HERITAGE NEWSLETTER OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ORGANISATIONS MAY - JUNE 2010 ISSUE No. 9 Eskbank House: bringing an 1840s house museum into the 21st century by Naomi Parry, Cultural Development Officer, Lithgow City Council Although I have lived in the Blue Mountains for 10 years, I did not know about Eskbank House and Museum, or even where it was, until I was appointed Cultural Development Officer at Lithgow City Council late last year. The term ‘house museum’ is rather broad and while I knew Eskbank would not be of the scale of Elizabeth Bay House, I was a little worried that it would be like the folk museums of my Tasmanian childhood, filled with horsehair lounges and fusty mannequins with sewn-in eyelashes and the inevitable ‘convict man-trap’ attached to their ankles. Happily, Eskbank House is a beautiful little museum with many stories to tell. As I work through its Stables and blacksmithing courtyard at Eskbank House remarkable collections I now understand that these stories are The presence of coal appears to Eskbank was sold to Bathurst not only about Lithgow, but about have motivated Brown to acquire businessman and Cobb and Co core elements of Australian the 295 hectare estate, although manager James Rutherford, and the industrial and social history. initially he farmed and served as house became a rental property Hartley Bench Magistrate. known as ‘The Grange’, serving as The History of Eskbank House a girls’ school for a time, and as a The house was built in 1842 by In 1869, with the advent of rail, home for high-ranking employees in Alexander Binning in Georgian- Brown established the first railway local enterprises. style, with a hipped roof extending siding in Lithgow and the first of two over a wrap-around verandah. collieries on his estate. Rutherford subdivided large portions of the estate for residential Its ashlar cut sandstone walls have In 1872 Brown entered the development and established remained straight and solid, with Legislative Assembly as the Eskbank Blast Furnace a few barely a crack to show for the 170 Member for Hartley and Eskbank hundred metres northwest from the years the house has stood on the Colliery secured lucrative contracts house. floor of this valley. to supply the railways with coal. His blast furnace was not The fortunes of the house however At this time Eskbank was the successful and it is rumoured he have waxed and waned, according political and social hub of Lithgow, staged a flamboyant protest against to the rhythms of Lithgow’s but by 1876 it had become apparent the lack of government support by industries. that Brown had interfered with the driving cartloads of explosives into it tendering processes and he was before selling to William Sandford in Eskbank was built for Thomas disqualified from the Legislative 1892. Brown, an ambitious young Assembly. He was widowed in 1878 Dumfries Shire man. and retired to St Leonards in 1881. Continued page 2 HERITAGE 1 May - June 2010 A new blast furnace built nearby Continued from page 1 Sandford established a much more successful blast furnace, on a new site to the east of the house, but over reached and in 1908 was obliged to sell to his friend Charles Hoskins, whose company became Australian Iron and Steel. In the early 20th century ‘The Grange’ was, once more, the centre of the estate, serving as the manager’s residence for the blast furnace. In the 1920s William Mortlock, the first Australian-born manager, enclosed the rear of the house, creating a skylit courtyard and a Thomas Brown’s garden houses gabled breakfast room. 1966, although it remained a home But it can also be read as a to live-in caretakers until 2003, museum of what Eric Bracey and This action, as it turned out, when council assumed the sadly defunct historical society provided the space Eskbank responsibility for managing the thought a museum should be like. It needed to serve as a museum into property. is a place of memory. the 21st century. In almost 40 years of running The challenge of Eskbank is finding In the 1930s the blast furnace, Eskbank, the local history society ways to keep telling its stories to located too far from both ore and received donations of textiles, new audiences. ports, was dismantled. china, locomotives, fine furniture from local homes, including a circa House museums are not renowned Eskbank House, now sitting on a 1847 John Broadwood & Sons for their high visitation, but the remnant hectare of land, was cottage piano, photographs and enclosed courtyard offers exhibition divided into flats to accommodate artwork, tools for blacksmithing and space that is sorely needed in the manufacturing workers who wheel making, flat irons, bottles, Lithgow and the Blue Mountains, flooded into Lithgow during World typewriters, washing