmer, 2/1594. R. 3073; Colonial Secretary, Letters Received Re: Land, 2/7958, R.1176; Supreme Court, Equity Division, No 2923 at 3/3867.

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3.1 Edward Riley, the elder Edward Riley, the elder, was a merchant and pastoralist who had begun his colonial career as a merchant in Calcutta, trading between Calcutta and Canton and the Australian colonies. Edward was the younger brother of Alexander Riley who arrived in NSW as a free settler in 1804. Alexander involved himself in farming, trade and various official positions. He began raising sheep on his farm Raby near Liverpool. His mercantile partnership with Richard Jones saw him begin to prosper, and he was able to draw on his brother Edward's connections. Edward immigrated to New South Wales in 1816, having remarried after the death of his first wife. He had a mercurial temperament and suffered frequent bouts of depression. However, by 1817 Alexander had become disillusioned with colonial life and trading conditions and returned to England, leaving his affairs in the hands of Edward. Back in the United Kingdom, Alexander began to realise the potential value of his property, Raby and to develop an understanding of efficient methods of wool production. Collaborating with Edward, they imported into New South Wales a flock of Saxon Merino sheep, chartering the Sir George Osburn to do so; the sheep were reputedly better accommodated than many of the human passengers. They arrived in excellent condition under the supervision Edward Riley, the younger, Alexander's nephew and Edward, senior's son. But Edward Riley, the elder, committed suicide in February 1825 and the flock arrived in December of that year and were left in the inexperienced care of Edward, the younger. The sheep according to Jill Ker Conway were the foundation of the 'most important strain in the development of the Australian merino and their importance to the Australian pastoral industry is probably greater than any other single flock'. 16 They were grazed at Raby and Cavan on the Murrumbidgee, near Yass Plains. 17

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16 J. Ker, 'Riley, Alexander', (1778?-1833), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol.2 Melbourne University Press, 1967, pp.379-381; Sydney Gazette, 19 December 1825, p.2. 17 The Sydney Herald, 7 August 1834.

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3.2 George Riley Bloomfield remained relatively undeveloped for some years. In the 1828 census when Edward Riley, the younger was 22 years old and his brother George was 20 they are listed as living at Raby, the property of their uncle, Alexander.18 In the journal of William, the son of Alexander, reference was made in 1830 to the family's sheep and cattle station, near Riley's Flat but George later claimed that he was in 'sole possession'19 of the property from the time he moved to it, in 1829. Riley's Flat was located on part of the study area, situated between Retford Park house and Old South Road.20 [See Figure 5] In 1832 an agreement between the Riley heirs was reached as to the partition of the Riley Estate but not formally enacted, in reality George continued to occupy Broomfield.21 In February 1841 Robert Campbell and William Walker on behalf of Edward Riley, the younger (deceased), and George Riley represented by his lawyer George Robert Nichols brought a case before the Commissioners of Claims to determine ownership of Broomfield. It was alleged that the 1530 acres received in compensation for the Hobart land, surrendered c.1820, were the joint property of Edward Riley, the younger and George Riley. Edward Riley, the younger claimed the remaining 1500 acre portion as heir at law.22 An outcome of the case, which partitioned the Riley Estate between seven heirs, was the issuing of the Bloomfield grant in May 1841 to George's solicitor George Nichols, and for its management in accord with instructions in the wills of both Edward Riley, the elder and the younger. Evidence before a later case for partition of the property establishes that George continued to occupy the property. George originally built a house near the Wingecarribee River and cleared some 40 acres. This was situated further south of the study area and was on part of the portion subdivided from the estate in 1882 and indicated in Figures 5 and 6. For 20 years, up to seven tenants occupied small farms on the Riley's Flat area, clearing the land and then cultivating it.23 Advertisements over the decade indicate that in the 1830s George's stock included cattle and horses. For example, in July 1833 George Riley advertised a reward of £1 for information regarding the 18 Malcolm R. Sainty and Keith A Johnson (eds.), Census of New South Wales- November 1828, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1985. 19 The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 July 1881, p.8. 20 William Riley, journal entry for 1830 cited in 'The Journals of William Edward Riley, JRAHS, Vol.32, Pt. iv, 1946, р.222. 21 The Sydney Herald, 28 June 1841, p.2. 22 The Sydney Gazette, 16 February 1841, p.4. Case No. 902. 