FLINDERSUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

ARCH2002: AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH INTO SECTION 31

HUNDRED OF ONKAPARINGA

COUNTY OF ADELAIDE

LECTURER / TUTOR: Dr HEATHER BURKE

STUDENT: JOHN VENUS

The land comprising section 31 in the Hundred of Onkaparingain the region known as the ‘New Tiers’ was first placed on the official records following its survey by Corporal Young of the Royal Sappers and Miners Corps towards the end of 1850. His work was later transferred,in the Adelaide Survey Office, from his field book to a formal plan dated 22nd January 1851

(See Appendix 1 for section copy).This appears to have been the first survey undertaken in the area. Young indicates in his field book (Book 37, page 38, see Appendix 2) that he began the survey by marking a ‘large gumtree’ on the corner of the land comprising section 31 and what would later be known as the Greenhill Road. From this point he surveyed the boundaries of a road reserve which effectively divided the land and formed the two sections, 30 on the western side and 31 on the eastern. This reserve is now known as Rangeview Roadand connects the Greenhill Road at Carey Gully ‘township’ area to the towns of Bridgewater and Stirling, some six kilometres away. At the time of this initial survey the general area was known as ‘Paddy Carey’s Gully’ with some records bearing the name ‘Paddy Carey’s Ridge’.

As an aside, the inscription on the war memorial still reads ‘Carey’s Gully’. Patrick (Paddy) Carey was a timber splitter who lived in what was little more than a humpy down in the gully to the west of this road reserve. As the road ran along the top of the ridge which formed the Eastern side of the gully it was sometimes listed as ‘Paddy Carey’s Ridge’. The Adelaide Register of 1893 bears an article describing this man and his abode.

It [Carey’s Gully] is named after a man called “Paddy Carey”, a splitter of 40 years ago. He was the first to settle here. His hut was constructed of sheets of bark propped in tent-shaped fashion against the bending stem of a sapling. His sawpit near the hut was for many years afterwards a landmark. (Adelaide Register 1893)

Section 31 was advertised for sale, along with a list of other Crown Lands, by the government ‘…by public auction, at the Court-House, Adelaide… 8th May, at 11o’clock, in the Court House, Adelaide.’ (AdelaideRegister, May 8, 1851).Some pieces, including section 31 are listed as ‘waste land’. It was listed as lot number 5664 and described as comprising 56 acres with a price setat 56 pounds (Sterling) – one pound per acre. Also listed as lot number 5663 was section 30 adjoining section 31 but separated by the ‘new’ road reserve surveyed by Young. This larger piece of land comprised some 87 acres and was priced at 87 pounds. It was purchased at the sale by a ‘John Cooke’. This connection has not been pursued for the purposes of this paper.

The following day’s report states that due to a change of arrangements in the courts that morning the sale was of necessity conducted ‘…in the hall of the Supreme Court, a little after the usual hour. The attendance was not numerous…’ (Register, 1851).The report continues in criticism of the venue. ‘…the faulty acoustics alleged against the architectural arrangements of the hall being very annoyingly perceptible, the task of the reporters for the public press was more than usually difficult.’ (Register, 1851). This difficulty possibly explains how both sections 30 and 31 are recorded as having been purchased by ‘John Cooke’ whereas the real purchaser of section 31 was Richard Cook. The original Land Grant issued to Richard Cook has been discovered and copied for the purposes of this project. He is listed as ‘Richard Cook of Macgill (sic), Labourer’ and was granted the land upon payment of 56 pounds and one shilling. The document is signed by Charles Sturt, then Colonial Secretaryin South Australiaand dated the 12th of June 1851. A plan of the land which corresponds to the survey drawing by Corporal Young and the plan in the Survey Office diagram book of 22nd January 1851, forms portion of the grant document. (See Appendix 3 - detail copy)

Richard Cook was born in Devon, England, circa 1812. He was listed as an ‘Agricultural Labourer’ and aged 37 when he arrived in Adelaide in company with a wife aged 43(name unknown)on board the ship, Sir Edward Parry (Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885). This ship of 575 tons left Plymouth on 20th March 1849 and arrived in Adelaide 21st June 1849. The Cooks were accompanied by an un-named child (daughter) aged 12 years and a daughter, Mary, aged 9. They travelled as government sponsored emigrants in the steerage (the shipslist.com).No further mention of the un-named child can be found so it must be assumed she died. This avenue has not been pursued.

