Architectural Survey: Tuggerah NSW

Architectural Survey: Tuggerah NSW. 1984

1. Introduction

This Architectural Survey is centred on the town of Tuggerah on the Central Coast of New South Wales. This follows two previous works by this author on subjects in the Tuggerah area and will lead eventually to a more complete study of that locality.

Rather than focus on main streets, town blocks, or a length of street, it seemed best to choose two aspects of the town; one east-west and one north-south, find streets roughly straddling these lines, then compile a list of buildings located on these axes.

The reasons for this approach were:

i. to gather material from rural landscapes, and ii. to gather material from commercial, or soon to be commercial, areas, for the purpose of establishing grounds for the comparison of buildings from one landscape to those in the other, and to compare the historical landscapes in which the buildings are set.

It should be possible, utilising this strategy, to recreate the Tuggerah of colonial times (ie the rural landscape and buildings), view the Tuggerah of modern times, and observe the changes in architecture between the two. This information will be valuable to a larger study of Tuggerah, eventually if the commercial vista eventually envelopes it rural counterpart.

In summary, the grounds for comparison are:

i. farming vs residential vs extractive vs commercial ii. rural vs urban iii. colonial vs modern iv. decline vs growth.

The buildings, compared in such a fashion, should provide some large pieces in the puzzle which is the history of Tuggerah. 2. Methodology

The first step in this study was to define the area to be studies. Having accomplished this, as set out in the Introduction to this work, further steps were arranged according to time and convenience.

Next it seemed appropriate to study sources in order to gain specific information about architectural styles and how to attempt to survey and catalogue these styles. The information gained in this step allowed the study to proceed.

The first task in the field was to outline the exact area so that an adequate number of buildings (50-60) were contained therein. Fifty buildings were eventually included in the are bounded by the Sydney-Newcastle freeway to the west, Wyong Creek to the north, the Pacific Highway to the east, and a line of high voltage lines to the south.

The listing of structures followed next and a deal of time was spent charting the appropriate buildings in an appropriate format. Columns for a key (identification) and lot numbers were included in this chart.

Unfortunately, because the local council (Wyong) does not maintain building records beyond 7 years (statute of limitations), older records are destroyed, and it is often impossible to exactly date each building.

The categories chosen for use in the chart (see attached chart) created some difficulties in terms of both the definition of the age (as above) and the style (often subjective). However by focussing on the type and condition of material used in each building a workable degree of accuracy was maintained.

Once the survey itself was complete, maps and texts of the area were used to complete any missing or problematic data, although the ‘scale’ of maps and accuracy of some texts provided some challenges in their own right. Nevertheless, these sources proved significant in confining this study to workable dimensions. 3. Map of Surveyed Buildings 4. Survey 5. Photographs

The Rural Area-

i. View of the rural area looking west along Macpherson Road towards the intersection with Mardi Road. See Survey Key Numbers 15,16,17,18.

ii. The light-coloured brick dwelling at the western end of Mardi Road. This is by far the most recent structure in Mardi Road. See Survey Key Number 1.

iii. An army-barrack (nissen hut) style structure (c.1945) situated in Mardi Road. This building is the only one of its kind in the area. See Survey Key 8.

iv. The best example of Early Victorian architecture in the area, this residence is on Mardi Road opposite the nissen hut (iii). Survey Key 9.

v. This cluster of buildins is found on Macpherson Road, east of the Mardi Road intersection. The structure present of more typical (agricultural) form for this area. Survey Key 19, 20, 21, 22.

vi. Small slab hut on Mardi Road. Details are hidden in the light, however the encroaching citrus orchard is clearly visible. Survey Key 12.

