MDCA

REDEVELOPMENT OF THE UNSW CLIFFBROOK CAMPUS 45-51 BEACH STREET, COOGEE, NSW

STATE SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT SUBMISSION (SDD 8126) REVISION A Historical (non-Indigenous) Archaeology: Test Excavation Report Prepared by MDCA for the UNSW (Facilities Management) Historical Archaeology Historical & the NSW Department of Planning & Environment

High Resolution Advance Copy - Thursday 22 June 2017

Mary Dallas Consulting Archaeologists PO Box A281 Arncliffe NSW 2205 Ph: 4465 2546 Mob: 0414593990 Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Project 6 History 14 First People 14 Settlement 14 Seaside Resort 18 Cliffbrook Estate 18 AAEC 33 UNSW 33 Heritage 39 Legislation 39 Listings 39 Significance 43 Assessment 45 Landscape 45 Structures 45 Appraisal 54 Testing 56 Rationale 56 Methodology 58 Results 59 Research Design 83 Recommendations 85 References 87 Glossary 89 Attachments 90 A1. SHR Listing for Cliffbrook 91 A2. SEARs for UNSW Campus Renewal (Extract) 100 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Introduction The University of NSW (UNSW) is one of the Asia-Pacific’s leading research and tertiary teaching institutions. Headquartered at Kensington, the university has seven campuses in Greater and one in Canberra. As part of its ongoing endeavours to continually evolve and meet changing educational needs, the university is seeking to redevelop and renew its Cliffbrook Campus. Over the past 12 months, a range of redevelopment options have been subject to careful planning consideration. The preferred option, recently submitted as a State Significant Development (SDD1826), will see creation of a ‘bespoke educational and residential retreat’: a new campus building that will be constructed to accommodate the UNSW Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) residential program. This redevelopment will involve conservation of heritage buildings, improved landscaping and replacement of outmoded facilities with the new purpose built campus wing.

Cliffbrook Campus Study Area

The Cliffbrook Campus is located at the corner of Beach and Battery Streets in Coogee. Sited approximately six kilometres southeast of the Sydney CBD and three kilometres to the west of the UNSW Randwick Campus (Kensington), the campus is within the Parish of Alexandria in the LGA. The campus accounts for some 1.15 hectares, set over two allotments (Lot1/DP8162 and Lot1/DP09530). It is situated directly behind Gordon’s Bay, a small beach inlet to the immediate north of Coogee Beach. For the purposes of this report the study area comprises the campus described above as well an adjoining residential allotment at 10 Battery Street (Lot8/DP8162), which is just over 700 m2 and is held in freehold title by the university.

Presently, the site features four main buildings (CC1 - CC4) with thoroughfares and car parking areas, landscaped gardens and lawn areas set about. The centrepiece is the landmark, state heritage-listed 1920s mansion - Cliffbrook House (CC1). Most of the buildings are currently tenanted as offices, with the majority (including the offices of UNSW Press) located in Building CC4 (constructed in phases from the 1950s).

Project In order to inform redevelopment planning and detailed design, UNSW engaged Mary Dallas Consulting Archaeologists (MDCA) to conduct European and Aboriginal heritage investigations on campus. The main objectives of these investigations was to provide an historical overview of the study area; identify archaeological items (or areas of sensitivity/potential) within the study area; and develop strategies for the management of the site’s archaeological resource through and beyond the redevelopment process.

Report This document was prepared by Dan Tuck (MDCA archaeologist). It details the results of an initial historical archaeological test excavation program undertaken at the campus during the week commencing 27 March 2017. It is a companion document of the UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Historical Archaeological Assessment + Research Design & Excavation Methodology (MDCA 2017a) as well as the UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment (MDCA 2017b).

The author would like to thank Ken Flook (Facilities Management UNSW) for facilitating the project, and Kel Cummings (KC Excavations) for undertaking the mechanical excavation component of the work.

Refer figures 1 - 8.

MDCA Page 1 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus

Leppington

Figure 1: Eastern Sydney Maps 2017

Figure 2: Cliffbrook Campus Maps 2017

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Figure 3: Cliffbrook Campus LPI SIX Viewer 2017

Figure 4: Cliffbrook Campus LPI SIX Viewer 2017

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Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus

Figure 5: Cliffbrook Campus LPI SIX Viewer 2017

1/DP8162

8162

8/DP

1/DP09530

Figure 6: CliffBrook Campus (lots) LPI SIX Viewer 2017

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Figure 7: CliffBrook Campus (layout) UNSW March 2015

Figure 8: CliffBrook Campus (survey) Watson Buchan Consulting Surveyors 2008

MDCA Page 5 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Project The current proposal is to construct a purpose-built facility primarily to accommodate the UNSW Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) residential program, which will provide accommodation and learning facilities.