On the other hand the daughter Mary Cook, who at age 19, married James McRostie on 28th April 1857 at the Bible Christian Chapel, Bowden, Adelaide, (SA Marriage Registrations 1842-1916) was ‘sold’ ‘…16 acres of the southern portion of the abovementioned section [31]’ by her father on 13th November 1858 for the sum of one shilling (Lands Document no 132). As an interesting aside the contract was originally written to James McRostie but the name James has been ruled out and the name of Mary written above. One may possibly question the relationships between father and son-in-law(See Appendix 4).

James and Mary McRostie are recorded as having their first child on the 18th May 1858 ‘near Gumeracha’ indicating their probable residence in the Adelaide Hills (The Tiers). Their next four children, born between 1866 and 1874 were all born at MountGambier so it is obvious that the young family moved to that area. There are now numerous McRosties in the South East area and a phone call to Vivian McRostie at Tantanoola verified that they are indeed descended from James McRostie and Mary Cook. Although there is recordedtheburial of a Richard Cook on 1st November 1882 in the Mount Gambier West cemetery it has not been possible, given the focus of this report, to verify if that was in fact the Richard Cook who purchased section 31 (See Appendix 5 & 6).

When the East Torrens District Council was formed in 1853, Section 31 at ‘Paddy Carey’s Gully’ fell within its boundaries. The first assessment of 1853 lists Section 31 as owned by Richard Cooke (sic) and describes it as 56 acres of land with a slab house of two rooms. The valuation was put at eleven pounds. Rates were set at one shilling in the pound (Book of assessment for the District Council of East Torrens 1853, p112).

The Real Property (or Torrens Title) Act of 1858 (assented to 27th January 1858) changed the way property was officially recorded. Richard Cook’s Land Grant of 1851 was cancelled in lieu of a new Torrens Title (Vol 7 Folio 105) on 13th November 1858 (note on original Land Grant of 1851).This Title was later cancelled and Cook received a new certificate of Title, Vol 8 Folio 216 dated 21st November 1859.

By 30th June 1859 Cook had progressed to a ‘Stone hut and garden’ with five acres arable, 34 acres fenced and 26 acres open forest. The value had risen dramatically to 29 pounds attracting a rate of one pound and five shillings which was paid on 4th April 1859. The entry for 1860 poses a problem as, whilst listing the value still at 29 pounds and the improvements as a house rather than a ‘hut’ with garden, the area is listed as 65 acres. It is possible that this is an error of the clerk who entered the figures. The rates of one pound and nine shillings were paid on 28th June 1860. This two roomed ‘stone hut’ and subsequent house formthe originalcore room of the present housesituated on the property (Assessment Books East Torrens District Council).

The assessment of 1867 still carries the 65 acre listing which is felt to be in error but has not been thoroughly checked for this paper. The entry shows a stone house, garden and four acres of arable land with 65 (?) acres of fenced land. Valuation is put at thirty pounds. Rates of one pound ten shillings were paid on 10th December 1867. It is worth noting that by this time the property was listed as being at ‘Carey’s Gully’, the name of ‘Paddy’ having been dropped (Assessment Books East Torrens District Council).

Some confusion is felt at this point as there is no doubt that Richard Cook ‘sold’ 16 acres of the original 56 to his daughter in November 1858 yet almost ten years later the council assessment still shows him as owning the whole section or at least being listed in the assessment book as such. There is no mention in the assessment books of the name McRostie. Further investigation will be required to discover the reason for this.

