Trust News August 2013

Vo lu m e 6 N O 3 Au g u s t 2 0 1 3

trust

news

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INSIDE >

Celebrating Canberra

NATIONAL TRUST

Australia

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10 New Tree Register

14 Archaeology above ground

The new look Hydro Majestic

Discover Australia’s National Trust heritage places and have a great day out!

National Trust members gain FREE and discounted entry* *except for special events

ABove  Barwon

www.nationaltrust.org.au

Park, Winchelsea.

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my W o r d

with editor Gina Pickerin g

ISSN: 1835-2316 Vol 6 No 3 2013 Trust News is published quarterly for National Trust members and subscribers in February, May, August and November.

Publication is coordinated by the National Trust of Australia (WA) on behalf of the National Trusts of Australia and supported by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

National Trust of Australia (WA) ABN 83 697 381 616 PO Box 1162 West Perth WA 6872 T: 08 9321 6088 F: 08 9324 1571 W:www.ntwa.com.au Editor: Gina Pickering gina.pickering@ntwa.com.au T: 08 9321 6088 Advertising: For advertising rates, contact the Editor.

Design: Dessein Graphics Cover: Artist Patricia Piccinini inside Skywhale preflight. M Chew Next Issue: November 2013 Copy deadline:10 August 2013 Please help us to save our environment and circulate this magazine as widely as possible.

This magazine is printed on recyclable paper and packed in 100% degradable wrap.

The views expressed in Trust News are not necessarily those of the National Trusts or the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The articles in this magazine are subject to copyright. No article may be used without the consent of the National Trust and the author.

august – september 2013

Inside 4

100 reasons to Celebrate

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National Tree Register

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National Trust Heritage Wrap Up

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Out of the trenches: archaeology above ground

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Unpacking power and place

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Fraser Reserve a hidden habitat

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A History of Caring

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The Veterinary Round House at the University of Sydney

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Majesty and Water Restored to the Hydro Majestic

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A whale of a time

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An inspirational crew

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Australian Submarine Memorial

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An extraordinary life

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Letter of love

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First contact

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Community Heritage at the Crossroads

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The Great Barrier Reef – A cultural perspective

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National Trust Way Holiday Tours

Greetings Our natural assets are celebrated with a new National Trust Register for Significant Trees and a visit to the hidden habitat of Fraser Reserve, South Australia in this edition.

Creative Director Robyn Archer spotlights some once-in-a-lifetime Centenary of Canberra attractions, while the insights of a young cadet who worked with one of the nation’s greatest engineers are revealed for the first time.

Conservation works are transforming legendary locations on both sides of the country. We peak at plans to revamp the iconic Hydro Majestic in the Blue Mountains and works converting a Western Australian centre of power, policy and practice into smart new offices.

There’s a UK tribute to Australia’s first submariners and the Tasmanian Whaling Centre showcases a controversial history at Runnymede.

Enjoy

Gina Pickering | Editor

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Trust News Australia may 2013

perspectives

c a n b er r a

A capital celebration!

100 reasons to Celebrate Robyn Archer AO | creative director

In 2013, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the naming of Canberra. 12 March 1913 was the day Lady Denman stood at the Foundation Stones and proclaimed the name of the new capital of the new Commonwealth.

The full program is at www.canberra100.com.au.

It’s impossible to list off the hundreds of activities here, but I’ll land on just a few examples.

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irst thoughts of celebration predictably turn to history, but I had always determined this year would be as much about the present and future, as about the past.

A centenary is worth celebrating, but not without recognising tens of thousands of years of prior Aboriginal habitation. The Indigenous cultural program is huge – from the very local to projects from all over Australia.

Very few connect ‘Canberra’ to ‘Indigenous’, but we have asked Australians to re-imagine the capital, and promoted local rock art sites and tours, the history of local activists such as Kevin Gilbert, local singers, dancers and visual artists. There’s a summit looking at the achievement of past activists, but also examining new generations’ different pathways to change. We have also recognised the pastoral phase, the re-planting of the Limestone Plains, and the continuing transitory nature of this place.

ONE RIVER reveals Canberra as the largest city in the MurrayDarling Basin, showing the capital’s links to four states and the ACT through this river system.

It has mapped events, recorded stories along the river and enabled ten artist commissions. It has inspired connections between Aboriginal communities at the mouth of the Murray and those in the Canberra region. See it at www.oneriver.com.au We have commissioned over 20 works including Andrew Schultz’ Symphony No 3: Century, Garry Stewart’s Monument choreographed for The Australian Ballet to celebrate Parliament House’s 25th anniversary, cocommissioned Sydney Theatre Company’s The Secret River (novelist Kate Grenville has Canberra connections) and Big hART’s (resident at Canberra Theatre Centre) Hipbone Sticking Out from Roebourne, and raised and educated in Canberra’s Patricia Piccinini’s The Skywhale.

The story of Walter and Marion Mahony Griffin (who won the international competition in 1912)

above Skywhale

in flight over Lake Burley Griffin. S Davey moment from Lyndy Delian’s exhibition ‘Sand Carved’. R Agostino Bottom right A season of the Centenary of Canberra program. right A

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has been beautifully told through the National Museum’s Glorious Days: Australia 1913, the National Library’s Dream of a Century: the Griffins in Australia, and the National Archives’ Design 29: creating a capital. We added the CAPITheticAL, an international design competition for a hypothetical capital city for Australia in the 21st century. This has inspired fresh thinking about democracy and capital planning into the picture. First prize went to a Western Australian team.

We’ve tried to be as bold and innovative as the decision was, in 1911, to hold an international competition for the capital. I believe we’ve succeeded.

Want to know why

Robyn Archer is permanently embedded in the concrete behind the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. Download the new National Trust iPhone app Our City at nationaltrust.org.au/vic/OurCity

i n n o vat i o n

e e r T l a n o i t Na ister Reg

Boab (Ad

ansonia gre

gorii )

Paul Roser | Senior Manager Advocacy & Conservation, Victoria

Funded through the Australian Government’s National Trust Partnership Program, the National Trusts of Australia Significant Trees Register delivers on our mission to encourage the identification and celebration of Australia’s heritage. The establishment of the National Register has included the development of a nationally agreed set of assessment criteria for trees.

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here are 2,500 significant tree records maintained by the National Trusts across Australia, and these records are now in the process of being updated and loaded into the National Register.

These existing state and territory registers recognise individual trees, avenues and important stands of trees as valuable community assets that must be celebrated and preserved. Almost half of the classified trees are in Victoria, while South Australia has 700 records, and Queensland 400 records.

The National Register will continue to grow as new nominations are considered for state registers. Each State and Territory Trust has, or has recently established, a Significant Tree Committee comprising of arboreal and horticulture experts from across the nation to assist with assessment of nominations, and with preparation of guidelines. With the assistance of these Committees, the National Register will be an effective tool for advocating for the protection of trees from poor management practices and inappropriate planning and development.

top right Boab

(Adansonia gregorii) marking the site of Darwin’s first primary school in Cavenagh Street, Darwin. NTNT Tree (Morus nigra) at Reeves Point near Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. NTSA above Left The register of Significant Trees is growing at www.trusttrees.org.au Centre Mulberry

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Tr ulberry

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i n n o vat i o n

The web-based database is accessible across all platforms, smartphone devices and tablets, and includes an online form for the public to nominate new trees. There is access to geo-locational map-based data, with ability to click through to individual tree data, including species (latin and common names), location, level of significance (regional or state or national), the live age of the tree, a brief description and photographs. Users can perform simple searches, for example by species, by age, by dimensions, city, region, or municipality.

When all the 2,500 records are uploaded by mid-2014, you will be able to search to see how a special tree in your area compares to those on the Register – you might find you’ve got something to nominate! The Register can be searched through www.TrustTrees.org.au or via our website www.nationaltrust.org.au Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla), Runnymede TAS Runnymede is one of Tasmania’s most important historic estates, built in the 1840s for lawyer, landowner, law reformer and antitransportation campaigner Robert Pitcairn. In 1850, it was bought by the first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon and his wife Anna Maria (who is attributed to planting the pines). Originally, two Norfolk Island Pines were provided by the Royal Society. One survives today and is now in excess of 26m high.

ia heterophylla)

e (Araucar Norfolk Island Pin

Curtain F

ig Tree (F

icus virens)

Curtain Fig Tree (Ficus virens), Curtain Fig National Park, Atherton Tableland QLD Starting from a seed dropped high in the canopy of a host tree, this strangler fig grew vertical roots, which gradually became thicker and interwoven. Over hundreds of years these roots have strangled the host tree, causing it to fall into a neighbouring tree. It was this combination of the host tree leaning against its neighbour that caused the unique development of this fig. Vertical fig roots then formed a curtain-like appearance and the host trees rotted away, leaving the freestanding fig tree.

