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.

A look back on one of our highlights for 2014

It's that time of the year when the team at NDHAG look back on all of our highlights throughout the year. One of which was the trip to Lithgow in April that we didn't put on the blog. We thought that since it was such a successful field trip it would be remise of us not to report on it! So we have!

On 5 April 2014, members of Nepean District Historical Archaeology Group did a short history tour of Lithgow and surrounds, starting at the Ambermere Rose Inn in Little Hartley.

The Rose Inn is a sandstone building built between 1830 and 1845 by Joseph Collits,

The building was opened as an inn in 1845, to service the travellers on the Western Road during the building of Victoria pass. It was not until 1846 that Joseph Collits named the building Rose Inn.

The building was in constant use as an Inn until 1874 when the railway took over as the preferred method of travel to Bathurst, Lithgow and beyond.

In 1922 the land and buildings were bought by Miss Mawbey who turned it into a guest house and named it Ambermere.

The NDHAG group met in the grounds of the Inn at 10am and were shown around some of the interior rooms in the historic inn by the current owner Fiona Richardson.  The building was bought in 1962 and won an award for its restoration by the then owners. There are photos and mementos of the Inn’s past on the walls and shelves throughout the building which adds to its appeal.

Ambermere Rose Inn

 

On the back road to Lithgow we stopped to look at the monument on the escarpment, built to commemorate the most westerly point Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson reached when crossing the Blue Mountains.

Then on to Lithgow, and the remains of the blast furnace and iron and steel foundry started under the direction of Enoch Hughes in 1875. It was rebuilt by William Sanderson in 1906-7 and served the Lithgow Iron & Steel Industry until 1927.

There are message boards located throughout the site; on or in front of every building, or where a building once stood. These boards explain what was done in that particular area, or which building had been there.

The site is not just a jumble of decaying buildings. There are several brick buildings that enable you to see what they were used for and how they were built. The remaining brickwork is very impressive. Some of the walls are over 4 bricks thick, (40 inches or 1 metre) with arches and circular openings. Brick debris is scattered throughout and a brick bearing the initials WS was also found.  It is assumed that it represents its builder, William Sandford. An unusual occurrence in itself as a builder’s name is not usually displayed on the bricks.



Blast Furnace Park

 

After Leaving the foundry we went to Eskbank house, which is a heritage listed property and museum in Lithgow. The house was built for Thomas Brown in 1842 and has had several owners since. In 1948 it was bought by Eric Bracey and deeded to the Lithgow community. Bracey then spent 18 years amassing a significant collection, including all the furniture displayed in the house.

The house and property was opened as a museum in 1966.  This includes the surrounding buildings, blacksmiths shop, hexagonal garden house and a pottery collection building.



Eskbank House & Museum

The Zig Zag Brewery was our next stop, built by Henry Corbett and first opened in approximately 1888.  It was also known as Terry’s Brewery and the last brew was made there in the late 1950’s.       

In the 60’s and 70’s it was the home of Dale’s soft drinks, and in 1991 a spring water business was started on the site and is still going today.

 

Old photo of Zig Zag Brewery from www.lithgow.com

After leaving the brewery we drove pasts Collits first inn, also known as the Golden Fleece. This was built in 1823 for the trade on the first road down the mountain, which was at Mt York. The Inn is now a private residence.

We continued onto the Comets Inn in Hartley Vale which was built in 1879. The Inn was named after “Comet” brand kerosene, which was obtained from the shale mined in the area. The hotel was one of 12 in a quarter mile area, and there were also dwellings for miners, a school, post office, butcher and a baker. In 1912 the hotel was advertised as a guest house, which it is still today.

Comets Inn as it is today - from www.lithgow-nsw.com

 

After a long and exiting day we all headed back over the mountains and agreed that we will have to do this again.

 

October Field Trip


In October, seven of our members went on a small field trip to the remains of John Jamison’s house in Glenmore Park.  We met outside at 11am and proceeded into the site,  which is now National Park Land.
There is a notice board as you enter the land explaining the area, and has a photo of a drawing of the very impressive house as it was in its heyday.

We had a plan of the area (supplied by Ros) showing the various locations of the house and outbuildings, including the stables, coach house and the billiards room. This made negotiating  and understanding the area much easier.

There is not much remaining of the buildings except some stone walls from the house. The above wall shows what appears to be the floor level in the house.

Even though there is not  a lot left, there are still sandstone blocks  and bricks scattered in locations on the site where they were originally used.

 Also there was a brown snake, which quickly became bored and disappeared into the bush.

After leaving the site we went to the John Jamison’s Catholic Cemetery, in a different area of Glenmore Park.

                         

 

 

A lot of the headstones had been pushed over and broken, but were still readable.  Most  of the graves were the workers and their families, who worked for the Jamison's. 

It was an interesting and informative day for those of us who had been or had not been to either location before.

 

 

Latest Lapstone update

Welcome to our latest Lapstone update

Several members of NDHAG returned to the site at Lapstone for another look, and to clear and measure the exact size of the building.

After several hours work the footing was cleared and could be measured, this included the location of the door.

Several other artefacts were uncovered in the process of clearing the footings including what appears to be a child’s broken pink tea cup.

These can be seen at the workshop, along with the other finds which includes a broken Champion Vinegar bottle, and broken soft drink bottles.

 We are still are assuming that this structure was the same size as the pointsman’s hut in the following picture.

It is nearly October and the railway buildings expert will have a look at the site, we should then have an answer to what this building was