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NATIONAL TRUST

news Australia

DIRK HARTOG DINNER PLATE

LESSONS ON THE TERRACE

THE DRESSMAKER COSTUME EXHIBIT

JAPANESE WALLPAPER

261686 I N S I D E >

3 TRUST NEWS AUSTRALIA MAY 2016

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ISSN: 1835-2316

Vol 10 No 2 May 2016

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 Environment.

National Trust of Australia (WA)ABN 83 697 381 616

PO Box 1162West Perth WA 6872

T: 08 9321 6088 F: 08 9324 1571W:www.ntwa.com.au

Editor: Gina [email protected]

T: 08 9321 6088

Advertising: For advertising rates, contact the Editor.

Design: Dessein Graphics

Cover: Sound from the Ground musicians. Eva Fernandez

Next Issue: August 2016 Copy deadline:10 June 2016

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 Environment. The articles in

this magazine are subject to copyright. No article may be used without the consent

of the National Trust and the author.

my WO R D with editor Gina Pickering

Greetings,

This year’s National Trust Heritage Festival

has inspired some extraordinary events

including a world premiere performance, new

musical composition and powerful experience

at one of Australia’s most important cemeteries.

The Sound from the Ground musicians are on

the cover and plenty of heritage experiences

are still unfolding in May.

Also in this edition, applause for the NSW

National Trust’s Bushland Management Team

on their 40th anniversary, while the beginnings

of Australia’s health system are revealed in

Australia’s First Hospital, Never a Closed Door.

The Dressmaker inspires a blockbuster

costume exhibition at Barwon Park in Victoria

and programs from Currumbin Wildlife Centre

include Bilby breeding and stars of the new

Discovery Den for kids.

Old Perth Boys’ School on St Georges Terrace

is now home to Curtin University thanks to

some fantastic adaptive reuse. Explore the

power of Dirk Hartog’s plate, glimpse India’s

world heritage and realise the complexity of

beautiful wall paper conservation. This is my

last Trust News Australia as Editor as things

renew and refresh. It’s been a great journey

and I would like to acknowledge designer Tracy

Kenworthy from Dessein who has brought so

very much to this publication over the past six

years.

Enjoy all,

Gina Pickering | Editor

Inside

4 Valuing Australia’s World Heritage

5 Heritage Protection in Australia

6 Possession in pewter: The power of Dirk Hartog’s dinner plate

8 Lessons on the Terrace

10 Footsteps on a Riverbank

10 Stories from Meeanjin and Queen’s Wharf

11 Sound from the Ground

12 May Heritage Festival Highlights

14 Protecting the Pipeline

15 Flourishing Bushland Management Services

16 The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition

18 Bridging the Distance

19 Green Amy offers World Heritage Experience

20 A Greater Bilby Bonus

21 Best Classroom in Australia

22 Exquisite New Quilt For Everglades House

23 Australia’s First Hospital Never a closed door

24 Reaching New Heights at Labassa

26 Japanese Wallpaper

28 Telling stories in extraordinary places

30 Pilgrimage honours German pioneer women

ABOVE New England Group of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia near Dorrigo (World Heritage Listed site). C Totterdell. Department of the Environment.

Valuing Australia’s World Heritage GREG HUNT MP | MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Australia is lucky enough to be home to 19 World Heritage properties. Our World Heritage properties

include places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo, Kakadu National Park, our 11 Australian Convict

Sites and the Lord Howe Island Group. These places deliver a range of direct and indirect benefits to

Australian communities large and small, including to tourism, health, recreation, education, the

environment and the economy. Australia’s World Heritage properties have been estimated to contribute

over $7 billion in annual business turnover and over 42 000 jobs to our workforce.

Inscription on the World Heritage List gives a place an

instant global profile but also places significant responsibilities on governments to care for the place to conserve it for future generations. Australia is proud of its track record of excellence and innovation in World Heritage Property management, and was praised by the United Nations World Heritage Committee as a global role model for our management of the Great Barrier Reef.

Australia, as a state party to the World Heritage Convention, maintains a Tentative List of the properties that we intend to nominate for inscription in the World Heritage List in the future. As part of implementing the Australian Heritage Strategy, I am

currently reviewing this list. This is being done in collaboration with states and territories and peak heritage bodies so as to ensure that any places we put forward for inscription are nationally supported and have the best chance of meeting the World Heritage criteria.

Late last year Commonwealth, state and territory Environment Ministers agreed to retain the two extensions to World Heritage properties currently on Australia’s Tentative List—the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, and the Great Sandy World Heritage Area (Fraser Island).

Ministers agreed to explore potential World Heritage nominations for Cape York Peninsula, subject to community and traditional owner views,

and Victoria’s Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.

Ministers also agreed that the Northern Territory will continue to consider Tjorita/West MacDonnell National Park for Australia’s Tentative List and New South Wales would continue to progress consideration of Royal National Park.

State and territory governments will now conduct further research and consultation with community and key stakeholder groups to build up a case for potential World Heritage listing. Advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee will be involved in this cooperative and thorough process that will focus efforts and resources on those sites most likely to meet the high threshold for inclusion on the World Heritage List.

4TRUST NEWS AUSTRALIA MAY 2016

PE R S PE C T I V E S

Heritage Protection in AustraliaTHE HON PROFESSOR CARMEN LAWRENCE | CHAIR AUSTRALIA HERITAGE COUNCIL

When the Australian Heritage Council was established as an independent statutory body, it was envisaged

that it would improve heritage protection in two important respects: providing for a greater focus on

identifying heritage sites of genuinely national significance and ensuring their better protection. Under the

EPBC Act, the Council was charged with undertaking assessments of the heritage values of nominated

properties - natural, Indigenous and historic - and providing advice to the Minister on conserving and

protecting such places, recommending which sites should be listed and why.

When I joined the Council as Chair in 2010 it soon

became clear that the government and the heritage bureaucracy had chosen to focus the activities of the Council almost entirely on listing properties, arguably a necessary first step in establishing the new list and a task at which the responsible officers were highly competent. However, there was almost no systematic attempt to monitor the management and protection of the listed sites. It seemed obvious to me and the Council members that we needed to have ready access to data on the management of sites and be able to monitor the extent to which the identified values were being protected if we were to advise the minister on these matters. As I leave we have finally managed to take the first substantive steps in establishing systematic monitoring procedures, something I believe is essential if Australia’s national heritage is to be effectively protected.

The delay in developing these procedures, and other delays in processing nominations for listings, has been due almost entirely to the savage budgetary cuts of the variously named heritage divisions within the Environment Department. There are many fewer dedicated officers and a virtual merry-go-round of changes to the personnel occupying senior positions with responsibility for heritage – many excellent officers have been lost to heritage.

This instability in staffing and the reduction in resources have also meant that progress has been slow in improving the recognition and protection of Indigenous heritage, given priority by the Council. However, I am pleased that recent assessments have paid closer attention to Indigenous values, for example in the values recognised as significant in the West Kimberley, and that more listings have been made where the

core values relate to Indigenous heritage – the Moree Baths and Swimming Pool, the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape, the Jordan River Levee, Koonalda Cave and Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements, to name a few. Progress has been made too on establishing a better understanding of Indigenous rock art precincts and in identifying possible approaches to recognising the complex song lines and dreaming tracks that criss-cross Australia’s land and heavens, although changes to the Heritage legislation may be needed to support listings of this kind.