The tree is thought to be nearly 50m tall, with a trunk circumference of 39m, and is estimated to be over 500 years old.

Mulberry Tree (Morus nigra), Reeves Point, Kingscote, Kangaroo Island SA

Mulberry Tree

Reeves Point is the site where the first European settlement in South Australia was established. It is thought this tree was planted in July 1836 and is South Australia’s oldest living European tree, predating the establishment of Adelaide. It is very fragile, and its limbs are held together by large chains and a prop to keep it upright.

(Morus nigra

)

Top right Curtain

Fig Tree (Ficus virens) in Curtain Fig National Park, just outside Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland. NTQLD Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) at the historic Runnymede estate in Tasmania. NTTAS bottom left Mulberry Tree (Morus nigra) at Reeves Point near Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. NTSA Top LEft Norfolk

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Sugar Gums (Eucalytpus cladocalyx), Guildford WA

itsia sinensis)

cust (Gled o L ey n o H e ines

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Chinese Honey Locust (Gleditsia sinensis), corner of King and Bourke Streets, Melbourne VIC A native of China, the tree is believed to be the only specimen of this species in Victoria. The site, now occupied by an office block, was the location for the first brick and stone building in the Port Phillip District settlement in the 1830s - the Government Storehouse (erected in 1838). It is possible that the tree was brought in by one of the first settlers, and it is a matter of local legend that it was planted by a Chinese herbalist. It is 10m high with a canopy diameter of around 9.5m.

A stand o f (Eucalythpisutoric Sugar Gum s s cladocaly x)

The Sugar Gums of Guildford are located within the National Trust Classified Historic Town of Guildford, in the foothills of the Darling Range, Western Australia.

Sugar Gums are a nonindigenous, South Australian tree species. There are approximately 250 trees planted in the late 1890s, in formal stands of municipal plantings throughout Guildford, influenced by the City Beautiful Movement.

In 1896, John Ednie-Brown, the WA Conservator of Forests, encouraged local governments to use tree plantings as a practical means of celebration and beautification by donating trees from the State Nursery.

The Guildford Sugar Gums are associated with the first Arbor Day plantings in WA, and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

nia gregorii)

Boab (Adanso

Boab tree (Adansonia gregorii), Cavenagh Street, Darwin NT

Swamp Mahoganies (Eucalyptus robusta), Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney NSW Australia’s first street tree plantings, these three Swamp Mahogany trees were planted in 1816 along the new Mrs Macquaries Road in the Lower Gardens.

)

lyptus robusta

anies (Euca wamp Mahog

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This Boab marks the site of Darwin’s first primary school, and later the Darwin High School and the Adult Education Centre. This Boab was planted in the late 1800s and is a fine example of its species; it stands about 12m high, with a trunk circumference of 8m and a canopy spread of about 12m.

During the war a “Daisy Cutter” bomb lay unexploded within its shade for several days prior to discovery! Since the early 1960s, it has been well known to the Darwin public as a lovely shade tree, in what is now a post office car park.

Above Chinese

Honey Locust (Gleditsia sinensis) on the corner of King and Bourke Streets in Melbourne’s CBD. NTVIC Mahoganies (Eucalyptus robusta), Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. NTNSW Top A stand of historic Sugar Gums (Eucalytpus cladocalyx) in Guildford, Western Australia. M Shead. right Boab (Adansonia gregorii) marking the site of Darwin’s first primary school in Cavenagh Street, Darwin. NTNT centre Swamp

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IA’S HERIT AL

NOTHING ’S

E THERE AG

ERN NORTH RY O T TERRI

National Trust

E AUSTR LIK

Wrap Up Alexandra Hill | Heritage Festival National Coordinator

The Heritage Festival has again provided fabulous family entertainment across the country.

With events from Atherton to Blythewood there were boundless opportunities to explore Australia’s unique heritage. National Trust Queensland celebrating its 50th anniversary of formation, National Trust South Australia hosting the Australian Heritage Conference and the National Trust Victoria co-presenting their festival with the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council embraced community milestones, education and Indigenous heritage event themes.

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ational Trust bodies coordinated a startling array of events including the frivolous, dramatic and just plain quirky.

Did you know that Sydney had its own dictionary?

Sydney’s seen some dark times, both real and metaphorical and the Dictionary of Sydney writers shone a light into some gloomy corners of Sydney’s history in the Customs House Library.

What did Darwin look like before Tracey? The film From the Red Centre to the Top End featured Darwin in 1926 and during WW2, the early days in Tennant Creek, Rum Jungle during the 1950s and Alice Springs in the 1930s.

The Noosa Museum’s special display on beekeeping practices, equipment and the many uses of honey over the years kept attendees abuzz!

What on earth is Furry Dancing?

Well, South Australia’s Kernewek Lowender Cornish Festival turned 40 this year and celebrated with a knees-up that included a Maypole, Furry Dance and proper Cornish pasty making.

Trust News Australia august 2013

What was Eliza lacking? Eliza’s story is rather different, a tale with a twist, and true! Based on actual Court Transcripts this performance at the Tasmanian Oatlands Supreme Court House was not to be missed.

Want to watch the world’s first featuredocumentary? The Inauguration of the Commonwealth was commissioned by the New South Wales and Victorian colonial governments to record on film, for the first time ever, the inauguration of a nation.

Screened at the original Limelight Studios and Salvation Army Museum, Melbourne.

The next three years will see stronger relationships with tourism partners, support networks and event organisers. The mission of the Heritage Festival is to help the smallest community group to the largest institution celebrate our unique heritage across Australia.

With the generous support of the Australian Government, through the Department of Environment, Sustainability, Wa t e r and Communities National Trust Partnership Program, we have developed a dynamic and diverse national festival.

above Beekeeping

at Noosa, a sweet festival highlight. NTQLD right God Speed to Federated Australia (front page of the War Cry 01 May 1901) Copyright Holder: Salvation Army

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Between the lines National Trust Heritage Festival 2014!

Alexandra Hill | Heritage Festival National Coordinator

Were you inspired at a Heritage Festival event to try your hand at sharing your passion for heritage?

Thought of a great idea to promote your local history group?

Or just wondered how you could help someone else share their story?

Well, here’s your chance!

The National Trust Heritage Festival 2014 registrations will be opening soon.

With Journeys as our theme we’ll be exploring, trekking, punting and generally moving across this wide brown land to share all sorts of stories. If you’re interested in hosting an event, the website will guide you to our online registration and offer useful documents about how to promote and coordinate your event more effectively.

Or, if you’re interested in helping someone else, you can register online to volunteer and we’ll contact you about nearby events that may be of interest.

Don’t forget that registration is free and our wonderful Journeys theme isn’t mandatory but might inspire you to consider focussing on a particular part of your collection or history.

Check the website for details at www.nationaltrust.org.au/heritagefestival

Almost a French Australia: French-British Rivalry in the Southern Oceans Author:

Noelene Bloomfield

Publisher: Halstead Press, Braddon, 2012 ISBN 978-1-920831-95-0 Reviewer: Nicolas Bigourdan, Maritime Archaeology Department Western Australian Museum The conduct of French expeditions along the Australian coast whether for scientific, strategic or commercial purposes during the 18th and 19th century has often been overlooked or underestimated in term of significance for the development of Australia as a nation.

Most of these expeditions (if not all) were driven by the long-term rivalry between Britain and France. The multitude of French travel, scientific and sailing accounts of these exploration ventures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, despite being highly informative, very detailed and some times pictorially impressive, have not always received the attention they deserve.

The French quest which started by the attempt (as it was for other nations) to solve the mysteries of the extent of Terra Australis Incognita, and to find safe and promising trading locations and anchorages in the southern hemisphere, ended up producing some of the largest and most comprehensive collections and studies of natural history, cartography, and anthropology of that period. Unfortunately, some of the initial French expansionist plans suffered from a time of political instability including the French revolution, the first republic, an empire, a restored monarchy and finally a second republic over a 60 years period.

In this work Noelene Bloomfield (Australian university academic and Chevalier de L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques), assisted by maritime archaeologist Michael Nash, provides an informed summary of the known French expeditions to have sailed around and/or landed in Australia and/or New Zealand during the second half of the 18th century through to the first half of the 19th century, from Bougainville’s expedition (1766-1769) to the second expedition of Dumont D’Urville (1837-1840).

This work is visually enhanced by numerous illustrations of paintings, drawings, maps, pictures of the relevant places, artefacts, and accounts of persons involved in and/or related to all of the explorations. This book is highly recommended to readers interested in the French relation with Australia both as an overview and about detailed episodes of these expeditions. However, it also provides a grasp on the French legacy in the southern hemisphere and an understanding of how Australia almost became French.