In the assessment of 1871 it is recorded that Richard Cook owned 40 acres with a hut, one acre of garden and 39 acres of timber land. Value was only eighteen pounds and the rates of eighteen shillings were paid on 10th January 1871. This amount of land (40 acres), if combined with the 16 sold to his daughter, makes the original 56. But also listed under section 31 for this year is 25 acres owned by what appears to be (writing very difficult to decipher) a Robert Cooke (?) jnr. Here we have 5 acres of arable land and 25 acres of timber. Value was twelve pounds and the rates of twelve shillings were paid on 8thApril 1871.It is suspected that this 30 acres was in fact part of section 30 but confirmation has not been ascertained. Comment has been made by people involved in maintaining some of the records searched that the old records can sometimes be quite unreliable exhibiting misspellings and incorrect figures.

On the 8th December 1863 Richard Cook sold a small portion of the land being 181 feet 6 inches square and comprising 3 roods to a group of seven men, including himself, for the sum of five shillings. This land is described in Volume 46 Folio 136 and was used to build a Bible Christian (Methodist)chapel. This building still stands on the corner of Greenhill and Rangeview Roadsand is now a private dwelling. It was, however used as a church until 1985 when the funeral of a local man, Ross Badenoch, was conducted there. In 1986 the final service was held in conjunction with the South Australian sesquicentenary celebrations.Regular Sunday services were also discontinued in 1985. Copy of a photograph made around 1914 is attached (courtesy of Mrs M Elliott of Carey Gully). This date can be ascertained by noting that the picket fencewas removed in 1915 and the rooms to the western side of the original building were erected in 1912 (see Appendix 7). These facts were revealed as a result of an interview with long time Carey Gully resident Mrs M (Barbara) Elliott.

In Volume 46Folio 137, dated 8th December, 1863,Richard Cook, Gardener, is recorded as owning 40 acres which would be the original 56 acres less the 16 acres given to his daughter and the small parcel (3 roods) bought by the group to erect the chapel. It is noted that often the land area descriptions are approximate.

On 5th October 1860 Cook raised a mortgage for one hundred pounds to William Wadham, a land agent, of Adelaide. He paid 15% interest on the money. The mortgage was discharged on 7th February 1865 when a new mortgage for sixty seven pounds fourteen shillings and seven pence requiring 12.5% interest and redeemable on 7thFebruary 1867 was negotiated with Samuel James Way Esq (later Sir) of Adelaide. This was discharged on 21st December 1867.

In 1876 Cook is credited with the ownership of a house, garden and land totalling 31 acres and valued at eighteen pounds. Rates were still one shilling in the pound and were paid on 8th February1876.

Certificate of Title Volume 114 Folio 186 of 19th May 1868, records that ‘Richard Cook of Mount Lofty Gardener’ owns a portion of section 31. The land is described in detail and is the portion of the section which is the specific subject of this paper.Cook sold this portion of section 31 to Robert Jarrett the elder, of Carey Gully, gardener, on the 26th July 1876.

Robert Jarrett(c.1823-1909) arrived from Kent in 1849 [same year as Richard Cook] on the Stebonheath, with his wife Emma (nee Jull) and daughter Eliza. The Jarretts had a family of six daughters and five sons. Robert had two brothers at Carey’s Gully, Charles and Thomas Richard (1826-86). Charles was accidentally killed en route to the Victorian goldfields in January 1852. The Jarretts’ sons William Thomas and Albert Charles continued to work the property. (Hallack 1987)