The Commercial Area-

vii. View of the Commercial Area looking north along the Pacific Highway. This presents a different landscape than that of the Rural Area (see Photograph i.). On the far left of the scene is the Liquid Air gas centre. Survey Key 50.

viii. The Wideline Aluminium factory (left) and display centre (right) are on the Pacific Highway. These buildings are fairly typical of commercial premises in the highway at Tuggerah. Survey Key 44, 45.

ix. This Californian-style bungalow is situated on the corner of Tacoma and Macpherson Roads. It is one of only two Californian- style dwellings in the area surveyed. This building is both a residence and a commercial office. Survey Key 32. 6. Commentary

The destruction of Council records means that it is not possible to comment accurately on every building surveyed. This study will thus further focus on a selection of buildings from the survey, as evidence allows, to provide examples of the types of buildings studied.

Survey Key 1-

This building is the only one of its kind in the survey area, but may well provide an example of things to come if the area to develop into a residential estate. The building is a contemporary house constructed primarily of brick, tile and cement. Certainly it is no more than a few years old.

The house features a low brick wall to the side, and Early Victorian-style front aspect, a bay window, and cement pillars supporting the verandah structure. The surrounding terrain has been terraced and covered with lawn.

This building style might rapidly become more dominant in the area because:

 Many older dwellings in the area are beyond repair.  Agriculture is no longer pursued on many properties in the area.  Such a structure and land would be more valuable than its run-down neighbours.

Survey Key 3-

There are a number of rural colonial buildings in the area. These buildings are set amongst the trees approximately 500 metres off Mardi Road. To the rear of the building is Deep Creek.

It would appear, due to the proximity of the freeway, that the property extended further to the west at one time. The property would have been located just outside the Parish of Tuggerah.

Building features include corrugated iron, slab (timber) walls, timber verandah supports, and brick and stone foundations. Materials tend to be typical of farm buildings in the area.

Survey Key 9-

The mauve-coloured house in Mardi Road is the best preserved of a number of Early Victorian houses in the Survey Area. In fact, the exterior appears to feature no changes at all from the original style and materials.

This building has a slate roof, weatherboard walls, timber verandah supports and brick foundation. Survey Key 19,20,21,22-

Lot 7 Macpherson Road features a conglomeration of residence and farm buildings. Whilst this is the only grouping of its kind in the survey area, it seems that there were many more like it, as evidenced to the west of the freeway, before commercial expansion in Tuggerah.

It was interesting that whilst the buildings (a house, building shed, silo and feed shed) were in reasonable repair, there were no animals or crops to be seen in the vicinity, posing a question over the future of these buildings.

Survey Key 24-

This fibro dwelling, situated by Wyong Creek, is typical of a number of such buildings in the survey area. Interestingly, most of the similar structures are to be found side-by-side in the area between Mardi Road, Macpherson Road and Wyong. There were no similar structures, outside this block, covered in this survey.

The building has a corrugated iron roof, fibro walls and brick foundations. The use of such cheaper building materials seems to point to the owners being less wealthy than their brick-homed neighbours. See Survey Key numbers 1 and 14 for example. This is despite the fact that these buildings are all on large blocks of land.

Survey Key 32-

This house is one of two California-style bungalows in the survey area, although more may be situated outside the area. Both houses face the Pacific Highway (see Survey Key 38).

Number 32 has a corrugated iron roof, weatherboard walls, timber and cement verandah supports, and brick foundation. It is situated on Tacoma Road.

The building doubles as both a residence and commercial office. This building use is unique in the survey area.

Survey Key 39-

The BBC Hardware Timber mill, situated on the Pacific Highway, is one of two timber mills located in the survey area (see also Survey Key 15-18).

The building has a corrugated iron roof, timber walls and cement foundations. These materials are comparable to those used in the Macpherson Road mill.

Because timber was once (c1850-c1920) the main industry in this area, it is interesting to note the continuing function of ventures such as these. Perhaps the State Forests in the Wyong Creek Valley sustain such industry locally. Survey Key 44-45-

The Wideline Aluminium display centre and warehouse, as featured earlier in the paper, are typical of the type of commercial buildings found on the Pacific Highway. Both are quite large and constructed of less expensive materials.

The display centre has a corrugated iron roof, brick and besa-brick walls, and cement foundation. The warehouse has corrugated iron and aluminium on the roof, corrugated aluminium walls, and cement foundation.