Précis of a review appearing in The Great Circle, Vol. 35, No 1, 2013, pages 110-114; reproduced with permission. for more information visit:

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www.halsteadpress.com.au

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Out of the trenches: archaeology above ground

Challenging archaelogica findings l

Leanne Brass | Archaeologist, National Trust (WA)

There is a widely held perception that archaeologists spend a lot of time in the trenches – digging holes! But recent archaeological work undertaken at a number of National Trust of Australia (WA) properties is challenging this view. Under floorboards, in wall and roof cavities archaeologists are uncovering evidence of the past and piecing together fascinating stories about key heritage buildings in Perth.

top left Leather

boots found in a recess under the floorboards at 57 Murray St. C Stokes NTWA metal badge uncovered at Gallop House, the oldest private residence in the City of Nedlands, was a identified as a hat badge worn by the ‘Enrolled Pensioner Force’ in Western Australia during the period 1850 -1880. K Rippingale NTWA Bottom left Finds retrieved from under the floorboards at Wanslea. L Brass NTWA Bottom right Recent work at Wanslea has uncovered a range of bottles. L Brass NTWA Top right A

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connections

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he National Trust of Australia (WA) as part of its commitment to conservation and interpretation of Western Australia’s heritage is this year developing a new policy to acknowledge the archaeological values of its portfolio.

Broadly, archaeology is the study of the past through an analysis of material remains – the things that people left behind. One of its strengths, is that the discipline enhances understanding of past human behaviour not found in the historical records.

under floorboards and in roof and wall cavities. The finds are well preserved and surprising in their diversity.

At Old Perth Boys School, built in 1853, and long associated with education in WA, archaeologists accessed the underfloor deposits during underpinning work associated with conservation of the property.

What they uncovered was a glimpse into the lives of 19th century school boys who lost their marbles, inkwells, pencils, chalk

This physical evidence of the past can include the large scale such as buildings, monuments, campsites or rock art, as well as the small scale, including items of everyday use such as tools, weapons, household items, even rubbish.

Recent development work undertaken by the National Trust at 57 Murray Street and Old Perth Boys School in Perth’s CBD and Wanslea in the beachside suburb of Cottesloe has required the archaeologists to assess not just archaeological deposits underground but also

and even pear and peach seeds through the cracks in the floor.

At Wanslea, built in 1905 as an orphanage and used during the Second World War by the Red Cross as the Lady Mitchell Convalescent Home for returned soldiers, archaeologists were engaged to determine if the remains of an air-raid shelter had survived in the grounds. While there was no longer any trace of the shelter, more than a dozen bottles, transport tickets and ephemera from WWII had survived under the floor boards.

And at 57 Murray Street, built in 1912, and used by the Western Australian State government for administration in the areas of public health and Aboriginal policy, a pair of leather boots was uncovered under the floorboards. The practice of concealing objects including boots and shoes in household cavities is often associated with superstition and protection against evil forces. Other material, including newspaper clippings, tickets and discarded packets and cans were also found.

The National Trust is keen to embrace a more holistic view of historic built heritage and to ensure the archaeology of its properties as an integral component of conservation and interpretation planning processes.

An Archaeological Scoping Study of key Trust properties in Western Australia is underway and new Guidelines are also being prepared to determine how and when to include archaeology in planning processes. Opportunities to involve the broader community and particularly school groups in archaeology education initiatives at National Trust properties are also being explored.

above Artefacts right

from Old Perth Boys School. G Pickering NTWA Familiar ephemera from the Wanslea site. L Brass NTWA

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Unpacking power and place Gina Pickering | Editor

A striking carved swan marks a handsome Federation building in Murray St Perth. Masons finesse the mortar mix to complement the Donnybrook stone facade, roofing tiles with a profile developed in Marseille in the 19th century have arrived, and the painters have brought the chimneys back to a new brilliance. Inside, later additions are carefully removed revealing original ceilings as well an elaborate ventilation system reflecting the health concerns of the early 20th century.

Main image  Conservation

Architect Caroline Stokes considers the original elaborate ventilation system at 57 Murray Street. G Pickering NTWA tiles will be replaced during the project. G Pickering NTWA Bottom insert  (L-R) Josh Dean and Bill van Didden have applied the final coats to eight chimneys. G Pickering NTWA top insert  Roofing

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hen Western Australia’s new Public Health Act was introduced in 1911, the State Government constructed a two storey brick and stone building primarily to house the Medical and Health Department and Colonial Secretary’s Office. At that time a pair of boots was secluded below the floorboards – an act seen by many as a tradition of protection – in some respects they provide a curious irony at this location.

The National Trust of Australia (WA)’s $4.7m conservation and adaptive re-use project is unfolding at the former Public Health & Medical Department Offices at 57 Murray Street. The funds have been made available through a state government treasury advance to be repaid in the future.

It is a place with deep connections to the sometimes fascinating, sometimes sinister consequences of government decisions, processes and policies which have, at times, determined an uncomfortable legacy in Western Australian lives and the nation’s history.

57 Murray St was home to a range of government departments which operated from 1912 to the 1990s, including the Public Health and Medical Department and Department of Aborigines and Fisheries.

Public Health theories, policies and practices evolved here from ‘miasma’ theory to bacteriology, ‘germ’ control and personal hygiene through to the State’s attempts to control venereal disease, Tuberculosis, Poliomyelitis and a range of infectious diseases from 1912 to 1974.

The Trust has secured new funding for an oral history program to explore some of the most recent experiences associated with the Health Department at 57 Murray Street. Interviews with former WA Health Commissioners, record office personell and aged care workers will inform a new interpretation strategy for the place.

Many of the exceptional cultural heritage values associated with 57 Murray Street reflect a regime of control and surveillance, highlighting the State’s intervention into individual lives, whether Aboriginal or diseased, for most of the twentieth century.

The systemic oppression of Aboriginal people by successive State government ministers, departments and individuals, most notably AO Neville, is represented at this site including the socalled Stolen Generations policy which saw the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents to be assimilated into white society. These policies were developed by Neville through his 23 year administration at 57 Murray Street (1922 – 1945).

Once the conservation works are completed later this year, 57 Murray Street will be leased to a tenant for office use, minimising any impact on heritage values and providing an economic return that will ensure ongoing maintenance funding. It’s an address with a powerful past and a commanding future.

(This article draws on research

by Dr Kate Gregory)

right & background image The

Swan tympanum was carved on site out of one piece of stone. G Pickering NTWA

top Perth’s

first Health Congress was held at 57 Murray St in 1912. Western Mail 11/10/1912

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Fraser Reserve a hidden habitat Marcus Beresford | Natural Heritage Committee, National Trust (SA)

On lower Fleurieu Peninsula near Waitpinga, Fraser Reserve is a special example of pre-European vegetation protected within the nature reserves held by the National Trust of South Australia.

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his six hectare triangular reserve is steep sided, with bush straddling an exquisite boggy creekline and is buffered by remnants on neighbouring properties where stock has been excluded. Without formal trails, and requiring visitors to edge along kangaroo tracks, double up to get under tree branches, and squeeze past giant Yaccas with sharp leaves, it’s not for the faint hearted but offers rare delights.

The upper heath and lower water dependent vegetation is extremely thick and highly diverse with 175 species recorded. Low, treecover of Cup Gum, Pink Gum and Stringybarks (Eucalyptus cosmophylla, E fasciculosa, E obliqua and E baxteri is interspersed with Native Cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis) and huge Yaccas (Xanthorrhoea semiplana ssp. tateana). The

western slope carries a bank of Tea-tree that turns white with flowers in spring-summer, (Leptospermum myrsinoides.

L. continentale, L lanigerum).

The central creekline supports peat bogs and several “perched bogs” utilising the water as it seeps through the steep sides. Full of Soft Water Fern (Blechnum minus), it is lined with beautiful Red-fruit Saw Sedges, their tiny red seeds dangling (Gahnia sieberiana).

Steep, impenetrable bush such as this greeted colonial-era explorers throughout the region, presenting very difficult conditions. How could early colonial settlers have dealt with it but by clearing it for their open farming lifestyle? How did the Aboriginal Ramindjeri or Kaurna people relate to it?

Although not seen recently in this reserve, the nationally endangered Mount Lofty Ranges

Above The

Southern Emu-wren (Stipiturus malachurus intermedius) would have once used this habitat. With its wispy, emu-feather like tail this Emu-wren is unique to Fleurieu Peninsula. With most of the swamp and low-heath habitat it relies upon cleared, only 200-400 birds remain.

