Willandra is a heritage-listed former service station and homestead and now community facility located at 782 Victoria Road, Ryde, New South Wales, Australia. Its design is attributed to William Weaver and built from 1841 to 1844 by James Devlin. It is also known as the Ryde House. The property is owned by the City of Ryde council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The house is completed in the Colonial Georgian architectural style. During the 1970s the house was in danger of being demolished but it was purchased by the City of Ryde Council with the assistance of the Australian Government and has been restored. It is now used by local community groups.
History The Ryde area was highly suitable for farming and orchards, and early grants to marines were given to encourage agriculture. In 1792 land in the area was granted to eight marines; two were in the modern area of Ryde. Isaac Archer and John Colethread each received of land on the site of the present Ryde-Parramatta Golf Links, now in West Ryde. Later in 1792, in the Eastern Farms area, twelve grants, most about , were made to convicts. Much later these were bought by John Macarthur, Gregory Blaxland and the Reverend Samuel Marsden. The district remained an important orcharding area throughout the 19th century.
The grants in the Ryde area were originally called Eastern Farms, later Kissing Point, because of a rock shelf in the Parramatta River bed. At low tide the keels of boats graxed the rock shelf, which in nautical terms is called "kissing". The whole settlement became known as Kissing Point - right up the hill and over the area where Devlin was to build Ryde House (later Willandra).
Devlin family
The land on which the house was built was part of John Small's original 1794 grant and was acquired (Cashman, (1982) says 'inherited') by James Devlin in 1828. Devlin was born in NSW in 1808, the son of Irish exile Arthur Devlin. Arthur had survived the Great Rebellion of 1798 in Ireland, and the Robert Emmet revolt of 1803. A great number of his comrades of 1798 were shipped to New South Wales as convicts, but Arthur managed to bargain for his terms of surrender and came to Sydney as an exile, and not as a convict, with a few of his relatives. Soon after arrival (1831) Arthur married colonial-born Priscilla Squire. She was the daughter of James Squire, patriarch of Kissing Point, land owner, brewer and man of business.
Not long after Arthur Devlin died, his mother remarried, this time to Thomas, son of a first Fleeter, John Small. Thomas and Priscilla became the owners of a 30-acre (12 hectare) grant to John Small. And James Devlin was to become heir to some of James Squire's considerable fortune, when Squire died in James's 14th year. When James reached maturity he in turn was granted the land by succession.
Already in 1837, James had joined the land rush, and he must have felt confident in the early 1840s when he began to build. In the 1850s the previous decade's optimism was replaced with one of the worst depressions to befall New South Wales. It perhaps indicates Devlin's financial position that he could conceive such a grand building plan when conditions seemed so inopportune. In any case he mortgaged the property almost immediately it was completed. But unlike many others, he was able to survive the bad times and retain his property. At that time few buildings were nearby. St. Anne's church was then a small, insignificant building, doing duty as church and school until 1838. In that year a school was built down the road, opposite the police station. The rector of St.Anne's was the Rev. G.E.W.Turner, recently arrived with his wife from the Isle of Wight. Mrs Turner fancied there was a resemblance in the area to her old homeland, and the expatriates began using the name "Ryde", although it was variously called Hunters Hill, Kissing Point and Field of Mars. Devlin called his new house "Ryde House" and in 1841 the Post Office was named Ryde.
Devlin was originally a wheelwright. Later he became pound-keeper and postmaster (Government contractor for the district, until 1839) of Kissing Point before becoming a successful developer and contractor.
At the time Ryde House was built, Governor Sir George Gipps was controlling NSW and there was growing resistance to the inflow of convicts into New South Wales. Devlin chose the Georgian style of architecture, even though Queen Victoria had been reigning since 1837.
About 1840 the name "Ryde" began to be used in the locality. The 1841 subdivision is the earliest documented use of this name. Martin has shown that the names Ryde and Turner Street were both used by James Devlin in his subdivision to honour the new Anglican Minister, Rev.George Turner, whose wife was a native of the English Ryde. Devlin and his neighbour, James Shepherd, had some 40 lots surveyed in a subdivision they named the Village of Ryde, with Devlin's "East Ryde" facing St.Anne's Church and Shepherd's "West Ryde" facing the road to Parramatta.
Devlin's new Ryde House crowned the ridge between the two precincts. Wilson interprets this name change as indicating a desire by 2nd and 3rd generation Devlins, Shepherds, Farnells and others to distance themselves from convict origins. The new name Ryde emanated from Ryde House, which could be seen from the Parramatta River and main roads and partly obscured the church, reinforcing the social control of the new local gentry.
Devlin began building Willandra in 1841 on the old Small's farm and occupied his new house in 1845. Devlin was declared bankrupt in 1844 but was released from insolvency in 1845. In 1852 he purchased 8 acres from the estate of Mrs Blanch, to the south of Small's (i.e.: Devlin's) farm. The family lived there until 1874.
