:~-----I I I MARRICKVILLE I CONSERVATION AREA STUDY HISTORICAL CONTEXT I 'I' I I I I I I I I 'I 'I CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT FOR I BRIAN MCDONALD AND ASSOCIATES I 1995 'I I I ,, I Historical Context. Marrickvilie Conservation Areas Study 1995 I SECTION 1.0 ., '. ': , INTRODUCTION . "'I " I I I The purpose of this report is to provide a framework for appreoiating the place of the several retail areas within the development of Marrackville. This section provides the context for evaluating the significance of those places and, on this basis, how they are best I managed in the future. Generally it may be said that each of the retail areas are absolutely typical of the evolution of the area. They have responded to the major influences that have been catalysts in its historical development and, as such, demonstrate those influences. I These is nothing unusual or outstanding about these p~aces. They illustrate the ~ajor . periods of building hi the district, later nineteenth and early tWentieth century aI,ld post WWII, 'which in themselves have arisen from factors that have included th~ subdivil)ion of I ea~ly esta~es and the impact of roads, rail and tram systems.' .:" ' ',. "~"'; :,' ',," ; " .. I The form of individual buildings within each area a~d the changys ~ad~:t~::;~~~~'b~ildings document fashionable architectural styles current at the time of th.~ir ,con'stm({tio.ri or' , , alteration including Victorian Classical, Arts and Crafts and Art Dec,ci.' The funttion o( I buildings reflect the changing needs of the local population (blacksrnitiis;',bakers, take-away:food shops) as, well as new populations with different ~ultura1. backgrounds. I To describe their development it was considered most appropriate to continue to u'se the themes established by the historical component of the Marrickville Heritage Study. In this way this more specific history 11.1ay be equated with the regional histo.ry. To 'this end the I following themes from that work have been re-used in this s~dy: , ' I f/I F arm Grants and Country Estates I C ,Villages and Market Gardens o Suburbs and Municipalities I o New Industrial Development I o PostWorldWarII It is also now a normal procedure to nominate the relevant themes from the SHIP (State Heritage Inventory Project) methodology used by the Department of Urban Mfairs and I Planning. The SHIP initiative is designed to provide an equitable means of comparing or identifying like sites across the state. The historica1 themes used by this project are one I I Wendy Thorp I I Historical Context Marrickville Conservation Areas Study 1995 I such means of comparison. To this end the following SHlP historical themes are relevant I to this discussion: . ~ Land Tenure I • Townships I Cl Migration e Ethnic Influences I Cl Transport I 0 Communication • Utilities I e Industry I e Commerce I • Housing • Cultural Sites I 0 Lesiure I I I I I I I I Wendy Thorp I I I . Historical Context Marrickville Conservation Areas Study 1995 I SECTION 2.0 I HISTORICAL CONTEXT I i I 2.1 Farm Grants and Country Estates The first land grants in the district were made during the 1790s. These comprised several I large estates as well as a number of small farms. The intention of the Governor in granting land in this district was to create a chain of farms between the two settlements of Parramatta and Sydney thereby linking the two. The scheme also had the advantage of I opening up viable tracts of agricultural land. All of the early land grants were in the northern portion of the district close to the Parramatta Road it being the only thoroughfare through the district at that time and the principal link between Sydney and Parramatta. By I the 1820s this road had been paved and a regular coach service provided between the two towns. This further encouraged the establishment of hotels and ,other retail outlets to service travellers. The Cooks River Road was opened in the early years of the nineteenth I century making the district the centre for two extremely important lines of communication I . throughout the colony. The Parramatta Road Retail Area traverses portions of three major properties. These were the Hammond Hill Farm, the Annandale Farm and Kingston Farm. These grants were all I made in 1793 the first to Surgeon John White, the second to Captain George Johnston and the third to Lieutenant Thomas Rowley. All the estates initially comprised 100 acres. The Percival Road Area is also contained in the original area of Kingston Farm. The New I Canterbury Road Retail Area is partially contained in the area ofHammond Hill Farm and partly in an adjoining property known as Glendarvell Farm. The latter was a grant of sixty acres made to Ensign Nial McKellar in 1794; it was extended by another forty acres later I in the same year. The