Yaralla Estate facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Dame Eadith Walker Hospital
Yaralla mansion, 2009
Geography
Location	Concord West, New South Wales, Australia
Organisation
Care system	Public Medicare (AU)
Hospital type	Specialist renal dialysis unit

The Yaralla Estate, also known as the Dame Eadith Walker Estate, is a special historical place in Concord West, Sydney, Australia. Today, it is home to the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital. This estate is important because it is one of the last big 19th-century estates left in Sydney.

Yaralla was once the home of Eadith Walker and her father, Thomas. In the 1860s, Thomas Walker hired architect Edmund Blacket to design their home by the Parramatta River. This grand house, built in the Victorian Italianate style, became the family's mansion. Later, from 1893 to 1899, Eadith Walker added more parts to the house, designed by architect John Sulman. The whole estate is now listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register because of its historical value.

Dame Eadith Walker DBE, CBE never married. She spent her life helping others through the Australian Red Cross and many other charities. After she passed away in 1937, her estate was used to create the Dame Eadith Walker Convalescent Hospital. Money from the estate also helped support this hospital, the Thomas Walker Hospital, and cottages Eadith built for elderly people.

Exploring Yaralla's Past
What You'll Find at Yaralla Today
Condition and Changes Over Time
Why Yaralla is a Heritage Treasure
Gallery
See also

Exploring Yaralla's Past

Early Days: The Nichols Family (1797-1848)

The land where Yaralla stands today was first given to Isaac Nichols in 1797. Isaac was a former convict who worked hard and became successful in the colony. He arrived in Sydney in 1791 and was known for his good behavior. The Governor of New South Wales gave him 50 acres of land by the Parramatta River in Concord.

Isaac used his land for farming, growing crops like wheat and maize. He also started planting fruit trees, like peach trees, by 1803. He slowly bought more land around his property. After Isaac died in 1819, the land was passed down through his family. They continued to use it for farming for many years.

The Walker Family Era (1840-1937)

In 1840, George Robert Nichols borrowed money from Thomas Walker, using the land as security. When the money wasn't repaid, Thomas Walker became the owner of the land in 1848.

Thomas Walker was a wealthy businessman and a generous person who helped the poor. Around 1857, he hired architect Edmund Thomas Blacket to design a "cottage" for him at Concord. This "cottage" was actually a large, beautiful Italianate villa called Yaralla. Construction began in 1851 and was finished in 1864.

Thomas Walker married Jane Hart in 1860, and they had one daughter, Eadith Campbell Walker. After Jane died in 1870, Thomas's sister, Joanna, came to Australia to help raise Eadith.

When Thomas Walker passed away in 1886, he left his huge estate to his daughter Eadith. He also set aside money to build the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital. Eadith, who never married, continued to live at Yaralla for the rest of her life. She was very wealthy and lived with many staff members, including gardeners, cooks, and chauffeurs.

Between 1893 and 1899, Eadith made big changes to Yaralla. She hired architect John Sulman, who was married to her childhood friend, to design new parts of the house. These additions included a new marble entrance hall, a grand dining hall, and balconies. They also built impressive brick stables with towers.

Eadith loved animals and even had a private pet cemetery on the grounds of Yaralla. She also enjoyed traveling and brought back many souvenirs from her trips. She built a special "Indian Room" to display items from India and even brought back a "Norwegian Cottage" that was reassembled on the estate.

For a short time, from 1912 to 1914, Yaralla was the home of the Governor-General of Australia. Important historical events, like a warning about World War I, happened while he was staying there.

Eadith was very generous. During World War I, she helped sick and wounded soldiers through the Red Cross. She even set up a special place at Yaralla for veterans with tuberculosis to recover. She also hosted many parties for Sydney society members at the estate.

By the time Eadith Walker died in 1937, her generous donations and building projects had used up a lot of her money. The estate was still beautiful, with large lawns, gardens, fountains, and many cottages.

