Main Street 7-9 Willaston

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Fast Facts
Place type: Building
Also known as: Gawler Books
Address: 7-9 Main Street
Town or Locality: Willaston


DESCRIPTION:

This single-storey double fronted residence is of high-quality mid-Victorian era construction. It is constructed of overpainted sandstone rubble, brought to course and ruled with overpainted brick quoins. The roof is hipped and clad with corrugated metal, featuring overpainted red brick chimneys with corbelled caps. The central entrance door is timber-framed with a fanlight and is flanked on either side by timber-framed, double-hung sash windows with brick arched heads. The concave verandah is clad with corrugated metal and is supported on cast-iron trellis posts, with cast-iron frieze and corner brackets, and enclosed by a cast-iron balustrade. A gabled stone cottage to the rear of the allotment and remnant portions of an earlier stone and brick wall are also significant.

STATEMENT OF HERITAGE VALUE:

Constructed during the 1870s at the centre of the township, the dwelling at 7 Main Street, is associated with the substantial period of growth of Willaston at the time as a result of the strong commercial and industrial activity of the town itself, the opening of northern agricultural areas and increased traffic on the main thoroughfare. The residence is a fine and largely externally intact example of a mid-Victorian era cottage of enlarged proportions constructed of local stone, brick and cast iron. Of significance is the association with EH Coombe and his son Thomas.

BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The township of Willaston was founded in 1848 by William Paxton on land granted to Henry Dundas Murray and another of the original syndicate of investors in the 1939 Gawler Special Survey. The subdivision comprised 17 acres of land on the northern side of the North Para River divided into 115 building allotments. The first building in the town was the original Willaston Hotel constructed in c.1849 immediately adjacent to the bridge crossing the North Para River on Main Road. Some of the earliest buildings in Willaston are located in Main Street, as the main thoroughfare to the northern mining and agricultural areas at the time.

Part Allotments 8 and 9, of Section 1, Hundred of Mudla Wirra, located diagonally opposite the original hotel and a little further north of the bridge were owned and occupied by Orlando Adcock from the 1850s or 1860s. A flamboyant and controversial character, Adcock had been a blacksmith and farrier, horse breeder and farmer, racing identity and latterly licensee of the Willaston Hotel. He died in December 1872 leaving his estate in equal parts to his two young sons and a woman rumoured to be his mistress. His will was challenged in the Supreme Court, which directed the sale of all his real and personal property.

On 25 April 1873 the two adjacent allotments in Main Street (part allotments 8 and 9, (of which allotment 8 contained a dwelling house and other buildings), were advertised for auction, together with other freehold property, household furniture and effects, livestock and farm implements. It is unclear whether the sale went ahead, as the two allotments appear to have stayed in the family. Orlando Adcock’s legal widow Ann, nee Henshall, for whom there was no provision in his will, died in 1883. Sarah Ann Smith and Henry Thomas Adcock acquired the title to both allotments as tenants in common in February 1884 and September 1885 respectively. Sarah Smith, wife of William Wilson Smith of Kensington, licensed victualler, was a daughter, and Henry Adcock was the second surviving son of Orlando and Ann. Henry was described as a Gawler blacksmith, apparently following his father’s first profession. In 1889 both titles were transferred to John Matthews, gardener of Willaston. By about this time a dwelling had been built on part Allotment 9.

Matthews sold to Edwin Gartrell in 1896. Gartrell had conducted a butchering establishment in the vicinity since the 1860s and had a large shop opposite, with extensive yards stables and outhouses at the rear covering an acre of land. In February 1909 Allotments 8 and 9 were transferred to Thomas Coombe, Storekeeper of Willaston, and remained in his possession until his death in 1935. Like his father Ephraim Coombe, Thomas conducted a general store and post office from the former butcher’s premises, and presumably lived in this dwelling adjacent to the shop. In 1938 part allotments 8 and 9 were sold to Julius Alfred Sachse.

In recent years the formerly residential properties at number 7 has been used for commercial activities, currently a fish and chip take-away restaurant and bookshop.

Please <click here> to view photos of 7-9 Mian Street Willaston.

Acknowledgments

This report has been prepared by the following people:

• Nancy Cromar (Flightpath Architects)

• Deborah Morgan (Flightpath Architects)

• Kate Paterson (Flightpath Architects)

• Douglas Alexander (Flightpath Architects)


The study team would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following people:

• David Petruzzella (Strategic Planner; Town of Gawler)

• Jacinta Weiss (Cultural Heritage Centre Coordinator; Town of Gawler)

• Jane Strange (Senior Development and Strategic Policy Officer; Town of Gawler)


Gawler History Team Inc. thanks: Flightpath Architects, Ryan Viney and the Town of Gawler for allowing us access to this important document of Gawler History.

www.flightpatharchitects.com.au

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References

Main Street Willaston 7-9
Main Street Willaston 7-9


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