Kurkulla

Item details


Name of item:	Kurkulla
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	Homestead building
Location:	Lat: -34.4653282315 Long: 150.4192483650
Primary address:	Evans Lane, Bowral, NSW 2576
Parish:	Mittagong
County:	Camden
Local govt. area:	Wingecarribee
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Illawarra

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
PART LOT	1		DP	1059929
PART LOT	21		DP	787158

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
Evans Lane	Bowral	Wingecarribee	Mittagong	Camden	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
	Private	15 Mar 99

Statement of significance:


	Kurkulla is considered to be an item of the State's environmental heritage due to its historical significance as the home of the late Ada Evans, the first woman to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar and famous for her pioneering work for females in the legal profession in New South Wales, and indeed Australia. Kurkulla is significant within the local community generally as evidence of the towns 19th century residential development and as a contributor to Bowral's important stock of early buildings and townscape features. The building and its setting also has aesthetic significance within the town as a representative example of a late 19th century homestead - this significance being enhanced by the degree to which it has retained original fabric and features but compromised by later unsympathetic alterations, especially to the main elevations (LEP).
	Date significance updated: 15 Jan 99
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Construction years:	1880-1880
Physical description:	Setting and Garden: The homestead is situated on 3 hectares opposite the Mt. Gibraltar (SMH, 5-6/7/14) on a rise close to Bowral township with long views to the north over paddocks and bush. It includes a pond and more informal areas of woodland garden, and a copse of black locust/false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), a popular 19th century farm sheller belt species)(Stuart Read, pers.comm, 7/2014). The property has dual entrances (W.M.Carpenter & Associates, advertisement, 6/2015). A gravel drive approaches the house, which is is flanked by lawns and shrubberies and borders with old-fashioned perennials (e.g. flag iris, Erigeron karvinskianus daisies), roses, smaller shrubs such as Camellia japonica cv.s, hedges of various kinds) and sheltered by tall conifers - a row of Monterey pines (Pinus radiata) to the north, and a large Bunya Bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) near the house. The garden is secluded (Meares, 2013). The grounds include a heated in-ground swimming pool and a tennis court, netted, with a separate guest pavilion overlooking it at one end (Read, Stuart, pers.comm, 10/10/2013, from www.meares.com.au/property/kurkulla/gallery/kurkulla.htm) and with a greenhouse (SMH, 5-6/7/2014). A sheltered, north-facing entertaining area is between the house and a guest studio and deck (ibid, 2015). Homestead: Single storey painted brick residence constructed of hand made (painted) bricks, iron roof, verandah to two (the eastern and northern) sides, three paned french doors (Heritage Council Branch Managers Report 286/86). Built c.1880s (Meares, 2013). Polished timber floors, rooms of excellent proportion, 12' pressed-metal Wunderlich ceilings (ibid, 2015). Has a gable fronted projecting bay on north elevation with an unusual bay window in a segmented circle form. Timber framed verandah has stop chamfered columns with neck mouldings. Verandah floor is tiled. The east elevation also features a projecting porch (timber framed) supported on masonry piers with a pressed metal ceiling (well overgrown with wisteria (W.sinensis)). Later verandah enclosures include use of pressed metal for walls and ceilings. The house is well set back from the road on a site with many mature trees (Monterey pines, Pinus radiata etc)(LEP, added plant names by Read, S., 4/2006). Studio: A newly built self-contained studio is adjacent to the homestead (Meares, 2013).
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Good. The property was restored by architectural practice of Howard Tanner and Associates, with a newly-bulit self-contained studio adjacent to the homestead, an in-ground heated swimming pool and tennis court (now Tanner Kibble Denton)(Meares & associates, 2013).
	Date condition updated:10 Oct 13
Modifications and dates:	Various including extensions to and enclosure of verandahs, installation of new windows, masonry-columned entry porch, etc. (LEP). The property was restored by architectural practice of Howard Tanner and Associates, with a newly-bulit self0contained studio adjacent to the homestead, an in-ground heated swimming pool and tennis court (now Tanner Kibble Denton)(Meares & associates, 2013).
Further information:	For sale 10/2013 auction


Current use:	Residence
Former use:	Aboriginal land, farm, Boarding school, residence

History

Historical notes:

Aboriginal land
Gundungurra or Gandangarra people lived in the Southern Highlands area, which includes Mittagong, for many thousands of years. People who spoke the Gundungurra language lived in the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands and the Goulburn Plains of New South Wales. They lived in small groups of extended family members, who were attached to particular areas of country. After Anglo-European settlers caused displacement of Gundungurra people, they often worked on farms or grazing properties within and adjacent to their traditional land (Di Johnson: 2004 in SHR database 5045486). Gundungurra groups left archaeological evidence of their occupation throughout their traditional lands, including scarred trees where bark was removed for use as a boat or other object, grinding grooves on rocks where axes were ground, and occupation sites which include middens. Well-worn Gundungurra pathways on ridge tops were often the routes used as the first roads by colonists (Di Johnson 2004). Possibly this could have been the origin of the Old South Road which borders part of the Renwick site. (SHR database 5045486).

Gundungurra groups left archaeological evidence of their occupation throughout their traditional homelands, including scarred trees where bark was removed for use as a boat or other object, grinding grooves on rocks where axes were ground, and occupation sites which include middens. Well-worn Gundungurra pathways on ridge tops were often the routes used as the first roads by colonists (Di Johnson, 2004). Possibly this could have been the origin of the Old South Road where the Hassall and Jefferis Cottages are located.

The area is home to the Tharawal and Gungungurra people (Robinson, 2008).