From Estate to Hospital (1937-1988)

After Eadith Walker's death, her will stated that half of her remaining money should go to charity. The Walker Trusts Act allowed the Yaralla Estate to be bought and turned into a convalescent home for men. This became the Dame Eadith Walker Convalescent Hospital. It was officially opened in 1940.

The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital took over managing the new hospital. Patients from their main hospital would come to Yaralla to recover. The estate was meant to be used as a place for people to get better and for rehabilitation, following Thomas Walker's wishes.

During the 1970s, some of the older buildings on the estate were taken down, and the swimming pool was filled in. The Dame Eadith Walker Convalescent Hospital closed its doors in November 1988.

Modern Uses and Public Access (1988-Present)

Since 1988, the estate has continued to be used for health-related purposes. The main house was used as a Kidney Dialysis Training Centre from 1993 to 2008. Magnolia Cottage became the Kalparrin Day Centre in 2003, helping patients with dementia.

Around 2011, the main mansion was updated to become a Palliative Care Unit. This unit helps people with serious illnesses like HIV and dementia.

In 2013, the NSW Department of Health announced that 13 hectares (about 32 acres) of Yaralla's land would become a public park. A special committee was also set up to help manage the estate and make sure it benefits both the health district and the community.

In 2016, Hyacinth Cottage was renovated. It now provides a place for families of burns patients to stay close to Concord Hospital while their loved ones recover. This helps patients continue their healing in a supportive home-like environment.

What You'll Find at Yaralla Today

The Estate's Layout

The Dame Eadith Walker Estate covers about 37 hectares (around 91 acres). It's a large piece of land that still has many of its original country-like features. You can see grazing fields, former orchards (now lawns), and beautiful gardens. The gardens include parkland, a rose garden, and a picking garden. There are also interesting grottoes (cave-like structures) and a rockery.

The estate also has places for sports and fun, like a former swimming pool (now a lawn) and a tennis or croquet court. In its best days, the grounds were amazing, with many native and European trees, fountains, statues, and more than a dozen cottages spread around.

Nature and Wildlife

Yaralla is important for its nature and wildlife, including both plants and animals. It plays a key role in the health of the Parramatta River Catchment area. The estate has three special types of endangered plant communities:

Coastal Saltmarsh, found near the river's mangrove banks.
Swamp-oak Floodplain Forest.
Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, which is very rare in the region.

These natural areas, along with the many different plants in the gardens, attract a wide variety of animals. You can find many birds, like honeyeaters, wrens, and parrots. There are also different mammals and insects. The Dame Eadith Walker Estate is considered a "jewel" for its biodiversity in the City of Canada Bay.

The Driveway and Gardens

The main entrance to the estate today is from The Drive and Nullawarra Avenue. An impressive driveway, lined with brush box trees, leads from the entrance gates. It passes between grassy fields where horses still graze. This drive takes you to the inner gates, stables, and the beautiful parkland garden.

Inside the inner gates, the drive continues past the brick stables and into the main garden. This area is filled with old-fashioned shrubs, small trees, and colorful plants. There's also a rare tropical trumpet creeper growing over a frame near the rose garden.

To the south of the main house, you'll find a service yard and other buildings. The house itself has a grand entrance with an Italianate tower.

The gardens have many interesting features. There's a broad path and lawns that lead down to the north, with clumps of giant bamboo. A wide grassy path, bordered by elaborate concrete grotto-work, follows the shoreline. This path leads to a shelter house, also made of grotto-work, near where the swimming pool used to be.

The grotto on the lower lawn is one of the largest in Australia. It has a rich collection of plants, including palms, cycads, and rare succulents.

The rose garden, located southwest of the house, is formally designed with a sandstone sundial and curved arbours. This garden was replanted in the 1990s.

The estate also has many old and important trees and shrubs. These include Himalayan cedars, Moreton Bay figs, various palms, and bird of paradise "trees." Many of these plants are over a century old and are very rare.