While it has been an honour to serve on the Council, it has been frustrating to preside at a time of such constrained resources and turbulent administration. I wish my successor well.



Possession in pewter: The power of Dirk Hartog’s

dinner plateSUSAN BROOMHALL | AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL CENTRE OF

EXCELLENCE FOR THE HISTORY OF EMOTIONS,

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

In late October 1616, the crew of the Dutch East

India Company (VOC) vessel Eendracht (meaning

Unity or Harmony) spied an unfamiliar stretch of

coastline. Quickly surveying the area, skipper Dirk

Hartog called upon the cook to flatten a large

pewter plate and engrave it with:

1616, on the 25th of October is here arrived

the ship de Eendracht of Amsterdam; the

upper-merchant Gillis Miebais, from Luick;

skipper Dirck Hatichs, from Amsterdam; on the

27th do. set sail again for Bantam; the under-

merchant Jan [Stins]; the upper-steersman

Pieter [Doekes from Bil]. Anno 1616.


ABOVE Dirk Hartog’s plate, Anonymous, 1600 – 1616, tin (metal), d 36.5cm × h 70cm × w 50cm × t 4cm © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.


The plate was nailed to a post on the northern edge of

what is now Dirk Hartog Island off Shark Bay. There it remained until 1697 when fellow Company captain Willem de Vlamingh found it lying in the sand at the foot of the then rotting pole, and brought it to the Netherlands. He replaced it with another large pewter plate, replicating Hartog’s words and adding his own name and dates to the history of VOC claims in the region.

Hartog’s plate, quite an ordinary object — perhaps he was even eating dinner off it the night before — became extremely powerful once inscribed and nailed to a post, shaping the future of the lands that we now know as Australia.

Hartog was born in Amsterdam in 1580, the second son in a family of at least four. A mariner like his father, Hartog sailed between various European ports in his own vessel, the Dolphyn (Dolphin). Then in January 1616 he became a skipper in the VOC and was given the Eendracht on its maiden voyage from Texel to the East Indies.

Portuguese seafarers had long marked key locations down the African coast with stone columns inscribed with names and dates to demonstrate just how far

they had travelled. When the VOC followed into the region, they too marked stones with details of their ships, company officials aboard, and the dates of their arrival and departure, helping to track the timing of voyages to and from Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia). Hartog did likewise, using what else he had at his disposal to leave a message behind for other Europeans on this ‘new’ land.

In doing so, Hartog also made an implicit claim of possession for the VOC. The Company knew something of a southern land from the time of William Jansz.’s discoveries in the Duyfken in 1606 in what is now far north Queensland. Until the 1650s, Governors-General at Batavia supported exploratory expeditions to claim lands and resources that crews encountered, and to subordinate local peoples in trading partnerships.

Crews were certainly aware of indigenous peoples in the areas that they surveyed, reporting smoke, campsites, tools and footprints. Abel Tasman stated quite clearly, when he ordered a Dutch flag be planted in the soil in what is now Tasmania in 1642, that he was doing it so that Europeans and local people would know that the land was now a VOC’s possession.

Soon after Hartog reported his actions, maps of the region described the coast that he had encountered as ‘the land of the Eendracht’, reinforcing the Company’s claim to possession beyond the physical plate itself. As Nova Hollandia (New Holland), the area became part of a wider European race for territorial possession.

Hartog returned to Europe in 1618, left the VOC, and went back to sailing around European ports.

He largely slips from the records, dying in 1621 and buried in a communal grave just outside Amsterdam. But the plate he left behind would powerfully shape how the resources, lands and peoples of what became Australia were understood ever after.


TOP Hessel Gerritsz., Map of the north-west coast of Australia entitled ‘Map of the Land of the Eendracht’, 1627 © National Library of Australia.BELOW Hartog and Vlaminghs posts, Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island, November 2006. © Nicola Bryden, Australian Heritage Photographic Library


Lessons on the TerraceGINA PICKERING AND KYRA LOMAS


I N N OVAT I O N

LEFT Buttons and beads found during underfloor archaeology reveal the humanity and day to day life of Old Perth Boys’ School. G Pickering

RIGHT These cricket balls are popular exhibits revealed after the 1997 fire at Old Perth Boys’ School. G Pickering

BACKGROUND Artefacts from Old Perth Boys’ School earlier days. G Pickering

A successful partnership between the National

Trust of Australia (WA) and Curtin University has

transformed the heritage-listed Old Perth Boys’

School at 139 St Georges Terrace, Perth into a

vibrant new educational landmark.

Compatible reuse and best conservation practice were

at the heart of the National Trust’s $2.3 million refurbishment of the school which was built in 1854 and is the earliest purpose built Government school in Perth.

Contemporary products and practices have contributed to the sustainability of the place which is aiming for a 6 star Green rating under the Interiors rating tool from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).

Achieving such a high green star rating in this historic building does not come without its challenges. The most defining was finding the appropriate balance between conservation and sustainability while working with significant original fabric to enhance the building’s performance including standards of indoor air quality and lighting comfort levels.

Opened in March by the Hon Peter Collier, WA Minister for Education, Old Perth Boys’ School has been a centre for ideas, innovation and lifelong learning and has been instrumental to Curtin University through early links to technical education, at Perth Technical College and the Western Australian Institute of Technology.

A display of archaeological artefacts reflecting the everyday activities of schoolboys includes lost marbles, buttons, slate pencils, cricket balls and a slingshot. It is a new feature of the place which is listed on the State Register of Heritage Places and which the National Trust used as its headquarters between 1977 and 1986.

“Old Perth Boys’ School is associated with familiar names such as Leeder, Trigg, Armstrong,

James and Wittenoom as well as leaders in art, architecture, politics and education. Noongar people have also frequented the ridge referred to as Byerbrup which stretches from Kings Park to Heirisson Island,” National Trust President Max Kay said.

Under a new lease with Curtin University the space will be used for events and exhibitions as well as meetings with industry, alumni and potential students.

The architects, designers and interpreters have transformed this space for the needs of 2016. It’s beautiful, bold and invites everyone who visits to appreciate the evocative sense of place Old Perth Boys’ School has to offer.

TOP LEFT New entry to Curtin University St Georges Terrace. G. Pickering.TOP RIGHT Outstanding people associated with the site.

Lessons on the TerraceGINA PICKERING AND KYRA LOMAS


I N N OVAT I O N

CENTRE - LEFT TO RIGHT Previously unseen images are a feature of the new interpretation. G Pickering. At the opening of Curtin University St Georges Terrace

were Katrina Chisholm with Andrina Treadgold whose father architect Geoffrey Summerhayes is included within the new fitout. G Pickering.

Interpretation officer Gina Pickering positions the final artefacts. C Stokes.

FOOTSTEPS ON A RIVERBANK

Stories from Meeanjin and Queen’s Wharf STEWART ARMSTRONG | GENERAL MANAGER HERITAGE AND ADVOCACY NATIONAL TRUST (QLD)

Over the next seven years, the Destination Brisbane Consortium will develop the Queen’s Wharf

precinct, a large portion of the Brisbane CBD currently owned by the Queensland Government,

as an integrated resort development.

The intention is for ‘Queen’s Wharf Brisbane’ to become a

unique and vibrant destination that attracts visitors, locals and investment, reconnects the activity of the city centre to the river, conserves and celebrates Brisbane’s heritage and delivers high quality public spaces.