23 SRNSW: Supreme Court, Equity Division, Walker v Riley, Case No. 2923 at 3/3867. Retford Park - September 2011 11 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) whereabouts of runaway contract stock keeper, James Holt, who had abandoned Riley's cattle and farm Broomfield, 'to the mercy of the world' .24 In January 1834 Riley offered £20 reward for the return of a dusty black gelding, stolen or strayed from Broomfield and in 1837 a number of horses were put up for auction. In May 1838, 50 cows with calves were offered for sale from Broomfield. Similar sales dot the press over the following decades. In addition to his pastoral activities, in the 1830s George also ran a store at Broomfield, supplying an '... extensive stock of Goods... with every description of Supplies ... Wines, Spirits, Tobacco, Groceries, &c.; an extensive assortment of Winter Clothing, worthy of the Immediate attention of Innkeepers. To whom a liberal allowance will be made. 25 In the Riley mercantile tradition he accepted produce in exchange and also purchased produce for sale. On 2nd January 1837 George had married Phillis Hanks at Bong Bong, and by October 1847 she had given birth to their 8th child. Their partnership lasted until her death at Broomfield in 1867.26 TO CONNOISSURS EN Hожави. E Public are respectfally informed that about the last weck in Jone, r. Grorge Riley of Broomleld, intends offering for Bale the follawing lot of Horses, vit1-A pair of bright bay Horses, stan fifteen hands and a half high, three years old; woel wortty the attention of any petson desirous of a yais of first-rate Carriage Hortes 2A Bgit Chestaut Hunter, tands fifteen hands and one ineh high, well proportiened, bigh bred, three years old, goud in harness, 8-A bright bay Cob, siands abeat üfteen hands, very powerful, got by Whicker, thte hands, very powerful, got by Whisker, shitee yeats old, good iir harness 4-A bright bay Gelding, standa about Aficen hamis and one imch, eut out for banting, fiva years old, got by Old Camerton, good in bat5A dark bay Mare, stands fifteen hands and one inch, very powerful, finur years old, highly hred, t to carry any weight. has the appear ance of a real Yurkshiro bunter. To stand at Livery at Sandwell's Hotel. Figure 3 'For the Connoisseurs of Horses' - an advertisement placed by George Riley of Broomfield in June 1837. [The Sydney Herald, 19 June 1837, p.1] 24 The Sydney Herald, 15 July 1833, p.1 25 The Sydney Herald, 19 June 1837, p.1. 26 The Sydney Herald, 15 July 1833, p.1; 9 January 1834, p.2; 19 June 1837, p.1; The Sydney Gazette, 5 May 1838, p.3; The Sydney Herald, 15 June 1837, p.4 The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 1867, p.7; 20 October 1847, p.3. Retford Park - September 2011 12 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) NOTICE T the requrst of many Graziere and Bettlers, Mr. George kiley has been indured to add a large vatiery of Articles to Bi Btores, and takes this opportanity of apprising those up country Revidvats who will take the trouble of viewing his extensive stock of Goode, that thay on mest with evory deseription of Sup- plien at bis Eetablislment at ressomablo terms, the ohjret of the Proprietor being only to reи errate himsell for all road disasters attendant on the tedious trips to Sydney Wines, Spirits Tobses, Groorries, &a. an exionoiva amortment of Winter Clothing, worthy ofthe Iinmediate attention of Inskeepers, to whom a liheral allowancs will be made. The Proprietor, with a vlew of affording every aceommodathn, bega to lntimats that Cr ders will he Cashed. All kinds of Colonial Produre bought or takan In exchange. Bullooks Hidas, dc. Broun Aild, vear Houy Bang Ailh oar Figure 4 Advertisement for Riley's Broomfield store in June 1837. [The Sydney Herald, 15 June 1837, p.4] Retford Park - September 2011 13 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) Debts accumulated in the drought of 1875/76 saw both George and his son Joseph Riley became heavily mortgaged and in January 1877 Joseph was before the insolvency court with liabilities of £297 and assets of £12. His estate was surrendered.27 In the extended fallout of the financial disaster, George placed a public notice, in 1880 stating that Joseph was no longer his agent or manager in any capacity whatsoever.28 In 1881, disaster also hit George when a suit for the partition of Bloomfield, Riley vs Walker, was brought before the Supreme Court, Equity Division, which saw the breakup of the estate that he had developed over more than 50 years. This suit was a consequence of the 1832 agreement between Riley heirs and the 1840 proceedings which saw the Bloomfield grant in trust to Nichols referred to previously.29 In Walker v Riley, George Riley testified that he had lived on the property since 1829, but had known it since 1825 and had been given permission to occupy the land in August 1827. I originally resided in a house built by myself near the Wingecarribee River and cleared and cultivated about 40 acres of the adjoining land ... I removed from that dwelling to this side of the estate in 1839 and to my present residence about sixteen years ago [1849]. When I first knew this estate the flat in front of my present house known as "Riley's Flats" was a swamp and quite impassible. I caused a drain to be dug which is now represented by the deep creek which runs through this land, thus draining the swamp and enabling the land to be cultivated. This flat was occupied by tenants for 5 or 7 years who cultivated the land. With few exceptions the whole of this estate consists of good land ... the north eastern part of this estate is watered by springs, there are three small wells which were used by the tenants, these wells are from 10 to 12 feet deep...30 The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 January 1877, p.8; 3 April 1877,p.3; SRNSW: Primary Application 6276 at 6/10097. 28 The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 1880, p.11. 29 The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 July 1881, p.8. 30 SRNSW: Supreme Court, Equity Division, Walker v Riley, Case No. 2923 at 3/3867. Retford Park - September 2011 14 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) Figure 5 This survey dated January 1882 shows the partition of Riley's Bloomfield/Broomfield Eatate. George Riley's original house is located in the south-west portion near the figure "A" in an area of about 40 acres which George cleared and cultivated. He lived there for about 10 years. Riley's Flats which were tenanted by small farmers for some 20 years are in the area where a racecourse and grandstand are indicated - these features are partly encompassed within the current Retford Park boundaries. George's second residence is not indicated, but his principle residence with a number of outbuildings is shown near the figure "3". [SRNSW: Supreme Court, Equity Division, Walker v Riley, Case No. 2923 at 3/3867.]