The majority live in areas of Deep Creek just west of Fraser Reserve, the lower Tookayerta Creek and Finniss River.

Importantly Fraser Reserve offers protection to this rare upland swamp habitat supporting 26 native plant species rated as Rare or Uncommon in South Australia and 25 species rated Vulnerable, Rare or Uncommon in the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges. At least 20 bird and 8 terrestrial vertebrate species, including the indigenous Swamp Rat (rated Uncommon) and Eastern Water-skink (rated Vulnerable) call this habitat home.

male (classic pale blue chest) Mt Lofty Ranges Southern Emu-wren. M Pickett, Conservation Council of South Australia flowers, Fraser Reserve. M Beresford NTSA Bottom insert Tate’s Grass Trees, Fraser Reserve. J Scheiffers top insert­­­ Tea-Tree

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A History of Caring Chris Tassell | Managing Director National Trust (Tas)

The origins of the Royal Hobart Hospital are to be found in the Hobart General Hospital which received its first patients in 1820. Patients as well as nurses or hospital attendants were largely drawn from Hobart’s convict population and at one stage included the artist Thomas Wainewright.

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rompted by a series of infectious disease outbreaks in Hobart including frequent occurrences of typhoid fever, Florence Abbott was appointed matron at the hospital in 1875. The first Tasmanian born nurse to be trained at the Sydney Infirmary under Miss Lucy Osburn and her Nightingale trained nurses, Miss Abbott immediately began training 11 newly appointed nurse probationers at the hospital.

This began a tradition of nurse training that continued for more than a century until 1992 when responsibility moved to the tertiary education sector.

Since 1875, many thousands trained as nurses at the hospital that finally became known as the Royal Hobart Hospital. These graduates formed a strong community and in 1930 established the Royal Hobart Hospital Graduate Nurses Association. One of the many achievements of the Association was to begin documenting the history of nursing at the hospital and collecting historical material

associated with nursing in what is now the second oldest continually operating hospital in Australia.

For many years this significant collection was displayed within the hospital itself.

The recent redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital site required these displays and reserve collections to be relocated and placed in storage. Knowing that the hospital redevelopment program was to continue for many years and concerned about the future of the collection, the Association transferred its collection to the National Trust last year to ensure its long term future and a continuing direct involvement by the Association in the management of

the collection.

Meantime, the University of Tasmania was able to acquire its original Hobart campus on the Queen’s Domain, including the 1848 gothic Domain House and the 1924 Electrical Engineering building. The first school to move into the “new” site at the University’s Medical Sciences faculty and the Menzies Institute (which are close to the Royal Hobart Hospital) was that of Nursing and Midwifery, the natural successors of the Royal Hobart Hospital’s nurse training tradition.

The foyer of the school now houses a new exhibition on the history of nursing prepared by volunteers from the Graduate Nurses Association and using their collection.

top The

new exhibition includes an image of the Children’s Ward in 1910. NTTAS design and decorative pattern. Graduate Nursing Association Collection.

Centre The former Electrical Engineering building that now houses the University of Tasmania’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. NTTAS Right Operating Theatre in 1890s. Graduate Nursing Association Collection.

Insert Porcelain

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The Veterinary Round House at the University of Sydney Ian Stapleton Heritage Architect | Clive Lucas, Stapleton & Partners

The arrival of Leslie Wilkinson to the University of Sydney in 1918 to become the first professor of architecture has been much celebrated. For a number of years he was not only the head teacher but also provided architectural services to the University. Additions to the Quadrangle Building (including the Vice-Chancellor’s garden), his conversion of the Heydon-Laurence Building (1922) and the knock-out Physics Building (1925) were some of his finest works.

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ilkinson is normally known for his Mediterranean stylism, however, in his early days at the University, he designed a few works in an Arts & Crafts style, still in vogue in England at the time he left. The best example of this period is the surviving Veterinary Round House, which was recently repaired and part reconstructed by my firm, Clive Lucas, Stapleton & Partners.

Wilkinson drew up the proposed Observation Box in 1920. It consisted of a hexagonal plan with roof topped by a lantern and a two-tier section whereupon the students, on the raised dais around the perimeter, could look down on instructors teaching procedures on horses and cattle. Finished with sawn siding walls and splitshingle roof and featuring large awning-type multi-pane sashes, the building could have come straight out of the stable yard of an Edwardian English country house.

Above Max

Dupain photographed the building in the early 1950s with attendants in white coats attending a horse ‘patient’. Here pictured following conservation. The Dupain picture has been re-enacted, but with a dog as ‘patient’ instead. E Sierens, 2012 Left Internal roof frame after reshingling. E Sierens, 2012

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Above Wilkinson

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drawings, 1920. The building appears to have been constructed as drawn, apart from the elegant railed gates to the pit which were built more sensibly with a framed and boarded gate.

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The building served its purpose admirably until about 1958 when the Veterinary Faculty moved its large animals off campus. After that it was used occasionally for recreational purposes, but generally was allowed to run down.

Recently the University decided to repair the building for ongoing recreational use as the centrepiece of the courtyard that has been formed around it by the original Vet building (now JD Stewart Building, 1910, Walter Liberty Vernon) and more recent buildings. A comprehensive repair and reconstruction program has been completed to stabilise and repair the structure and install new services.

Garden beds were lowered to expose interesting concrete footings, thought to have been designed by Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, prior to Wilkinson’s involvement.

Another interesting aspect of the work was the re-shingling of the roof in forest oak (casuarina) split shingles. A builder was chosen who was able to source the forest oak logs and split the shingles and apply them to new battening in the traditional way. Casuarina shingles have a long history of use in Australia and have a surprisingly long life. These have since weathered to an attractive grey colour.

Another aspect of the project was the reconstruction of the demountable animal crush, apparently designed to restrain large animals at the centre of the pit. The existence of this was not previously known, however pieces of it were discovered in the cavity below the gallery.

The work was completed in early 2011 and since that time has won the major 2012 National Trust of Australia heritage award for a small conservation project.

The building’s presence is not readily apparent to visitors to the University, but it can be easily found beyond the original Vet Science building adjacent to the Ross Street gates.

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Majesty and Water Restored to the Hydro Majestic Angela le Sueur | National Trust (NSW), References: historic data, from Hydro Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath Conservation Management Plan, July 2010. Graham Brookes & Associates Pty Ltd

In July 2014, one of Australia’s best-loved and iconic hotels will re-open its doors for the first time in five years, following completion of stage 1 of a refurbishment with a total cost of around $30 million. Sold to The Escarpment Group in 2008, the completed project will see the hotel once again live up to its name, with luxury accomodation and a new state-of-the art spa facility to be included in Stage 2 of a transformation which will place the Hydro Majestic at the cutting edge of hotel concept design in Australia.

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he linked chain of buildings and extensions with their castellated roofs which is the Hydro Majestic, runs across 1.1km of escarpment overlooking the Blue Mountains’ spectacular Megalong Valley.

Within the bounds of a detailed Conservation Management Plan, Stage 1 of the project will include restoration of the hotel’s many historic buildings together with the re-design of public areas and the development of the Mark Foy Pavilion, which will showcase the natural produce of the region and celebrate this history of the hotel.

Stage 2 to be completed over the following two years will add world-class spa and treatment facilities, and new and refurbished accommodation.

A colourful past Since opening its doors in 1905 to offer the best in British and European-inspired spa treatments to the rich and famous, the ornate and expansive Hydro Majestic has created its own myths and legends.

The story started in 1901 when

Clockwise from above left The

Mark Foy (1865-1950) co-founder of the eponymous Sydney store, bought the Belgravia Hotel at Medlow, redolent with Blue Mountains fresh air and reputed to be close to health-giving springs.

Foy had visited many spas on his overseas travels for the relief of his digestive problems and, although at times he had doubts about the

Dining Room (now Majestic Ballroom) as it will look on completion. CRD Design The new-look Casino. CRD Design. The Casino in the 1930s; scene of fabulous balls and entertainments. Jim Smith.

The Hydro Majestic, a 1.1km complex overlooking the Megalong Valley.

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viability of the project, he hoped the concept would catch on in Australia.

In the same year Foy leased the neighbouring property, a house with extensive grounds and walking tracks owned by William Henry Hargreaves. He later bought it and, in 1903, consolidated his holdings with the purchase of the c1900 property in the vicinity known as Tucker’s Cottage. In 1903, he launched the idea of a hydropathic sanatorium on his site by petitioning NSW Railways to re-name Medlow station as Medlow Bath.

Following the model of Smedley’s hydropathic establishment in Matlock, England, with which he had been particularly impressed, Foy embarked upon his plans to link the Belgravia and Hargreaves’ house with accommodation and a promenade. In 1903 the Casino was constructed using a pre-fabricated, steel-frame structure imported either from Detroit, where he had seen a similar structure, or from an English firm which he also contacted.