The proposal involves:

Demolition

• Demolition of the L-shaped, multipurpose/multilevel building (CC4) & single level building (CC2) that dominate the northern portion of the subject land.

Conservation

• Conservation of heritage buildings & structures including Cliffbrook mansion (CC1), the sandstone garage/ office (CC3) and the sandstone perimeter wall.

• Cliffbrook House (CC1) will be adaptively reused as a combination of seminar rooms and a manager’s residence. The garage (building CC3) will be adaptively reused as seminar rooms.

• Retention and conservation of significant plantings and landscapes.

Construction, Landscaping & Utilities

• Construction of a new residential & educational retreat, largely within the footprint of the CC2 & CC4 building that are to be demolished.

• The new building includes four levels & a basement car parking level, as well as an entrance, reception spaces, student support facilities, kitchen & dining facilities, and flexible teaching rooms. There will be up to 52 bedrooms as well as bathrooms, storage facilities, cleaning rooms, services plant rooms & allied infrastructure.

• In addition to the above, there will also be services upgrades (including installation of an electrical substation) as well as general landscaping improvements aimed at improving amenity and synthesising heritage, environment & architectural form within the unique coastal setting of the place.

• Leading from the new facilities to the eastern boundary of the subject land will be a gravel pathway (with some stone paving), including sections of wooden staircase and up to two areas of timber decking (Figures 5 & 6), together with associated new plantings.

The following links provides additional general and specific information about the project: http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/node/651 http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=8126

Refer figures 8 - 14. High resolution images of all design plans accompany this document package.

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Figure 8: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Ground Floor) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 9: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Lower Ground Floor/Basement Carpark) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 10: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Level 1) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 11: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Cliffbrook Heritage Refurbishment) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 12: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Batery & Beach Street Elevations) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 13: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Landscape Plan - West) FJMT 12 April 2017

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Figure 14: UNSW CliffBrook Campus Renewal General Arrangement Plan (Tree Plan) FJMT 12 April 2017

MDCA Page 13 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus History The study area is set within the broad East Coast bioregion known as the Sydney Basin, which encompasses the area between Batemans Bay and Newcastle, extending west to the Great Dividing Range.1 Characterised by its Permian and Triassic-era sedimentary geology, the bioregion is notable for its rugged coasts, notable ranges and incised waterways. The local landscapes are based specifically on Hawkesbury Sandstone: the Triassic-era bedrock that characterises much of Sydney’s rockier localities and is evident in many colonial buildings as yellow block.2 Within the study area, the soil landscapes which overtop the Hawkesbury Sandstone include the shallow, earthy-loamy sands, yellow earths and stone outcrops of the Hawkesbury colluvial landscape (in the eastern part of the study area) and the windblown sands and soils of the Newport and Tuggerah aeolian landscapes (which appear to be evident in the western, upslope part of the site as the moderately thick quaternary sands overlaying coffee rock).3

First People Prior to European settlement the coastline of the Coogee-Clovelly area was covered with a mosaic of coastal vegetation that backed onto a variously vegetated, unstable dune system that extended into the expansive Botany swamplands. Within the study area, it is likely that the vegetation regime was dominated by scrubland and wind-pruned heathland (with the possibility of rainforest in the sheltered rock cleft above Gordons Bay).4 The coastline’s rocky fringe and alternating sandy beaches harboured innumerable resources and supplied the traditional Aboriginal people of the area with an array of living places, food stuffs and raw materials. Occupation and use of Sydney’s East Coast by Aboriginal people (including clan groups of the and others) is understood to predate European settlement by up to 20000 years.5

Settlement

Despite its value to Aboriginal people, the Clovelly-Coogee area was initially avoided by early colonists. Hilly, scrubby and sandy - and at a significant distance from Sydney Town - the district remained largely unsettled for much of the opening decades of the nineteenth century. In 1835 however, William Charles Wentworth (poet, explorer, journalist and politician) purchased thirty acres at the head of Great Coogee Gully for the sum of £78. Wentworth’s acquisition covered the area now annexed by Judge, Oswald and Dolphin Streets and Carrington Road. Governor Richard Bourke ordered that the land on the shores of Coogee Bay be laid out for settlement in 1837 and in the following year the village of Coogee was officially gazetted. Proto-Coogee was subsequently divided into one acre lots that were offered for sale at the Sydney Markets on George Street in February 1840. Despite some initial optimism on the part of colonial planners and real estate agents, access to the locality from Sydney Town was difficult, interest was variable and development was slow. By 1858, only fourteen houses had been erected in the fledgling seaside village. Refer figures 15 - 19.

