AUTUMN 2019
HISTORIC HOUSES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
EVENTS
TOURS
TALKS
WALKS
Historic Houses Association of Australia Ltd 1A Carthona Ave, Darling Point, NSW, 2027 www.hha.net.au
02 9252 5554
Front Cover Image Pettit+Sevitt MkV Š Michael Nicholson
ABOUT HHA The Historic Houses Association of Australia Ltd. (HHA) is a registered charity and volunteer organisation that supports owners and promotes public interest in historic houses and properties throughout Australia.
HOW TO BOOK Booking for HHA events is essential. Tickets can be booked online through our website: www.hha.net.au/events or you can book over the phone on 02 9252 5554.
BECOME A MEMBER As a member of HHA you are helping to shape the future of the built heritage of Australia. It can also save you up to 25% on our program of events. Find out more on our website and follow us on social media. www.hha.net.au
@historic_houses_australia
@HistoricHousesAssociationofAustralia
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FROM THE CHAIR This newsletter offers an exciting program of events planned for the next quarter, and I look forward to seeing many of you there. I am delighted to report that we have made considerable investments in our office systems and IT; this transition is well progressed so we now have a smoother online ticket purchasing experience. We have begun planning for the 2020 HHA Conference which will be held in Sydney around late April. We are recruiting a planner to assist with the delivery so if anyone
has experience and would like to be involved in this project, please contact the office. Alternatively, please get in touch about joining our wonderful network of volunteers. With our precious heritage under threat from bad planning and neglect, your support can help us preserve it for the future. Kind regards, Tim Duddy
FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER Welcome to the Autumn HHA newsletter. We are delighted to launch our new look newsletter in an expanded pocket size format which provides more space for our popular walks, talks, open houses and day tours.
Thanks once again to all those in our Property Network who open their homes to our members as we
This quarter we're branching out into family events with a 'Secrets of Dubbo Gully' 4Wheel drive trip, and a kids’ discovery program is planned for later in the year. Our first 'HHA on the Water' event for the year takes us out on the Hawkesbury River with the Dangar Island Historical Society.
HHA is moving to an improved digital membership system. It is easier to use and allows flexibility for discounting tickets. Members now receive a discount of up to 25% off our general ticket prices.
expand our range of heritage houses around Australia.
With thanks, Dr Bernadette Flynn
DAY TOUR dangar island 13 April 2019 9.45am - 2.15pm
David Reynolds, local historian and President of the Dangar Island Historical Society takes us around Mullet Island on the Hawkesbury River. Starting with a ferry ride to the island in a restored heritage boat, the tour explores the rich indigenous and colonial histories – from evidence of Guringai occupation to Governor Arthur Phillip’s search for arable land in 1788. Price includes: Ferry ticket; Devonshire tea with 20 mins introductory talk on the island’s history from David Reynolds; guided tour of the island; lunch at Dangar Island Depot and a short presentation on archival photos of the island. Ticket Cost: $95 (HHA Members receive 10% discount)
DAY TOUR The Secrets of Dubbo Gully: Family 4WD tour 25 May 2019 9.30am - 4.00pm
Explore unique sections of Dubbo Gully in the comfort of your own 4WD vehicle. This tag-along tour will cover Mangrove Creek as a thriving river community with wharves, inns and pioneer homes. Gain insight into the past at St Thomas Cemetery and visit Fairview where Warren Andrews, one of the descendants of the settler families, will describe growing up in the area and the campaign to save this remaining homestead. We will visit the original road from Sydney to the Coast and the site of the ‘haunted’' Inn of the Damned. The tour ends back at the Mangrove Mountain Shops. BYO Picnic. Ticket Cost: $150 per vehicle (HHA Members receive 15% discount)
OPEN HOUSE the harbour master's house, dawes point 14 april 2019 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Built in 1832 by Gov. Macquarie’s first Harbour Master, Captain John Nicholson RN, this four level townhouse is one of the earliest surviving residences in Dawes Point. Join owner Mary Sutton as she reflects on its distinct architectural, social and cultural characteristics and outlines the conservation challenges involved in transforming a convict-built house to a contemporary living space. View the cedar furnishings, c. 1860s Japanese inspired wallpaper and striking ceiling light ‘artwork’. Enjoy a collection of archival photographs, early colonial paintings and maps of the area over a glass of wine. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
OPEN HOUSE Pettit+Sevitt MkV, Wahroonga 2 June 2019 10.00am - 12.00pm
Join the owners to explore the MkV, the largest and most expensive Pettit+Sevitt model available in the mid-1960s. Today, there are no more than fifteen surviving examples across NSW and ACT, and few of these houses offer so many of the key original features. As Home Beautiful stated in 1965: 'If this house was designed as a “one-off” custom built house as an architect’s private commission it would take its place among Australia's best'. Completed in 1967 this house was designed by renowned architect Ken Woolley AM. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
Images © Michael Nicholson
WALKS Dulwich Hill with Mark Matheson 28 April 2019 10.00am - 12.00pm
