Lanyon Homestead facts for kids
Lanyon is a very old farm and home located just outside Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. It's a special place with a long history.
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The Story of Lanyon
The land where Lanyon stands was first lived on by a man named Timothy Beard. He brought his cattle to graze here in 1829. Timothy had arrived in Australia in 1806. After he was given his freedom, he started working with animals as a "squatter." This meant he lived on land that he didn't officially own yet.
Timothy Beard had small huts near the Molonglo River and also where Lanyon homestead is today. Later, when the government started giving out land, Timothy had to leave the area. He then became an innkeeper in a place called Bringelly.
The Wright Family at Lanyon
In 1833, James Wright and his friend John Hamilton Mortimer Lanyon came to this area from London. They also started living on the land as squatters. James brought his wife and five children with him.
By 1835, they bought several pieces of land next to the Murrumbidgee River. This was then the edge of where people were legally allowed to settle. The Wrights and Lanyon started an orchard, grew vegetables, and planted wheat. They also bought cattle and sheep and began a dairy farm.
They had many workers helping them, including people who had been sent to Australia as punishment. By 1837, about 30 workers were helping them. James's older brother, William, arrived in 1836 and bought land nearby. Sadly, William died in 1837 after an accident. John Lanyon went back to England and passed away in 1841.
James Wright married Mary Davis in 1838. Their first three children were born at Lanyon. However, James ran into money problems and had to sell Lanyon in 1841. He then moved to a nearby farm called Cuppacumbalong. The Wrights had created a community of up to 60 people at Lanyon, where they could grow and make most of what they needed.
The Cunningham Family Takes Over
The next owner of Lanyon was Andrew Cunningham, a banker from Scotland. He arrived in Sydney with his family in 1845. They first settled north-west of Lanyon.
The Cunninghams built the Lanyon homestead you see today in 1859. They used local stones to build it. By the time Andrew Cunningham died in 1887, Lanyon had 25,000 sheep! The Cunninghams had also bought five other properties.
Andrew's sons, James and Andrew Jackson Cunningham, managed the farms together. James lived at Tuggeranong, and Andrew lived at Lanyon. In 1905, Andrew Jackson married Louisa Leman. They made the homestead bigger and redecorated it. Andrew died in 1913, and Louisa sold everything inside the house and moved back to Sydney. James Cunningham then moved his family from Tuggeranong to Lanyon in 1915.
The Field Family and Government Purchase
After James Cunningham died in 1921, his son Andy looked after Lanyon until 1926. Then, the farm was sold to Harry Osborne. The Osbornes sold it in 1930 to Thomas Field. The Field family lived in Sydney but visited Lanyon often. They made big changes, using modern farming methods and improving the land for growing crops.
By the late 1960s, the city of Canberra was growing fast. The government needed more land for new suburbs like Tuggeranong. Lanyon was the largest piece of privately owned land in the ACT. Thomas Field wanted to divide some of his 9,000 acres (about 36 square kilometers) into smaller plots.
The Australian government decided to buy Lanyon. They offered Thomas Field $1.875 million, but he wanted $33 million. He believed the land was worth more because it could be used for city development. This disagreement went to Australia's highest court. The government was worried that if they paid too much for Lanyon, it would set a difficult example for other land purchases across Australia.
In the end, the government bought Lanyon for $3.7 million in 1974.
Lanyon Today
After the government bought Lanyon, they turned the homestead into the Sidney Nolan Gallery. It opened to the public in 1975 and showed paintings by a famous artist named Sir Sidney Nolan. A special building was built in the grounds in 1980 just for his art collection.
Today, Lanyon homestead has been carefully looked after and restored. It is now managed by the ACT Government and the National Trust of Australia (ACT) as a house museum. This means you can visit and see what life was like there in the past. It's still part of a working farm.
Lanyon Homestead was in danger during the big Canberra bushfires in 2003. These fires also threatened the nearby town of Tharwa. On January 18, 2003, as fires got closer to Canberra, a wedding was happening at the homestead. The fire situation got worse, and people in Tharwa had to leave. Firefighters bravely defended and saved Tharwa. Lanyon Homestead was not directly hit by the fire, but burning embers did fall on it. One fire truck was there to spray water and protect the old homestead. Given how old Lanyon is, it wasn't the first time the property had faced bushfires.
Images for kids
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Lanyon homestead
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Aerial view of Lanyon station in 1950
