| Historical notes: | INDIGENOUS OCCUPATION
The lower Hawkesbury was home to the Dharug people. The proximity to the Nepean River and South Creek qualifies it as a key area for food resources for indigenous groups (Proudfoot, 1987).
The Dharug and Darkinjung people called the river Deerubbin and it was a vital source of food and transport (Nichols, 2010).
NON-INDIGENOUS OCCUPATION
Governor Arthur Phillip explored the local area in search of suitable agricultural land in 1789 and discovered and named the Hawkesbury River after Baron Hawkesbury. This region played a significant role in the early development of the colony with European settlers established here by 1794. Situated on fertile floodplains and well known for its abundant agriculture, Green Hills (as it was originally called) supported the colony through desperate times. However, frequent flooding meant that the farmers along the riverbanks were often ruined.
1794: The study area covering allotments at 23 through to 39 North Street, Windsor, is located on land first alienated for European purposes in a grant made by Francis Grose of thirty acres to Samuel Wilcox, who named it Wilcox Farm. It is likely that land clearance and agricultural activities as well as some building works took place during this period and during the subsequent of occupation;
early 19th century: Former Wilcox Farm was incorporated into a larger holding of 1500 acres known as Peninsula Farm.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie replaced Governor Bligh, taking up duty on 1/1/1810. Under his influence the colony propsered. His vision was for a free community, working in conjunction with the penal colony. He implemented an unrivalled public works program, completing 265 public buildings, establishing new public amenities and improving existing services such as roads. Under his leadership Hawkesbury district thrived. He visited the district on his first tour and recorded in his journal on 6/12/1810: 'After dinner I chrestened the new townships...I gave the name of Windsor to the town intended to be erected in the district of the Green Hills...the township in the Richmond district I have named Richmond...' the district reminded Macquarie of those towns in England, whilst Castlereagh, Pitt Town and Wilberforce were named after English statesmen. These are often referred to as Macquarie's Five Towns. Their localities, chiefly Windsor and Richmond, became more permanent with streets, town square and public buildings.
Macquarie also appointed local men in positions of authority. In 1810 a group of settlers sent a letter to him congratulating him on his leadership and improvements. It was published in the Sydney Gazette with his reply. He was 'much pleased with the sentiments' of the letter and assured them that the Haweksbury would 'always be an object of the greatest interest' to him (Nichols, 2010).
In marking out the towns of Windsor and Richmond in 1810, Governor Macquarie was acting on instructions from London. All of the Governors who held office between 1789 and 1822, from Phillip to Brisbane, recieved the same Letter of Instruction regarding the disposal of the 'waste lands of the Crown' that Britain claimed as her own. This included directives for the formation of towns and thus the extension of British civilisation to its Antipodean outpost (Proudfoot 1987, 7-9).
1840s: A plan prepared for the auction of Peninsula Farm estate shows that the study area adjoined a large holding of fenced and cultivated paddocks, with ricks of hay standing on them. There appear to have been several buildings associated with these paddocks. One of these structures, a small square building labelled "new hut", stood at the back of the later allotment 18, behind 37-39 North Street. This was labelled the "rick yard", that is, a storage yard associated with the fields near-by.
1840s: Peninsula Farm was subdivided, with lots along North Street, Windsor, being developed throughout the nineteenth century (North Street named for Lieutenant Samuel North). It is likely this development was primarily residential in nature. 37-39 North Street was Allotment 18 of the Peninsula Farm Subdivision and was owned by Charles Campbell.
1842: Allotment 18 purchased by John Shearing (who also purchased 35 North Street in 1842 and 31-33 North Street in 1843)
1842-1846: the extant building was constructed by Shearing as a dwelling and hotel, called the Peninsula Hotel. Traveller's hotels traditionally required out-buildings such as stables and possibly a coach house.
1846: Shearing sold the property, including the dwelling house, to Uriah Moses, a shopkeeper.
1846-1848: The first publican's licence was granted for the Court House Hotel. The Court House refers to the 1820s Greenway-designed court house along the road; the inn is said to have provided accommodation for the visiting magistrates and officials attending the court.
1861: After further changes of ownership, the property was sold to Thomas Chaseling, who used it as a private residence for some time.
1870s: Property possibly reverted to use as a public house (reported to have been kept by Robert Leddra as the Court House Hotel in 1877)
1880s: The building has come into use as one of several private schools in the Windsor District (known as a girls' High School)
early 20th century: The building is said to have been divided in half with a family in each half.
1922: Thomas Chaseling willed the properties at 37-39 and 35 North Street to Thomasina Smith.
C1930: A Windsor drainage plan shows what may have been a small double earth closest or privy on the back, northern fence line and another small building on the boundary with 35 North Street.
1945: Thomasina Smith willed the properties to her five daughters, who subsequently sold them to Thelma Mullinger where they stayed in the ownership of the Mullinger family for many years.
1974: Properties at 37-39 and 35 North Street were sold to John Fisher, who sold the properties one month later to the National Trust of Australia (NSW)
1976: The National Trust of Australia (NSW) classified the property and undertook substantial repairs and renovations returning , what had been subdivided into two flats, to a single dwelling
1978: The small double earth closest or privy on the back, northern fence line and another small building on the boundary with 35 North Street, present in the 1930s, were demolished by 1978 when a survey shows only a "rough timber shed" at the back of the property.
Present: 37-39 North Street is in private ownership. |