Macarthur House is a heritage-listed former residence and school building and now offices at 8 Melville Street, Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James Houison (1850s house), Arthur William McKenzie Mowle (1923 wings) and David Sheedy (1981-2 works) and built from 1855 to 1856 by James Houison. It has also known as Morton House and Pemberton Grange. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History
Aboriginal and early colonial use
The northern shore of the Parramatta River was originally inhabited by the Indigenous people of the Wallumedegal tribe, who spoke a dialect of the Darug language.Austral Archaeology, 2017, i
From the initial years of colonisation the region of Parramatta was a much sought-after area due to the rich soil in the area and its promising potential for farming and growing crops.
On 22 February 1791 Robert Webb, a seaman who arrived in Sydney on the "Sirius" with the First Fleet in 1788, was granted 60 acres on the north side of the Parramatta River by Governor Phillip, which included the location of the current Macarthur House. This was the first land grant on the river's north side and only the second land grant issued in Australia, the other being James Ruse's "Experiment Farm" grant on the opposite side of the river, which Phillip made on the same day. The extent of Webb's grant is traced today by the river frontage, Isabella Street, Webb/Morton Streets and approximately Macarthur Street. Webb had used much of his Parramatta land for farming before conveying his grant to Captain Thomas Melville for 100 pounds in 1794. Melville was master of the "Brittania", a convict transport of the Third Fleet that arrived in Sydney in 1791, and later of the "Speedy". His daughter, Jennett, married the surveyor George Evans (1780–1852) in 1798 in London, and Webb's grant was the bride's dowry. The couple arrived in Sydney in October 1802. Evans was initially given the position of store-keeper in charge of receipt and issue of grain at Parramatta, but in August 1803 was appointed acting surveyor-general in the absence of Charles Grimes who was on leave in England. Between 1804 and 1809 Evans farmed another grant at the Hawkesbury settlement. From 1809 he was again engaged by the government on surveying tasks and travelled widely and frequently. In September 1812 he was sent to Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) and a sale notice in The Sydney Gazette 26 December 1812, 2 published about that time describing the Parramatta property as "garden, orchards" and "stabling".Sydney Gazette 26 December 1812, 2
In July 1815 Evans was required to return to Hobart and he remained there until 1817. In the interim, in November 1816, emancipist landholder Simeon Lord (who held a mortgage over Evans' property since 2/1804 and who had placed the 1812 sale notice, conveyed Webb's 60 acres, and the neighbouring grant of 30 acres originally made to John Irving, to George Thomas Palmer. Palmer (1784–1854) was son of the colony's Commissariat, John Palmer. He (George) joined the army in 1800, married Catherine Irene Pemberton in 1805 at Malta. The couple came to Sydney in 1806, with Palmer then a Lieutenant in the 61st Regiment with permission to settle as a free immigrant. Between 1813 and 1814 he was superintendent of government stock, and then developed (his Parramatta farm) "Pemberton Grange" from 1816. At Parramatta Palmer was a magistrate for many years, and was a member of the managing committee of the Female Factory in the late 1820s. The household at Pemberton Grange was above the bank of the river and south of Thomas Street. The farm's name honoured his wife's family. GT Palmer's father, John resided at Waddon Cottage on Irving's 30 acres immediately to Pemberton Grange's east. Waddon seems to have been developed about 1820 and was John's place of residence until his death in 1833. G. T. Palmer and family returned to England in January 1838 on the "Everetta". The household contents of Pemberton Grange were sold in January 1838 and the house put up for letting, together with Waddon Cottage. A detailed description of the hose and outbuildings was provided in the published letting notice. It stated the 90 acres had been divided into six paddocks, and "most of which have been under cultivation" and "being well-supplied with water it is admirably adapted for a homestead for the reception of cattle, previously to their being driven to the Sydney Market".Sydney Herald, 15 January 1838, 3Austral Archaeology, 2017, 25–26
Pemberton Grange was conveyed in January 1838 to Captain John West, with the 18th Regiment of Foot, then stationed at Windsor, by way of a mortgage secured from West and repayable to Palmer in 1840. This arrangement suited both parties until 1851, when Captain West, then in England, and Palmer, having returned to New South Wales, having been staying at his station Ginninderra (near present-day Canberra and developed by Palmer from about 1826) since at least the mid-1840s, agreed to convey Pemberton Grange and the 90 acres to merchants Robert Campbell and John Campbell in trust. Palmer was related by marriage to the Campbell family in numerous ways. Pemberton Grange was tenanted by a number of different occupants between 1838 and 1855 before the land was subdivided.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 26
The farm changed hands several times between 1794 and the 1850s before it was subdivided in 1855, continuing to be used for farming. During this period prior to 1855 the use or activities taken place within the precise location of the study area are unknown.
