Open Day November 2015

We had another open day on the 8th of November, and for the first time we had it on a Sunday.

 

A lot of people came to the workshop and they all appeared to enjoy the displays, again there was a mixture of all ages. The younger children were really more interested in the snacks.

 

Our new bottle collection which was only just recently donated to us was a big hit, and as soon as we have cleaned them all up we will have them on permanent display.

 Several people who have liked us on Facebook also attended and made themselves known, it was a pleasure to meet them face to face.

The first price for our raffle was a painting of the old Emu Plains Police station, kindly donated by renowned local artist Joe Cartwright.  This was won by Kevin S, Second prize a BBQ set went to Rachel W.

Werrington House

 Werrington House had an open day on the 18^th October and several of our members attended. The house was built by Robert Copland Lethbridge and his wife Mary King, the youngest child of Governor King. It was started in 1829 and completed in 1832 and was on two combined land grants, which made up the original 1291 acres.

            

 

 

 

We did not go into the house as the queue was 100m long and only eight people at a time were admitted. Instead we explored the grounds and the outbuildings. These ranged from the original kitchen to several sheds   situated on the now 5 acre area.

 

It  was an enjoyable way to spent a nice sunny day wandering the grounds, and we are looking foreword to the next time it will be open.

 

 

                                        

Open Day 8th November 2015

 

William Cox Day rolled around on the 19^th of July again, and as always it was a very enjoyable day for all concerned. We were there early and had our archaeology display set up and ready for the opening.

 

 

It was a pleasant surprise that so many people turned up early as the morning was a bit cold. We were in the same location as before and people now are looking for us and our display.

On the night of 22^nd July, several members attended a different form of outing to our normal archaeological one. We went to Penrith Library where there was a talk on the history of the meat pie by Anne Arthur, and the equipment used in making pies by local Tom Lindsay. Both were very interesting and knew their subjects, there was also a musical interlude provided by a Coral group, very entertaining.

 

The evening was very enlightening, entertaining and the pies delicious. 

Our AGM was held on the 1^st of August and everyone was re-elected to their positions.

Several subjects were discussed including some amendments to our Constitution bringing it into the 21^st Century.

Fees were changed from $10.00 a year, to $20.00 a year.

The 12^th September was Penrith’s Bi-Centenary and the celebrations were centred around the oval at Thornton, a new estate on the northern side of Penrith Railway Station.

There were stalls, jumping castles for the kids, dancing by local dance groups, music, food and various information stalls. A very entertaining day.

 

 One hopes that members of the Archaeology Group will attend the Sestercentennial Celebration of the foundation of Penrith.

We had also been invited to participate in the Richmond Jubilee Celebrations, so one week later on the 19^th September we were again in a stall, this time, in Richmond Park in the centre of Richmond. It was a very hectic day, Richmond being a very historic town the people had a lot of information to share with us, and a lot of questions to ask.

There were plenty of stalls with food, plants, bric-a-brac, locally produced goods, a farmers market and historical interests.  There were also 2 double decker buses and a steam train giving rides to Clarendon and back. 

 

 

We are planning to have an open day at our workshop in Station Street Penrith on Sunday the 8^th of November this year, so are starting to plan this now. We will be placing an ad in a local paper as the day gets closer and letting people know by Email.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historic Papers

The historic documents from Emu Hall donated to us last year have been inspected and sorted. These documents dated from the late 1800’s until the 1940’s. Some of the maps of early Penrith where donated to Penrith Library.

 The documents were mostly correspondence between the owners of Emu Hall and a cattle and sheep station near Bourke called Boora. Both properties were owned by the same family, the McGraths.

  There was also what we would call junk mail from shops in Sydney selling equipment and supplies to farms and larger properties. This included tinned food, toys and everything needed to run this type of station.

 The papers and letters were dated from the late 1800s up to 1940s,  and were a snapshot into life out there, and the problems they encounted being so far from everything. 

  We have been in touch with the Bourke library concerning these papers and the historic ties to their area, and in early July, Chris and Frank took the sorted papers and drove all the way to Bourke with them. They presented them to the library who were overjoyed to receive them.   

                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nursing Home Visit

On the 18^th June Members of NDHAG, Chris, Ros, Amanda, Anne and Richard went to Newmarch House Anglican Nursing Home at Kingswood. This followed a request from the Nursing Home asking could we bring some artefacts to the home as the patients were unable to come to our recent open day. Bricks, bottles, trays of artefacts and photo albums were taken and shown to the patients.

As some of the people were in wheelchairs or used walkers, the members took the displays to the people, sat down and explained the article that they were showing them. It was a very good morning and the people and staff were happy with our presentation. It was a very rewarding exercise for them and us.

In case anyone has forgotten, below are our contact details.

