Moonby House

Item details


Name of item:	Moonby House
Other name/s:	Moonbi Retirement Homes
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	House
Location:	Lat: -31.0429329722 Long: 151.0629863180
Primary address:	New England Highway, Kootingal, NSW 2352
Parish:	Moonbi
County:	Inglis
Local govt. area:	Tamworth Regional
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Tamworth

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
PART LOT	73		DP	237123
PART LOT	78		DP	237123

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
New England Highway	Kootingal	Tamworth Regional	Moonbi	Inglis	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
Freemasons Institution of NSW	Community Group	16 Mar 99

Description


Designer/Maker:	A.A.Dickson, architect
Builder/Maker:	Prince & Young, builders (and sub-contractors: painting, plastering, plumbing, bricklaying)
Construction years:	1895-1896
Physical description:	Site and context: It is well-sited with views across the countryside to the Moonbi Ranges (NTA (NSW), 1974). Moonby House is now located within a retirement village (EJE, 2001). Driveway: Moonby House has a long driveway leading onto Churchill Drive, included as part of its curtilage. Garden and Grounds: The house has a surrounding garden and mown 'park', which includes a cemetery area downhill c150m to the north. A wide paved walk runs from the house, across the carriage drive to a circular paved area, flanked by two flag poles (Stuart Read, from 2008 photographs, Magoffin & Deakin). Trees appear from 2008 photographs to include Southern nettle (Celtis australis), oleander (Nerium oleander), either stone pine (Pinus pinea) or Aleppo pine (P.halapensis),silky oak (Grevillea robusta), bottlebrush (Callistemon sp.) and eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp.)(Stuart Read, pers.comm., 9/1/2018). Cemetery: Includes the grave (or possibly only monument) to John Gill (1823-89) and wife Mary Jane (1832-69) with inscriptions also on the memorial column to Robert Alfred Orville Gill (1855-1906). Betty Kathleen, eldest daughter of Robert & Fanny Gill (1884-89) and Alice Emily Gill (1857-59). There are also three additional small headstones. The monuments are in the mown grass 'park', with several mature trees, bounded by a post and wire fence which is taken as the boundary of the house curtilage (Magoffin & Deakin, 2008, 2). Buildings: House (1895-6) Moonby House is representative of the development of the pastoral expansion of the Parry Shire, and an outstanding example of a pastoral manor house in Federation Filigree (EJE, 2001) / Victorian Italianate style (Magoffin & Deakin, 2008, 2). A substantial, well-detailed house featuring an interesting transitional architectural style (NTA (NSW), 1974). Stables Block: Included in the curtilage (but not in the CMP) south of the house is a single storey (and attic) brick building which was a coach-house/stables, currently used as a meeting room (Magoffin & Deakin, 2008, 2).


Current use:	Seniors retirement village
Former use:	Aboriginal land, timber-getting, pastoral station

History

Historical notes:

Through the process of "squatting" on Crown Land, squatters had occupied most of the Peel Valley and adjacent Moonbi ranges by the late 1830s (EJE, 2001).

By 1848 Henry Dangar had formed the "Moonbi" run of 10,240 hectares. Dangar was Company Surveyor for the Australian Agricultural Company and was the influencing factor in convincing Edward Parry (company agent for the Australian Agricultural Company) to exchange the coastal and mountainous lands at Port Stephens for the better pastoral lands of the Peel Valley (ibid, 2001).

The lease was acquired from Dangar by Dr John Gill in 1855. Later that year he purchased 294 hectares straddling Moonbi Creek, between Moonbi and Kootingal, this included the site of the current Masonic Retirement Cetnre. Gill's son, John Maunder Webb Gill was born later in1855, in the original house known as 'Moonby'. LMW Gill went to England for his tertiary education and didn not return to Moonby; he died in 1935 (Magoffin & Deakin, 2008, 3).

The original house known as 'Moonby' (presumably built 1855) was on the Moonby Creek flats, it had timber floors with some timber slab and some brick external walls, sawn-pine internal walls and timber-framed shingle roof, subsequently covered with corrugated iron; it eventually contained sixteen rooms and a detached kitchen block. It is not known how much of the house was completed while Dr Gill lived there (ibid, 2008, 3).

The land was leased in 1858 by John Gill (no relation of Dr John Gill). John Gill eventually extended his pastoral holding to 114,000 acres in the Tamworth, New England and Liverpool Plains areas. He was a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly from 1882-85. He died in Armidale in 1889 (ibid, 2008, 3).

The term 'villa' was first used in England in the 17th century, partly from the Latin and Italian 'country house, farm', perhaps derived from the stem of vicus (village). The villa was a country mansion or residence, together with a farm, farm-buildings, or other house attached, built or occupied by a person of some position and wealth. It was taken to include a country seat or estate and later a residence in the country or in the neighbourhood of a town, usually standing in its own grounds. From this is was appropriated by the middleof the 18th century to mean a residence of a superior type, in the suburbs of a town or in a residential district, such as that occupied by a person of the middle class, and also a small, better-class dwelling house, usually detached or semi-detached. The term 'villa garden' was used in the context of Hobart and Sydney residences in the 1830s, and if near the coast or harbour, the appellation 'marine villa' was often applied. Australian origins probably date from the grant conditions applied to Sydney's Woolloomooloo Hill (1827, under Governor Darling), which obligated the construction of villas fulfilling certain conditions... 'with garden like domain, and external offices for stables and domestic economy' (John Buonarotti Papworth, 1825, quoted in James Broadbent's 1997 book, 'The Australian Colonial House'). Many gardens of 19th century villas followed Gardenesque conventions, with garden ornaments often complementing the architecture of the house. The term had acquired such widespread usage by the 1850s that when Jane Loudon issued a new editiion of her husband (John Claudius Loudon)'s 'Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion' (1838) she merely entitled the revised work 'The Villa Gardener' (1850). This coincided with a growing period of suburbanisation in Australia with consequent fostering of the nursery trade... By the 1880s, descriptions of Australian villas implied sufficient room for a lawn on two or three fronts of the residence...(Aitken, 2002, 619-20).