Construction of Macarthur House and residential use
From 1855, the 90 acres of Melville's former property was subdivided into 56 lots. The section that comprises the current study area was bought by John Morton Gould in July 1855. Soon after, he built a new home, which he was to name Morton House (now Macarthur House). This was the first known structural development in the study area.Austral Archaeology, 2017
The stone mansion is probably the finest "Georgian" structure of the mid-Australian Gold Rush period existing in the Commonwealth. It was erected in 1855–56, during the era when trains began to operate between Sydney and Parramatta (Parramatta Junction, near Granville). It was built on a large site, one of 56 lots, auctioned in July 1855. Parramatta lawyer, John Morton Gould, had purchased the site and commissioned the top colonial architect, James Houison, of Parramatta, to design the building and to supervise its erection.C.R. 1983Heritage Office FileNational Trust of AustraliaSheedy 1996NSW Heritage Office, Branch Managers report 1980
In 1859 Gould's new home was placed on the market to be leased. In December 1862 Morton House was sold to Henry Harvey, a miller. It remained his place of residence until his death in 1874 and in that period it continued to be known as Morton House.
In April 1874 it was sold to the Rev. Thomas Spencer (T. S.) Forsaith. While Forsaith regularly relocated between different areas of Sydney to establish churches, he resided at Morton House at various times until his death in 1898. Under Forsaith's trustee, David Smart Walker of Walker Bros., house and estate agents, Morton House was occupied by various tenants between 1900 and 1910.
The King's School period Morton House was acquired by Rev. Percy Stacy (P. S.) Waddy, headmaster of The King's School in 1910. Stacy Waddy was headmaster of the school from 1906 to 1916. His appointment in 1906 heralded a period of expansion and change for the school. By 1909 the numbers of day-boys and boarders had doubled in two years. He founded a junior school, set up the house system, amongst other innovations. With increasing enrolments, Waddy also purchased the nearby Newlands property, along with its 42 acres. Initially known as Farm House, renamed Broughton House (modern address 43A Thomas Street), Newlands was used also to provide agricultural training for the boys.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 31
The formal entrance to Macarthur House in The King's School era commenced from Thomas Street with a semi-circular drive in front of the house. That public road had been extended west to intersect with Macarthur Street in 1890. The boys walked to the school. There was another entrance from Pemberton Street, which was most likely used for trade. The old carriage drive from the house to Morton Street and onto Victoria Road fell into disuse.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 35
The boys moved into Macarthur House in 1911. A new dormitory for 30 boys had been built for them by March 1912, designed by local architect, James Whitmore Hill. It was built by the boys under the supervision of Hill and was relocated on completion of the new dormitory wing in 1923.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 32
The Rev. Percy Stacy Waddy, resigning as headmaster in 1916 and leaving the school to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (the School Council twice having refused him leave for such an undertaking), conveyed freehold title of Macarthur House to the school in 1916, after when it was used as one of the school's boarding houses and renamed "Macarthur House" in honour of the Rev. George Farfowl Macarthur who re-organised the school from 1856 to 1868 and a son of Hannibal Macarthur from the nearby estate, Vineyard (Rydalmere). It was also used for agricultural training.
A view of the house's west side from 1920 shows Forsaith's west wing and conservatory, built 1875, and two earlier pine trees (one a hoop pine, Araucaria cunninghamii; the other a Cook's pine, Araucaria columnaris). In 1924 electricity was installed, the property was sewered by installation of a septic tank and in August 1927 the property was attached to the Water Board's sewer.
Arthur William McKenzie Mowle was the school's architect for two-storey dormitory wings completed in 1923. A courtyard was between these and the house, with a shower block between.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 33–34
While Broughton House (fmr. Newlands) and another school property in Sorrell Street were requisitioned in 1942 for use by the military forces as training centres, Macarthur House was not so-affected. It was used by the King's School for boarders' accommodation until 30 March 1964 when the school moved to the expansive new grounds and new buildings on the site of Gowan Brae, North Parramatta.
A large number of additions and outbuildings were built by the school and finally in 1965 it was sold for development, the outbuildings demolished and the land subdivided for cottages.NNSW Heritage Office, Branch Managers report 1980 The lot was c.11.5 acres, with some land having been taken for public roads. This area was subdivided into a housing estate in 1965/6 with allotments fringing the four sides of the historical land holding being in DP 223880, the inner area exclusive of the historic house in DP 224786, and the historic house and immediate surrounds in DP228839 (registered in March 1966). Gould Place and Melville Street and the public reserve to the west of Macarthur House were formed in these subdivisions.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 37
The historic house was retained, but other buildings erected in The King's School era were demolished. This was undertaken by the estate developer, and not the later owner. While the historic house was protected from the demolition plans, it was prone to vandalism within two years of The King's School leaving the premises and the arrival of a new owner, between 1964 and 1966.Austral Archaeology, 2017, 38
The Pike Family period