National Trust Queensland believes that by embedding the stories of the precinct’s long history into the development and by conserving and innovatively utilising its heritage places, this project has the potential to deepen many significant connections to the history of Brisbane and Queensland.

As part of the 2016 Queensland Heritage Festival, the Trust will open an exhibition ‘Footsteps on a Riverbank’ at National Trust House, 95 William St, which will explore the evolution of Brisbane through the stories, events and people with a connection to this historic precinct. The exhibition will be presented in partnership with the Meeanjin Heritage and Remembrance Centre Committee.

Originally known to the local Indigenous people as Maginnchin or Meeanjin, Queen’s Wharf Brisbane is a place of very high cultural heritage significance and this will be a key focus of the exhibition.

In May 1825, Lieutenant Henry Miller, his wife and family, twenty nine prisoners and fifteen soldiers established the Moreton Bay Penal settlement on this section of the riverbank. A wharf was soon constructed, and the road beside it, Queen’s Wharf Road, became the first thoroughfare of the colony, transporting people and goods from the wharf up to the settlement on the ridge. The penal colony closed in 1842 and free settlers began to arrive. By the mid-1840s, the local aboriginal people no longer spoke of Meeanjin a place of blue water lilies but of ‘umpie korumba’ the place of many buildings.

Through its recent history, the Queen’s Wharf area functioned largely as a government precinct, and as such the remaining buildings reflect the evolution of

the city from convict days to the present time. Within the precinct, there are eleven places on the Queensland Heritage Register and four additional places on Brisbane City Council’s Heritage Register. In addition, a large portion of ‘The Early Streets of Brisbane’, as entered in the Queensland Heritage Register, sits within the precinct and offers exceptional archaeological potential and may contain important artefacts from the colony’s establishment.

At this early stage, the Trust is emphasising the importance of updating Conservation Plans for the precinct’s significant places, investigating the archaeological opportunities of the area and identifying all of the smaller monuments and sites within the precinct to understand their stories.

The National Trust Queensland hopes its partnership with the Meeanjin Heritage and Remembrance Centre Committee may lead to future joint projects as part of the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane precinct development.


TOP LEFT Brisbane, Colony of Queensland 1888, Image from Supplement to The Illustrated Sydney News, 30 August 1888, NTAQ Files.TOP RIGHT Aerial view Queen’s Wharf Precinct 2022, Artists Impression courtesy of Destination Brisbane Consortium.

I N N OVAT I O N

Sound from the GroundSARAH MURPHY | DIRECTOR CONSERVATION NATIONAL TRUST (WA)

The collection of graves in East Perth Cemeteries stands as testimony

to the lives of over 10,000 people who died in Perth in the nineteenth

century. They are also the inspiration for a unique project that is

destined to be a highlight of this year’s Heritage Festival.

Classical guitarist Dr Jonathan Fitzgerald has spent hours

wandering the Cemeteries and immersed in diaries and books while pondering the stories the graves represent. An intriguing and fascinating music repertoire grew out of this process to be performed by Jonathan and the Perth Guitar Quartet at the Cemeteries as the culmination of an Artist in Residence project supported by the Department of Culture and the Arts.

In the intimacy of St Bartholomew’s Church in East Perth, the guitarists pieces by Handel and Purcell through to contemporary works by composers Richard Charlton and Perth born Nigel Westlake, to give new and unexpected insights into how the

graves may be understood and be made relevant to us in the present.

Jonathan has found the graves are not only reminders of our own impermanence and mortality but are a prompt for memory and contemplation. The stone, slate and marble speak of many things - loss, love, faith, adventure, tragedy, remembrance, even flirtatious pursuit and courtship. Even more may be said of the absence of grave markers. Some have not survived the elements and others never existed as they simply could not be afforded. Then there are the ‘empty’ spaces where no grave markers exist and their absence tells of those who in death were never spoken of such as illegitimate children or suicide victims.

The grave markers have also been a source of inspiration for fellow guitarist and composer Duncan Gardiner. He has been commissioned by the National Trust to write an original composition as a contemporary response to the graves. Titled Stone, Shell, Bone and Feather, the eight movement piece was performed on three conventional classical guitars with the fourth part on a contrabass (six string) classical guitar. The title is taken from the material evidence Duncan has observed as he has explored the graves in their unique landscape setting.

Sound from the Ground was performed in St Bartholomew’s Church, East Perth Cemeteries. If you missed the performance, you can enjoy the music at www.nationaltrust.org.au/wa


Perth Guitar Quartet. E Fernandez

MUSICAL INSPIRATION AT St Bartholomew’s

I N N OVAT I O N

http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/wa

queenslandGREAT HOUSES OF IPSWICHWhere: Ipswich and CoominyaWhen: 7 May, 10am – 3pm

The National Trust’s Ipswich Branch, in partnership with Ipswich City Council and the generous owners of three great houses, is very proud to open the doors to some outstanding heritage residences. ‘Gooloowan’, ‘Notnel’ and ‘Bellevue Homestead’ will open during year’s Heritage Festival.

BOTTOM Notnel, Image Courtesy of Ray White and Open2View

May Heritage Festival Highlights

ELOISE HAIRMAN | HERITAGE FESTIVAL MANAGER NATIONAL TRUST (NSW)

There are still many marvellous 2016 National Trust Heritage

Festival events to experience and enjoy around the country.

Thousands of individuals, families and friends have explored

talks, walks, exhibitions and performances since mid April.

So don’t hold back over the beautiful autumn days.

Visit www.heritagefestival.org.au and make

some discoveries and rediscoveries of your own.victoriaVINTAGE STEAM TRAIN TO MALDONThe Victorian Goldfields Railway will run their fully restored 1890s V cars,the oldest broad gauge passenger carrying carriages available for use in Victoria between Castlemaine and Maldon. The carriages have been brought out especially for Maldon’s 50th anniversary of being recognised as a Notable Town by the National Trust.

VINTAGE STEAM TRAIN TO MALDON: VICTORIAN COLONIAL EXPRESSWhere: Victorian Goldfields Railway, Kennedy Street, CastlemaineWhen: 28 May, 11.30am – 4.30pm

PORT FAIRY’S WHALING STORYWhere: Port Fairy Historical Society Rooms, 24 Gipps St, Port FairyWhen: 21 May, 2pm – 3.30pm

Join the Port Fairy Branch of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) to discover the story of Port Fairy’s whaling history. Accompanied by maritime historian, Marten Syme, the talk will be followed by a walk

to Griffiths Island and the whaling camp site of the mid-nineteenth century.

Presented by the Victorian Goldfields Railway

South australiaSACRED GLASS: REDISCOVERING LOST STORIES IN STAINED GLASSWhere: Tour leaves from Ayers House, 288 North Terrace, AdelaideWhen: 26 May, 2pm – 4pm

From the precious stained glass that arrived with the first settlers in 1836, to the Stock Exchange’s Federation windows, Adelaide’s collection of stained glass windows is among the most diverse and intriguing in Australia. Come along on a guided walk and discover the stories behind our city’s most sacred glass. Presented by the National Trust of South Australia.


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http://www.heritagefestival.org.au

TasmaniaDISCOVERING AND REDISCOVERING GOTHIC REVIVAL AT OAK LODGEWhere: Oak Lodge - 18 Bridge Street, Richmond, TasmaniaWhen: During May 11.30am – 3.00pm

Oak Lodge in Richmond, Tasmania will be returning to its original 1845 grandeur during the month of May.

