HISTORIC FARM BUILDING

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1930, Page 15

HISTORIC FARM BUILDING

AN AUSTRALIAN LANDMARK. LINK WITH EARLY DAYS. A visit to Elizabeth Farm House at Rosehill, the oldest building in Australia, says the Sydney Morning Herald, was paid by about 170 members of the Royal Australian Historical Society recently. Dr. Harold Norrie, president o-f the society, outlined the history of the building, which was erected in 1793 by John Macarthur, the founder of the wool industry, and the visitors inspected the fine old building, which is made of bricks, manufactured by convicts at Camelia, a short distance away. A feature of the house is the magnificent hand-carved cedar. The doors of the building are also of hand-carved cedar, two inches thick, and the original overmantels brought from England when the place was built are still in position. Miss Margaret Swann, daughter of Mrs. Swann, the owner of the building and land surrounding it, also showed the visitors an olive tree planted by John Macarthur in 1805. This tree bore fruit last year. She also showed the bells used by Elizabeth Macarthur to_ call her servants, a ticket of leave signed by Charles Fitzroy, Governor, a collection of photographs of Parramatta in the ’sixties, and her collection of historical bricks.

The visitors were shown the original kitchen of the building, and the later one erected under the directions of Mrs. Elizabeth Macarthur in 1810.

Miss Swann said that when her father acquired the building in 1904 one of the rooms was supposed to be haunted by a "moaning, sobbing white lady.” No one would sleep in the room because of the sobbing soimd which was heard occasionally. Her ' investigations bad shown her that the noise was caused by a north-west .blowing through the peculiar conformation of two chiiilneys which stand' back to back.

In 1904, continued Miss Swann, the land 'surrounding the house was to Im sub-divided, and the, owners intended to demolish the old building, thinking it was useless. Mr. Swann had negotiated for its purchase,. and the syndicate which owned the sub-divisio ■ told him he could have the building for the price of the six acres of land which surrounded it. He purchased it immediately, and Miss Swann stated that when her family, was finished with the building she hoped to make arrangements for its purchase by the nation or the Historical Society as an historical monument.