The Corbett Home - "Earlsdon"
Part of the house that David Corbett built in Doncaster Road is now over one hundred and twenty years old. The first stage, consisting of four rooms, was built about 1857. The second stage, the two front rooms and back were added about 1890. After 1900, one of the front rooms was extended westwards and a verandah added to that side giving the house the symmetrical look it has today. |
| David Corbett's house, "Earlsdon", 562 Doncaster Road 1957.The earliest part of the house was built shortly after David Corbett settled in Doncaster in 1857, and the front was added about 1900. DTHS-dp0212 |
David Corbett, who had been a veterinary surgeon in England, must have intended going on the land when he arrived in Australia as he bought a lot of harness and implements with him. David and his wife, Catherine, selected 60 acres of land at Doncaster in 1857, paying £168 for it, and David soon set about planting the orchard, together with a hawthorn hedge which bordered the property, and building their home with his own hands.
The house built of local stone quarried from the "back hill" near Caringal Avenue, has walls 14 inches (36 cm) thick. David had no trowel so the plastering on the interior walls was done with his bare hands.
When their son, David Joseph, married Isabella Rhodes of Templestowe in 1887, the senior Corbetts moved to a house they had built to the east of "Earlsdon". Three years later David Joseph employed a builder to add two rooms to the front of "Earlsdon". These were built of brick; because of this the walls were not as thick as the earlier stone walls, thus enabling the passageway to be wider than in the original home while the external walls remained level. A back verandah with skillion roof, incorporating a bathroom and pantry, was also built at this stage, and the exterior walls cement rendered giving a uniform appearance. The front verandah was decorated with a narrow band of cast iron, fuschia-patterned glass surrounded the front door, and patterned tiles were laid on the floor of the original four rooms.
The builder made the mould for the quoins (cornerstones) and for the little roses which appear on the chimneys and beneath the eaves. He apparently was very proud of those roses.
David and Isabella's daughter Rhoda, Mrs Sell, lives in Talford Street, boncaster. Mrs Sell recalls what life was like in her early home, named after an avenue in England.
"The first stove I can remember was a colonial oven, with smoke wafting all around it before it made its way up the chimney. Then we got a one-fire stove, a Pivot, about 1896. This was a real novelty. We
had a tank for drinking water and an underground well. When the top tank became empty we pumped from the well. In the bathroom, we had a galvanized iron bath and a basin. The cold water was laid on but we had to carry hot water from the copper in the washhouse. We ironed with a box iron with a chimney on it - the hot coals from the fire were used to fill it and smoke came from the small chimney. Later we used a flat iron, possibly after 1900, a one-fire stove being suited for this type of iron."
"The two front rooms had marble fireplace surrounds and mantlepieces, one black, one grey. For lighting
we used kerosene lamps - the front room had a hanging lamp with a hand-painted shade. The lamps which we carried from room to room were made of glass and they had shades. Candles were also used for lighting."
The Corbett family Bible dates back to 1755. Some of the entries so meticulously entered give a vivid picture of the drama of life and death so close to those people who had to cope with such situations right in their homes.
"Betty, born March 8 1757 at 47 min past 3 in the afternoon and died immediately. Stephen, born Friday May 5 1758 at 25 past 12 in morning. Betty born the same morning at 45 mins past 3, being 200 minutes after the aforementioned Stephen and departed this life on Thursday May 18 1758 betwixt the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock, aged one week, six days, six hours and 35 minutes."
The bible must have been carefully packed when David senior, together with his wife Catherine and his sister and her vetinary surgeon husband, Dr. Attenborough, set sail for Australia.
The name Corbett comes from the old French word "covos" meaning a crow. It was given to dark-haired people. There were many unrelated people in the south of England and Ireland with this name.
Allison Clague writing in 1978 11 DTHS Newsletter
 |
| David Joseph Corbett's house Earlsdon. 562 Doncaster Road. Demolished in the 1980s for a restaurant. DTHS-dp0242 |
Catherine Corbett (nee Perkins) . Mrs Isabella Corbett (nee Rhodes).
 |
| Subaru Shoowrooms - 562 Doncaster Road. Sep2016 GoogleStreetView |
House (now "The Homestead" Sandwich Bar) 562 Doncaster Rd. Doncaster (213.15)
Built in 1887 by David Corbett, this is a Classical double-fronted, rendered brick house with a hipped roof. It has vermiculated quoins and a cornice moulding. The facade is asymmetrical, with a setback of about 114 bay one bay deep on the right-hand side. The windows are tripaltite.Flower beds have been destructively constructed against the front walls, and the build- ing is covered with signs associated with its current function.
The Corbetts were early settlers in the area and bought this land probably in the 1860s(2). It is shown as theirs on the Plan of Bulleen. County of Bourke, c1873.