The spectacular Gothic Revival wallpaper that used to adorn the Oak Lodge hallway was lost for generations and has recently been rediscovered thanks to the investigative work of three ‘Mural Archaeologists’.

NEW South walesMEET LENNY THE LORD HOWE ISLAND STICK INSECT AND OTHER ENDANGERED ANIMALSWhen: Tuesdays 4 May - 24 May, 9am – 12pmWhere: Lord Howe Island

The Lord Howe Island Phasmid (Dryococelus australis), the world’s largest stick insect, was feared extinct until its rediscovery on Balls Pyramid. Come on this tour to see a LHI Phasmid and hear their remarkable story of survival. Local Rangers will introduce you to other endangered species like the flightless LHI Woodhen, the LHI Gecko and LHI Skink. The tour includes a boat trip to an off-shore island. Morning tea provided.

Presented by: Lord Howe Island Board

GULAGA CREATION TOURWhere: Island View Resort 7323 Princes Hwy NaroomaWhen: 13 & 27 May (Tours run Friday 6pm – Sunday 11am)

Discover Yuin Country on the NSW South Coast with traditional owners, Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness. This unique 2-night/1 day culture immersion experience includes a moderate 2 hour hike up and down Gulaga mountain through picturesque countryside and rainforest areas of Gulaga National Park, guided tours of sacred sites, delicious meals with Indigenous flavours, cultural performances and opportunity to participate in the traditional ceremony. Accommodation is at Island View Resort, Narooma. All meals are included. Presented by: Kotahi Tourism

Western AustraliaNEW BATAVIA DISCOVERIES Where: Batavia Coast Marina, 2 Museum Pl, Geraldton.When: Sat 14 May 2pm – 4pm.

Join local historian Dr Howard Gray and WA Museum Maritime Archaeology Curator, Corioli Souter, for back to back lectures about the Batavia and recent discoveries at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. Western Australian Museum Geraldton

TRANSPORT HERITAGE TRAIL - COLLECTOR CARD HUNTWhen: 16 Apr – 15 MayWhere: Start the hunt at Revolutions Transport Museum, near Car Park 1, Whiteman Park, Lord Street, Whiteman.

Whiteman Park’s transport heritage family will release its third set of Collector Cards with a special Heritage Festival Trail during the festival. Cards available Saturdays and Sundays.

Visit www.heritagefestival.org.au for more information


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http://www.heritagefestival.org.au

Funding through the Federal Government’s Protecting National Historic Sites grant program

is enabling an upgrade of the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail.

The main aim of the grant program is to fund activities that contribute to the maintenance,

protection and conservation of a site listed on Australia’s National Heritage List and improves awareness of and engagement with these sites. While not aimed specifically at the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail, it allows the Trust and key stakeholders to revisit this important Western Australia tourist attraction.

The funding provides an opportunity to assess the original pipeline project now 15 years on. One of the most important considerations is the need to provide a safer, more flexible pipeline experience to cater for the diversity of current and potential trail users and still satisfy key stakeholders. The original route was designed to take people off the Great Eastern Highway (GEH) to encounter the changing landscape from the Darling Scarp to the Goldfields as well as to explore the many places and industries the pipeline has made possible either directly or indirectly. The 25 sites of the original route were chosen to represent key stories associated with the development of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme - Aboriginal history, pre pipeline water and gold rush, pipeline technology and related stories such as

the railway. Important local stories are also included as they encourage people to stay longer and spend more.

The essence of the original trail will remain and the capabilities and strengths of new information technology will be used to give trail users more flexibility and options for their journey. By making the GEH the primary route we will provide an all weather (sealed) driving option for the core trail. The interpreted sites will be accessed as spurs off the main highway.

Central to this approach is the website which will be driven by the map and include multiple layers/pages. These will provide different ways into information as well as giving suggested ‘tours’ to target specific interests and provide options for short or longer stays. The extensive historic and technical material gathered by the National Trust over many years will also be included. Future rounds and other funding programs will provide the opportunity to continue to build this site.

The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme was inscribed on the National Heritage List in 2011. More details on the program at http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national-heritage-list

Protecting the Pipeline ANNE BRAKE | MANAGER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT NATIONAL TRUST (WA)


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http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national-heritage-list

http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national-heritage-list

Flourishing Bushland Management Services

GUY SANACORE | BMS TEAM LEADER

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER NATIONAL TRUST (NSW)

This year the NSW National Trust’s Bushland Management

Services (BMS) celebrate 40 years of restoring health to native

bushland and waterways, with services which now extend

throughout the Greater Sydney Region and beyond.

The Services approach to bushland management has

evolved to take in new techniques, increasing its effectiveness in creating healthy natural environments for flora and fauna. Changes to its business model, particularly in recent times, mean that BMS now offers highly competitive and successful services to land care managers and owners, and it remains a main source of income for the National Trust.

The NSW National Trust’s commitment to protection of the natural environment began in the mid 1940s, when Annie Wyatt fought against the destruction of native bushland in the northern suburbs of Sydney as the city expanded and community outrage grew over proposed demolition of colonial heritage in Macquarie Street. These events led to the formation of the National Trust in 1945 as a community-based not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to the preservation of heritage of all kinds.

In 1976 the Trust’s Bushland Management Services (BMS) department grew from the efforts of a handful of passionate conservationists. They applied their interest in bushland and botany to support bush regeneration and land management in the northern suburbs of Sydney where Joan Bradley, one of their number, was employed by the Trust to supervise a pilot scheme. It involved using the Bradley method developed by Joan and her sister Eileen to clear weeds and encourage regeneration of native species using minimal soil disturbance and without chemicals.

The method was proving more successful at achieving long-term eradication of weeds than the wholesale clearing previously favoured, which disturbed the roots and fragile growing conditions needed by native species while increasing the sunlight which encouraged exotics to flourish.

Over the years the Trust in NSW has acquired a number of bushland

properties including Ahimsa at Cheltenham, Stella James House in Avalon, and Everglades Gardens in Leura. To help care for these sites, BMS encourages local communities to become involved as trained volunteers.

BMS has recently recruited a further seven bush regenerators to join our expanding teams, particularly in western Sydney.

The service is in demand, specialising in a variety of natural area restoration disciplines to provide expertise which helps the environment, clients and brings essential revenue to the National Trust. FOR MORE INFORMATION about the National Trust’s Bushland Management Services please visit our website www.nationaltrust.org.au/services/bushland-management

Bush Management Services

• Biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration

• Conservation of the educational and scientific values of bushland

• Healthy habitats for native flora and fauna, including improved water quality

• Protection and retention of remnant indigenous vegetation

• Regeneration, where there is no potential for regeneration to occur by itself

• Conservation of cultural heritage artefacts (Aboriginal and European)

• Enhancement of the visual and landscape amenity of bushland

N OW and T H E N


PHOTOS Costumes by Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson from The Dressmaker on display at Barwon Park Mansion. NTVic

The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition

FELICITY WATSON | SENIOR COMMUNITY ADVOCATE NATIONAL TRUST (VIC)

Over four months, Barwon Park (above), a majestic 1871 42-room bluestone

mansion set in the sweeping rural landscape of Winchelsea, Victoria,

was transformed into Dungatar, the fictional setting of box-office hit

The Dressmaker, for the most recent blockbuster exhibition of costumes

presented by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).