Camden and the Cow Pastures:
The area is associated with the early history of the colony of New South Wales. Governor Hunter named it 'The Cowpastures' after cattle which had strayed from the Farm Cove settlement were discovered there in 1795 (to the south-west of Sydney). Due to the early European settlers, namely the Macarthurs, who established flourishing wool, wine and wheat industries here, the area is said to be the 'birthplace of the nation's wealth' (ibid, 2008).

Colonisation of Bowral and the Great Southern Railway:
John Oxley, Surveyor General (1783-1828) and explorer, was granted land here in 1815 for his exploration activities. The shire was named after the grant which he called 'Wingecarribee'.

1867 was a momentous year. In December, the newly completed railway line from Sydney opened and in anticipation for an influx of people, the owners of the large estates began subdividing, with the first town plots sold in 1863. By the time Moss Vale station opened, the town had a store, postal service and hotel, mainly to cater for the needs of the large number of railway workers and their families who had come to the district. Their small tent communities had sprung up all along the Great Southern Railway line as it forged south to Goulburn. Lewis Levy from Berrima opened the first store, having cannily anticipated the decline in business in Berrima once it was bypassed by the railway. Business people of Sutton Forest saw Moss Vale's potential as the future centre of the district and many of the first land buyers in Moss Vale were Sutton Forest and Berrima people (ibid, 2001, 82).

In 1867 railway line from Sydney opened through Bowral (ibid, 2001, 82). 1870 saw Bowral Station open.

The opening up of the Yarrawa Brush (rainforest area, split up and cleared for farming) in the 1860s - the Robertson, Burrawang and Wilde's Meadow area - added to the importance of the rail head at Moss Vale, which became the district centre for sending produce and other freight to the Sydney market (Emery, 2001, 82).

Kurkulla:
Kurkulla was constructed in the 1880s. The house was originally built as a boarding school for boys but in 1909 it was purchased by Miss Ada Evans and her brother. Both were keen gardeners and transformed it into a self-supporting farm. Ada Evans was born in England on 17 May 1872 and consequently the gardens in the immediate vicinity of the dwelling house have a beautiful and distinctly European flavour.

By 1902 Ada Evans had become Australia's first woman to graduate from the law school at Sydney University, but after applying to the Full Court was refused admission to the Bar, as the law at that time disqualified woman from holding a position. After a determined legal battle, culminating in the Women's Legal Status Act of 1918 which was passed by the Holman Government, she became the first woman in New South Wales to qualify for admission to the Bar but then had to be a student of law for two years. Finally on the 12 May 1921 she became the first woman to be admitted to the Bar in New South Wales, opening up the legal profession here to females for the first time.

The Australian Law Journal of 20 May 1948 described Miss Evans struggle to gain admittance to the Bar as 'heroic pioneering for women in the profession'.

Miss Evans lived in Kurkulla from 1909 until her death in 1947 and undoubtably considered it her home. Evans Lane in which the property stands is named in her honour (Branch Managers Report 286/86).

The property was restored prior to 2006 for then owners Dr. Louella and radiologist Tony Grattan-Smith (Domain, 5-6/7/2014) by the architectural practice of Howard Tanner and Associates, with a newly-buiit self-contained studio adjacent to the homestead, an in-ground heated swimming pool and tennis court (now Tanner Kibble Denton)(Meares & associates, 2013).

The Grattan Smiths sold it in 2006 to investment banker Peter Kennedy (for $4.375m). Kennedy sold it to neurologist Roger Tuck and his wife Leigh in 2011 for $4.25m, following the sale of their Gunning cattle farm Baroon in 2010. The Tucks have put Kurkulla onto the real estate market in 2013 and 2014 (SMH Domain, 5-6/7/2014).

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Cultural: Plains and plateaux supporting human activities-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Changing the environment-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Agriculture-Activities relating to the cultivation and rearing of plant and animal species, usually for commercial purposes, can include aquaculture	Private farming-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Agriculture-Activities relating to the cultivation and rearing of plant and animal species, usually for commercial purposes, can include aquaculture	Clearing land for farming-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	(none)-
7. Governing-Governing	Law and order-Activities associated with maintaining, promoting and implementing criminal and civil law and legal processes	(none)-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ways of life 1900-1950-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ways of life 1950-2000-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ways of life 1850-1900-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living on the urban fringe-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ornamental Garden-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in a rural homestead-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Gardening-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with Ada Evans, first woman to qualify in law and admitted to the Bar-

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Heritage Act	Record converted from HIS events Order Under Section 57(2) to exempt the following activities from Section 57(1): (1) The maintenance of any building or item on the site where maintenance means the continuous protective care of existing material; and (2) all horticultural management including the repair and maintenance of existing fences, gates and garden walls.	Oct 9 1987
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	HERITAGE ACT 1977 ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) TO GRANT STANDARD EXEMPTIONS FROM APPROVAL I, Penny Sharpe, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales and under section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977: revoke the order made on 2 June 2022 and published in the Government Gazette Number 262 of 17 June 2022; and grant an exemption from section 57(1) of the Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out the class of activities described in clause 2 Schedule A in such circumstances specified by the relevant standards in clause 2 Schedule A and General Conditions in clause 3 Schedule A. This Order takes effect on the date it is published in the NSW Government Gazette. Dated this 29th day of October 2025 The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC Minister for Heritage For more information on standard exemptions click on the link below.	Nov 7 2025

Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register	00503	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - Permanent Conservation Order - former	00503	09 Oct 87	159	5765
Local Environmental Plan	1989	12 Jan 90	007	00288

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Meares & Associates	2013	Auction Notice: ' Kurkulla' Bowral, Southern Highlands, New South Wales	View detail
Written	Tanner & Associates	1998	Kurkulla Evans Lane, Bowral : heritage impact statement

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage NSW
Database number:	5045130
File number:	S91/02179 & KHC 86/0838

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