Architect and engineer William Weaver lived and worked in NSW from 1851 to 1864. He was Colonial Architect from 1855 to 1856. He set up in private practice in 1856, at the age of 28, in Pitt Street, Sydney. Weaver, his wife and first son, William Broughton Weaver, lived at Ryde during 1856-58 and since an 1860 advertisement mentioned that he "erected many villas on the Parramatta River" he must have been involved in designing, consulting and surveying there. Willandra at Ryde is similar to some of Weaver's residences and the Devlin family who owned it were closely involved with St. Anne's Church.
Devlin acquired property in the Riverina district becoming one of the first pastoralists in that region. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Municipality of Ryde in 1871 to which he was elected an alderman.TKD Architects, 2014. It is he whom Devlin's Creek and Devlin Street are named after. Devlin was a magistrate at Ryde from 1864 to 1872. When he sold Ryde house in 1874 (1875, sold to Jane Darvall, widow of Major Darvall of nearby Ryedale, say Ryde City Council, 2016), the family moved to one of his properties near Wagga Wagga.
In 1874 Devlin released a second subdivision of land on the north-west of Small's (i.e.: Devlin's) farm, selling the southern portion sold to Jane Darvall. James Devlin died in 1875.
James Devlin was born in 1808 in Sydney. His father was Arthur Devlin, an Irishman who was a leader in the 1798 Rebellion and was captured and exiled to Australia in 1805. His mother was Priscilla Squire, the daughter of James Squire, who was a brewer near Ryde. James's father died when he was only 12 and his mother remarried. His stepfather was Thomas Small. At the age of 14, James became an apprentice wheelwright and remained in this trade for much of his life. In 1831 he married Mary Ann Hartigan and the following year they had a son James (see photo below). In 1833 Mary died in childbirth and the baby, John, died the following day.
In 1834 James married Susannah Hughes (1810–1906), who was the daughter of Matthew Hughes and Mary Small. Matthew was a schoolmaster first in Sydney and later at Richmond in the Hawkesbury region.Hardy, B. 1985 “Early Hawkesbury Settlers”, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, p. 148-9. James and Susannah had ten children, some of whom are shown in the photos below. James became a relatively influential businessman in the Ryde area and was warden and trustee of St Anne's Church for many years. His daughter Rebecca Fitzhardinge (see photo below) remembers that part of James business involved the supply of food to several public institutions such as the Orphan School at Parramatta. He also had an orange orchard near Willandra, which was a commercial venture that provided the family with another source of income. The orange orchid is mentioned in some of the advertisements for the sale or lease of Willandra in later years (see below).
In 1841 the Devlins started to build Willandra and by 1845 the family had moved in. Rebecca Fitzhardinge born in 1846 states that she was the first child born in the house.Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 1926, p. 10. Shortly before they occupied the property James became bankrupt but was released from insolvency in the following year.New South Wales Heritage Council, ‘Willandra”.
The Devlin family lived at Willandra for almost 30 years. The picture above of the house shows some of the family in about 1870 shortly before they left Ryde. In 1874 the Devlins sold the house and moved to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. According to Rebecca Fitzhardinge, it was first sold to Mrs Jane Darvall and she in turn sold it to Mr John Donald Macansh. He then sold the property to the trustees of Mrs Caroline Manning.Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 1926, p. 10 An advertisement for the sale of the house appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1875. At this stage it was referred to as Ryde House and was described in the following terms:
"Ryde House, Kissing Point, for private sale. That commodious family mansion containing hall, 12 rooms, kitchen, laundry and every possible convenience; magnificent garden, orchard, orangery, gardener's house etc. Abundant supply of the very purest water and in one of the healthiest positions in the colony commanding the most extensive and beautiful view, interrupted only by the grand background of the different mountains."Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 1875, p. 10.
James Devlin died shortly after he moved to Wagga in 1875. His wife Susannah lived for another 32 years and died at the age of 98 years in 1907. When she died, an obituary was written in the Sydney Morning Herald outlining details of her life and stating that she had at that time 42 living grandchildrenSydney Morning Herald, 29 June 1907, p. 13.
The Devlin family name has been preserved in the name of Devlins Creek, a tributary of the Lane Cove River, and Devlin Street.Gregory's Sydney Street Directory (Gregory's Publishing Company) 2002, Maps 250,311
Caroline and John Edye Manning
Caroline Manning owned Willandra from 1879 until her death in 1921 but she resided at the house only until 1894. Caroline was born Caroline Elizabeth Mary Suttor in 1841 in New South Wales and was the daughter of William Henry Suttor and Charlotte Augusta Ann Francis.New South Wales Births Deaths and Marriages Suttor was a wealthy pastoralist and politician who owned the property Brucedale in Bathurst, New South Wales,Teale, R. 1976 'Suttor, William Henry (1805 - 1877)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, pp 228-230. where Caroline spent her childhood. Caroline's father died in 1877 and in accordance with his will Willandra was bought for her and held for her in trust.