Explore Dulwich Hill with Mark Matheson, visiting some fine Victorian homes and the location of six Protestant Churches. Learn about the largest church, the Anglican, which bears the brunt of being designed by three architects Walter Burley Griffin, John Burcham Clamp and Sir Charles Rosenthal. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
Potts Point – Maids, Mansions and Money 11 May 2019 10.00am - 12.45pm
Join Janet Morice and Andrew Starr to explore 'Wolloomooloo Heights' before climbing down to a secret garden at Elizabeth Bay. Discover the mansions and locations that Governor Darling sought to preserve from the 'debased populace' of Sydney town, who instead claimed it as their own. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
WALKS South End Cook's River with Mark Matheson 8 June 2019 10.00am - 12.30pm
Learn the history of the river as a scene for romance, guerilla warfare and political expediency. Examine the remnants of semiGothick ‘The Warren’ , the Arcadian dreams of Tempe owner Alexander Spark and hear about the Aboriginal resistance fighter known as Pemulway. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
Pyrmont- Value or Vandalism 22 June 2019 10.00am - 1.00pm
Discover the hub of Sydney’s industry for over a hundred years where swamps were drained, cliffs quarried and islands flattened to make way for wharves and smoke stacks. Janet Morice and Andrew Starr search for evidence among brightly coloured high-rise apartments on a hunt that reveals hidden treasures. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
WALKS Hops, Hovels and Homicide: A tour of Chippendale with Beatrice Scheepers 30 June 2019 10.00am - 1.00pm
In its early days Chippendale was hardly a suburb of choice: the housing was cramped, the vermin entrenched and the air foul with noisy fumes. As Robert Cooper’s 1840s distillery was faltering, the Tooth family’s brewery next door was flourishing, and in the nearby swamp ‘Pig Mary’ fossicked around for offal discarded by the slaughterhouse. But fortunes have changed and today Chippendale – despite having some notorious killings – has morphed into a popular residential precinct, with fertile soil, some of Sydney’s most beautiful buildings and an old warehouse fit for royalty. Join Beatrice Scheepers for a closer look at this long-neglected industrial ugly duckling of inner Sydney. Ticket Cost: $45 (HHA Members receive 22% discount)
TALKS Coffee Conversation: Conserving Tulkiyan 2 April 2019 10.30am - 12.00pm
Join curator Robert Griffin for a special update on the State significant house Tulkiyan, Gordon. Hear what has been discovered about the house, its occupants and the rich collection of objects that remain, as well as the HHA’s plans for its future. Held at Lindesay (National Trust), Darling Point. Ticket Cost: $20 (HHA Members receive 25% discount)
Coffee Conversation: Dancing for the Marquis 7 May 2019 10.30am - 12.00pm
Edith Ziegler discusses her new book – a fictionalised version of the improbable but true story behind the founding of the New Italy farming community near Lismore, NSW. The mudbrick and shingle houses are gone but the vibrant cultural legacy remains. Held at Lindesay (National Trust), Darling Point. Ticket Cost: $20 (HHA Members receive 25% discount)
TALKS Darlinghurst Gaol with Richard Whitaker 22 May 2019 5.30pm - 7.00pm
Join Richard Whitaker for a fascinating talk on the Darlinghurst Gaol. Opening in 1841 it was Sydney’s main penitentiary until it finally closed, 73 years later in 1914. Hear about the brutal and fascinating history of hard labour, floggings and numerous executions, with several famous and infamous citizens passing through the gates over the years. Including Henry Lawson, Jimmy Governor, Captain Moonlight and Louisa Collins, the last woman to be hanged in NSW and the only woman in Darlinghurst Gaol. This talk is held in partnership with the Royal Australian Historical Society at History House, Macquarie Street.
Ticket Cost: $35 General, $25 for HHA/RAHS Members
TALKS Coffee Conversation: John Verge Architect 4 June 2019 10.30am - 12.00pm
Historian Ross Berry of Tempe House discusses John Verge (1782-1861) the most fashionable architect of Sydney’s colonial period, specialising in Greek Revival and Regency style of architecture. Learn more about magnificent houses such as Elizabeth Bay House, Camden Park, Tusculum and Lyndhurst. Ross introduces lesser known Verge designed houses such as Tempe, Wivenhoe and Aberglasslyn and highlights the nuances that Verge added to his designs to individualise these homes for their illustrious owners. Hear also about a prefabricated house Verge designed in Sydney which today is one of the most famous houses in New Zealand. Held at Lindesay (National Trust), Darling Point. Ticket Cost: $20 (HHA Members receive 25% discount)
UPCOMING Lady Hopetoun 27 October 2019 11.45pm - 3.15pm
Explore Sydney Harbor on an Edwardian Steam Launch. Voyage around the heritage sites of Sydney Harbour on board the Lady Hopetoun. Enjoy hearing about the varied history of this 1902 Steam Launch – from its days as a school boat for the children who lived on Denison Island to a transport vessel for King George VI. Learn about the sites of Goat Island, Garden Island, Mort’s Dock, Woolwich Dock, Spectacle, Snapper and Cockatoo Islands. Presented by historians of the Sydney Heritage Fleet. Morning tea and lunch provided on board. Booking now open. Ticket Cost: $85 (HHA Members receive 11% discount) ©Alan Edenborough/SHF
DIARY DATES 2019
april
May
2
Talk: Robert Griffin
7
Talk: Edith Zeigler
13
Tour: Dangar Island
11
Walk: Potts Point
14
28
Open House: Harbour Masters House
22
Walk: Dulwich Hill
25
Talk: Darlinghust Gaol Tour: Dubbo Gully 4WD
June 2
Open House: Pettit+Sevitt
4
Talk: Ross Berry
8
Walk: Cook's River
22
Walk: Pyrmont
30
Walk: Chippendale
Historic Houses Association of Australia Ltd 1A Carthona Ave, Darling Point, NSW, 2027 www.hha.net.au
02 9252 5554