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To settle the partition dispute George wrote to John Campbell, who was party to the case, offering the following proposal: Now I will give you up possession of 1500 acres granted to my father also 765 acres half of the 1530 acres provided you will give me my 765 acres and the surplus viz 353 acres which is not mentioned in the grant, to me (give me this surplus land which I hold) if this proposition meets your approbation all law will be at an end or else I fear the lawyers will have the estate - I am quite indifferent which way it terminates - my wife has been dead now ten years. My boys have got homes except two of them, my two daughters that have been living with me ever since the death are about to be married to men I cannot have any intercourse with, therefore they have left me to follow out their own wishes. I merely state the above lest you might be led to believe I am leading a reckless life, I am as I have all along been a miserable man. 31 George had cleared, fenced and cultivated the land since his occupation in 1829 and expended some £3,000. At least £2,000 was spent on the construction of his residence with offices and outbuildings and their ongoing maintenance.32 It was ordered that the 'Commission of Partition' should divide the entire property in the same proportion as the 3030 were to be divided and that the portion allowed George Riley should surround the house he had built. That division of the 3030 acre property had been: 1500 to the trustees of the will of Edward Riley; 765 acres to the trustees of the will of Edward Riley, the younger; and the other 765 acres to George Riley. 33 George was also to be compensated for any lasting improvements he had made to the other portions of the property. The share allocated to the trustees of Edward Riley senior was to be sold and costs were to be reserved. 34 31 32 SRNSW: Affidavit of George Riley in Supreme Court, Equity Division, Walker v Riley, Case No. 2923 at 3/3868. SRNSW: Affidavit of George Riley in Supreme Court, Equity Division, Walker v Riley, Case No. 2923 at 3/3868. 33 The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 July 1881, p.8. 34 The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 July 1881, p.8. Retford Park - September 2011 17 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) The following year the property began to be sold off by the Riley family. In October 1882, an advertisement was placed in The Sydney Morning Herald notifying the auction of 857 acres of 'magnificent property, comprising the homestead portion of the celebrated Bloomfield Estate, consisting of the richest and most elevated part, with springs of pure water', on instructions from Joseph Riley.35 This was the portion allocated to George. It remained on the market intermittently advertised across the next year. In November 1883 the Sheriff's Office announced that the property would be sold on the verandah of the Supreme Court on the 24th of that month for cash, as resolution of a case Goode V Riley, unless the writs of Fieri Facias were satisfied.36 On the 21st November the property was conveyed to Robert Snowden, averting the auction, yet this was not the end of the matter, in March 1888, the estate of Joseph Riley, queried whether the conveyance from George Riley37 to Snowden was intended merely as a security rather than an absolute conveyance. 38 It was ultimately purchased by Samuel Horden.39 a In late 1882 a portion comprising 1710 acres of the southern portion of Broomfield was subdivided into smaller allotments and is adjacent to the study area. This area roughly corresponds to the portion to be allocated to the Trustees of the estate of Edward Riley senior. Auction notices from December 1882, as 1689 acres divided into blocks from 5 to 40 acres. The auction was ultimately held at Riley's Royal Hotel Bowral on Saturday 31st March 1883.40 It encompassed the area where George's original homestead had been constructed in 1829. 35 The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October 1882, p.16. 36 The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 November 1883, p.17 37 Reference to George here is confusing as the Supreme Court auction notice refers to it as the property of Joseph Riley. There is no doubt that George was the owner - See РА No.6276. 38 The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 March 1888, p.13 39 LTO: DP 1416 40 The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1882, p.17; LTO: CT Vol 730 Fol 226; The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 December 1882, p.17; The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 1883, p.17; Retford Park - September 2011 18 Sue Rosen & Associates, Heritage Assessment And History (HAAH) 110 ac Figure 6 This plan shows that part of Bloomfield that was subdivided from the original holding in 1882. This appears to be the share allocated to the trustees of the estate Edward Riley senior. It was on this portion the George constructed his first house in 1829 and where he lived for the next 10 years and from presumably from where he ran his store.[LTO: CT Vol 730 Fol 226.]