The Homestead, Chipping Norton

Situated near the Georges River north of Moorebank, Chipping Norton was a farming area throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century. It was named after an old English village by William Alexander Long, who was born in Sydney in 1839, went to England to study law, and later lived in Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire. He bought up a number of former land grants in the area at the turn of the century and called his homestead Chipping Norton. The horse stud on part of his property produced many fine young horses. He died in 1915 and the Government of New South Wales bought his estate and subdivided it into farming blocks for soldiers returning from World War I.[2][1]

The Homestead was built on land that, prior to European settlement, was largely characterised by open eucalypt forest with swamp areas along the river. There are no identified sites of Aboriginal occupation within The Homestead and its near environs. The earliest Europeans to visit the area of modern day Chipping Norton were George Bass and Matthew Flinders, followed by Governor Hunter in 1797. Land grants were made in the area from the late 1790s. The earliest alienation of The Homestead site for European occupation in the late eighteenth century is poorly documented.[1]

One of the first settlers in the area was George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps who received a substantial land grant at the junction of the Georges River and Prospect Creek. Johnston's homestead, George's Hall, was built on a rise overlooking the river. Owing to flooding, a second house was built on the property in the 1830s. Both houses are still extant on the opposite side of the river from The Homestead. Johnston also held land in the area of The Homestead (90 acres). Johnston owned several major properties, including his main property at Annandale, and other holdings at Bankstown, Cabramatta and Lake Illawarra.[1]

Adjoining Johnston's land south of the Georges River, was 85 acres granted to Thomas Rowley, another officer of the NSW Corps, in 1798. Rowley also held land at Bankstown, Petersham, and Liberty Plains (Concord) which was probably his principal residence. Rowley died of consumption in 1806.[1]

On the basis of what is known of Johnston's and Rowley's activities as well as the more general pattern of documented occupation in this period it is unlikely that substantial dwellings were erected on either property. The earliest use of the site, after both grants were cleared, probably was for pasturage and/or agricultural development, grain or hay crops. It is possible that some small huts used by convict workers managing these activities were erected on the properties. There is little or no direct evidence for the use of the specific site of the later area of The Homestead, although the position of the Homestead on a rise above the river makes it a likely potential occupation site in earlier periods.[1]

Rowley's grant passed to Robert Campbell junior by 1822. In 1837 the land was purchased by Samuel Bowler. The use of the site from the 1830s to the 1870s is unknown. It is possible that the land remaining in the Johnston family possession continued to be used in the same manner. Samuel Bowler kept the land for nearly thirty years. This length of time suggests that Bowler was using the property, probably as a farm. In 1865 Bowler sold the former Rowley grant to David Johnston, thus consolidating the two grants at the bend of the Georges River within one family ownership. The Johnston family of The Homestead, Georges Hall retained the land until 1883 when they sold the former Rowley grant to Alfred Smart, who had also acquired the adjoining Johnston grant. Smart sold both properties to William Long in 1884.[1]

The 1890s recession severely affected Long who was forced to mortgage the entire estate by 1899.[1]

The history of the property is then traced following a succession of owners in the early twentieth century to the time when it was associated with the Soldier Settlement Area and subdivided into a series of small farms. At this time block containing The Homestead also had a cottage/office, Bulk Stable with stalls and bails, Coach house and stables, as well as a number of sheds and windmills.[1]

The Homestead was requisitioned for wartime occupation by the military in 1942-43, and became the home of the Fairall family during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1975 The National Trust of Australia (NSW) classified the property for its cultural heritage values.[1]

In 1978, The Homestead was acquired by the NSW Department of Environment and Planning as part of a larger acquisition for the purposes of implementing the Chipping Norton Lakes Scheme. The group was refurbished prior to 1992 with buildings repaired/restored, the landscape "tidied up" and a picket fence erected along the front (northern) boundary. A wishing well "superstructure", constructed of timber with a shingled gable roof and a timber windlass, recorded over the brick cistern in 1992 has been removed.[3][1]

The Homestead was leased as a restaurant and entertainment facility in the early 1990s. The place was added to the surrounding reserve for public recreation in April 1992, when Liverpool City Council as Trust manager for the Reserve became the lessor of the Lease. The lease expired in 1998, at which time Liverpool City Council was reported to be investigating appropriate future uses for The Homestead. The building remains vacant in 2018.[4][1]

The Homestead Group consists of:

1. A late Victorian Italianate style residence of rendered brickwork with attached rear service/accommodation wings,
2. A pair of more recent outbuildings,
3. Remnant planting from earlier landscaping,
4. A small timber garden shed and
5. The site of the former timber stables.[1]

The group is located on level land overlooking the sand mining activities of Lake Moore. The site landscaping comprises areas of grassed lawn scattered in an informal manner with a number of large trees and more recent shrubs and young trees. Early components which remain include pine trees, an olive grove and a number of large peppercorn trees. Interspersed with these, however, are some inappropriate plantings including melaleucas.[5][1]

The Homestead was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

Media related to The Homestead, Chipping Norton at Wikimedia Commons