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Henry Lawson outside his cottage in 1916

Henry Lawson's cottage

The Henry Lawson Cottage in Daalbata Road, Leeton has been restored as both a tribute to Henry Lawson who lived there from January 1916 to August 1917 and as an example of farm cottages of the period in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The restored cottage was officially opened in 2010.

History

Settlement of the newly created Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) commenced at Leeton in early 1911 under the auspices of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust. The cottage is recorded in a “List of Settlers” House in the Trust’s report of 30 June, 1912. A total of 80 “houses” are recorded on this list, however the extremely low valuations indicate that many of these were probably tents or other temporary structures. Only 17 dwellings are recorded with a value over £100 and only 6 with a value similar to this cottage (£108). The original owner and the person for whom the house was built was John Henry Carmichael, a labourer and carpenter originally from Queensland, who held Farm 418 under a Permissive Occupancy prior to June, 1912. Carmichael was granted the land in question on 1 July 1912. The builder of the cottage is recorded as a Mr Sheehan. JH Carmichael surrendered his grant for Farm 418 on 14 April, 1914 due to ill health and returned to Queensland. This suited the Commission who had in February 1914, expressed an interest in making use of the farm as a “Demonstration Farm”. A commission employee, Mr Hogbin, was to operate the farm and to “carry out experiments in connection with vegetable growing”. Commission papers noted that no other farm “was available or as suitable”. This and other comments indicate that Carmichael had created a successful and attractive farm on the land. Hogbin’s activities are not known but by late 1915 the cottage was once again vacant. In this state it was nominated by the resident manager, FS Digby, as a suitable residence for Henry Lawson upon his engaged as publicist for the MIA Lawson occupied the cottage with his de facto, Isabel Byers, from January 1916 till September 1917. Lawson describes the farm as he found it: “a two-acre block, with an orchard and gum saplings growing along the back fence and a clear “channel” with raised banks at my front and back gates…” After Lawson’s departure the farm was again vacant and the Commission undertook maintenance such as ploughing until a new occupant could be found. A small portion of the land was excised in 1956. A further subdivision in 1994 reduced the land area to 1,158 sq metres. The Collins family offered the cottage to Leeton Shire Council in 2005.

Location

The cottage is located approximately 2 kilometres north-east of the Leeton Post Office in an area originally set aside for 2 acre farmlets, just outside the boundary of the town proper. It faces Daalbata Road, a minor road with an adjoining irrigation channel. The cottage is set well back on a block of a little over 1,100 square metres resulting from subdivisions of the original farm in 1956 and 1994. Vegetation on the site includes olive trees, some of which is likely to be of similar age to the cottage.

Design of the cottage

Construction of dwelling was tightly controlled by the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust and the Water Conservation & Irrigation Commission which replaced it in 1912. A Department of Public Works minute paper of September 1912 states that the Commission architect, CF Whitcombe and his staff “is responsible for the designs of all buildings” in the Area. In 1915 the Commission produced a pamphlet of standard house designs, however photographic and other evidence indices that at least some of these designs were being constructed much earlier. The standard practice for house construction was for timber and other materials to be supplied from the Trust/Commission workshops at Yanco to builders who constructed each house under contract to the authority, to standardized plans. All joinery, including windows, doors, tank stands etc were pre-cut and assembled at the Yanco workshop. The cottage is constructed of Oregon and native Cypress timbers with small corrugation iron the predominate external cladding. It has a corrugated iron roof. It was originally single-fronted, with two rooms and a full length verandah. The main rooms were essentially intact, with cypress pine flooring, fibro or small corrugation iron ceilings and most of the original cornices and skirting boards. The two original fireplaces remained with their timber mantels. The original doors and door furniture survived throughout. One of the windows to the front wall had been moved due to the later extension. The survival of so much original joinery was significant as this was produced by the Yanco workshops of the Irrigation Commission. The building was in fair condition for its age. There were no major impediments to satisfactory restoration.

Restoration of the cottage

The policy adopted for the “Henry Lawson Cottage” was to restore the front of the building and its original core to its 1916 form, allowing for some minor adaptation to support on-going occupation and to add a bathroom to the rear, connected by a link. This solution allows the integrity of the original building to be retrieved, both internally and externally, while allowing its continued use as a publicly accessible residence by inclusion of a modern bathroom and disabled access. The restoration of the verandah and four original rooms would aim to retain as much as possible of the original building fabric. The new bathroom was designed to be discretely located to the rear of the building and connected through a light weight but enclosed link. From the exterior, the bathroom architecture is very similar to the original building. The link has been detailed as an “enclosed verandah” with some slight variations to the detailing to acknowledge it as a modern addition. The building’s landscape was laid out in line with the 1916 photograph of Henry Lawson in the garden in front of the house.

Significance

The cottage at Farm 418, known as “Henry Lawson Cottage” is significant as one of the earliest surviving examples of the cottages provided by the Murrumbidgee irrigation Trust for new settlers to the MIA. Although not unique in its design and construction, subsequent demolition of large numbers of similar dwellings means that cottages of this type are now rare. This particular cottage has been identified as one of the earliest built (and possibly the oldest surviving) of its type in the MIA. The place is also significant as a relatively intact representative example of a standardized cottage design produced for settlers by the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust. As such it is a prime built expression of the paternalistic policies of the Irrigation Commissioners and a tangible result of the difficulties of providing accommodation in such a remote region. Restoration of the cottage and garden would enhance understanding of construction and farming techniques of the early MIA. The cottage is significant as the place of residence and work of the noted Australian writer Henry Lawson between January 1916 and September 1917. Lawson’s work at Leeton is itself integral to the development and ethos of the early MIA. The work he produced at Leeton was recognised by the government of the day as being of “inestimable value”. Lawson used the opportunity provided by his sinecure at Leeton to produce significant work. This is the only known Lawson residence in its original state outside Sydney.