In 1879 Robert Jarrett is recorded as owning 60 acres containing two houses, gardens and timber land which included both sections 30 and 31. The value is put at thirty six pounds ten shillings (East Torrens Council Assessment Books).In 1881 this value had risen to forty eight pounds ten shillings. Robert Jarrett the elder registered a lease over this portion of section 31 but including other property, to William Thomas Jarrett and Albert Charles Jarrett for ten years from the first of June 1883. When that lease expired in 1893 he registered another lease to Albert Charles Jarrett for a term of thirty years. Then on the second November 1905 the title was transferred from Robert Jarrett the elder to Albert Charles Jarrett. A mortgage registration to the State Bank of SA immediately followed. Simultaneously there was registered an encumbrance over the land from Albert Charles to Robert Jarrett the elder. This encumbrance was discharged on the 16th of December 1905 to be replaced by another encumbrance registered on the 16th of December of that year. These encumbrances would doubtless relate to the lending of monies by Robert Jarrett the elder to Albert Charles Jarrett. It appears the encumbrances were to expire on the death of Robert Jarrett and his wife Emma. These deaths occurred on 30th October 1909 and the 19th October 1912 respectively. The registered encumbrance is then discharged on the 7th May 1913. The mortgage to the State Bank was finally discharged on 20th March 1935. On the 26th November 1940Albert Charles sold the property to three relatives who were brothers namely; Eric Frank Jarrett, Robert Hector Ross Jarrett and Ross Murray Jarrett as tenants in common (See Appendix 8). The three brothers continued the business of growing vegetables and fruit and lived with their families in three houses spread across section 31, Eric Frank (known as Frank or ‘Piggy’) in the originalCook cottage,until they reached retirement.In anticipation of retirement and the breaking up of the section a small re-subdivision was registered in November 1969 in order to ensure that the two relevant adjoining pieces of land possessed a water supply bore.Had the division remained unaltered one piece of land (now Lot 18), would have possessed two bores, the other none (State Planning docket no. 1603/69). On 7th June 1971a portion of the property now known as lot 18 part section 31 was sold to Austin Percival Gibson, licensed land broker,and Meredith Lorraine Sinclair Gibson, his wife.A new title (Volume 3776 Folio 2 was created on 6th July 1971. The land described contains ‘twelve acres or thereabouts’

(CT 3776/2).

A mortgage to the Finance Corporation of Australia Limited was registered on 7th June 1971. This mortgage was discharged on 19th December 1975 but the land was remortgaged to the same corporation. On 4thOctober 1976 Austin Gibson transferred his ‘estate and interest’ in the land to Meredith Gibson and the mortgage was discharged. The Gibsons had divorced and Mr Gibson passed over the property to his ex-wife. This fact is known through personal contact with both parties.

On 27th October 1982 Meredith Gibson sold the property to Allan Phillip Hudson, Sales Manager. At this time the property languished and largely fell into disrepair. The house garden, now extensive, was nonexistent. Sheep grazed to the doors of the house.On one occasion charging its reflection in the glass, a ram actually found itself in the sitting room to the great surprise of Mr Hudson who was sleeping there. The Jarrett acres of vegetables and cherries had long gone.

Mortgages were raised against the land until discharged on 4th December 1984when ownership of the property was transferred to John Westlake Venus and Meredith Helen Venus. The property remains in their ownership as at November 2007. On 10th December 1998 CT 3776/2 was cancelled and a new title CT 5605/468 issued. This new title more precisely identifies the piece of land by giving it the designation of Lot 18 where previously it was only known as part section 31, Hundred of Onkaparinga. The land parcel description is now F 129572 A 18.

The house is interesting from an archaeological point of view. The original section has no specific foundations but is built of stones which were probably gleaned from the land as it was worked. The original house (after the timber slab hut) was described in the 1859 assessment as a stone hut, later to be described as a two roomed stone house. The two original rooms have become one and are now disposed as a very pleasant dining room. The original wooden ceiling is still viable (with a lot of repair and renovation) and the huge open fireplace, large enough to walk into, remains intact, complete with iron bar for hanging pots etc, but is now concealed behind a Victorian iron grate and wooden mantelpiece surround. Many of the original hand made glass panes remain in the two casement windows. The doorstep has had an insert cut into it in order to repair the wear of many years. Internal measurements of this room are approximately three metres by eight metres.