C ATA LY S T

ABOVE & RIGHT Costumes from The Dressmaker designed by Marion Boyce. J Gollings

Located west of Geelong, and close to the dramatic

landscape of the Mount Rothwell Conservation and Research Centre in Little River where The Dressmaker was filmed, the Barwon Park venue allowed the Trust to create an exhibition outside the white box of the typical gallery space, and evoke the setting of the film.

Exhibition Project Manager Drew Grove said it was important to have the national premiere of the exhibition in a setting that evokes the fictional town of Dungatar and the dramatic juxtaposition between the costumes and the plains of Winchelsea achieves this.

At the heart of The Dressmaker is the dramatic contrast between the dusty landscape and the glamour of Parisian fashion. The exhibition includes more than fifty costumes created by award-winning designers Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson which draw inspiration from Parisian haute couture.

The exhibition drew record crowds to the Winchelsea property with over 17,000 visitors taking a peak at the extraordinary designs before the exhibition moved to Rippon Lea Estate in April. To

put that into perspective, annual visitation to Barwon Park sits around 7,000. Local business also benefitted from the influx of visitors.

“We know that many of the businesses, the food outlets in particular, in Winchelsea have been extremely busy over the time that the exhibition has been running. So the exhibition had a wonderful flow-on effect to the community as well as people coming to visit Barwon Park,” said property manager Trudi Toyne.

The community embraced the exhibition with over eighty enthusiastic volunteers from the local area selling tickets, guiding guests and baking a record number of scones for hungry visitors at the Dressmaker Café. The Dressmaker Exhibition will tour nationally and continue at Rippon Lea House and Garden until 31 July.

For further information visit dressmakerexhibition.com.au


C ATA LY S T

Bridging the DistanceFRANK BUCHNER

For years Kyra and Rochelle only vaguely knew about each other’s existence and their professional interests are anything but alike. However, their mutual passion for cooking seems to have been inherited from their great-

grandmother, Maria Catharina Op Den Buijs, who worked as a cook at a nunnery. But now they know each other a little better thanks to a project inspired by Dirk Hartog’s visit to Western Australia 400 years ago and the continuing Dutch Australian dynamic.

Bridging the Distance is connecting second cousins on opposite sides of the world who have Dutch /Australian links and a drive to connect .

ABOUT ROCHELLE ABOUT KYRA

“We have been in touch ever since” Surprisingly it was not Rochelle or Kyra who took the first step that led to their friendship. It was actually Rochelle’s

boyfriend. Seven years ago, when Bas was planning his trip Down Under, Rochelle’s grandmother had said: “Oh my brother

lives in Perth, you can go and stay with him!” Bas was taken to Rottnest Island, as well as all the other tourist attractions,

and had a wonderful time with his distant in-laws. “We have been in touch ever since Bas went to visit” Rochelle says.

A gap-year of travellingRochelle had just finished her Masters study and registered

as a general remedial educationalist before she boarded a plane to the Asia-Pacific region for a gap-year of travelling. Of

course meeting up with Kyra and her family over Christmas was part of the trip. “For me, being around Kyra felt like we had

known each other for ages and actually grew up together.”

“It was like catching up, rather than meeting her for the first time”Although Kyra and her second cousin Rochelle had been Facebook friends for quite a few years, it was only just recently that they actually met each other in real-life. Kyra recalls her grandparents showing her photos of distant family when she was a child. “I knew that people existed over there, but not their names or how many of them.” Now Kyra is actually planning to travel over to the Netherlands for Kings Day.

“I don’t know anything before 1800”Kyra is a graduate architect and has been working for the National Trust in WA since she finished university. It is this background in architecture that really makes Kyra look forward to her upcoming trip to Europe with its rich history. “I don’t know anything before the 1800s actually,” Kyra jokes. The travel itinerary Rochelle is preparing for Kyra’s three-day visit to the Netherlands includes visits to the historic cities of Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden, Delft and Den Haag. Fortunately the Netherlands is only a very small country!

“It was important for them to get the photos and updates and to stay in touch”

Rochelle explains that both families were more connected through the grandparents’ generation. So when they started dying the connection seemed destined to be lost. However,

with the recent interest from Kyra and Rochelle’s generation in the mutual migration history, this connection is in fact becoming reinforced. Modern means of communication,

of course, also help a great deal to stay in touch.

Not something that was spoken of very oftenKyra’s grandfather came from a large family and a few of his eleven siblings had already moved to Australia, which probably influenced the decision. The Dutch government offered those who served in Indonesia during WWII the chance to move to the Land of Opportunities. Many of them did.

The land of the kangaroos and koalasHaving distant family on the other side of the world has always

been fascinating to Rochelle. “They had these photos and posters of Australia in their spare room,” Rochelle tells about her grandparents

place. “I dreamed about those pieces and I have always been curious about the land of the kangaroos and koalas ever since”.

Carrot stew with sausage aka HutspotKyra truly is an Aussie through and through. But are there not any Dutch influences at all? Typically Dutch food possibly? “Mum said that when grandma was alive they had a lot more traditional food, but when she died this kind of stopped. It now only is what my mum remembers. Do you have carrot stew, I mean mashed up potatoes and like sausage?” Kyra asks Rochelle, who replies in the affirmative. “We have that one a lot, we like that one!”


C ATA LY S T

Green Amy offers World Heritage Experience

CASSANDRE TICHNER-SMITH | OFFICE OF ERIC HUTCHINSON MP

The Green Army team at Port Arthur, Tasmania has been working

across the site to further understand and protect its heritage values.

The main recent focus has been on the excavation at

the Penitentiary. The team of five has been sieving to find artefacts, working with professionals to catalogue and clean the items, and then packing them into an oxygen free environment at the site which is a part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2010.

The team will also work on maintaining heritage post and rail fences around the Port Arthur site.

At the Coal Mine Historic Site and Point Puer Boys’ Prison they will analyse LIDAR geo-survey mapping and ground truth areas of interest. Additionally at the Coal Mine Historic Site they join a team of volunteers who are conducting weeding activities, bird surveys and monitoring erosion in conjunction with TASMAP.

Philippa, Zac, Joshua, Liam and Jason are members of the first team involved in three consecutive projects taking place at Port Arthur. Each participant has different reasons for joining the team, but is united by an interest in the heritage based project. Philippa Hunter moved from Western Australia to Tasmania for the opportunity to be part of the team.

Another heritage focused Green Army team will be coordinated by Manpower Services and Land Care in the Northern Midlands in Tasmania starting in April. Based at Woolmers and Brickendon Estate the aim is to contribute to the restoration of natural and built heritage features. Both sites are remarkable examples of large farming properties and convict assignment and provide insights into their evolution over two centuries. Applications will be open shortly for interested participants.

Eric Hutchinson, Federal Member for Lyons and Chair of Parliamentary Friends of History and Heritage is pleased with the hard work being undertaken by the Green Army teams across Tasmania. “Understanding and preserving our heritage is important as it is part of who we are. Our historical sites also provide tourism and employment opportunities, as well as natural values in protected areas,” he said.