All but a few of the buildings on the Highway are quite similar in terms of style, and material used. 7. Diversity and Uniformity

Overall, there appears to be a good deal of uniformity in the buildings surveyed. By far the majority of buildings (72%) are for residential or commercial purposes. Once- dominant agriculture has left us with few examples. Additionally, a large majority of buildings (80%) may be dated as post-1900.

Of the commercial, extractive and farming structures, over 60% are of contemporary style.

In terms of materials, 96% of foundations are of brick or cement and 50% of walls are timber or corrugated aluminium. Iron roofs make up 68% of all roofs surveyed. This trend towards cheaper materials might be explained by the number of colonial and commercial structures in the area.

Diversity in the sample comes by way of the styles of residential buildings included, in which the most prominent style, Post World War II, rates only 25%. Additionally, six distinct styles of residence are represented.

8. Problems Encountered

There were a number of problems encountered during the research for this work. There listing here might help explain any apparent inconsistencies in this presentation, and might allow for later suggestions.

The first of the problems, as mentioned in Part 2 of this work, was that of obtaining the dates of construction. The destruction of council records after seven years makes matters difficult, and other institutions, such as the historical society, also do not seem to have such information. However, it is hoped that because of the relative proximity of Tuggerah to Sydney, and to main transport routes, that building vogues in Tuggerah would also be in evidence elsewhere, thus providing clues to construction dates.

The second problem was one of the dilapidated state of a number of the buildings. In some cases, for example, whole sections of walls, floors or roofs had been destroyed through neglect or vandalism. This makes detailed study of the architecture of these buildings difficult.

Finally, it is noted that the commercial are is expanding rapidly and of the rural properties, many of them, particularly in Mardi Road are for sale. The area may thus be completely modified in a matter of 6-12 months. This means that any follow-up or more detailed research of the material used in this paper might prove impossible.

Despite these difficulties, however, a great amount of work was possible. Therefore at least a nucleas of research in the area has been established. 9. Conclusion

The purpose of collecting and analysing this material is that it might be added to the collection of local history resources on Tuggerah. It is necessary, therefore, to discuss the application of the material.

Gilbert, Driscoll and Sullivan, in their work History Around Us: And Enquiry Approach to Local History (1974), devote all of Chapter 3 to the topic of ‘Buildings and Their Story’. In it they discuss study methods, building methods, materials and styles.

The introduction to this chapter states that “Buildings provide the historian with valuable information about earlier people, their tastes, customs, beliefs and ways of life…” (Gilbert etal., 1974:22). So the information included here about Tuggerah will be used to explore the people of Tuggerah, what they once did, and how they live now. This study will be particularly useful because of the variety of structures which were studied.

Judy Mackinolty’s book Past Continuous (1982) also provides some interesting insight into methods of research and the place of buildings in local history. She makes the interesting point that our forbears’ “… modifications to the environment are our legacy just as our alterations, additions and removals will affect the future environment” (Mackinolty 1983:35) . Therefore, the buildings studied at Tuggerah will act as guides to the changes in the historical environment, changes in the people who inhabited it, and changes that are being made by contemporary society.

In an attempt to provide an overall perspective on the role of material from this work, in relation to a local history, the buildings in this study should be used for their own sake, to obtain an improved perspective on the people who built, lived in and worked in them, and to be able to gauge social change in Tuggerah.

Thus, this material, and material like it, is extremely important. It is also, however, just a part of the whole picture. Bibliography

Freeland JM (1968), Architecture in Australia: a History, WF Cheshire, Melbourne.

Gilbert LA etal (1974), History Around Us: An enquiry Approach to Local History, Hicks Smith and Sons, Sydney.

Grady JJ (1977), A Country Grows Up: Australia in the Making, Cassell Australia, Stanmore (NSW).

Mackinolty J (1983), Past Continuous, HTAA, Rozelle (NSW).

Morrison R (1982), Reader’s Digest Book of Historic Australian Towns, Readers Digest, Surrey Hills (NSW).