Other structures dating from this time were Hargravia, which included Cat’s Alley and served as a gallery for the extensive collection of valuable artworks including sculptures installed by Foy. The Billiard Room and Hallway, Laundry, Cellar, Boiler House, Ice House and accommodation were key innovations, with the Boiler House which included a boiler sourced by Foy from the 1879 Exhibition Building in Sydney becoming quite an attraction for visitors. Hydropathic facilities were housed in the lower floor of Hargreaves’ house and the castellated Delmonte Hallway.

ABove The

and

then

‘Innovation was everywhere’ Innovation was everywhere.

In addition to the boiler, the hotel featured its own sewerage treatment works, water plant and early telephone system, while Mark Foy’s dairy farm and market garden at the bottom of the escarpment provided fresh produce daily via a gravity-operated flying fox mechanism.

The official opening of the sanatorium was held on 4 July 1904, and was acknowledged as a ‘first’ of its type. By 1906 however, it was becoming clear to Foy that Australians were not taking to hydropathic treatments with the same fervour as seen overseas.

He successfully re-positioned the sanatorium as a luxury hotel with opulence, entertainment and exotic touches, but his interest was waning. He leased the hotel to the Hon James Joynton Smith, whose ownership of the Carrington Hotel and Imperial Hotel, chief competitors to the Hydro, did not augur well for the latter.

The Belgravia was destroyed by fire in 1922, refurbished and re-opened to ‘ordinary folk’, as a ‘handsome hostelry with good plain and plenty eats’ the following year.

The 1930s saw extensive redecoration and the construction of new facilities, partly funded from 1936 when Foy floated the hotel as a public company. More

development work took place in 1940 and 1941, and during WW2 from 1942 to 1943 the hotel was requisitioned to become the base for the US 118th General Hospital, with the American flag raised to denote its new use.

With Mark Foy’s death on 15 November 1950, further largescale development ceased for approximately 30 years. By the 1970s, the hotel was beginning to show its age. Superficial changes, such as painting the formerly white hotel orange in 1984, couldn’t hide the fact that the erstwhile health resort and luxury hotel urgently needed its own face-lift in order to survive.

In 2008 with the acquisition of the now-named Hydro-Majestic Hotel by The Escarpment Group, plans for that face-lift began in earnest.

The hotel closed its doors in 2008, left frozen in time. From the documentation of thousands of artefacts left behind as the last guests and staff departed, to the development and realisation of the new concept, ready to wow visitors from near and afar - it has been a bigger than expected project and long awaited. But, for the sake of the hotel so many know and love, for the sake of tourism in the Blue Mountains – and for the wonderful experiences and memories that lie ahead for us all – the potential is vast.

Heritage Consultant: Jonathan Bryant, Graham Brooks & Associates Interior Designer: Peter Reeve CRD

Dining Room (now Majestic Ballroom) 1946-52

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Whaling heritage

A whale of a time Linda Clark | Conservation Manager National Trust (Tas)

At first glance Runnymede seems an unlikely place for a whaling centre. The house is now situated in a leafy inner city Hobart suburb, but when Charles Bayley owned the property in the 1800s, the garden ran down to the shores of New Town Bay (since reclaimed) where the family’s whaling ships were anchored.

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harles was only 14 when he first went whaling in 1827 and was a deep-sea whaling captain by the time he was 26. Both he and his brother James spent many years at sea, sometimes accompanied by their wives. Runnymede retains unique evidence of their whaling activities, including whaling tools, scrimshaw, ships logs and souvenirs collected on their voyages to Asia and the Pacific.

The recently opened Tasmanian Whaling Centre showcases Runnymede’s fascinating but often overlooked whaling heritage,

Tasmania’s whaling history as well as current and controversial efforts to protect whales.

Whales were so abundant around the coast of Van Diemen’s Land that the first settlers believed whaling would be the economic mainstay of the new colony.

Initially Tasmanian whalers hunted Southern Right whales as they fed in the rivers and bays and later, deep sea whalers pursued Sperm whales off the coast.

Hobart became the Southern Hemisphere’s major whaling port.

Uncontrolled hunting however,

Above Flensing

a whale on the deck of the NT Nielsen AlonsoPhotographer William (Bill) Stewart, NT Nielsen Alonso 1927-1931. Maritime Museum of Tasmania incised images on whale teeth before rubbing oil-based ochres, ink or soot from the trypots into the lines to create a permanent illustration.

Many items in the Runnymede collection were made by Captain James Bayley. NTTas centre right Charles Bayley flew the red and white house flag of his shipping company at Runnymede. The ornamental planting of red and white geraniums also proclaimed his pride in his enterprise. NTTas bottom right Whales were cut up and the blubber was melted down in trypots which were kept roaring day and night until the whale was consumed. NTTas top right Sailors

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Between the lines brought the Tasmanian whaling industry to a premature end, and the last whale ship sailed out of Hobart in 1899.

During the 20th century the Norwegian hunters arrived and undertook their craft with deadly accuracy using modern factory ships with lethal bow-mounted harpoon guns. Between 1926 and 1931, Norwegian ships called into Hobart each year, enlisting Tasmanian crew before proceeding to Antarctica to hunt for Blue whales. On the 1930 voyage the Nielsen Alonso killed 509 Blue whales, 128 Fin whales, 106 Hump backs, and two Sperm whales.

Public opinion turned as species became threatened with extinction. In 1986 an international moratorium was introduced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Controversially, it applies only to commercial hunting, not scientific or cultural hunting. Under ‘scientific permit’, Japan continues to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, an area established by the IWC to protect the summer feeding grounds of many of the world’s whales.

For the past 13 seasons, Sea Shepherd ships have left from Hobart to campaign against the Japanese whaling fleet. The organisation estimates their intervention has saved the lives of more than 4,500 whales and exposed illegal Japanese whaling to the world.

Financially supported by the Tasmanian Community Fund, the new centre includes static displays and an MP3 interactive audio tour. Changing attitudes to whaling over the past century are a highlight of the Tasmanian Whaling Centre, and the Bayley family connections at Runnymede bring a unique context to those who visit.

Above Sea

Shepherd’s Bob Barker, sandwiched between the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru and South Korean fuel tanker Sun Laurel on the Southern Ocean. E Muirhead. Sea Shepherd Australia, 2013

Carrick Hill: A Portrait Edited Richard Heathcote Publisher: Wakefield Press, Kent Town SA Reviewer: Marcus Beresford National Trust (SA) Carrick Hill, in the Adelaide foothills, is a place that can provoke mixed reactions. However, there is no denying its gift to the people in the 1970s was an extraordinary act of private philanthropy, and it is a truly remarkable place.

A superb reproduction of a two storey stone Tudor manor house on about 43 hectares, Carrick Hill is nevertheless partly modern, with items and comforts contemporary to the time of its construction (1936-9). It represents a very beguiling mix of Australian and European culture and nature.

Richard Heathcote has chosen two relatives of the house’s original owners to write chapters in this gorgeous picture book.

They provide some interesting insights into the lifestyle of Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Hayward, and offer some understanding of how and why they chose to furnish the house with such an eclectic mix of English oak furniture, including a giant staircase salvaged from a demolished 16th century stately home in Staffordshire as well as 19-20th century English, French and Australian art.

Ursula came from a wealthy grazier family, while Bill was Chairman of the now vanished Adelaide John Martin’s Department Store and a founder of Coca Cola Bottlers in SA. Ursula was a garden loving art collector of such important 20th century British artists as Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash and Jacob Epstein, French artists like Renoir, Gaugin, Vuillard and Rouault, as well as Australian artists Adrian Feint, Horace Trennery, Nora Heysen, Russell Drysdale and William Dobell. Bill was a more swashbuckling, polo playing farmer and lover of nude paintings by Mathew Smith, Frank Brangwyn, Ivor Hele and others.

Half of the book is devoted to superb images of the house, art and gardens by photographer Mick Bradley. The garden is a beautiful complement with its dress-circle views of Adelaide, rare plant hybrids and a very significant remnant of Indigenous vegetation on the hillsides.

Jane Hylton and Richard Heathcote have written a chapter about the house and its nationally important art collection and furniture, relating many of the items to the personalities of their owners.

At 152 large-format pages, with full colour illustration throughout, the book is normally $45 plus postage, but National Trust Members anywhere in Australia receive 20% discount for online orders ($36 plus postage). for more information Go

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to www.wakefieldpress.com.au

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An inspirational crew Brian Powyer Chair Parramatta Branch | National Trust (NSW)

Farewell my Dear Phillip King, I shall ever think of our old days of friendship with great pleasure: and I hope that your sons may turn out half as nice Boys as you were when you joined the Beagle1.