INSERT TOP Green Power team members catalogue artefacts from Port Arthur. D FletcherINSERT BOTTOM Eric Hutchinson, Federal Member for Lyons and Chair of Parliamentary Friends of History and Heritage overlooks the excavation site at Port Arthur. D Fletcher


C ATA LY S T

National Trust’s Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is excited to reveal the addition of a new

Greater Bilby joey, who takes the Sanctuary’s bilby family population count to seven in total.

Three months old and small enough to fit in one hand, this tiny, female marsupial’s adorable big

ears have Wildlife Keepers, and anyone else who sees her, wrapped around her little finger.

The Greater Bilby is an endangered species native to central-western Queensland and the Northern Territory, though predation by feral cats and foxes has diminished their numbers enormously.

According to Save the Bilby Fund, the Queensland population has surpassed the critically endangered threshold, with an estimated only 400-600 Greater Bilbies left in the region.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary partners with Save the Bilby Fund, an organisation established in 1999, to help with spreading conservation awareness and managing captive breeding projects to help protect this distinctive marsupial from extinction.

The new joey is the product of successful breeding between two of the Sanctuary’s resident bilbies, Shiny (mother) and Jundah (father). Captive breeding

of this species allows us to select genetically valuable individuals to breed, which promotes healthy joeys, and by extension, healthy bloodlines for future breeding and release back to the wild.

While the Sanctuary’s bilby program is modelled around breeding for release into the wild to boost population numbers, this latest addition will remain with the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary family.

Wildlife Curator Saskia Lafebre explained that, by implementing conservation efforts to protect the bilby, countless other lesser-known native species also reap the benefits of safeguarding measures.

“The bilby is really the flagship species for that environment,” Ms Lafebre said.

“Everything that helps protect the bilby also has a positive impact on the security of other native species, particularly the smaller ones that people might not know about, which are susceptible to similar threats like cats and foxes,” she said.

A Greater Bilby Bonus

PAUL GUERIN | GENERAL MANAGER OF EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT

CURRUMBIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY NATIONAL TRUST (QLD)


ABOVE Wildlife officer handles the Greater Bilby joey for press announcement. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

C ATA LY S T

TOP Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate celebrates the official opening of The Pines Elanora Discovery Den with local students and the Sanctuary’s Education team.BOTTOM Python encounter at Discovery Den. Photos: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Best Classroom in Australia

PAUL GUERIN | GENERAL MANAGER OF EDUCATION

AND ENTERTAINMENT CURRUMBIN WILDLIFE

SANCTUARY NATIONAL TRUST (QLD)

“Discover and explore your world and more!”.

Renowned for its contribution to wildlife conservation and education, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary has launched

a new interactive experience which focuses on animal adaptations, diet, habitat and conservation. The opening of the Pines Elanora Discovery Den provides new opportunities linked to the Australian Curriculum and tailored to students’ year levels.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is set on 27 hectares of natural bushland and is home to over 1000 animals, making the Discovery Den learning facility unique in Australia. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and CEO of the National Trust in Queensland Jonathan Fisher celebrated the opening by welcoming the Discovery Den’s first group of students from the local high school.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary’s Education Manager Sue Street said the Sanctuary is providing an immersive experience in a natural environment with hands on wildlife experiences.

“The Discovery Den creates the perfect environment to blend education with entertainment and inspire students to become big thinkers,” she said.

Through the Discovery Den, students and teachers now have the opportunity to meet the Sanctuary’s diverse range of animals face to face including pythons, lizards, phasmids (stick insects), echidnas, possums, frogs and even baby crocodiles. Students also have the opportunity to discover a new interactive zone where they can handle artefacts, explore life under the microscope and touch feathers, bones, skins and more.

The transformation of the Discovery Den was made possible thanks to a generous sponsorship agreement with local shopping centre The Pines Elanora.

The Sanctuary’s Education team is now encouraging teachers to take advantage of this new enhanced learning space which promises to provide students with a unique wildlife experience in the best classroom in Australia, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.


C ATA LY S T

Exquisite New Quilt For Everglades

House SANDY LUXFORD | FRIENDS OF EVERGLADES

The 1930s Everglades House, built by the Belgian

businessman Henri Van de Velde and standing in

the grounds of his magical Sorensen-designed

gardens at Leura, has been furnished recently to

recreate the atmosphere of Van de Velde’s

fashionable Blue Mountains retreat, famous at

the time as a bold new statement in Australian

domestic architecture.

Soft furnishings are always the touches that make a house a home and thanks to the expertise of quilters

Caroline Stanton and Victoria Liddicoat, both Friends of Everglades, the bed in the master bedroom now has a spectacular, traditional quilt.

The 1930s Double Wedding Ring design is in keeping with the style of the house with its many geometric, Art Deco features. The dominant colours in the house are yellow and red, but Caroline and Victoria chose to complement rather than replicate them. They found what they were looking for in the ‘Snowbird’ Moda fabric range; smoky blue, caramel and cream, with navy blue highlights.

The design required some quite complicated curved piecing, and Caroline and Victoria each made half the blocks required. After much discussion about the best colour distribution, Caroline free-motion quilted the project on her domestic sewing machine, and Victoria sewed on the curved binding to finish the quilt. They are now in the process of making matching pillow shams to complete dressing the bed.

In addition, Caroline has made an Art Deco wall hanging featuring the iconic ‘Sunburst’ design. Its browns, tans and olive green set against a cream background sit well against the strong yellow walls of the upstairs level. Borders frame the picture, which was made using a combination of a raw-edged applique technique and bias tape, bought and home-made.

TOP Victoria Liddicoat and Caroline Stanton with their superb quilt. Friends of Everglades. C ShainCENTRE The famous wrought iron, Art Deco balustrade of the main staircase. C ShainBELOW Henri Van de Velde’s bathroom. C Shain


C O N N E C T I O N S

Australia’s First Hospital

Never a closed doorCAROLINE WILKINSON | AUTHOR

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the treatment of sick

convicts and free settlers in the ‘new General Hospital on

Macquarie Street’, Australia’s first hospital, and the direct

forerunner of Sydney Hospital today.

It all began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the

erection of a tent hospital on the western shores of Sydney Cove, established by surgeon-general John White to treat the widespread scurvy and dysentery which were rife among the first arrivals. With the arrival of the Second Fleet in 1790 a prefabricated (wood and copper) hospital was erected, and in 1811 the colony’s fifth governor, Lachlan Macquarie, arranged for a General Hospital to be built.

Macquarie’s idea was for a spacious and elegant group of buildings to complement his vision for Sydney Town. Opened in 1816, it immediately acquired the name of ‘the Rum Hospital’ because of the deal Macquarie struck with his contractors. In 1848 it was renamed the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary and then in 1881, following the enactment of the Sydney Hospital Act, it became Sydney Hospital. In 1894 the central building was replaced with the grand, sandstone buildings on Macquarie Street which are part of

Sydney Hospital today. From its humble and

controversial beginnings, the hospital has saved lives for over two hundred years, while researching and developing practices which have made a major contribution to medical science. Significant medical ‘firsts’ were introduced in the 19th century while, with the inauguration of the Clinical School in 1909, the hospital became a teaching hospital at the University of Sydney.

By the 1960s, Sydney Hospital had earned a formidable reputation as a centre of excellence, renowned for pioneering developments in medicine, nursing, research and education.

