Hawthornden Farm Precinct

Values

The place as a whole forms a cultural environment, being a pastoral homestead complex comprising of the main residence and various buildings associated with pastoral use.

The place has aesthetic value as a homestead complex comprising buildings of similar style and materials located in a picturesque rural setting.

The place has associations with the settlement of the Toodyay district from the 1830s and 1840s.

The place has associations with prominent pioneering families Drummond, Lee Steere and Connor families.

The place is representative of a pastoral homestead which has operated from first settlement of the district up to the present day.

The place is representative of a homestead complex in the Victorian Georgian style.

Physical Description

Includes: 2-storey & single dwelling, stables, shearing shed, outbuildings & cemetery. Graves of James Drummond, Mrs Drummond, James Drummond jnr, Edward Ellis Clarkson, Michael Clarkson & Jane Mackintosh, and an unnamed infant descendant of James Drummond jnr. May also contain the remains of Mable Mackintosh (d.1873), the two-year-old daughters of Ewen and Euphemia Mackintosh (nee Drummond).

History

‘James Drummond, botanist and plant collector settled on his grant in 1838, after coming to the colony as part of Stirling’s official party. James, his second son, settled and built a cottage on the property while being an agent, and subsequently getting part of Anderson’s adjoining property he called ‘Mill Farm’. In the 1840s the 3000 acres was insufficient to graze their stock and a depasturing licence was granted for the Toodyay townsite, and pastoral leases north at the Moore River were managed by the youngest son Johnstone on the outstation. He was killed by natives in 1846. Sandalwood licences in the late 1840s. Struggling by 1849. First church service at Drummond’s Mill in 1848, conducted by Bishop Short to a gathering of 80 people and three children were baptised. Drummonds leased Coondle. J jnr on building committee for the Anglican church in Toodyay in 1853, and Wesleyan service at Hawthornden in 1854. One of the main supporters and subscribers to Anglican parsonage in 1855 J jnr, 1856 Education Committee J jnr.

From 1850 – 57, the Resident Magistrate in Toodyay, Joseph Strelley Harris, boarded at Hawthornden, and J jnr was a District Justice. Harris lived there until he moved in with his secretary, Wroth’s place, which was on Drummond’s land closer to Newcastle. Writh taught at the Mill Farm School until a teacher was appointed. Moved to town 1861 Drummonds gave shelter to immigrant families – 10 acre plot to develop, and TOLs, and in 1856 he had 196 acres leased to people of all classes, at the east end Of his grant the original wheat stripper invented by George Whitfield was bought by James Drummond jnr.

In 1857, J jnr married Martha Sewell. In 1864, James Drummond junior took over Hawthornden, moving from ‘Mill Farm’ when his father died. He had the two store homestead and other buildings constructed at the time. In 1867, the home was the venue for the wedding of his nephew Barnard Clarkson who married Isabella Lukin.

In 1870, when Dan Connor established his mill in Newcastle, Drummond was the leading miller and agriculturalist in the Toodyay Valley. He tried to revive the idea of breeding remount horses for the Indian army.

In 1870, he was elected as the Toodyay member of the first representative Parliament. He was also a member of the Victoria Plains Roads Board which he resigned to be an inaugural member of Toodyay Road Board in 1871.

After fighting fires at Hawthornden, and catching a chill, he died within a week in 1873. After his death all the properties were sold to repay creditors. James older brother Thomas was the surviving executor, and sold off the properties during a time of economic depression. Dan Connor bought Hawthornden in 1874 and the north portion of Mt Anderson which Drummond owned, making him the largest landowner in the district.’

Integrity/Authenticity

High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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