1 Branagan & Packham 2000; Branagan et al 1979 2 Herbert 1983; http://australianmuseum.net.au/the-sydney-basin 3 http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/eSpadeWebApp/; Chapman & Murphy 1989; MDCA 2016 4 Benson & Howell 1995 5 Attenbrow 2010; Waugh 1999

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Figure 15: Map of the Parish of Alexandria (c.1840s)

AO Map 185/LPI Historic Lands Record Viewer

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Figure 16: Pre-European Vegetation Landscape in Southeast Sydney

Benson & Howell 1995: 90

Figure 17: Map of the Parish of Alexandria (1841)

LPI Historic Lands Record Viewer

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Figure 18: Map of Randwick, Waverley & Coogee (1859)

SLNSW Z/M3 811.181/1859/1A

Figure 19: Part of a Map of , & the City of Sydney showing Adjacent Municipalities (1868)

SLNSW Z/M2 811.12/1868/1

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Seaside Resort During the 1860s, Coogee’s fortunes began to change. Sydney was growing and spreading in all directions and the flats of the locality had become a popular place to grow vegetables to accomodate increased demand. Furthermore, tracks to the district from the north and west (including latter-day Anzac Parade, Alison Road and Whale and Beach Streets) had been improved and formalised. Beachside day-tripping, picnicking and fossicking were popular pastimes and the craggy headlands and alternating sandy beaches of Sydney were popular destinations. By the 1883, steam-driven trams ran down to Coogee from Sydney via Randwick.6

Even with improved access, Coogee and surrounds was a place to visit on the weekend rather than a place to live. While the tramline created a steady flow of mostly weekend visitors, it did not promote the resort to become a place of residence. The Daily Telegraph stated in 1887:

It has often been a matter of conjecture why Coogee Bay, with all its natural advantages, should year after year remain neglected. One would expect that long ago the hills and shores would have been adorned with marine villas and terraced gardens instead of remaining as it does to this day, a mere fishing village with only a few wooden buildings and two hotels worthy of the name where visitors can procure refreshments after their long drive from the city.

The further growth of Sydney during the closing decades of the nineteenth century and broader long term growth founded on the gold rushes and the wool trade, finally saw the rise of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs as a place of both leisure and living.

Cliffbrook Estate The Cliffbrook Campus of UNSW stands (in part) on the former Cliffbrook (Cliff-Brook) Estate. The estate was established in the mid 1840s and originally comprised three parcels of crown land granted to Lewis Gordon (Government Surveyor) in 1845 and 1846. Lewis’ initial grant comprised four acres and one rood procured from the Crown in 1845. This was followed a year later by two parcels of two acres, three roods, 30 perches and one acre, three roods, ten perches respectively. Lewis Gordon is understood to have erected a dwelling on the estate, though there is no ready information as to where and when.7 Little is known of Lewis’ association with the estate, though it is his name that is borne by the bay that is overlooked by the estate grounds as well as a latter-day roadway (Gordon Avenue). By 1856, the estate had been sold in full to M. H. Lewis, to be then acquired by O. M. Lewis.8

John Thompson

In 1859, the Cliffbrook Estate was on-sold to John Thompson, a local businessman and Mayor of the municipality of Randwick in the 1870s. Thompson had obtained a neighbouring Crown Grant of six acres two roods in September 1956 and by 1860, the grounds of Cliffbrook Estate were spread over fourteen acres and included Gordon’s original grants, Thompson’s 1956 addition and the foreshore of Gordons Bay.9

6 Keenan 1979; Curby 2009 7 McDonald McPhee Pty Ltd 1993; John Graham & Associates 2008 8 McDonald McPhee Pty Ltd 1993 9 John Graham & Associates 2008; LPI Certificate of Title Volume 6681; Folio 186

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Cliffbrook 1 (Gordon Court) In the 1860s, John Thompson built a mansion on the Cliffbrook Estate in the Victorian-Italianate style. Overlooking Gordons Bay (which also became known locally as Thompsons Bay) and set below the natural drainage line than ran down to it, the elaborate residence was constructed of solid stone quarried at the site, with balustrades to the verandahs and parapets constructed of cement-rendered brickwork. The mansion was finished with a lime and cement wash, which gave it a uniform colour. Other features included a large verandah on the upper floor that was laid with Italian mosaic tiles imported from Rome. In addition to the house, the estate grounds also featured a stone lodge at the main entrance gates; large stone stables with four horse stalls; and a coach house, harness room and man's quarters. Several of these outbuildings were sited in the northwest corner of the estate - where the extant Cliffbrook house now stands.10

George Hill

In the late nineteenth century, the estate was sold to ‘squatter and horse-player’ George Hill.11 Several additions to the mansion, including the ornamental towers, are believed to have been carried out by George Hill during his tenure.12 Hill died at Cliffbrook in early April 1897 after a series of protracted illnesses. The Brisbane journal The Week noted that his death:

… though expected … was very sudden. He had walked to his bathroom after partaking of a light breakfast, and while returning to his couch he expired without giving the slightest note of warning’.13

Hill’s effects were sold off in June of the same year and he was declared bankrupt posthumously in 1899. Cliffbrook was subsequently repossessed from Frank Hill (George’s son and sole executor of his will) by the Bank of by way of payment for debts owed.14 The bank thereafter employed a caretaker to look after the house and grounds. Early in the new century and under the caretaker’s watch, the grounds were apparently used as a poultry farm and fell into disrepair. The caretaker was dismissed after some £600 was spent to clear up the house and garden.15

Sir Denison Miller

Cliffbrook was put up for auction in 1901 and again in 1905 but it appears that it failed to sell. Later in 1905, Fairy Meadow-born Denison Miller (assistant to the General Manager of the ) was asked by the bank to occupy the mansion. This was a rent-free proposition that Miller appears to have readily taken up. In June 1912, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher appointed Miller first Governor of the Commonwealth Bank. This role, accompanied by the then enormous salary of £4000 a year, allowed Miller to purchase the Cliffbrook estate for the sum of £8000. Miller retained the mansion and grounds but later sold the Gordons Bay foreshore to the Randwick Municipal Council for £3000. Refer figures 20 - 31.

10 John Graham & Associates 2008 11 McDonald McPhee Pty Ltd 1993; John Graham & Associates 2008 12 George Hill (1834-1897) was famous in coursing circles and owned Malta (which won the Sires Produce Stakes in 1875 and the Epsom in 1876); and Marvel (which won at he won the Epsom and Doncaster in 1891-92). He is not to be confused with his uncle, also George Hill (1802–1883): a butcher, alderman and sporting patron. 13 The Week 9 April 1897: 19 14 Sunday Times 6 June 1897: 3; Evening News 10 March 1889: 6 15 McDonald McPhee Pty Ltd 1993; John Graham & Associates 2008

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Figure 20: General Survey of the Colony, County of Cumberland, Parish of Alexandria (1889)

National Library of Australia htp://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-229915685

Figure 21: Map of the Parish of Alexandria (1928)

State Library of NSW Digital Order No. a5588002

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Figure 22: Gordons Bay showing the original Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (c.1880s)

Randwick City Library

Figure 23: Gordons Bay showing the original Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (Nd)

Randwick City Library

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Figure 24: The original Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (Nd)

Randwick City Library

Figure 25: Mr & Mrs Denison Miller on the terrace at Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (Nd)

Randwick City Library

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Figure 26: Mr & Mrs Denison Miller on the lawn at Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (Nd)

University of NSW Archives

Figure 27: Festivities at Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (1913)

University of NSW Archives

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Figure 28: Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (Nd)

University of NSW Archives

Figure 29: Cliffbrook House/Gordon Court (c.1950s/60s)

Image from Demolished Houses of Sydney (Hughes 1999)

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Figure 30: Sydney Water Board Plan: Randwick Sheet 19 (1893)

Sydney Water Archives PWDS1544-S1149 - presented in the Cliffbrook CMP (Weir Phillips Heritage 2017)

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Figure 31: PWD Field Book Survey of Cliffbrook Stables (February 1893)

image shows clearly the suite of outbuildings associated with the original Cliffbrook including: stone lodge at the main entrance gates; large stone stables; coach house, harness room & men's quarters; WC & drainage

Sydney Water Archives CFB2307 - presented in the Cliffbrook CMP (Weir Phillips Heritage 2017)

MDCA Page 26 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus

Cliffbrook 2 (Beach Street) Randwick Historical Society documentation indicates that the extant Cliffbrook mansion (in the Free Classical style) was commissioned by Denison Miller after his knighthood in the King’s Birthday honours list of 1920. It was built in 1921/22, reputedly to the designs of architect John Kirkpatrick in 1921.16 John Kirkpatrick had established himself as a prominent Sydney architect during the 1880s and had already designed a number of significant Sydney buildings including the Colonial Mutual Life Building in (1894) and the Commonwealth Bank building in (1914). Though Miller’s mansion has been attributed to other architects, including E. A. Scott, Kirkpatrick remains the most likely candidate and would have been known to Miller through his earlier design of the aforementioned Bank building in Pitt Street. Somewhat confusingly, Miller’s ornate homestead - built in the northwestern corner of estate on the site of the demolished stone outbuildings of Thompson’s Cliffbrook - was also called Cliffbrook. Later, to avoid confusion to all and sundry, the former Cliffbrook became known as Gordons Court.

Denison Miller’s Cliffbrook The Cliffbrook Conservation Plan notes that the mansion/homestead was designed in the Interwar Free Classical style and is a two storey, liver brick building with sandstone detailing. Its overall form (and stylistic elements employed in the external design) have hark back to the Victorian Italianate style, however the brick work, simple stone detailing, terrazzo floors and interior joinery are distinctly of the 1920s.

