Main Street 23 Willaston
| Place type: | Building |
|---|---|
| Address: | 23 Main Street |
| Town or Locality: | Willaston |
DESCRIPTION:
This grand, double-fronted, Federation-era cottage is elevated from the street level on a generous landscaped allotment. It is constructed of coursed bluestone, with red brick quoins and dressings, with side walls of rubble sandstone, brought to course and tuck-pointed. The roof is hipped and clad with corrugated metal with skillion addition to rear and gabled pergolas to the north and east. Chimneys are red face brick with moulded caps. The cottage features a return verandah to both sides of the dwelling and a central gablet, clad with corrugated metal and supported on turned timber posts with cast-iron frieze and corner brackets. The façade has a central timber-framed door with fanlight, with timber-framed, double-hung windows to either side. The verandah is accessed by central splayed steps flanked by low rendered side walls. A modern rendered masonry fence, with moulded red brick piers and capping with aluminium palisade, defines the street boundaries.
STATEMENT OF HERITAGE VALUE:
Likely constructed in the late 1800s to early 1 900s, this dwelling is significant as a portion of the early 1858 subdivision of Willaston, demonstrating the early pattern of generous allotments through its substantial set back from the street. The high-quality workmanship of the dwelling, as well as the fine local stone and cast-iron detailing, are in excellent condition and are significant as example of a dwelling of this typology and scale in Willaston. Possibly built for members of the prominent Gwynne family, the dwelling is a significant in its association with the early settlement and community of Willaston. The quality in its craftsmanship, materiality and detailing, and its association with prominent figures, reflect the prominence of the setting along the Main Street of Willaston.
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
John Reid, one of the original purchases of the Special Survey, took up several of the larger allotments on both sides of the river. Reid arrived at Gawler with his family in South Australia in early 1839, and soon established his home station ‘Clonlea’ on the banks of the North Para River. Reid suffered a series of unfortunate losses and had mortgaged his property to William Paxton, a Hindley Street chemist who had made a fortune from the Burra copper mines. Paxton eventually foreclosed on the debt leaving Reid with the homestead and 40 acres of his original 630 acre landholding. In 1848 Paxton laid out a new township on Section 1 of Reid’s former sheep run on the northern side of the North Para River, naming it Willaston after a place where he had lived in England. Thomas Greaves built the first Willaston Hotel near the bridge over the North Para River in 1849 and also established a camping ground for mule teams from the Burra Mines, alongside. Willaston retained its own separate character and developed its own shops and industries, and within a few years had grown to be the largest village after Gawler itself.
The population of the northern township of Willaston grew considerably (from 381 to 555) and the number of dwellings increased from 84 to 121 in the period between the 1901 and 1911 censuses and to 151 by 1928. The disposition of the population in and around Willaston was by 1928 more scattered, but within Willaston was also more concentrated as a number of allotments were further subdivided. John Reid is described in an obituary in the local Bunyip newspaper as the “Father of Willaston” for his contributions and participation within the community.
Industry in Willaston remained centred around the brickyards of William Weaver (later William Gouger) and the nearby lime kilns operated by George Eyers (later Luxon and Dracker), William Rendell, A.C. Edson and Ayling and Dwyer and there was little new commercial activity; Coombe's general store continued to predominate and only two new shops and a blacksmiths shops were established between 1900 and 1928, all along Main Street.
Although the date of its construction is unknown, the earliest Certificate of Title indicates ownership of the property by Mary Ann Gwynne wife of Evan Gwynne, an artisan in 1906, and its transfer in that same year to Johann Willhelm Kurtz, farmer of Roseworthy. At this time, the property included the whole of allotment 11, which extended to Drury Street.
The subdivision of the allotment dates to 1970.
Please <click here> to view photos of 23 Main Street Willaston.
Related Articles
References
- LTO Certificate of Title CT 748/149
- "OBITUARY." Bunyip 3 May 1935: 10. Web.
- "SERVICE TO WILLASTON" News 9 July 1927: 4 (SPORTING EDITION).
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