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Vista Farm Interviewee: Rod Howard, born 1954 Interviewer: Frank Heimans, Date of Interview: 15 May 2007 Transcription: Glenys Murray, July 2007 |
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Now your career path, can you give me some details about that? Where you began what was your first job after leaving the university?
Oh I was fortunate enough to get a job with the architectural firm of Cox Tanner here in Sydney and that firm was one of very few practices at the time that specialised in restoration work or conservation work as we’ve come to know it. So I got an introduction in my early twenties to architectural heritage and conservation.
Were you working there with Philip Cox?
More so with Howard Tanner but certainly Philip Cox was one of the senior partners in the practice.
How many years were you with them?
Goodness, probably only around three years before I accepted another position with another conservation architectural practice. The firm of Clive Lucas Stapleton and Partners and I stayed there for another two years before going to the National Trust headquarters at Observatory Hill in Sydney to become the architect on the staff of the National Trust.
Right a very prestigious position I suppose at the time was it?
I guess I didn’t think of it in terms of that. But I enjoyed my time there.
Now what has been your association with the Baulkham Hills Shire Council?
When I established my own practice in 1990 I worked on a number of private commissions for several years. It wasn’t until nearly ten years later that I commenced doing work for Baulkham Hills Shire Council.
Right so around 2000?
2000, 2001 particularly when I first was engaged by the Council to assist them with their conservation programme at Bella Vista Farm.
Right was that the very first that you’d heard about Bella Vista farm at that time?
No through my association with the National Trust, I’d certainly heard about it. I was aware that it was a classified property on the National Trust’s register and in fact I was for a time in 1992 the chairman of the National Trust’s Parramatta Regional Branch. Which encompassed not just Parramatta but a broader area including Baulkham Hills and Kellyville and I had my first visit to Baulkham Hills, to Bella Vista Farm particularly in October 1992 that was the first time I went there. But it wasn’t until July of 2001 that I was engaged by the Council to assist them in some consultancy work there.
Was that at the time when Council had commissioned a Conservation Management Plan for the Bella Vista Farm?
Yes they did. The Council acquired the property I think it was in 1998 and between 1998 and 2000 the Council commissioned a Conservation Management Plan to be prepared. Which looked at the history of Bella Vista Farm, looked at the physical aspects of the place. Looked at the condition of the buildings and the fences and the landscape and the garden and what have you. The Conservation Plan then developed a series of policy statements based upon the significance of the place.
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Do you know what the recommendations were of that Conservation Management Plan that the Council put out?
I have a reasonable understanding of what they were. In fact there was a whole host of them, many, many pages within the Conservation Plan document that was related to particular policies. There were policies governing the treatment of the fabric of the buildings for instance, policies governing conservation of the rural landscape character of the place and the setting of the place. Not just within the boundaries of the farm but as far as possible beyond that as well. So important views to and from key points within the farm park were identified and recognised. There were policies formulated aimed at preserving those views and vistas, so that there would be some controls introduced to govern development on neighbouring properties so that key views, important views weren’t built out or blocked.
In that Conservation Management Plan (prepared by Heritage Design Services, Department of Public Works & Services and Otto Cserhalmi & Partners Pty Ltd) did the Council specify and recognise the significance of the place?
Well certainly the authors of the Conservation Management Plan identified various aspects of the significance of Bella Vista Farm because it is significant on a number of levels and for various reasons. I guess first and foremost it’s certainly a rare, relatively intact example of a rural landscape on the Cumberland Plain from the nineteenth century. It’s a good example of the hill top model of a traditional homestead site. It is significant because it still retains a rural character within the curtilage and beyond. It’s significant because parts of the site retain remnant indigenous vegetation, native trees. It provides evidence of patterns of traditional agricultural activity and use for a period of over two hundred years now. It provides evidence of traditional building technologies and changing technologies. There is an association with citrus growing which is very important within the local areas. It has importance on a national level, on a state level and also certainly for local aspects. It provides a rare example of the use of significant plantings. Bunya Pines and other specimen trees that were popular in the nineteenth century. It provides evidence of the changing patterns of domestic life and it’s important because it has I think quite a high degree of educational value and research potential.
So in that Conservation Management Plan what did they specify on a practical sense that should be done with the property?
Well firstly for properties like this it is not only important to understand the significance of the place as we’ve just outlined. But to recognise that in any future decisions that might effect how the place is managed or run or presented. So one of the very first policies outlined in the Conservation Management Plan is that the cultural significance of Bella Vista Farm is actually recognised. So that things like the visual corridors and vistas can be preserved and the important features of the farm, the buildings, the fences, the paddocks, the garden planting is treated in a manner that recognises what’s important and also of course what’s not important. So that the important aspects are preserved, repaired, maintained and that all works that are carried out are carried in a manner that recognises and respects that significance.
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Were there many buildings in a sad state of repair that needed a lot of work on them?
Well the place hadn’t really been occupied for over thirty years in 2001 when I first became involved. The homestead the two storey homestead had not had any inhabitants for that length of time and essentially there were no activities occurring on the place. They did have for quite a long period of time a caretaker living in a caravan on the site. I think all he used to do was chase intruders off and that’s about it really.