The mansion features a slate roof; copper gutters and downpipes; bracketed eaves; liver brick walls (with sandstone quoins); sandstone window and heads; sandstone sills; sandstone porticos and terraces on the north, east and west elevations; white painted timber double-hung windows, front and French doors on the upper level terraces.

The interiors are mostly plain, having moulded plaster ceilings of Regency style with deep coved cornices in the main living and reception rooms only. The original door and window joinery is largely intact and includes deep timber skirting (which survives in most rooms stained dark maple or covered in white paint). Beyond the house are plantings, gardens and a sweeping bitumen driveway approach.

Miller died unexpectedly of heart failure in 1923 not long after the mansion was completed.17 The property was sold off in the 1920s to a Mr George Wilkie King. The grounds were subdivided in the 1940s and the study area (including Miller’s Cliffbrook) was finally acquired by the Government in the 1950s. For a time during the Second World War, the estate lands were occupied by the army and served as a school for doctors studying tropical Medicine. There is little information about use of the place during this period.18 Refer figures 32 - 41.

The Fate of Gordon Court

Gordon Court appears to have been divided into flats in the 1920s and functioned as such thereafter. After WWII, Gordon Court and surrounds was auctioned and sold to Mr Friedrich Schiller, a Hungarian electrician. Schiller lived in the mansion with his sister Ella, who was the last resident of the property and lived alone in an upstairs room after Friedrich’s death. The property was reported to be run down in the early 1970s and plans were at play for its demolition as property developers circled. In 1977, the property was sold and controversially demolished to make way for housing development.

16 McDonald McPhee Pty Ltd 1993; John Graham & Associates 2008 17 Sydney Morning Herald 7 June 1923 18 John Graham & Associates 2008; Sydney Morning Herald 19 May 1974: 18

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Figure 32: Cliffbrook Estate Auction Sale Poster (1918)

This image shows the original Cliffbrook (outside of the study area) & its suite of outbuildings (inside the study area): stone lodge at the main entrance gates; large stone stables; coach house, harness room & men's quarters

SLNSW ML M3 811.18166/1918/1

Figure 33: Cliffbrook Estate Auction Sale Poster (1915)

This image shows the suite of outbuildings including the stone lodge; large stone stables; coach house, harness room & man's quarters

SLNSW ML Subdivision Plans: Coogee

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Figure 34: Cliffbrook under Construction - Slate roof works & stone detailing in progress (c.1921/22) University of NSW Archives

Figure 35: Cliffbrook under Construction - Roof works in progress (c.1921/22)

University of NSW Archives

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Figure 36: Cliffbrook under Construction - Stone terrace and portico construction in progress (c.1921/22)

University of NSW Archives

Figure 37: Cliffbrook under Construction - near completion (c.1921/22)

University of NSW Archives

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Figure 38: Cliffbrook under Construction - Stables complex buildings in the northwest corner of the study area (c.1921/22)

University of NSW Archives

Figure 39: Cliffbrook (c.1920s)

University of NSW Archives

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Figure 40: Historic Air Photo showing Cliffbrook & Gordon Court (1943)

LPI SIX Viewer

Figure 41: Historic Air Photo showing Cliffbrook & Gordon Court - Detail (1943)

This photo dates to the period when the military were utilising the estate. Cliffbrook and the stone garage (with two vehicles out front) is visible, as are numerous army tents. The original Cliffbrook/Gordon Court is also visible to the south; west of Gordons Bay’s sandy beach

LPI SIX Viewer

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AAEC The study area as its stands today was purchased by the Commonwealth Government in 1953 and became the headquarters of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC). The property purchase by the AAEC took some time and was not finalised until 1959, when the Commission paid the sum of $13,518.42. While the Commission head office was at Cliffbrook (until 1981) its main operational and experimental facilities were at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Lucus Heights in Southwest Sydney (established in 1958).19

The period between 1953 and 1981 saw the most far reaching changes to Cliffbrook mansion and its immediate setting. Over some thirty years, the mansion was remodelled and three substantial buildings were added to the site: a single storey brick residence; a single storey brick office building; and a multi-storey, L- shaped brick office building (all probably built in the late 1950s and certainly extant by 1965).20 Along with these were added three lesser ancillary buildings including two fibro cement buildings (which may in fact date from the army's occupancy during WWII) and a small greenhouse (1959). The main entrance gates also date to the period and feature the AAEC emblem.

The most substantial alterations to Cliffbrook itself were undertaken in 1963/64. Plans by architects Budden Nangle and Michael (19 September 1963; 15 May 1964) show that during this time several modifications were undertaken to the internal spaces including modification of the kitchen; remodelling of some bathrooms; installation of a new lower ceiling and construction of an inquiry counter.