Darwin to Phillip King 21 Feb 1854

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istory has a unique capacity to link people, places and events in a way that adds depth to our understanding and interpretation of historic narratives and helps us, with the benefit of informed hindsight, to determine our future. Such was the case when on 27 December, 1831, a small ten-gun brig, the Beagle, slipped out of Plymouth Harbour on a journey that would come to change the world.

At the time it is unlikely that anyone foresaw the profound significance of the journey ahead for all aboard the Beagle. Today, Charles Darwin occupies the central position in this epic five year voyage but a closer look at those who shared this voyage with Darwin reveals that many made significant contributions to the political, social and scientific life of Australia and its emerging march toward nationhood.

Among those on board was the commanding officer, Captain Robert Fitzroy, later to become Governor of New Zealand (1843–1845) and now recognised as the father of the synoptic chart and the publication of the first weather forecasts in newspapers. Also on board was Lieutenant John Wickham, who later settled in Australia becoming a magistrate and then Government Resident of Moreton Bay. The midshipman was Phillip Gidley King Top Charles

whose grandfather and namesake served as the third Governor of the Colony from 28 September 1800 to 12 August 1806 during which time he spent much time at the Vice-Regal Parramatta residence, the National Trust property Old Government House.

Forever by Darwin’s side was his assistant, Syms Covington, who after finishing his work for Darwin, emigrated to Australia and continued to correspond with him for many years. Darwin also formed a close bond with Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens, both fulfilling the role, at different times, of official artist on the expedition.

Our new artist, who joined us at M Video, is pleasant sort of person, rather too much of the drawing master about him; he is very unlike Earles eccentric character 2.

Darwin to sister Catherine 29 July 1834

Once in the colony many other prominent residents became involved with Darwin. These included Phillip Parker King, the

Australian born commander of the Beagle’s first surveying voyage and father of the Beagle’s midshipman; Hannibal Macarthur, prominent landowner, politician and chairman of the Bank of Australia; Major Thomas Mitchell, SurveyorGeneral of New South Wales; Alfred Stephen, Solicitor-General of Van Diemen’s Land and later Chief Justice of New South Wales; George Frankland, Surveyor-General of Tasmania and Sir Richard Spencer Government Resident at King George Sound.

I must express my obligation to Sir T Mitchell, for several interesting personal communications, on the subject of these valleys of New South Wales 3.

(Darwin Journal 1845)

In 1836, Charles Darwin travelled from Parramatta to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains during his historic visit on the Beagle. On his way he passed many still-standing homesteads and properties established by prominent colonial families, and described the magnificent scenery in his diary, an historic journey which many National Trust members enjoyed recently in the company of the Parramatta Branch of the Trust.

1. Nicholas F.W. & Nicholas F.M. (2008) Charles Darwin in Australia: Anniversary Edition, Cambridge University Press, New York p199 2. ibid p15 3. ibid

Darwin aged 31. Watercolour by George Richmond (1809-1896), Painting held at Down House, English Heritage Robert Fitzroy

Centre Captain

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Australian Submarine Memorial

to first Submarines

Gina Pickering | Editor

A memorial commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the launch in 1913 of the first two submarines to be built for the Royal Australian Navy was unveiled in Barrow -in-Furness in May.

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ribute was paid to the crews of the submarines as well as those who built them in what was then known as Vickers Ltd Shipyard.

HM Australian Submarines AE1 and AE2 demonstrated a major technical advance in submarine construction for their time.

Their hulls were sub-divided by traverse watertight bulkheads which improved safety and added hull strength, enabling greater diving depths to be achieved.

After commissioning, both submarines sailed to Sydney in May 1914 in what was the longest voyage ever undertaken by a submarine. They were manned by a mixed crew of RAN and RN sailors.

The exploits of AE2 and her crew at the Dardenelles are well documented and honoured, particularly for raising the morale of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli campaign.

Submarine AE1 was lost with all hands in mysterious circumstances off Papua New Guinea in September 1914.

Admiral Lord Boyce dedicated the new memorial to both British and Australian submariners who lost their lives in service to their country and descendent members of the submarine crews’ families were honoured during the ceremony.

Above Left to right­ Admiral

Lord Boyce dedicated the Memorial to the submariners who lost their lives. M Valance The Memorial was revealed by a Chief Petty Officer and a Leading Seaman from HMS Artful and two Sea Cadets from TS Sovereign - Barrow-in-Furness Sea Cadet Corps. M Valance

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An extraordinary life Robin Sanderson | Historian, Paris, France and Gina Pickering | Editor

A web of unexpected connections, locations, predispositions and opportunity can bring together extraordinary outcomes. Robin Sanderson has for the past eight years meticulously pieced together the life of his grandfather Major Alexander Sanderson from family archives, carefully preserved plans, photographs and documents.

Major Alexander Sanderson was an engineer of repute, awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding efforts during WWI as Commander of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company. He gained his first Military Cross during the battle of Fromelles. However, as a young man Alexander lived in Perth and contributed to many of Western Australia’s major engineering projects serving an apprenticeship with Chief Engineer C Y O’Connor.

During the 10th anniversary year of the National Trust of Australia (WA)’s Golden Pipeline project, the following extracts from a 1967 interview between Alexander Sanderson and Molly Lukis (National Trust foundation member and former Archivist/ Librarian with the JS Battye Library) offer a glimpse into Alexander’s aspirations and the close relationship between this young cadet and his mentor.

They also provide an insight into a man who would contribute his own significant legacy.

“After Perth High School, I joined C Y O’Connor as an engineering cadet.

I was fortunate enough to come out top of the examination in mathematics, mechanics and chemistry. C Y was very pleased. He treated me very, very well.

He took an interest in me. I was sixteen. I worked on Mundaring Dam, Goldfields Pipeline, and Southern Cross Railway. I opened up a quarry at Darlington. All night I had trains running down to Fremantle. I quarried sufficient granite to cover the whole of the North Mole. Later they covered the South Mole. Oh, yes!

My granite will be there today. That will never wash away.”

“I used to do calculations for C Y. He picked me out as the right person to get all the statistics of the leakage from water mains. He gave me a table in his room so that, at any time, if I wanted to talk to him about it, I could.

C Y took all these statistics to the consulting engineers in London.

Later, I saw him almost daily. I could always tell when he was worried about things.

“He was an engineer even in the way he committed suicide. He rode out into the water, just as far as his horse would take him, and shot himself.”

“After my cadetship, I was metallurgist on the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ and the ‘Sons of Gwalia’ mines with H C Hoover. In Kalgoorlie, I was Underground Manager on the Oroya Brown Hill. Prospectors had discovered the Bullfinch.

Charlie Jones struck this rich deposit. I went with thousands of others, thinking it was ‘boomed up’ and would be very, very rich. Charlie took me down the main shaft. I scooped some of this very soft ore out into my hat. I got a tablespoon of gold. I thought, “by Jove, they’ve got something pretty good here!”

“I had experience with camels and went on a expedition up across the Ashburton, surveying for artesian wells. I went exploring the Kimberley with the government steamer and took whaling boats to Admiralty Bay, looking for a deep water port site N.E. of Wyndham for a freezing works. Later I rode from Derby right up to the Drysdale Mission and back to the Lennard and Charnley Rivers.”

I found some magnificent country. I mapped out my applications for a million-acre cattle station, either on the headwaters of the King Edward and Carson Rivers or Lissadell Station on the Ord River.

Then the war came.”

For more information on Major Alexander Sanderson visit www.tunnellers.net or email robs.sanderson@btopenworld.com

Top right A

rarely seen photograph of C Y O’Connor presented to apprentice Alexander Sanderson. R Sanderson of C Y O’Connor’s engineering cadets in 1897/8. Alexander Sanderson is seated on the right. R Sanderson Insert Robin Sanderson at his home in Paris with one of his grandfather’s original documents. G Pickering Right Alexander Sanderson’s 1915 Kimberley expedition campsite. R Sanderson above Three

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Letter of love Ann Teesdale | Home Hill Manager National Trust (Tas)

Endearing sentiments written in 1918 by Joseph Lyons to his pregnant wife Enid, have been discovered after 95 years during renovations on a cottage in Deloraine, Tasmania.

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oe and Enid Lyons rented the property early in their marriage.

At that time, Joe was a Labor Minister in Tasmania’s House of Assembly and he and Enid were expecting the second of their twelve children.

When the letter was written Enid had travelled to her mother’s home in Cooee to await the birth. The letter is addressed to Mrs JA Lyons, Cooee, Tas. In this hastily scribbled letter, Joe states that he was using a short break from the Chamber to write to Enid. This was not an unusual occurrence ­– he wrote to her most days they were separated.