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Len, yes
I interviewed Len in 2001 and he was mentioning to me at the time that there were thirty to forty drug addicts in the place that he had to try and get rid of.
Yeah I mean his role shouldn’t be underestimated at all when I say that he kept intruders off and not much else that’s a very important role. In fact I think if it hadn’t been for his presence on site the place would have been subject to an awful lot more vandalism than did occur in the 1980’s and through to the 1990’s.
So what were your priorities when you were appointed as the project manager for the Bella Vista Farm Park?
One of the other key policy recommendations within the Conservation Management Plan document was that there should be a project coordinator appointed to oversee implementation of the various policies and we’ve only touched on one or two of them. We might come to others later in the interview. So that was really my brief to implement the recommended conservation policies wherever possible. The Council was fortunate at the time that they had received a grant of around a million dollars from the state government and the majority of that available funding was to go towards urgent conservation works for the buildings on the farm that most needed it. Because the place hadn’t been occupied for so long you can imagine that there was a lot of deterioration in the building fabric. There had been some vandalism particularly to the homestead and with the exposed location on top of the hill there. Every time the wind blew sheets or iron would come off the roof of some of the outbuildings and some of them had quite a lean. It was really a matter of stabilising those buildings that were in danger of collapse or serious damage if nothing had been done and to keep the water out of the homestead. To that end there were re roofing works done on the homestead proper. We had to introduce a chemically injected damp proof course around the masonry walls, the base of the walls to the homestead and the attached kitchen wing. There had been rot in a lot of the timbers of the outbuildings where the timbers had been in direct contact with the ground. So a programme of stabilisation works was implemented particularly for the buildings known as the packing shed and the barn and the implement shed.
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Can you tell me what exactly was on the property? How many buildings what uses they had and so on when you started on that project?
Well of course the nucleus of the farm complex was the homestead. It was the tallest structure being two storeys and its attached kitchen wing. In addition to that there was a timber slab coach house an implement shed, a barn, stables, packing shed were the key outbuildings. Then of course there were some smaller outbuildings and sites of demolished structures like former dairies that were no longer there, a blacksmith’s hut, a piggery.
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Yes, yes the coach house which incorporated in one corner a very early if not the earliest extant building on the property. Known as Fitzgerald’s Cottage I think it began life, some people have suggested as early as the 1820’s. I’m not so sure about that myself but certainly prior to 1840 this little hut was known to exist on the property. It was extended and extended further again to a building that became known as the coach house because it accommodated the horses and the carts and some of the early vehicles.
I believe there was a ballroom added to the main two storey house was that right?
Yes the development of the homestead structure is quite an interesting story. In the late 1840’s when it is believed the first portion of the homestead was built. It was a single storey structure essentially with just two attic rooms within the roof space. So there is a steep timber staircase leading up to these attic rooms and there was a timber shingle roof originally. Simple post supported timber verandahs at the front and at the rear. It wasn’t until about thirty years later sometime during the 1880’s when the place was extended and it was extended not just laterally but also vertically. The roof came off and the upper level became a complete upper level. The walls were extended and the roof was simply reconstructed again over the top but this time it was clad in slates. At the same time we believe there was an additional bay added on the northern side of the building and on the ground floor of that additional space was one large room that some people have suggested was known as the ballroom.
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Now a lot of the buildings and their use have changed since the time they were originally constructed. I believe the original woolshed for instance became a fruit shed? Can you tell me the changes that occurred in the uses of that place since it was originally conceived?
Well you’re right the original shearing shed which was used as such for most of the early decades that the farm was operating became known as the packing shed when the activities of the place changed from agricultural grazing to fruit growing. But that change is not an obvious reflection in the fabric of the building. However the sheep dip that was immediately outside the slab wall of the shearing shed was actually filled in many, many years ago not exactly sure when. Part of the investigation work that was carried out in 2002, 2003 a professional archaeologist was engaged by me on behalf of Baulkham Hills Shire Council to do an archaeological survey of the whole property and to undertake some key test pit excavations if you like. One of the features that was excavated was the sheep dip so we understood its construction and that’s been recorded. I guess the very infilling of the sheep dip reflected the change in use of that particular building. It was a fairly simple post supported structure, essentially a large space covered with a broad roof. You can shear sheep under such a structure and you can pack fruit under such a structure. So there weren’t a lot of actual physical changes made. It wasn’t as if new walls were constructed or anything like that.