In 1981 the Australian Atomic Energy Commission moved their headquarters to Lucas Heights and the property (with the exception of the caretaker’s residence) remained unoccupied until 199..21 During 1988 the Commonwealth Government sought to dispose of the property. At the time, the site was identified as an item of State significance and a Permanent Conservation Order (PCO) was placed over the property to ensure the future conservation and Management of the property.22 It had previously been acknowledged as an important heritage place and had been earlier added to the non-statutory Registers of the National Estate and National Trust in 1982 and 1986 respectively.

UNSW

In the early February 1993, ownership of the property was transferred to the University of New South Wales for research and administrative purposes, initially housing the Asia-Australia Institute and the Australian Taxation Studies program.23 Reuse of the site for UNSW purposes involved removal of the caretakers residence and greenhouse as well as extensive landscaping works.24

Refer figures 42 - 51.

19 John Graham & Associates 2008; http://www.eoas.info/biogs/A000749b.htm 20 John Graham & Associates 2008 21 The AAEC became the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in 1987; Weir Phillips 2017 22 The PCO (28 October 1988) was replaced by the listing of the site on the State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 23 Uniken 19 February 1993: 3 24 Weir Phillips 2017

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Figure 42: Cliffbrook (1953)

LPI Certifcate of Title Volume 6681 Folio 186

Figure 43: Cliffbrook with CC2 offices building adjacent (Nd)

University of NSW Archives

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Figure 44: Historic Air Photo showing Cliffbrook & Gordon Court (1961)

LPI

Figure 45: Historic Air Photo showing Cliffbrook & Gordon Court (1970)

LPI Spatial Services

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Figure 46: Historic Air Photo showing Cliffbrook & Gordon Court (1982)

LPI Spatial Services

Figure 47: Images of Cliffbrook (1983)

CC2 & CC4 to left of frame; garage CC3 to the right

Randwick City Library

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Figure 48: Historic Cliffbrook transferred to UNSW (1993)

Uniken 19 February 1993: 3

Figure 49: Cliffbrook (1993)

LPI Spatial Services

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Figure 50: Cliffbrook (2000)

Google Earth Pro 2017

Figure 51: Cliffbrook (2001)

Google Earth Pro 2017

MDCA Page 38 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Heritage The following section details heritage legislation and listings schedules (statutory and non-statutory) as they relate to the study area. It also presents a summary of the historic heritage significance of the locale.

Legislation NSW Heritage Act 1977 The NSW Heritage Act 1977 is the principle document governing the management of heritage items (relics and places containing relics) in NSW.

The Act defines a relic as:

any deposit, artefact, object or material evidence that:

(a) relates to the settlement of the area that comprises New South Wales, not being Aboriginal settlement, &

(b) is of State or local heritage significance.

All relics are afforded automatic statutory protection by the relic’s provisions of the Act. Sections 139 to 145 of the Act prevent the excavation or disturbance of land for the purpose of discovering, exposing or moving a relic, except by a qualified archaeologist to whom an excavation permit from the Heritage Council of NSW has been issued.

Heritage Council of NSW

The Heritage Council of NSW is tasked with identifying and protecting State heritage. It is supported by the Heritage Division of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) within the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ha197786/

Listings Randwick LEP 2012 The Randwick Local Environmental Plan (LEP) as amended, is the primary local government planning instrument. It was gazetted on 1 February 2013 and formally commenced on 15 February 2013, replacing the previous Randwick LEP 1998. Clause 5.10 Heritage Conservation provides objectives for heritage conservation and identifies when development consent is required (or not required) for heritage items, archaeological sites and Aboriginal places, or locations in the vicinity thereof.

Schedule 5 list items of Environmental Heritage consecutively under Heritage Items (part 1); Conservation Areas (part 2); Archaeological Sites (part 3) and Aboriginal Heritage (part 4).

Cliffbrook is a listed as a heritage item of state significance in the Randwick LEP. Item 183 - ‘Cliffbrook Edwardian villa’ at 45–51 Beach Street (Lot 1/DP8162 & Part of Lot1/DP109530). The neighbouring residence to the immediate south is also a listed item of local significance. Item 188 ‘two storey arts and crafts house’ at 2 Gordon Avenue (Lot 4, Section 2, DP11754).

MDCA Page 39 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/EPI/2013/36/sch5

These items are shown on the following LEP heritage map sheet: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maps/95714b1b-52c4-4b5d-c275-ac12bdafe0eb/ 6550_COM_HER_007_010_20121130.pdf

Figure 52: Extract from the Randwick LEP 2012 Heritage Map - Sheet HER_007

State Heritage Register & Inventory The State Heritage Register (SHR) is a list of heritage items that have been assessed and acknowledged as having state heritage significance. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s Heritage Council maintains the register, and any development proposal that is likely to affect items on the register generally requires NSW Heritage Council approval (s.60).