Pastoral runs were open range country, with a head station that was the heart of the enterprise. Moonby House was erected by the Gill family, which had made their money both from mail contracting and from pastoralism. This was the expression of that wealth at the end of the nineteenth century. Robert Alfred Orvill Gill built the (second) house in 1895/96, of double brick made near the river, on the property Tangelwood (ibid, 2001). It was completed by 11/12/1895 for Robert Alfred Orville Gill, son of John Gill, and Robert's wife, Frances. It was designed by Mr A.A. Dickson architect and built by Prince and Young Builders, with sub-contract work by Turton & Co. (painting and plumbing), Mr Herbert (plastering) and WIlliam Collier (bricklaying) (ibid, 2008, 3).

In 1939 part of the then Keith Gill Estate had been sold and in 1946, on instructions of the Perpetual Trustee Company, auctioneers Lowlock and King sold six further lots including Lot 4, 867 acres which contained the two-storey house, 14 paddocks and a three-stand woolshed (ibid, 2008, 3).

The first Moonby House, on the Moonby Creek flats, was apparently demolished in about the 1960s (ibid, 2008, 3).

In 1970 Charles Wilkinson sold the property to Artificial Breeders International P/L of Victoria (ibid, 2008, 3), who restored the house and made it the administrative office headquarters of a cattle artificial insemination centre (ibid, 2001). The house was converted to offices, laboratories and accommodation; a cottage and cattle yards were also built (ibid, 2008, 3).

In 1977 the Masonic Lodge conceived to change it to a retirement village. In 1978 the Freemasons Benevolent Institution of NSW purchased the property to establish the Northern Inland Masonic Retirement Centre - as a residential aged care facility. At the time of the study Moonby house was still being utilised for that purpose (ibid, 2001).

The current Aged Care Hostel and associated facilities was subsequently built. In 1984 twenty new self-care units, 'John Oxley Court' were opened, on the access road west of Moonby House. In 1988 the Northern Inland Masonic Lodge Retirement Centre (NIMRC) made Moonby House its administrative headquarters (ibid, 2008, 4).

In 2002 a new Dementia Care HOstel was built east of the hostel building (ibid, 2008, 4).

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.	Other open space-
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.	Gardens-
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.	Introduce cultural planting-
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	Agroforesty-
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	Attempting to transplant European farming practices to Australian environments-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Significant Places: How are significant places marked in the landscape of Parramatta by, or for, different groups?-Monuments and Sites
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Developing local, regional and national economies-National Theme 3
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and parklands of distinctive styles-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and gardens of domestic accommodation-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes of institutions - productive and ornamental-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Events-Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurences	Developing local landmarks-
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.	Country Homes-
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.	Adapted heritage building or structure-
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.	Farm homestead-
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.	Housing the prosperous - mansions in town and country-
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.	Housing for farm and station hands-
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.	Housing farming families-
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.	Gentlemens Mansions-
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.	Pastoral Homestead-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Changing land uses - from rural to suburban-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Sub-division of large estates-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Early farming (Cattle grazing)-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with the Hon. Henry Dangar MLA, Government Surveyor 1820s+, Colonial politician 1845-51-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with the Gill family, graziers-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with Robert Alfred Orvill Gill, mail contractor and grazier-

Recommended management:


	Section G of Magoffin & Deakin's 2008 CMP addresses management in detail in five sections.

Recommendations

Management Category	Description	Date Updated
Recommended Management	Review a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Recommended Management	Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Recommended Management	Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) OF THE HERITAGE ACT 1977 Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977. I, the Hon James Griffin MP, Minister for Environment and Heritage, pursuant to subsection 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales do by this Order, effective at the time of publication in the New South Wales Government Gazette: 1. revoke the order made on 9 November 2020 and published in the Government Gazette Number 318 of 13 November 2020; and 2. grant the exemptions from subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977 that are described in the attached Schedule. The Hon James Griffin MP Minister for Environment and Heritage Signed this 2nd day of June 2022. To view the standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977 click on the link below.	Jun 17 2022

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 Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register		00061	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - Permanent Conservation Order - former		00061	24 Sep 82	129	4486
Local Environmental Plan			16 Oct 87
National Trust of Australia register	NTA (NSW) Country Register	4086	11 Feb 74

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Parry Heritage Study	2001	KOO-001A	EJE Heritage P/L	EJE	Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written			Objections made to the proposal to make a permanent conservation order in respect of the buildings (being the house and former stables), known as 'Moonby House'
Written	Aitken, Richard	2002	Villa Garden (entry)	View detail
Written	Ferry, J., (2001)	1988	Parry Shire Thematic History - The Changing Scenes of Kootingal ...to 1988
Written	Magoffin & Deakin Pty Ltd.	2008	Conservation management plan for Moonby House, New England Highway, Kootingal

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:	5045526
File number:	EF14/5709; HC32073; S90/6189

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