My girl I love you with all my heart & soul and I hate to be away… he goes on to say... it hurt to leave the little man and you. I tried to smile so you would not feel unhappy but I know you did just the same… I’m looking forward to your letter tomorrow and if possible I’ll ring you after tea tonight.

Joe writes:

Many such letters are held in the collections of the National Library, donated by Enid herself, who had kept them all over the 24 years of their marriage. This letter however, must have escaped her, possibly having been placed on the mantelpiece and slipping into a gap between the mantel and the wall. Its discovery all these years later is a lovely reminder of the remarkable relationship shared by Joe and Enid Lyons that bridged politics and partnership.

This wonderful discovery and valuable donation provides a glimpse into the private lives of two very public figures and will add another dimension to the extensive and growing collection of Lyons material held at Home Hill, Devonport, one of Tasmania’s National Trust Properties.

Above Joe right By

and Enid Lyons. NTTas Joe Lyons’ hand. NTTas and Envelope date stamped 11 Sept 1918. NTTas 25

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First contact Dr Melanie Piddocke | manager james cook museum

Mapoon, a tiny Aboriginal community on the west of Cape York Peninsula, recently celebrated the unveiling of a memorial commemorating a significant, but relatively unacknowledged, event in Australian history.

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n 1606 the crew of the Dutch yacht Duyfken under Captain Willem Janszoon, arrived on the western shores of Cape York Peninsula in the vicinity of the Pennefather River, country of the Tjungundji people, and made the first documented contact between Europeans and Indigenous Australians. As with many subsequent encounters, this first contact was troubled and resulted in the death of one Dutch sailor in clashes between the visitors and local Indigenous groups. The visit of the Duyfken produced the first maps of the Western Cape, and allowed knowledge of the five populated continents to be integrated into European scientific understanding for the first time.

This event was recently commemorated in Mapoon with the unveiling of the First Contact Memorial at Cullen Point on 27 May 2013. The impetus for the Memorial was brought about during celebrations of the 400th anniversary in 2006 of the landing of the Duyfken. The final Memorial is the result of collaboration

between Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council, the Dutch and Queensland Governments, Rio Tinto Alcan, Van Oord Australia, and the Western Cape Communities Trust.

Attended by Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland Ms Penelope Wensley AC, representatives of the Dutch parliament, State Government and Elders from the Mapoon, Napranum and Aurukun communities, the ceremony included a Welcome to Country by Mapoon Elders and ceremonial dances by the Descendance Dance Company.

Speeches by the Governor of Queensland Ms Penelope Wensley, Mr David Kempton, Mr Fred de Graaf and Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Peter Guivarra followed. The Mapoon Campus Western Cape College Children’s Choir sang Mapoon hymns.

The Memorial was unveiled by Ms Penelope Wensley, Mr David Kempton, Mr Fred de Graaf and Elders of Mapoon.

The monument itself has a steel silhouette of the Duyfken in pride of

top left First

place. When standing on the landward side of the monument facing the sea, the ship appears to once more be sailing off the shore.

The base of the monument displays plaques commemorating the landing event and the contributors to the project. The monument stands in a sandy fenced area, in which native vegetation has been planted to form an avenue. Six large, ironstone boulders lining the approach to the monument represent the main Indigenous groups who were brought together from the surrounding country to live at the Mapoon Presbyterian Mission in the 1890s – TjungundjiTratha (Barramundi), MpakwithiKambera and Luku (White Crocodile under a Nypa Palm), TaepithiggiKambera (Crocodile), Thaynakwith-Wa (Dingo), Warrangku-Neuiga (Silver Mullet) and Yupungathi-Kukuthi (Pheasant Coucal).

The Memorial now stands as a testament to the breadth of European exploration and the resilience of Aboriginal culture through the years of European settlement.

Contact Memorial at Cullen Point, Cape York Peninsula. M Piddocke dances by the Descendance Dance Company. M Piddocke bottom left Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland Ms Penelope Wensley AC with Elders from the Mapoon, Napranum and Aurukun communities.

M Piddocke top right Ceremonial

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Community Heritage at the Crossroads Dr Valerie Dennis | Heritage Officer and Historian National Trust (QLD)

Tropical Cooktown in north Queensland welcomed fifty delegates representing the heritage community, government, business and each of the National Trusts of Australia to the annual conference on 21-23 May 2013.

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ecognising that many of Australia’s National Trusts are facing difficult challenges, the focus of this conference was on sharing successes and initiatives to improve the sustainability of the National Trust movement in Australia.

From the welcome reception at National Trust of Queensland’s James Cook Museum to the tours of the Indigenous heritage of the Waalumbaal Birri (Endeavour River) country with Alberta Hornsby and Willie Gordon, the conference proved inspirational and informative. Key note speaker, Emeritus Professor June James, tackled the question, ‘Can Tourism Save Heritage?’.

Providing the Cook Shire perspective on community heritage were Mayor Peter Scott and Deputy Mayor Penny Johnson. Councillor George Seymour from Fraser Coast Regional Council spoke about the first Maryborough Open House event in 2012. Alberta Hornsby addressed the delegates about Indigenous heritage and reconciliation in the Cooktown setting. Other speakers included Louise Denoon and Olivia Robinson from the State Library of Queensland and several National Trust representatives from across Australia.

The conference highlighted the importance of creating partnerships, especially with external organisations. It emphasised community engagement, the importance of people as resources behind the visitor experience, the importance of innovation and communication such as

technology, and the importance of financial stability created through investment and a structured, professional approach to fundraising.

Thanks are extended to the Australian Government’s Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Cook Shire Council, D’Arcy Gallop, the PCYC

Cooktown Events Centre, Alberta Hornsby, Willie Gordon from Guurrbi Tours, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association and the people and businesses of Cooktown. Special thanks go to Melanie Piddocke, manager of James Cook Museum, and her volunteers, who made the conference a great success.

Top to bottom Endeavour Gallery at James Cook Museum. V Dennis, Exterior of James Cook Museum. V Dennis Delegates Paul Roser and Ali Van der Graaf with tour guide Willie Gordon from Guurrbi Tours. V Dennis National Trust Conference Delegates 2013.V Dennis

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The Great Barrier Reef – A cultural perspective Dr Peter Dowling | National Heritage Officer

Sunday October 10th 1802

The deeper water round the edges of the dry bank shewed corals of various forms, sizes colours and constructions, and we could not but admi[re] the beauty of the scene although so pregnant with destruction to seamen.

(Matthew Flinders - Journal on HMS ‘Investigator’, vol.2, 1802-1803)

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he Great Barrier Reef was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 primarily for its outstanding natural values.

However, its cultural values provide an extraordinary depth to the region from Indigenous and historic perspectives.

The Reef stretches for some 2,300

kilometres along

the Queensland coast from Cape York in the north to about 100 kilometres south of Gladstone and encompasses

348,000 square kilometres of marine habitat.

Above Hardy

Reef, Great Barrier Reef. Murray Waite & Associates

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The development of the Great Barrier Reef began 15,000 years ago as the post Ice Age sea levels along the northeast continental shelf began to rise as a result of global warming. By 6,000 years ago the coast stabilised to the present levels and the upward growth of coral bodies began to develop forming the structural architecture of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef stretches for some 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast from Cape York in the north to about 100 kilometres south of Gladstone and encompasses 348,000 square kilometres of marine habitat. There are around 3,000 separate coral reefs, 600 continental islands and 300 coral and sand cays within that area.

Archaeological research has shown that Indigenous groups have used the reef and many of its islands since at least 8,500 years ago, prior to present sea level stabilisation. The archaeology has revealed that at first the visits to the islands were sporadic and seasonal but began to increase 2,000 years ago. Permanent and semi-permanent settlement occurred on a number of islands including Hinchinbrook, Dunk, the Whitsundays and the Kepples.

The most distant islands, which revealed occupation sites, are the Percy Islands, 85 kilometres from the mainland – a substantial voyage for a canoe. There’s evidence on Hinchinbrook Island of extensive and permanent stone fish and mollusc traps, while the Yintayin rock shelter on Stanley Island, in the Flinders Group, displays spectacular painted images relating to Indigenous beliefs and to contact with Indonesian and European sailing vessels. The Reef continues be an important place for Indigenous groups.

The first explorers to the Reef were most likely Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish who may have sailed the northern areas, but the evidence is fragmentary.

In 1606 the Dutch ship Duyfken (Little Dove) captained by Willem Janszoon sailed from Indonesia and charted the shores of Cape York. The first firm evidence of exploration of the Reef is from Lieutenant James Cook in the Endeavour in 1770. Cook had been tasked by the British Admiralty to observe the Transit of Venus at Tahiti.