Cliffbrook and its setting is listed on the State Heritage Register (SHR Nos. 00609). http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045282

The area that the listing covers is shown on the plan that accompanied the original permanent conservation order (See figure 53 & attachment 1).

The State Heritage Inventory (SHI) lists items of both state and local heritage significance. Generally the listing of items on the SHI results from their inclusion in local and regional planning instruments or heritage

MDCA Page 40 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus studies. Any development proposal that is likely to affect items on the inventory generally requires NSW Heritage Council approval (s.140).

Cliffbrook and its setting is listed on the State Heritage Inventory as is the neighbouring residence at 2 Gordon Street (described as an English country house). They are listed within the SHI on account of their listing in the Randwick LEP. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2310089 http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2310273

Australian Heritage Database The Australian Heritage Database is a heritage database managed by the Commonwealth Department of Environment. The database contains information about more than 20,000 natural, historic and Indigenous places and includes locations and items listed (or formerly listed) on the World Heritage List; the National Heritage List; the Commonwealth Heritage list; and the Register of the National Estate.

The study area is listed, as ‘Cliffbrook House, Stables & Stone Walls’ in the Australian Heritage Database as a consequence of an original 1982 listing on the Register of the National Estate (Place ID 1770). http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl? mode=place_detail;search=place_name%3DCliffbrook%3Bkeyword_PD%3Don%3Bkeyword_SS%3Don%3B keyword_PH%3Don%3Blatitude_1dir%3DS%3Blongitude_1dir%3DE%3Blongitude_2dir%3DE%3Blatitude_2 dir%3DS%3Bin_region%3Dpart;place_id=1770

The National Trust of Australia (NSW) The National Trust of Australia (NSW) maintains a Register of landscapes, townscapes, buildings, industrial sites, cemeteries and other items or places which the Trust determines have cultural significance and are worthy of conservation.

The study area is listed with the National Trust of Australia (NSW) as an item of heritage significance (Place ID 7051).

Summary Cliffbrook and grounds is listed as an item of state heritage significance in the SHR and the heritage schedule of the Randwick LEP (both statutory listings). It is also listed in a number of non-statutory registers including the Register of the National estate and the Register of the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

The neighbouring property to the immediate south at 2 Gordon Avenue is also a listed item (of local significance) within the heritage schedule of the Randwick LEP.

While SSD status of the project turns off the need for permits under the NSW Heritage Act 1977, the relics provisions of the Act remain relevant: the SEARs requirements accompanying SSD status serve to guide the archaeological management of the site as it relates to the progress of this project (see attachment 2).

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Figure 53: PCO/SHR Plan of site protected under the NSW Heritage Act 1977 Cliffbrook NSW State Heritage Register

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Significance Heritage significance and cultural significance are terms used to describe an item’s value or importance to our society. The Australian ICOMOS Burra Charter defines cultural significance as,

Aesthetic, historic, scientific or social value for past, present or future generations.

This value may be contained in the fabric of the item, its setting and relationship to other items, the response that the item stimulates in those who value it now, or the meaning of that item to contemporary society.

Accurate assessment of the cultural significance of sites, places and items, is an essential component of the NSW heritage assessment and planning process. A clear determination of a site's significance allows informed planning decisions to be made, in addition to ensuring that heritage values are maintained, enhanced, or at least minimally affected by development.

Assessments of significance are made by applying standard evaluation criteria. These criteria can be used to assess both Aboriginal and European items and landscapes. These criteria are as follows:

(a) An item is important in the course or pattern of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

(b) An item has strong or special associations with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in NSW’ cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

(c) An item is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in NSW (or the local area)

(d) An item has strong or special associations with a particular community or cultural group in NSW (or the local area) for social, cultural or spiritual reasons

(e) An item has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

(f) An item possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

(g) An item is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of NSW’s cultural or natural places; or cultural and natural environments.

The above criteria were established under Part 3A of the NSW Heritage Act 1977 for the listing of items of environmental heritage (defined as ‘buildings, works, relics, moveable objects and precincts’) that are of state heritage significance. These criteria are commonly used to assess all items of heritage significance whether state or local.

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The significance assessment that accompanies the SHR listing for Cliffbrook, which derives from the Cliffbrook Conservation Plan (1998) and Heritage Assessment (2008), is as follows:

(a) An item is important in the course or pattern of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

Cliffbrook has associations with significant historical figures. The first owner was Sir Denison Miller, the first governor of the Commonwealth Bank. ‘Cliffbrook’ may also be found to be the work of John Kirkpatrick, a prominent 1880s Sydney architect responsible for major commissions such as the Colonial Mutual Life Building, grandstands at the and the Commonwealth bank, Pitt Street. E.A.Scott may also have been involved in the building's creation.

