| Historical notes: | The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora Country". Within the City of Sydney local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the Dharug language. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters.
With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today. All cities include many immigrants in their population. Aboriginal people from across the state have been attracted to suburbs such as Pyrmont, Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe and Redfern since the 1930s. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney.
(Information sourced from Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani )
In March 1814 Governor Macquarie made a grant of land in Macquarie Street to Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice O’Connell, the Commanding Officer of the 73rd Regiment and Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of NSW. Whether this grant had been intended as the site for a residence for the officer commanding the NSW garrison is not known. The location was unusual for a residence as it was situated between the General Hospital (under construction) and the Light Horse Barracks. O’Connell’s was the first of only four grants made to private individuals in an area, the rest of which was devoted to government purposes. In June 1823 O’Connell sold his allotment to John Wylde, the deputy Judge advocate for 200 pounds suggesting that Wylde bought an empty block. Wylde also acquired the grant on the Macquarie Street frontage immediately to the south of the Light Horse Barracks, solving the problem of access to the site. In 1831 both allotments were sold to William Charles Wentworth for 960 pounds, the price reflecting that there was a building on the Macquarie Street frontage. Wentworth proceeded to subdivide the land into fifteen allotments and put them up for sale in May 1835. The subdivision also included an access road from Macquarie Street which turned to run parallel with the Domain frontage. This road was later called Domain Terrace. The owner who consolidated the block on which Richmond Villa was built was the Solicitor George John Rogers, a partner of William Carr (who purchased the land).
From 1851 until 1893 the house, designed by Mortimer Lewis, fronting the Domain was a family residence, first for resident owners and then for twenty years from the mid 1870s under lease. Originallyt owned and developed by Lewis, he became insolvent during the works in 1849. He continued to oversee the structure on behald of the new owner. In March 1851 the Villa, which had been lately erected, was sold by George Rogers to Samuel Peek for 2,200 pounds. Peek, grocer, importer, city councillor and radical resided in the house for only two years. In 1853 he sold the property to Josiah Lavers for 5,000 pounds, an increase in value of over 200%. Lavers owned and resided in the house for ten years and in December 1863 the house was sold for 4,350 pounds to James Williams, widower with four children, who lived at Richmond Villa until his death in 1872. The property was then managed by Williams trustees and leased in 1876 for a period of five years to George Neville Griffiths. Griffiths, a founder of the firm Griffiths & Weaver, stock and station agents, was a member of the Legislative Assembly for East Sydney from 1882 to 1885 and so resided close to the house. Despite its resumption in 1879, Richmond Villa remained as the Griffith’s residence, held on short term lease until 1893.
From 1893 until 1975 Richmond Villa was used as an annexe of Parliament House. From September 1893 until October 1906 one of the ground floor rooms of the house was used as the Parliament libraries book storage while the rest of the house was used as the Librarian’s quarters. Although the new Parliamentary Library called Jubilee Library was opened in 1906, Richmond Villa continued to be used for storage of part of the library until 1910. From 1912 until the 1930s alterations were undertaken to the house. Plans for alterations in 1912 show the two large rooms on the ground floor as Speaker’s Room and Dining Room and the upstairs arrangements as largely residential but with one of the bedrooms for use as a drawing room. New windows were inserted in the north and south walls on the ground floor, the back stairs removed, electric light installed and the main rooms redecorated. The 1918 plans however appear to contradict the removal of the back stairs. By 1932 the Country Party was using the two large ground floor rooms as offices and by 1935 the Party acquired the upstairs rooms as offices with accommodation for typists and a room for the leader of the Country Party. By 1950 the offices on the upper floor were converted into sleeping premises for ten politicians with office, kitchen and bathroom facilities. While the back of the house was much altered by an agglomeration of buildings and a covered way, the garden in the front of the house was maintained into the 1950s until it was later removed and used for a parking space.
In 1975 when it was found impossible to retain Richmond Villa within the proposed development for additions to Parliament House, it was decided to move the building to a new location. Its new site was on the east side of Kent Street, where the Villa was carefully taken apart at the end of 1975 and re-erected in 1976-1977. It was reopened in 1978 as the headquarters of the Society of Australian Genealogists to whom the building was leased by the government for 50 years. |