In the 1980s, public campaigns saved the hospital from a downgrade bordering on closure, however severe budget cuts were imposed. In 1992 an announcement was made to amalgamate Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital. The Eye Hospital itself has a long and distinguished history which began

in 1878 as a ward in ‘the Rum Hospital’ known as ‘the eye beds’. Always under the umbrella of Sydney Hospital, the Eye Hospital operated off-site from 1882 until its return to Macquarie Street in 1996, when the current award-winning Clinical Services Building was officially opened.

My recently published book, written for the Friends of Sydney Hospital, is intended as a tribute to the generations of dedicated people who have worked in and for the hospital. It documents their tenacity and vision, the standards they established and the inestimable contribution Australia’s first hospital continues to make to medical knowledge and practice. Despite its sometimes turbulent history, the hospital has never closed its doors, and the words of its motto remain applicable today: ‘Ut Primus sic Optimus’ – As the First so the Best.

P L AC E S

Australia’s First HospitalBy Caroline Wilkinson

110 pages, soft coverFully illustrated. RRP $35. Available from well-known booksellers including Dymocks, and Sydney Hospital’s Little Shop on Macquarie Street.

All proceeds benefit Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital


NEW GENERAL HOSPITAL 200th Anniversary

TOP LEFT Sydney Hospital 1865. TOP RIGHT Nurses c1958.

Reaching New Heights at LabassaFELICITY WATSON | SENIOR COMMUNITY ADVOCATE | NATIONAL TRUST (VIC)

Thanks to the generosity of donors to the National Trust (Vic)’s 2015 Annual Appeal,

the Friends of Labassa and the federally-funded National Trust Partnership Program, Labassa tower

will soon be open to visitors for the first time in a decade. The conservation works are being

undertaken in April and May as part of the Trust’s Reaching New Heights program.

ABOVE View from the tower. B Postle

BELOW Flat 2 resident Ardian Pieper climbing the tower with his father Shane watching below. B Postle

BELOW Labassa tower, 2015. J Hood

ABOVE Labassa, with tower visible, 2015. J Hood


P L AC E S

Between the lines

LOST RELATIONS: FORTUNES OF MY FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA’S GOLDEN AGE

AUTHOR: GRAEME DAVISON

PUBLISHER: ALLEN & UNWIN

REVIEWER: ROBERT DARE, NTSA

Graeme Davison, one of Australia’s

most distinguished historians, first

came to our attention for his study

of how gold transformed Melbourne.

Now he has turned his gaze to those

members of his family who migrated

to the infant colony of Victoria, some of

whom mined the gold that made Melbourne marvellous.

The story of his mother’s family from its arrival in 1850

is also the story of the transformation of Australia from

remote penal and agricultural settlements to the most

urban nation in the world.

These are not pages populated by the mighty and

famous. Instead we encounter Hampshire farmers,

Cornish and Welsh miners, Yorkshire wheelwrights,

Coventry ribbon makers and London needlewomen as

they make their way to colonial Australia. The gains in

status of their descendants were modest as they moved

to the city and learned its trades. The Hewetts were always

pious and respectable, but never rich or exalted.

In 1839 Hampshire farmer Robert Hewett died. His

widow Jane struggled to work the farm, but at the end of

the following tumultuous decade emigrated to Australia

with her eight children. Their mobility was spatial rather

than social. Soon after their arrival in Port Phillip a

shepherd discovered the richest alluvial gold field in the

world north of Melbourne. Jane’s son Robert, a carpenter,

decided to try his luck. He didn’t find much gold, but used

his skills to build a cottage in Castlemaine. Two of his

sisters married brothers who milled the flour that fed the

diggers, a surer way to wealth.

Later, Robert’s son followed the gold to Melbourne,

where it was transforming the city. The move transformed

the family too. One of Robert’s grandsons became a skilled

fitter in a railway workshop, another a printer – two trades

essential to the new urban and industrial age.

Davison calls his book family history. It is also more

than that. He remarks that the sight and touch of the

clothing, personal effects, furniture and dwellings of our

forebears have a unique power to tell us where we came

from and who we are. The Hewett cottage in Castlemaine,

now, curiously, owned by another historian known to

both of us, anchors him in his past more firmly than can

any words on a page. Heritage matters.

The text of Professor Davison’s address to the 60th

anniversary dinner of the National Trust of South Australia

can be found at www.nationaltrust.org.au/sa

The tower was constructed as part of the 1873 extensions to the house then known as

Sylliott Hill, located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield North. Its original purpose as a lookout for “panoramic views” appears in an 1882 advertisement when the property was offered for sale or rent:

The tower which is reached by an easy and convenient staircase ... taking in the city, the bay, the You Yangs, Mount Macedon, Dandenong Ranges and Arthur’s Seat, presents an outlook unequalled within 20 miles of the city, and one that cannot be fully appreciated until enjoyed.

Historian Vicki Shuttleworth has documented the colourful social history of the tower, which for most of the twentieth century was rented as part of Flat 3, and was variously used as bedrooms, workshops, a study, and a photographic darkroom. A range of tenants called the tower home, including milliner Vi Miller in c1939, and furrier Salamon Traurig in the 1950s, who used the space to make fur coats. The tower’s best known resident was songwriter Hans Poulsen, c1967, who Shuttleworth says “slept in the tower with his pet crow and held auditions and rehearsals for his band the 18th Century Quartet”. By the 1970s, squatters moved in and the tower had

fallen into disrepair, with the National Trust acquiring the property in 1980.

The restoration program, developed by National Trust Conservation Architect Samantha Westbrooke, allows for the demonstration of early building techniques and the range of finishes relating to the different uses over time. The National Trust’s Reaching New Heights program will also see the conservation of towers at Rippon Lea, Como and The Heights in Geelong, providing visitors with a perspective on the architecture and deeper appreciation of their unique stories.

LEFT Inside Labassa Tower, before the commencement of works. J Hood


Japanese WallpaperELIZABETH ANYA-PETRIVNA | EXHIBITION PRODUCER, NATIONAL TRUST COLLECTIONS

The ornate embossed wallpaper decorating the halls of Rippon Lea have been a feature of the interiors

since the 1890s and were given a rejuvenating modern treatment in the late 1930s. Apart from the

knowledge that they were part of two interior schemes, the identity of the manufacturer was a mystery,

but a stylistic similarity did make some scholars wonder if the papers were of Japanese manufacture.

To get to the bottom of this question, I have been on a

long and steady journey, working on a project that defies the quick turnaround, fast production and instant gratification of many of the day to day products we now use to decorate our homes. When scientific analysis of the fibres discovered the presence of mulberry tree pulp—Kozo—an indicator that it was indeed more than likely of Japanese manufacture, the National Trust received a generous grant from the Japan Australia Foundation to commence the process of recreating this nineteenth-century wallpaper.

Three years later, the project reached a milestone in late 2015 after a worldwide search to find the right artisans. I journeyed to Japan to visit the studios of the Kinkarakami Institute and commission the work of carving, embossing and painting the patterned paper from two master craftsman—the only practitioners of this ancient craft in the world. They will recreate the wallpaper as close to the original in materials and technique as possible.

Using the knowledge gained from centuries of experimentation, the craftspeople of nineteenth-century Japan perfected the reproduction of Western Baroque


1 Rippon Lea mansion. A Basheer2 Rippon Lea Wallpaper detail. J Hood


2

1

leather wall coverings, but paper was used instead of leather. Unfortunately, the procedure was made redundant and was forgotten until it was uncovered in the 1980s by Mr Uedo, head of the Kinkarakami Institute. He rediscovered the process through archival research and tenacious workshop experimentation, and today he and his carver Mr Ikeda are the only practitioners with permission from the Japanese Government to pursue this specialist craft.