                                       

 Postal Address     NDHAG. PO Box 874 Penrith 2754

Email,                      Nepeanarchaeology@gmail.com

Facebook                www.facebook.com/nepeanarchaeology    
 
Blog                          Nepeanarchaeology.blogspot.com

Open Day May 2015

Open day was a big success. A lot of hard work was put in by the members to have everything ready for the day. They had been going to the workshop for the last couple of weeks to prepare the displays for exhibition, as shown by  one of the displays below:

 

                                     

     

Our mystery object created a lot of discussion on its origin. It was donated to us by a gentleman who found it on the banks of the Nepean River, near McCann’s Island, 30 years ago.  Luckily it had been kept under his house out of the weather until he gave it to us.   The general consensus was that it had come from one of the mills that were once on the Nepean River.

                     

 

 Our raffle was very popular, and we hope to have another at our next open day. The prizes were a car cooler/heater that plugs into the car lighter socket, and one of our more popular publications.
                    

 Our newest display was from a box of papers donated to us by the former owners of Emu Hall. The papers and letters were dated from the late 1800s up to 1940s and concerned the daily running of a sheep and cattle station called Boora, which was near Bourke. There were also papers and maps relating to our district, as that property and Emu Hall were both owned by the McGraths.

Some of the maps and papers will go to Penrith Library and some will be sent to the library at Bourke. When we contacted the latter they were very pleased to learn that these historic documents would be sent to them.

                

No count of numbers was kept, but it was busy all day from when the doors first opened. Most of the visitors were genuinely interested in the displays, and there was a constant flow of questions.

                    

 All in all, a good day was had by all and we can all look forward to the next open day.

April Field Trip

On Monday the 13^th, six members of NDHAG, Chris, Ros, Rachael, Anne, Peter and Richard, went on a field trip to Windsor. There we met Venecia and later Helen who were our guides for the day.

First we saw, in Thompson Square, a colonial terrace house referred to as the Doctors house. This building was completed in 1844 and replaced an inn called the Lord Nelson that was built in 1819.  It is called the Doctors house as there was a doctor in residence there from 1876 until 1992 when the last doctor retired.

 

On the Eastern side of the Doctors house is a Georgian Cottage built in 1852 and is in near original condition. This also has the original timber slab outbuilding at the rear.

Next door is the Hawkesbury Regional Museum and between this and the Macquarie Arms Hotel is an early brick retaining wall that appears to have been added to on several occasions.

The Macquarie Arms built in 1815 was our next call and we had a good look around inside and around the grounds.

On the other side of the square we had a quick look at the School of Arts building completed in 1861. This was built on the site of the old Government Commissariat building which was built in 1813.

Our next call was one of the main reasons for the trip, Lilburndale a two story Victorian Regency house built in 1856 by Dr Dowe.

The owners kindly allowed us to have look all through the house, the grounds, and the basement.

There was an old brick drain in the yard that originally serviced the stables.

The basement still had the original rough timber roof beams built into the original brickwork.

We then went to the Windsor Court House, designed by Francis Greenway, and built in 1822. It is still in use as a Court House today.     

   

The old Toll House was just around the corner, the original was built in 1814 but collapsed in a flood. The existing building was  built in 1835 and was in use to collect tolls until 1887.

It was a long and very rewarding day, and again our thanks to Venecia and Helen for all their time and excellent commentary.

More information on all these buildings and their history is available at the NDHAG workshop, and anyone is welcome read it.

Don't forget the open day, May the 9^th 2015 at the workshop in Station Street Penrith.

January 2015

Final Lapstone report....

On the 3^rd of December 2014, Chris Hewitt, Rachel Wong and Richard Ward from Nepean District Historical Archaeology Group (NDHAG) along with Neville Pollard from the Australian Railway Historical Society, met Stuart Sharpe, retired Heritage Officer from State Rail Authority, at the archaeological site at Lapstone.

After inspecting the site, Stuart came to the conclusion that the building was used as an onsite office by a Senior Civil Engineering Officer, called the resident Engineer.

His findings that the foundations were continuous walls made of concrete that extended down into the soil for about two feet, (600m) down to bedrock, as consistent with the practice of the railways of that era (1909 to 1913). There were bolts built into the concrete footing allowing for timber plates to be bolted down onto which the walls would have been attached. There were also signs that the footings had been rendered on top to allow for these plates to be levelled.

The concrete pit in the corner would have been used as the base for a cast iron stove or an open fireplace.  The office would have been furnished with a desk, one or two chairs and possibly a cupboard.

He also said that the foundations at Lapstone have a very high conservation value and recommended the following,

(a) That the archaeological relics be added to and specially mentioned in the existing listings of the site on the various heritage registers.

(b) That the site be protected and conserved as an item of high cultural significance.

(c) That the relics be used as an educational aid to interpret the site.

All in all it was a good result for N.D.H.A.G. We would especially like to thank Stuart for coming all the way to Penrith, then the long walk, and for writing such a thorough report.

The full report is available to see at the Nepean Archaeology workshop.