Of local historical significance for its associations with the Corbetts, early settlers in Doncaster, and as one of the few nineteenth century buildings remaining in this locality.
Source: Extract from: City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson p 130
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26126/download
562 Doncaster Road - "Earlsdon" Corbett's house - The Homestead" Sandwich Bar - Subaru
Case study 2: Doncaster and TemplestoweResearch question 1: influencing factors
The City of Doncaster and Templestowe work was undertaken by the consultancy Context (Christine Johnston, Bruce Greenhill and Clair Hunt) with Richard Peterson (architect), Brian Stafford (architect and landscape architect); the report was published August 1991. The funding was from the NEGP and the City. The project was completed in two stages: a preliminary survey with community input followed by an analysis and documentation of site visits. The community meetings were held in November 1989 in response to the question ‘What five things we like or value most in (the) area’. Four public meetings were held with 107 attendees. The methodology was through six steps: inspections of places, research, consultations, comparative analysis and assessments of significance. A Heritage Plan resulted. 48
Research question 2: history and assessment
The research work undertaken involved the preparation of a list of resources, a chart of historical themes, comparison of early aerial photographs with actual locations, the use of the Australian architectural index, site visits and the ‘expertise and skills of team members, including historical societies...with information from a number of individuals’. The chapters are arranged in themes and a Heritage Plan is proposed that would involve the community. The criteria for assessment is based on the history, design, aesthetic value, cultural sentiment, research value and association of the place. The gradings are then based on their ‘national or state’, ‘regional’, ‘local’ or ‘local interest’ value.
Research question 3: outcomes
The main output was the Heritage Plan proposed. The intention of this document was to work out ‘how the significant places could be best protected.’ The goal of the plan was to ‘protect the municipality’s cultural heritage so as to enrich the lives of local people and visitors alike’. Seven objectives were proposed and a table at the end of the report outlined the planning policies and the associated actions needed to achieve this. These policies were then cross-referenced in another table that listed the places individually.
VCAT determination
In July 1998 an application for review was heard relating to the demolition of a building to make way for motor vehicle sales (see Figure 7.14) at 560 Doncaster Road, Doncaster. 67 At the hearing the author of the Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study, Richard Peterson, was called as an expert witness for the application on behalf of the City of Manningham. The applicant called Miles Lewis and Allan Willingham as expert heritage architectural historians. The Tribunal was required to consider the Regional Planning Policy under ‘Urban Conservation’ and the ‘contents of the City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study dated August 1991’. In presenting evidence, a history of the existing dwelling was tendered with a letter from the Doncaster/Templestowe Historical Society that provided background to the home ‘Earlsdon’, first settled in 1857. During the proceedings although there was considerable agreement about the historical background of the house there was much disagreement amongst the witnesses as to whether or not it had either historic or cultural significance. There was no evidence of its architectural importance. The house was specifically listed in the heritage study (see Figure 7.13) as of ‘local significance’ (213.15 at 562 Doncaster Road).
Figure 7.13 - extract from the Doncaster study 48 (City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson p 130) showing details of the house to be demolished: no photograph was provided (Permission granted)
In coming to the decision to allow demolition the following comments of Member Liston are of importance:
...even in the context of a place where it is of historical and cultural significance rather than architectural significance it is possible to envisage a building or place which has been so modified that it no longer performs any useful role as a tangible link to the past...moreover, in some circumstances it may be possible to preserve the history of the place for the community by means other than the conservation of that particular building.
...the Tribunal must admit that it has very great difficulty in reaching...the correct decision. On balance...the building can be demolished subject to provision to be made for a permanent ‘historic marker’ to be erected on the site...in forming this view (it) has regard to the following...
- the building is completely isolated in its urban context...
- it is difficult to achieve a sympathetic, attractive and economically viable use for the building...
- there are a large number of buildings and places recognised in the Heritage
- Study....which have similar historical links to early orcharding...
- This particular house...was built by a pioneering orchardist for his retirement...there is no other aspect of the site which provides any connection to the history of early settlement in Doncaster...
(Subaru Car ShowRoom)
Figure 7.14 - the subject site of the VCAT case at 560 Doncaster Road (June 2010)
Source: Robyn Joy Clinch writing in: The places we keep: the heritage studies of Victoria and outcomes for urban planners. Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture & Planning) June 2012
The Corbett home in Doncaster Rd, west of Shoppingtown, was to have been purchased by a prestige car company. This plan, appears to have fallen through but it is being restored by consultants who wish to restore it to its original condition. At present, we have no more details, but it seems certain that the house remain and will be even more attractive than it is at the present. Council last month asked the Historical Society for photographs of the building before the verandah was removed so that the restored verandah would be correct. We were able to supply photographs of the other Corbett houses showing the same style of verandah.
Source: 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
No comments:
Post a Comment