The paper from which the Kinkarakami is traditionally made combines three papers made from different fibres. After these are conjoined, a thin layer of tin is applied to the surface. The

tinned surface is placed face down onto a cherry wood roll and the paper is gently but firmly pressed into the pattern using purpose-made brushes. The roll allows for a continuous scroll of wallpaper to be made. Once the pattern is complete it can be lacquered. The special paints burnish the tin into a strong gold gilt and the pattern can be picked out in enamel-like colours, or be muted, depending on the effect required.

The Kinkarakami Institute was excited by the National Trust project on many levels—it is the first commission of its kind outside Japan and specialists there have now found a pattern they have never seen before.

Mr Ikeda will begin carving for this specialist outcome after visiting Rippon Lea to see the pattern in situ and determining its exact dimensions. This is an extraordinary opportunity for the National Trust to align with a lost trade and tell the story of its recovery, while recreating Rippon Lea’s majestic hall papers.


3 Rippon Lea mansion. A Basheer4 Rippon Lea mansion. A Basheer5 Comparison of primary fibres - Rippon Lea (left)

and Labassa (right) wallpapers.


3 4

5

Telling stories in extraordinary placesCHRISTINE LEWIS | COUNCILLOR NATIONAL TRUST (WA)

“This is indeed India! the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of

splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps,

of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues,

of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech,

mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date

with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations. From Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Ch. XXXVIII

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 –1910) is better known

by his pen name Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Few realise that Twain (Clemens) spent three months in India of a yearlong lecture world tour in the late nineteenth century to repay debt on a poor investment

decision. His time in India formed the

centrepiece of his 1897 travelog

Following the Equator which is considered by many to be his best travelog, a genre of writing he pursued throughout his life.

Travelogs were commonplace for later 19th century/early 20th century writers across many fields including history, science and the arts. The genre offers a form of identification, interpretation and value of what we would describe

today as cultural heritage.

India has thirty two places which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their universal cultural values. Their importance is to the broader world community and without these sites the story of the history and heritage of India and the world would be lost for current and future generations. Twenty five of the thirty two places are identified as places of cultural value. I recently visited a number of these places including Agra Fort; the Churches and Convents of Goa; Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi; Khajuraho Group of Monuments; Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi; Red Fort Complex; Taj Mahal; and the Jantar Mantar, Jaipur.


G LO B A L

ABOVE The Jantar Mantar, in Jaipur, is an astronomical observation site built in the early 18th century which includes a set of some 20 main fixed instruments. C Lewis

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Following_the_Equator

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5811/5811-h/5811-h.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/251














All of these sites displayed the many benefits to a property being inscribed on the World Heritage List including:• increased tourist visitation;• increases in employment

opportunities; • income for local communities; • promotion of local and

national pride in the property; • developing feelings of national

responsibility to protect the area; and

• b e t t e r m a n a g e m e n t , interpretation and protection of the place.

As of July 2015, the World Heritage List included 1031 sites: 802 cultural, 197 natural, and 32 mixed properties in 163 countries. Italy is home to the greatest number

of World Heritage Sites with 51 sites, followed by China (48), Spain (44), France (41), Germany (40), Mexico (33), and India (32).

Telling the story of a place and its people, their values and cultural traditions is an important part of recognising and promoting cultural heritage values. This interpretation is a process that helps people understand more about heritage places – including locals and visitors. In turn this can lead to longer visitor stays and repeat visits which can increase income and create employment opportunities. Guides are often the interpreters of heritage places lending local

knowledge and understanding to the cultural values of particular locations. They can be teachers, storytellers, writers, artists, curators, designers and scientists. They are often creative and usually passionate about nature, history or art and above all, are gifted communicators in one way or another.

Twain didn’t know it at the time, but he was espousing cultural heritage values as the legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the advantage of future generations.

This is indeed India!


G LO B A L

ABOVE The Taj Mahal is an immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife.CENTRE Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi, built in 1570, is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal. C LewisBOTTOM LEFT The churches and convents of Goa, the former capital of the Portuguese Indies illustrate the evangelization of Asia. These monuments were influential in spreading forms of Mannerist and Baroque art in all the countries of Asia where missions were established. C Lewis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_World_Heritage_Sites_by_country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Italy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Spain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Germany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Mexico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_India

Pilgrimage honours German pioneer women

ANNETTE OIEN AND LYNDELL DAVIDGE | NATIONAL TRUST (SA)

Since 1980 thousands of walkers have made an annual trek

across the Adelaide Hills to honour the pioneer women

of the German colonial settlement at Hahndorf.

The walk takes place again on Sunday 15 May.

Hahndorf, in the Adelaide Hills, is Australia’s oldest surviving

German settlement. The roots of this unusual village lie in the Middle Ages, when the defensive layout was developed. This hufendorf, or farm village pattern became the blueprint for the migrant settlement of Hahndorf in 1839, based on Victoria, Main and English Streets. During the ensuing years, the protective structure, with seed-beds enclosed in the middle, was gradually transformed into a strassendorf, or street village. The centre of activity became focused on the Main Street with shopkeepers and craftsmen plying their trades.

The South Australian colony was barely two years old in 1838 when the first ships arrived bringing Lutheran refugees from Silesia (then part of Germany) who were eager to build new lives free from persecution. The sympathetic captain of the Zebra, Dirk Meinertz Hahn, helped the 54 families to purchase land for their village and farms.

As soon as the first produce was ready the women of the village started carrying their wares during what became a regular trek on foot into Adelaide. They left Hahndorf in the middle of the night, often walking barefoot to save their shoes. The women, and sometimes the men, followed the trails of the local Peramangk people along the ridge tops and through the Old Stringybark Forest where the feared ‘Tiersmen’ timber cutters had their hideouts. The walkers arrived in the early morning at the stream in the foothills close to where Beaumont House (the South Australian National Trust Head Office) now stands. There the women refreshed themselves and rested briefly before continuing the walk to Adelaide. After selling their produce they purchased tea, sugar and other necessities which they carried back up the hill to Hahndorf.

The Pioneer Women’s Trail honours these early German settlers who supplied Adelaide with fresh produce at a time when most foodstuffs had to be imported into South Australia.

The first public re-enactment walk along the then unmarked trail took place on the 20 April, 1980 to mark the Silver Jubilee of the National Trust. In 2007 the marked trail was officially launched. Each year the Hahndorf Branch of the National Trust organises the walk. More than 300 participants enjoy walking the trail, many returning year after year. The walk commences at the Hahndorf Institute and winds down through beautiful bushland into the suburb of Burnside and concludes with refreshments and celebrations at Beaumont House.

Some choose to walk the full 26 kilometres, while others walk shorter distances by joining the trail further along.

For more information or to register for the walk visit: www.nationaltrust.org.au/event/hahndorf-pioneer-womens-walk/


N OW and T H E N

TOP Walkers of all ages prepare for the start of the pilgrimage. NTSARIGHT The Hahndorf Academy prior to 1872. NTSA

OFFICIAL TOUR DATESNSW: OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE, PARRAMATTA 15 MAR - 19 JUN

QLD: OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BRISBANE 15 JUL - 04 SEP

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trust news may 2016

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