machines, and an opportunity to link the house War II. telephone equipment, butter churns and its collections with cultural and even the plants in the garden, activity in the region. However, the Lithgow Historical which date from a 1967 donations Committee lobbied the Hoskins’ drive. This space also means Eskbank family company Australian Iron and can host travelling shows. A major Steel, asking that they donate ‘The This means the collections are rich. event in 2010 will be the Australian Grange’ to Lithgow Council as a The museum holds mementos of War Memorial travelling exhibition ‘museum of historical record being the family of former Prime Minister ‘A Digger’s Best Friend: An A-Z of in itself probably the most important Joseph Cook, of HMAS Lithgow, the animals in war’, which will be at of all relics which may be housed Lithgow Woollen Mills, of friendly Eskbank from May 14 to July 25. therein.’ societies and trade unions, of the Lithgow Co-operative and local Eskbank House also needs people Lithgow retailer Eric Bracey stepped families. to help tell its stories. We have in, purchasing the house in 1948 vacancies for volunteers who are and deeding it to council, on It also holds Lithgow’s ‘black roses’, interested in collection condition it remained in the control which are made of steel from the management, research, of the Lithgow Historical Society. blast furnace; a nationally conservation and guiding. significant collection of rare Lithgow The history of the Museum pottery and the Sutton-Leake family The house is also a rich resource Bracey then spent 18 years crazy quilt, made in Maryland in for students of all heritage collecting antiques to restore 1893 and brought to Lithgow in the disciplines. Eskbank House to a state he 1920s as a wedding gift. thought (perhaps erroneously) Teachers interested in hands-on worthy of a man of Brown’s station. Eskbank House in the 21st involvement with this lovely site century should contact Naomi Parry at The house, and its substantial Eskbank is valuable for its Lithgow City Council. collection of antiques, was advanced age and architecture; transferred to the local history continuous occupation; links with Continued page 3 society and opened to the public in industry and diverse collections. HERITAGE 2 May - June 2010 GREENS STATE MP TO OUTLINE HERITAGE POLICY As the third in a series of meetings latest step in the ceaseless march to which the Blue Mountains by this Government to centralize all Association of Cultural Heritage planning powers in the hand of the Organisations (BMACHO) has Minister, either directly or through invited major political parties to hand-picked panels appointed by outline their heritage policies, Ms and answerable to the Minister for Sylvia Hale, MLC will address a Planning. meeting at Springwood to outline the Greens Party policy. Heritage is not just about old buildings. It is about natural, cultural At the conclusion of her address, and built treasures that have made time will be allowed for questions and continue to make a unique and this will enable participants to contribution to defining who we are have input into future policy. and where and how we live. Members, friends and associates, telephone 4751 3275 (please allow “These unique treasures have been are invited to attend this meeting to phone to ring for some time) with handed to us by previous commence at 2pm in the cheques payable to BMACHO to generations in safekeeping for Springwood Sports Club, 83 Doug Knowles 2 Sun Valley Road, future generations. Macquarie Road, Springwood on Sun Valley 2777. For further “The preservation and Friday, June 18 2010. information: John Leary, OAM enhancement of our heritage is a [email protected] Afternoon tea will be served and to central component of the Greens’ cover this cost a charge of $5 per Speaking in parliament last year philosophy because the protection head is being made. against the Heritage Amendment of our natural, cultural and built Bill, Ms Hale said “the bill was an environments is a central tenet of Bookings before June 10 are attack on our heritage, an attack on ecological sustainability,” Ms Hale essential to Doug Knowles community participation, and the said. Ms Hale went on to say, “The Eskbank House at Lithgow Greens recognise that heritage Continued from page 2 Further reading: protection is a balancing act. Eskbank House is situated on Bob McKillop, Furnace, Fire and Human societies must not only Bennett Street, Lithgow near the Forge: Lithgow’s Iron and Steel respect and learn from their past, Workingmen’s Club, and an easy Industry 1874 – 1932, (Melbourne: they must also continue to evolve to walk from the station. It is open 2006). stay healthy and to thrive in both Wednesday to Sunday from 10am social and economic terms.