Monday 13 September 2010

The sound of egos colliding

Hobartville Stud at Richmond
And so ... History Week fades for yet another year, not with a whimper but a bang! And that boom-crash-wallop was the sound of egos colliding in the early colony. Macquarie with Greenway which was grandly reciprocated. Macquarie with Bigge where the better man lost. Greenway with Bigge where the more talented man lost. Greenway with Kitchen where the younger man didn't realise it was a contest! The real winner, as it turned out, is the citizenry of Sydney who probably don't much give a toss!!

Above Left: The Rectory at Windsor; Above Right: the Rectory's stables; Below: St Matthew's Windsor
On Saturday, we bused around the Macquarie Towns checking out St Matthew's at Windsor and its Rectory which is where young Henry Kitchen earned the ire of Greenway for competing for the Governor's patronage. Kitchen literally gave up the ghost.

Then onto 'Hobartville' at Richmond which is attributed to Greenway for all sorts of architectural reasons. It is a stunning setting and really rustic collection of outhouses not generally open to the public. More on that tomorrow. This tour was led by Scott Carlin from the Historic Houses Trust.

We finished our inspections with a wander around Greenlees at Menangle across the river from John MacArthur's Camden estate. The gestation of this building is all very skulduggery with both Kitchen and Greenway involved in the plans and the building of same. But with Kitchen carking it and Greenway generally getting everyone offside, it is a rollicking yarn. Macquarie by this time had been recalled for being too profligate.

Left: Entrance to Hyde Park Barracks; Right: St James from HP Barracks

On Sunday with the pealing of church bells resounding in our ears, we accompanied Robert Griffin, Curator of The Mint, around the Queen's Square precinct at the head of Macquarie Street, where he elaborated on the design 'phases' of the area and the various proposals for a 'haussman-like' makeover, especially after the 1909 Royal Commission. The aim was to gain an understanding of the urban design involved in the siting of Hyde Park Barracks, The Mint (and the original three-winged hospital), St James, and the Supreme Court buildings.

Above: The spire atop St James; Below Left: detail from St James northern wall; Below Right: the vista down to the Supreme Court
I have yet to track down the church and hospital in Liverpool attributed to Greenway and also a private dwelling in Cleveland Street Surry Hills also attributed to Greenway. Lots of other structures designed by Greenway (and often supervised by Greenway who came from a family of buildings from Bristol, and who rode builders something terrible), have gone the way of Whelan-the-wrecker.

Greenlees at Menangle

15 comments:

Stephanie V said...

What a fun tour - and such a lot of great information. Such lovely buildings to see on a sunny day.

Kay L. Davies said...

Beautiful photos, Julie. The sky in the last photo hardly seems real.
And I sent you an e-mail about the other thing.
-- Kay

Julie said...

Thank you, Kaye. I am always open to suggestions like that. I appreciate your thoroughness.

Jayne said...

Thanks for the tour, I may get up to Sydney in person one day *snort*!

Jim said...

So much history to enjoy. The sky was gloriously blue that day.

Ann said...

Hobartville is beautiful. Is it normally open or only by special arrangement. Really like your framing of St James, for some reason I've never thought of that.

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

The tour sounds fascinating. Wonderful old buildings there. Thanks for the historical commentry, it helps create a better feel for what I see.

Peter said...

Beaut Macquarie buildings.

Bill said...

You do have some great buildings in Sydney and you cature them well, Julie. Not long now, eh?

Vicki said...

The blue sky makes the building jump out of the photos. Great shots.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I like Greenway buildings a lot. I remember sitting the park opposite St Matthew's once thinking how much it looked like a Greenway building and found out later that is was indeed so. You saved up the best pic to last ... I've not seen that building before.

Francisca said...

How lovely to be on this historical tour with you through your lens, Julie. You definitely are the Queen of Vibrant with your photos. :-)

Julie said...

Hah! The queen of vibrant. Yes, I guess so. I will alter the photo style setting for France to tone the colours done. Although it is not so much the settings as the fact that when including sky, I notch down by 2 f-stops.

Ann said...

Try a polariser instead, especially in the middle of the day. Though the light in France won't be as strong.

Julie said...

I will talk with Uncle Ted.