Crystal Street Retail Area generally encompasses a small portion of a 470 acre property known as Douglas Farm which was given to Thomas Moore in 1799. The Dulwich Hill Retail Area encompasses land that was first alienated during 1795 in I three separate small farms each of twenty-five acres made to Michael Griffin, William Adams and Thomas Bolton. Most of the farms were developed as small self contained holdings during the later years of the eighteenth and early years of the nineteenth century. I Governor Macquarie described them as generally possessing good houses and cleared land although of poor quality for farming. The land either side ofParramatta Road was I described in 1823 as being thickly covered with heavy timber with a poor soil. The road was defined by a post and rail fence. I Consolidation of these various small estates began in the early years of the nineteenth century especially consequent upon the death of some of the earliest landholders. The I process escalated through the purchase of the majority ofthe Marrickville area during the I WendyThorp I I Historical Context Marrickville Conservation Areas Study 1995 I 1820s by Robert Wardell who ultimately bought 800 acres in the district. This purchase included all of the areas included in this discussion except those which remained in the I Annandale Estate, principally being the Percival Road Area and part of the Parramatta Road Area. The large consolidated land holdings were developed by the various owners as country estates built around a mansion house. The Annandale Estate centred on Annandale I House and Robert Wardell's property on Petersham House. Each estate supported communities of people devoted to maintaining and running these estates. Away from these individual centres, however, the district was isolated, thinly populated and a lair for I escapees. Wardell was shot and killed by such in 1834. His death precipitated the next maj or phase of development in the district. I I I I I I I I I I I I Wendy Thorp I I Historical Context Marrickville Conservation Areas Study 1995 I 2.2 Villages and Market Gardens I Wardell's untimely death made available a very large portion of land that otherwise might and is likely to have stayed as one estate for a much longer period of time. The Annanadale Estate, for example, remained intact and in the hands ofthe one family until the 1880s. I The availability of Ward ell's large portion of land coincided with a vigorous boom in Sydney's land values during the 1830s. The former estate was divided into several subdivisions. The Dulwich Hill Area comes within two areas the Petersham Farms and Canterbury Farms. New Canterbury Road Retail Area is also within the Petersham subdivision. Crystal Street Retail Area encompasses portions of two subdivisions known as Norwood and the Sydenham Farms. Part of the Parramatta Road Area remained within I the Annandale Estate while the rest was split between three subdivisions Sydenham, Wardellville and Kingston. Percival Road remained within Annandale Estate. :1 Part of the Canterbury Road Area and the portion ofParramatta Road between Palace Street and Andreas Street were offered for sale in 1848. Lots were offered for sale during the mid 1850s in the subdivisions ofWardellville, Norwood and Sydenham amongst I others. The properties along Parramatta Road between Palace Street and Crystal Street were, for example, first subdivided and offered for sale in the Sydenham Estate in 1854. These comprised both building and villa lots the latter encouraging the development of I several properties that encompassed a grand house surrounded by gardens and orchards. The extension of the railway line into the district during the 1850s, Petersham Station was I opened in 1857, gave some focus for settlement and small villages grew up around Newtown, Camperdown and on the Cooks River. However, despite extensive advertising praising the rural qualities of the district and its potential for market gardening, the I majority of the area remained largely as scrub interspersed with estate houses, a few smaller holdings and villages right through to the 1860s. I More roads, however, were laid out in response to the growing settlement. Stanmore Road was laid out in 1835 after the first subdivision of the Wardell Estate although it was still I described as a bush track in the 1840s. New Canterbury Road was marked out in 1859. I I I I I I I WendyThorp I I Historical Context Marrickville Conservation Areas Study 1995 2.3 Suburbs and Municipalities From the 1850s the population of Sydney began a steady and then rapid increase owing at the time to the influx of fortune hunters brought by the gold rushes. The need for settling these people and the commercial opportunities offered by this need encouraged the growth I of closer settlement.