(c) An item is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in NSW (or the local area)

The house of a high standard of architectural design. It is well proportioned, has an impressive scale and appearance befitting Sir Denison Miller's prestige and position in public life. The design in the Inter Wars Free Classical style contains anomalous applications of the Italianate style rare in the 1920s. It is the more significant for its rarity being such a late example containing elements of the Italianate style.

(e) An item has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)

The building displays high standards of craftsmanship in the brickwork and joinery particularly, as excellent examples of the techniques employed and use of the materials in the 1920s. Despite its conservative architectural style, the building contains examples of contemporary construction techniques and use of materials in the use of reinforced concrete structures, the use of terrazzo floor finishes and the use of dark 'liver' bricks.

The summary statement of significance further states:

Cliffbrook is of State heritage significance for its association with the larger original Estate 'Cliff-brook' of John Thompson, Mayor of Randwick in 1873, being the largest surviving area of land of that estate, following successive subdivisions and sales. It is significant through its association with the first owner Sir Denison Miller who was the first Governor of the Commonwealth Bank. The house may be found to be a late work of John Kirkpatrick a prominent architect in Sydney from the 1880s responsible for major commissions such as the Colonial Mutual Life Building, Grandstands at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Commonwealth Bank Pitt Street Sydney. It may also be established that E. A. Scott was involved in the building's creation. The firm established by E. A. Scott in 1888 still practices today in the name of E .A. and T. M. Scott.

The house of a high standard of architectural design. It is well proportioned, has an impressive scale and appearance befitting Sir Denison Miller's prestige and position in public life. The design in the Inter Wars Free Classical style contains anomalous applications of the Italianate style rare in the 1920s. It is the more significant for its rarity being such a late example containing elements of the Italianate style. The building displays high standards of craftsmanship in the brickwork and joinery particularly, as excellent examples of the techniques employed and use of the materials in the 1920s.

Refer http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045282

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Benera Salvage Excavation Area Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus Assessment An initial survey of the study area was undertaken 16 May 2016. The following dot points highlight the main observations:

Landscape

• The study area is set on a large, irregularly shaped block at the corner of Beach and Battery Streets, overlooking Gordons Bay. The land is gently undulating (with fall from the northwest to southeast), but falls away abruptly where it approaches the cliff line of Gordons Bay. The heavily landscaped grounds feature Cliffbrook house and a suite of allied buildings. These are set within well established gardens and turfed lawns. There is a sealed drive sweeping up to the Cliffbrook portico, as well as associated hard-surfaced parking areas.

• Notable landscape features include the buttressed sandstone boundary/perimeter walls along the street frontages. The eastern, which contains the main access gate, is constructed of roughly squared and coursed sandstone with a soft lime mortar and likely dates to around the time of the construction of the original Cliffbrook (Gordons Court). The northern is also irregularly coursed but individual stones are more precisely squared and generally larger in size (with the mortar a harder cement-style). The exact date of construction of the northern wall is unknown. It may be a rebuilt version of an earlier wall, or it may post-date the western wall construction. It was certainly extant by the time Miller’s Cliffbrook was constructed in the 1920s.

• In addition to the open lawns and formalised gardens, the study area features numerous historic plantings. Notable examples include three Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla), which mark the front yard and views into the property from Beach Street, and a large Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla). Within the eastern (fenced off) half of the study area, native coastal vegetation is being encouraged to grow.

Structures

• Cliffbrook mansion (liver brick with stone detailing in the Interwar Classical Freestyle) dominates the site.

• To the immediate west of the mansion, abutting the western perimeter wall, is a boxy garage constructed of recycled sandstone blocks. Its date of construction is uncertain but it likely post-dates the 1930s.

• The remainder of the structures are mostly AAEC-era brick structures (1950s to 1980s), and along with the Cliffbrook mansion, take up much of the western half of the study area. They are interspersed with the aforementioned pathways, lawns and gardens as well as parking, storage and common areas.

• A drainage easement is evident along the southern boundary of the site and appears to contain a stormwater main (and possibly other services). A network of underground services exists on the western half of the campus in association with the four buildings. Sewer mains cross the remaining eastern half.

• 10 Battery Street is an older style (c.1950s) three bedroom, single storey brick and tile dwelling set high on an elongated, rectangular block.

Refer figures 54 - 67.

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Figure 54: CliffBrook Campus (layout) UNSW March 2015

MDCA Page 46 Historical Archaeology: Test Excavation Report - UNSW Cliffbrook Campus

Figure 55: CliffBrook Campus (boundary walls at intersection of Beach & Batery Streets) View S - Dan Tuck 2016

Figure 56: CliffBrook Campus (main entrance & driveway) View E - Dan Tuck 2016

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