Buildings on the Estate

Here are some of the main buildings you can see at Yaralla:

Yaralla: This is the main house. It's a large, two-story building with a four-story tower over the front door. It has smaller towers, verandahs, and bay windows. The verandahs even have an Indian style.
Jonquil Cottage: A single-story house built in the Californian Bungalow style. It has gabled roofs and tall chimneys.
Hyacinth Cottage: Another single-story Californian Bungalow style house, with brick walls and terracotta roof tiles.
Boronia Cottage: A single-story cottage with a large hipped and gabled roof.
Woodbine (Azalea) Cottage: A timber-framed cottage with a simple hipped roof and verandah.
Magnolia Cottage: A single-story cottage with a distinctive verandah. It was expanded in 2003 to become a day care center for people with dementia.
Stables Complex: A group of buildings around a central courtyard. They have decorative elements like towers, lanterns, and a clock. The courtyard is paved with sandstone blocks.
Laundry and Substation Block: A two-story building with a gabled roof and decorative features.
Squash Court: A rectangular building with a hipped roof and an observation area. It was built for the Prince of Wales' visit in 1921.
High Stone Wall: A tall sandstone wall covered with thick plants on one side.
Sea Wall: A sandstone wall along the edge of the river, built with natural rocks.

There are also sheds and animal enclosures, which used to house pigs, chickens, and other fowl.

Condition and Changes Over Time

The main Yaralla building was in good condition in 2009. While the garden was designed to be high-maintenance for social events, it has faced challenges over the years. Some features, like the swimming pool, Norwegian house, and Indian Room, are no longer there. However, the overall layout of the garden is still mostly intact.

Many repairs and restoration works have been done in recent years to keep the estate in good shape.

Over the years, Yaralla has seen many changes:

1893-1899: Architect John Sulman made big changes to Yaralla and built the Stable Complex.
Around 1901: The swimming pool was built.
1907: The Indian Room and a garage were constructed.
1917: Part of the estate was given to the Concord Golf Club.
1919-1920: Parts of the outer estate were sold off for new housing developments.
1940: The estate was turned into a convalescent home for men.
1970s-1980s: Several buildings, including the Norwegian Cottage and Indian Room, were demolished, and the swimming pool was filled in.
1993: The main house was adapted to be a Dialysis Training Centre.
2003: Magnolia Cottage became the Kalparrin Dementia Day Care Centre.
2008: The Dialysis Training Centre moved out, leaving the main hospital building empty for a while.
2013-2014: The house was renovated to provide supported housing for patients with HIV/Dementia.

Why Yaralla is a Heritage Treasure

The Dame Eadith Walker Estate is incredibly important to the history and culture of New South Wales. It's a unique collection of 19th and early 20th-century buildings set in a rural landscape. It's a very rare example of a large, complete Edwardian private estate in Australia, especially one so close to a major city.

The estate has strong ties to the early days of the colony and to an important family known for business and charity. Yaralla House itself is significant because it shows the work of two major Australian architects, Edmund Blacket and John Sulman. It also shows how living styles changed over time.

The estate's landscape is also very important. It's an intact estate along the Parramatta River, with old mangroves along the shore and mature plants in its large garden. The garden has many rare and important trees and shrubs, some over a century old. Even though parts of the garden have changed, its grotto-work, picking garden, and entertaining areas show a way of life from the past.

The Yaralla Estate was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999, for several reasons:

It shows the history of New South Wales as a unique complex of buildings and landscapes.
It has strong links to the important Walker family.
It represents the work of famous architects and shows how the colony developed.
The buildings, like the Dairy Complex and Stables, are architecturally consistent and show how a farm worked in that period.
It has scientific value because of its large collection of rare and old trees and shrubs.
It has archaeological potential, meaning digging there could reveal more about the past.
It's a rare example of a large Edwardian private estate in Australia.
It represents a typical large 19th-century suburban estate with its fields, natural areas, and grand garden.
It shows how estates grew and changed from rural to suburban settings.
The garden represents large 19th and early 20th-century estates used for social events and gatherings.