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Oh look I suppose all I can do is give you a broad overview of my understanding of the history of the place. It was a very early land grant I think in the late 1700’s where Major Joseph Foveaux was given a grant of almost one thousand acres I believe there and he created a stock farm up there which was reputed to be the largest sheep farm in the colony at the time we’re talking 1799 through to 1801 or 1802. Then it was known that John and Elizabeth MacArthur owned that portion of the property that is known today as Bella Vista Farm but of course the landholding at that time was far, far greater in area than it is now. We’re talking about many, many hundreds of acres where of course now the property is only less than one hundred acres. John MacArthur was away in the United Kingdom for most of the time it was owned by them and his wife Elizabeth managed the property which they called their Seven Hills farm. It is believed that this is where Elizabeth MacArthur first bred Merino sheep which of course is very important in terms of Australian pastoral history. So that’s another level of significance of Bella Vista Farm, now whether the sheep were bred exactly on this part of the land that we know today as Bella Vista Farm or somewhere else nearby that hasn’t been established as far as I know. Then after the MacArthurs sold the property I think there were a succession of several owners including a lady by the name of Isabella Acres and a gentleman by the name of James Robertson and he of course called the place Robertson’s farm. My understanding is that he ran cattle there. It wasn’t until the 1840’s that William Thomas Pearce purchased the portion of the property which was about five hundred acres and it wasn’t until after the Pearce’s purchased the property that any of the current buildings were established. The Pearce Family had a long relationship with Bella Vista Farm right through in fact until 1950 when they sold it to the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company.
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What did the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company do with it?
Well not a lot, I’m not sure that they had specific designs on Bella Vista Farm Park but what they did do was use part of the land to establish a brick works so there must have been a subdivision there at some stage. But over the years of course the thousand acres has been gradually whittled away with a succession of owners. They did lease the place to a gentleman by the name of Jones and I think he lived in the homestead for a decade or so. But there weren’t too many changes made during the Jones period of occupation other than the addition of a timber framed laundry on one side of the kitchen block which we’ve since demolished in fact because it was less significant than other structure on the place.
Let’s talk a little bit more about the William Thomas Pearce period. It was a hundred years or so a bit more than a hundred years from 1842 to 1950. Did the use of the land and the buildings change during his period as the owner?
Well not a great deal. There were three generations of the Pearce family that grew up and ran Bella Vista Farm. I’m not aware of too many changes that were introduced in terms of the use of the place. It was a farm the focus of farming over that hundred year period did gradually change from, as we mentioned earlier, from the sheep and the cattle through to more fruit growing. But I think a dairy herd was maintained at Bella Vista Farm certainly until the 1940’s.
So in 1973 I believe that Norbrik or the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company sold the property to the Water Board.
That’s right of course they kept occupying that part of the site that was the brick works but the part of the site that contains the farm buildings and the paddocks was in fact sold to the Water Board for the purposes of establishing a large water tank on this very hill where the homestead was sited.
What was the reaction to that idea?
Well I think it was fairly slow initially. It was really only through the efforts of one or two motivated individuals that belonged to the Blacktown and District Historical Society because they recognised the history of the place. They recognised the association with John and Elizabeth MacArthur and identified that Bella Vista Farm was part of the Seven Hills Farm that the MacArthurs had and they began to make this known to bodies such as the National Trust. They lobbied key government officials and ministers and gradually this groundswell of support for conserving the place and being an important part of the nation’s history took hold. In the 1970’s of course the state government in NSW established The Heritage Council of NSW and the Heritage Council was able to place permanent conservation orders over key properties. I think the permanent conservation order that was put over Bella Vista Farm was one of the first of its kind that was implemented.
That’s interesting that a few individuals could have that power.
So ultimately of course the government decided that Bella Vista Farm should not be demolished to make way for this large cylindrical water tank. They negotiated a deal whereby the Water Board received I think land on the next hill to the north and they built their water tank there. You can see it from Bella Vista Farm today.
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So they were actually going to demolish the main farm house to build this water tank were they?
Well that’s my understanding. The homestead sits on the highest part of the hill and that’s right where the best place to put a water tank would have been. The Water Board of course had no interest in maintaining any of the buildings.
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Well the management and ownership of Bella Vista Farm as we know it today passed into the hands of the NSW Department of Environment and Planning. This is somewhere between 1975 and 1978 I think. The department undertook various studies and there were all sorts of plans for the future use of the place none of which eventuated. But during that period of study there were good records made, photographic records of the place as it was at the time. There were reports done by specialist architects, by landscape specialists, so that the fabric of the place began to be recorded and better understood. Those reports and a lot of that documentation was relied upon by the authors of the Conservation Management Plan in 1999/2000 to inform their work.
So the NSW Heritage Office was it they put a permanent conservation order on Bella Vista?
Well they recommended to the minister that a permanent conservation order be placed over the property. The minister is the individual that is able to act on that. Yes he signed the order and it was ultimately gazetted.
Now when did the Baulkham Hills Shire Council acquire the property and what has occurred since they have had it?
My understanding is that following a Commission of Inquiry hearing in 1996 (actually 1997) the Council assumed control of Bella Vista Farm in around about 1998 (actually August 1998). They established within the Council the Bella Vista Farm Task Group. That was really a committee that comprised of a number of councillors, the mayor, senior staff of the council and some individuals including the manager of the Norwest Business Park. So that’s one thing they did. Then of course they commissioned the Conservation Management Plan and I guess whilst that was being prepared any decisions about what should or shouldn’t happen at Bella Vista Farm was referred to the Task Group. I do know security fences were constructed during that time. We’re talking 1999 or 1998 so that the Council having assumed control and responsibility for the management of the place did implement some of the key recommendations of the draft Conservation Plan. One of which was to improve the security of the place. They certainly maintained the caretaker on site.