He also had secret instructions to determine the existence of a great southern continent. His task completed in Tahiti and following a circumnavigation of New Zealand, Cook decided ‘to steer to the Westward until we fall in with the East Coast of New Holland’.

He reached the coast of southeast Australia and made his way north carefully charting the coastline.

Cook and his crew eventually found themselves within the Barrier Reef among the dangerous shoals.

Despite pursuing careful passage often with the ship’s longboat in front, the Endeavour hit the Reef at 10 p.m. on 11 June. As much ballast as possible was jettisoned and the ship was finally refloated, repaired ashore and Cook continued his tour charting the coast, the reefs and islands. The Endeavour River and Cooktown bear testament to the visit and an anchor and one cannon jettisoned from the ship are on display at the National Trust

James Cook Museum in Cooktown.

Rounding Cape York on 22 August, Cook hoisted the British colours at Possession Island and in so doing, claimed the east coast of the continent for Britain, later suggesting it should be named New South Wales.

Others were not so fortunate as Cook and the Endeavour. In 1791 the 24-gun frigate, HMS Pandora, was wrecked on the Reef. The Pandora had been sent from Britain to find, capture and return with the mutineers from the Bounty . The ship overturned and sank. Thirty-one of the crew and four mutineers were lost. The remainder, eighty-nine crew and ten mutineers, spent two nights on a sand cay and with some of Pandora’s boats recovered, spent eighteen, thirsty and scorching hot days at sea before making Timor and final safety with the Dutch at Kupang.

The mutineers finally reached Britain in June 1792 to face trial.

There are about thirty other shipwrecks of historic importance within the Great Barrier Reef. One of the most well known is the Yongala, a coastal steamer that sank during a cyclone in March 1911 with the loss of 122 passengers and crew.

It is now one of Australia’s most popular wreck dives and site of national significance supporting a great diversity of fish life with over a hundred recorded species in an established community.

Perhaps it is time for a reevaluation of the heritage values of the reef and an assertion of its historical and cultural values.

References

Flinders, Matthew, Journal of HMS Investigator, vol2. 1802-1803 http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemdetailpaged. aspx?itemid=210413 Hamilton, George, A Voyage Around the World, http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/pandora/ pandoraIHamilton01.html UNESCO World Heritage List, Great Barrier Reef, Australia http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154

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cannon jettisoned in 1770, with a scale drawing of James Cook’s HMB Endeavour, the first known to chart the dangerous waters of the Great Barrier Reef (Image National Trust Queensland) 29

Trust News Australia august 2013

N at i o n a l T ru s t Way

Holiday Tours

Since 1978 the National Trust Tours Committee has organised Australian and overseas tours to meet the interests of our members. Tours are carefully planned, researched and personally led by one of the voluntary members of the Committee, with detailed background notes provided. Numbers are strictly limited and one of the rewarding bonuses has been the number of friendships made and maintained among people who travel with a common interest.

NORTHERN ITALY: LAKES, MOUNTAINS & THE RIVIERA 15 - 27 September, 2014 The 2013 tour is fully booked so a repeat is planned for September 2014, tailor-made for National Trust members in conjunction with Ugo and Barbara Mariotti, who have been conducting enjoyable Trust tours in Italy over the past 10 years.

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Unpack only twice as we stay in centrally located hotels first in Como, set in an idyllic landscape of mountains on the lake of the same name, then in the resort of Santa Margherita Ligure in the heart of the Italian Riviera. Visit the spectacular gardens of Villa Carlotta and Villa Melzi, Bellagio, the Swiss town of Lugano and the gloriously decorated Certosa di Pavia. Leisurely daily excursions on the Riviera include Portofino, the famous villages of the ‘Cinque Terre’ coastline and the heritage listed small port of Porto Venere. A day tour to Lucca, one of the most beautiful towns in northern Tuscany, is also included.

fun way to get around: Norfolk Island

NORFOLK ISLAND March 31 - April 7, 2014 Due to the success of the National Trust Tour to Norfolk Island this year we have planned another tour in 2014.

The island is rich in history and is breathtakingly beautiful, with warm and friendly islanders. Staying at the Governors Lodge Resort you will visit the beautiful Georgian buildings of Kingston, an important heritage site. They were built by the convicts of the Second Settlement and are being lovingly restored. You will attend a Mutiny on the Bounty Show, a dramatic production involving scores of islanders, many of whom are direct descendants of Fletcher Christian and Matthew Quintal. There is so much to see and do on this picturesque island, including dining on fresh fish and traditional food.

Expressions of interest: David Smith, Travelscene on Capri P: 1800 679 066 License No: TA1091 Leader: Loma Priddle T: 02 9412 2875 BELOW Fall

in love with the villages of Lake Como.

Expressions of interest: D avid Smith, Travelscene on Capri P: 1800 679 066 License No: TA1091 Leader: Lorraine Collins T: 0439 947 479

SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND TOUR June 20 - July 5, 2014 This exciting new tour to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall is tailor-made for National Trust members. The itinerary includes wonderful gardens, National Trust properties, seaside and moorland villages, medieval market towns and historic sites. Highlights include Salisbury, Montacute House, Valley of the Rocks, Tarr Steps, the steam train to Minehead, Penzance, Glendurgan Gardens, Chysauster Ancient Village, the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Merrivale Bronze Village, Otterton Mill and the Seaton Tramway. Travel in a small group at a relaxed pace spending multiple nights in distinguished, historic accommodation. Early bookings are highly recommended.

Expressions of interest: David Smith, Travelscene on Capri P: 1800 679 066 License No: TA1091 Leader: Loma Priddle T: 02 9412 2875 LEFT The

Trust News Australia august 2013

16th century Montacute House, Yeovil, Somerset

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N at i o n a l T ru s t Way

ABOVE Historic

Holiday Tours

Williamsburg, Virginia

SOUTHERN STATES OF THE USA September/October 2014 Following the success of the National Trust Tour to New England (USA) in October 2012, a tour of the Southern States is planned for 2014.

A visit to cities in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia transports you to yesteryear’s days of gracious living.

From historic sites in Georgia, travel to antebellum sites in South Carolina and colonial Virginia. Relish the gracious elegance of southern living in the rarefied world of plantations, 19th century mansions, magnolia gardens and enormous live oaks hung with Spanish moss.

Visit Savannah’s beautiful historic district including its lovely squares, River Street and City Market. See Charleston’s ‘Museum Mile’ which features the richest concentration of cultural sites open to visitors. See Colonial Williamsburg which has been restored to its 18th century glory and inhabited by interpreters living its 18th century lifestyle. There is much to discover about the colonial times today. Monticello was the family home of Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father responsible for the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States. A tour of this antebellum house, considered the finest example of this period, and the historic gardens and plantations is included in the tour.

Expressions of interest: David Smith, Travelscene on Capri P: 1800 679 066 License No: TA1091 Leader: Lorraine Collins T: 0439 947 479

Erratum In

the article “On the Fly at Clarendon” May edition of Trust News, it was stated that “James Youl had married Eliza Cox, sister of James Cox at Clarendon in 1839”.

James Cox of Clarendon was the second son of the said William Cox (Pioneer), and was Eliza’s great-uncle, and not her father.

Trust News apologies to the Cox family for this error.

botanica An APT Company Botanically themed boutique cruises & small group discoveries for the discerning traveller

15 Day US Mansions & Gardens of the Hudson River & Canadian Lakes Cruise in Fall Departing 12 October 2014 Discover magnificent gardens, mansions and manor houses in Canada and America as we sail along the St Lawrence River, Erie Canal and the Hudson River from Montreal to New York.

Included Highlights:

• 14 night cruise • See Roosevelt’s former home and garden • Explore New York Botanical Gardens • Visit Vanderbilt Mansion & The Mount, Edith Warton’s garden • 43 meals Prices from $8,695 per person, twin share

Saguenay River

Quebec City Montreal RV Grande Clayton 14 Mariner Oswego Amsterdam Lake Ontario Troy ONTARIO NEW YORK Poughkeepsie New York City

Call Botanica on 1300 305 202 for your free colour brochure or visit www.botanica.travel Register today for your free colour Botanica brochure.

Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Dr: ����������������������������������� Address: ��������������������������������������������� State:����������������������� Postcode: ���������������� Phone: ���������������������������������������������� Email: ����������������������������������������������� Please send completed form to: Botanica World Discoveries Level 4, 1230 Nepean Highway, Cheltenham, VIC 3192 National Trust Australian Pacific Touring Pty Ltd ABN 44 004 684 619 Lic. No. 30112 MKT11879

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