Horningsea Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Horningsea Park |
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| Location | Camden Valley Way, Horningsea Park, City of Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia |
| Built | 1830–1839 |
| Architect | Joshua John Moore |
| Owner | Liverpool City Council |
| Official name: Horningsea Park | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 2 April 1999 |
| Reference no. | 255 |
| Type | House |
| Category | Residential buildings (private) |
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Horningsea Park is a very old and important house located on Camden Valley Way in Horningsea Park, Australia. It was designed by Joshua John Moore and built between 1830 and 1839. Today, the Liverpool City Council owns this historic property. It was officially added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999, meaning it is protected because of its special history and design.
Contents
The Story of Horningsea Park
Early Days and First Owners
Horningsea Park was once a large piece of land, about 500 acres, given out by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1819. This land was given to a soldier named Lieutenant Joshua John Moore. One condition was that Moore had to farm at least 50 acres of the land within five years.
Moore was an important early settler. He was one of the first people allowed to take cattle through the Cowpastures area in 1821. He also became the first farmer to live on the land where Canberra is today, and he was the first to write down that name.
Famous Visitors and Changes
In the 1840s, a famous Polish explorer named Paweł Strzelecki, who discovered Mount Kosciuszko, lived at Horningsea Park. This shows how the house is connected to early explorations beyond the Cumberland Plain area. It also links to how Australia's economy started to change from mainly farming to raising animals.
Joshua John Moore was a soldier who fought in the Battle of Waterloo. He came to New South Wales in 1816. His first home on the Horningsea Park land was a smaller house called Cumberland Cottage, built in the 1820s. Records from 1828 show that five people worked on the property, including a servant, a shoemaker, a gardener, and two labourers. This suggests there was already a main house there.
Building the Main House
The main house you see today, Horningsea House, was built in the 1830s, finished by 1839. It was built using the help of convict labourers. In 1855, the Moore family sold Horningsea Park to pay off some money they owed. The new owners, members of the Solomon family, gave the house its current name.
The original 500-acre property was later divided into smaller pieces of land in the 1880s.
Renovations and Decline
In 1907, the house was described as having 13 rooms. It also had a separate kitchen and wash house. There were large stables and other buildings used for dairy farming and grazing animals.
The house was greatly updated in the 1930s by Alfred Emil Schoeffel and his wife. During this time, the cellars were filled in, and the front porch was changed. Some parts of the house were rebuilt, and some old outbuildings were taken down. The Schoeffels sold Horningsea Park in the early 1950s.
By the 1960s, the property had shrunk to about 22 acres (9 hectares), which is its size today. It was used as a home until around 1974. By the 1970s, the house was in very bad condition.
Saving Horningsea Park
In 1976, the house was officially recognized by the National Trust of Australia. It was saved from being completely knocked down thanks to help from the government and Liverpool Council.
After several changes of owners, a company bought the house and planned to turn the site into a caravan park. Demolition had already started when an order was put in place to protect the property. Sadly, before it was fully protected, vandals broke in and stole many original parts of the house. These included cedar doors, windows, shutters, a cedar staircase, and all the marble fireplaces. The owners then put on a new roof and boarded up the windows and doors to protect it. The property was put up for sale in 1980.
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From 1982 onwards, the house was carefully rebuilt and renovated. It had been an empty shell, but it was restored after being recognized as an important heritage item in 1983. Most of the house's floors and wooden parts are new from this reconstruction. However, the original cellars still remain from when the house was first built.
After being rebuilt, the house was used as an office for a land company. But in 1999, it was sold and became a home again. In 2004, it was renovated once more, with two new sections added that matched the old style of the house. In 2018, it was put up for sale, either as a home or a business.
What Horningsea Park Looks Like
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Horningsea Park is a two-storey house built with brick and stucco in the Georgian style. It sits on what is left of its original large estate. You can still see the long entrance driveway that leads from the Hume Highway. The house has been carefully restored and rebuilt after being badly damaged in the 1970s.
Why Horningsea Park is Important
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Horningsea Park is important because it survived for a long time as a large farm, showing how successful it was for raising animals and dairy farming. The house and its surroundings help us understand what life was like in Australia during colonial times and after.
The place has strong connections to early explorers who went beyond the Cumberland Plain. It also shows how Australia's economy changed from mainly farming to raising animals. It is a beautiful example of an early Georgian homestead, still showing signs of its former large estate and surrounded by trees, some of which are from the original garden.
Horningsea Park was officially listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999, recognizing its special value.
