Redbanks Road 51 Willaston
| Place type: | Building |
|---|---|
| Address: | 51 Redbanks Road |
| Town or Locality: | Willaston |
DESCRIPTION:
This transverse gable worker’s cottage, is constructed of sandstone rubble, brought to course, with overpainted brick quoins and dressings. An early projecting bay has been added to the façade constructed of bluestone rubble with overpainted brick quoins and red face brick gable vent and arched head to window. The walls appear to have been rendered up to sill level. The transverse gable, rear skillion and gable to the projecting bay are clad with corrugated metal, and include two face red brick chimneys with one moulded and one corbelled cap. The portion of the dwelling that constituted the original cottage, featured a symmetrical façade, with central timber-framed panelled timber door and is flanked on either side by timber-framed, casement windows. Widows to the projecting gable addition are timber-framed, double-hung sashes. The straight verandah features a corner gablet and is clad with corrugated metal, supported on turned timber posts with cast-iron feet. A later red brick fence on a rubble plinth defines the front boundary.
STATEMENT OF HERITAGE VALUE:
This property is associated with prominent Gawler family, the McCanns, owned in 1893 by Mary Ann Aljuere McCann, wife of John Patrick McCann, whose father purchased land on Redbanks Road, for the purpose of farming, when it was first offered for sale. Likely constructed sometime in the late 1800s, the original Victorian cottage includes a later projecting bay addition, clearly demonstrating the common practice in Gawler whereby an early projecting bay was added to an original cottage. The dwelling may be associated with local baker Walter John Tape, who built and owned a bakehouse along Redbanks Road in the early 1900s.
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The original plan of Gawler Town prepared by Light, Finniss and Co in 1839 was extended as additional townships were added over the next two decades. These townships included: Willaston in 1848; Gawler East in 1849; Bertha in 1850; Evanston in 1853; Gawler North, Gawler West and Bassett Town in 1857; and Gawler South in 1858. Later smaller subdivisions included the Edith/Blanche Street area of Gawler East in 1873, Gulf View in 1876, and Waltham in 1878. A later stage of development saw the creation of Olive Hill in 1891 and Berrett Town in 1910. By the turn of the twentieth century the town boundaries had extended into adjoining farming lands and larger allotments were gradually being subdivided and developed.
The Township of Waltham was the initiative of Henry Edward Bright MP owner of section 134 Hundred of Mudla Wirra. The 79 acre section located to the north of Willaston had been advertised for sale in December 1868 by its previous owner George Neil, who had applied to have it brought under the Real Property Act two years earlier. On 12 December 1868 an advertisement appeared in the Bunyip for the sale of Mr George Neil’s property section 134 Hundred of Mudla Wirra, located immediately to the north of Willaston and containing 79 acres. He had applied two years earlier to have this section brought under the Real Property Act. The property was then purchased by Henry Edward Bright.
In 1878 Bright subdivided part of section 134 into 43 allotments, laid out as the Township of Waltham. The name was adopted from a town in Essex. Allotments were offered at an auction conducted by J C Wilkinson on 27 January 1879, at Frankel’s Exchange Hotel in Gawler. The advertisement read in part as follows: ‘This Land is beautifully situated, and for Salubrity of Position, Grandeur of View, and General Excellence, is not to be equalled in the Neighbourhood of Gawler’.
H E Bright died in 1904 and his second son, Thomas R Bright, as his executor, created Waltham Abbey, in 1907, as an extension to Waltham. In the early twentieth century there were several dairies associated with the area. These subdivisions are now both included in Gawler and the names have disappeared.
Allotment 5 of the subdivision of section 134, laid out as Waltham, is a portion of an originally larger land holding which included allotments 39, 40 and 41 to Edward Street. The date of construction of the dwelling is unknown, however, the earliest Certificate of Title indicates the purchase of the property by Mary Ann Aljuere McCann, wife of John Patrick McCann, a well-known figure in Gawler, in 1893 which remained in her ownership until it was transferred to Walter John Tape, a baker, in 1923.
Tape is said to have owned a bakehouse along Redbanks Road, built in the early 1900s.
Please <click here> to view photos of 51 Redbanks Road 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
.
References
- [["A GREATER GAWLER." Bunyip 21 November 1913: 6. Web. 10 Mar 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article975651 85>.]]
- [["An Unbroken Family." Bunyip 11 October 1935: 9. Web. 10 Mar 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96658209>.]]
- Bunyip 12 December 1868 p4
- Gawler Standard 4 Jan 1879 p2
- Hignett & Company Gawler Heritage Study Stage 1 December 1981
- LTO Certificate of Titl
- CT576/62
- Place Names of South Australia (accessed 27 February 2020) https://published.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/placenamesofsouthaustralia/W.pdf
- Register 21 December 1866 p4
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