Restoration Australia Season 2 Episode 4 - Rosenthal

"Snapping up a piece of local history and preserving it appealed to Jan and her daughter Annie. Joined by Annie's carpenter partner, Chris, they tackle the daunting task of making the 1840s homestead a new family home."

At last, real restoration on Restoration Australia - see it here on iview. 

Chris is doing up the old Rosenthal Homestead for his mother-in-law. She is the publican at the Killarney hotel (30k out of Warwick) and is looking forward to retirement. Out the back is the 'Squatters cottage' that Chris will fix up for himself and Annie.

The property was put up for sale by the Mulcahy family, who had held it since 1919. "Jim and Diane Mulcahy said they wanted new tenants to take care of the heritage-listed homestead...and the Moirs said they would do just that." Its just outside the town of Warwick in southeast Queensland. Host, Stuart Harrison, has worked out the homestead was probably built between 1845 and 1849 by Frederick John Henry Bracker (c1798-1870), wool-grower, born at Mecklenburg, Germany, arrived New South Wales 1829 with Prince Esterhazy's Silesian flock for the Aberdeen Co. for whom he managed the Rosenthal Run. I suspect this was in the book Jan was holding. Harrison also refers to the house as a 'Queenslander' but I don't think it fits the category since it is siting on the ground without the elevation that characterises this style of bungalow. Perhaps if it were elevated, it might not have suffered the supposed flood damage, or such extensive termite attack.

He is supposed to have brought the first stud merino ram to the Darling Downs. The place was known as 'Fred the German's Creek'. After Bracker, John Deuchar (1822-1872) from Aberdeen, ran Rosenthal as well as the nearby Glengallan. He is also credited with having the first two thoroughbred merino rams on the Darling Downs as well as Lord Raglan, the first imported Shorthorn bull to reach the Downs.

Rosenthal was to be split up into 20 hectare lots, but the Moirs wanted a bigger property: "We were scared we might lose out on the homestead if they moved to auction it off in the different parcels so we bought it all together," So they got the homestead block and surrounding paddocks along with town water, underground power, 70,000 litres rainwater, 55,000 litres creek water storage, outbuildings, car and tractor accommodation, meat house, poultry pens, stable, brick bails, cattle yards and more - for $845,000.

The real-estate  agent reckoned the property would "...suit a wide range of buyers, including historians, developers, and lifestyle buyers." Perhaps they had a premonition that it would attract a potential heritage restoration reality TV show participant.

The new owners' approach to restoration sounded promising:

"We have a lot of experience doing up old properties," "We don't want to change the look of the place we'd just be looking after it and doing what needs to be done."

This sounds like it could be a paraphrase of the Burra Charter's "do as little as possible and as much as necessary" as well as demonstrating the methods outlined in James Semple Kerr’s The Conservation Plan. - ensure that the skills and knowledge necessary for the job are available - Chris seems to have these in abundance, second understand all aspects of the property - Mrs Moir seems to know the history well (and is polite enough not to show up the host), understand the significance, and the risks - Chris starts by stabilising the foundations and securing the roof to make it weather proof. All excellent conservation actions.

There is an element of drama - Chris carefully pulls the frames back into square and jacks up the floors. Dramatic music suggests something will go bad. Will he be able to manage or will he crumble under pressure - but he doesn't crack - there is lots of cracking and groaning but its lots of good noises as everything shifts back into place. The floors are leveled up "fairly close". Chris is cool about it. The white and damage is worse than he thought, but the challenge just encourages him.

Early wall paper exposed in the fix up, gives a date or around 1844-5. Chris hunts out the sandstone used for mortar in the chimney brickwork and experiments with mixes. He is using traditional skills and materials. We don't learn if it was lime putty or Portland cement he used, but the signs are the correct historical mix was used. He joins timbers with complex scarf joints - maybe it wasn't essential, but I get the impression he did it that way because he could.

The fabric of the building is respected, both as a source for historical authenticity and a place of cultural significance. The Conservation Plan says we should compile evidence and use this as the basis for conserving and recovering the cultural significance of the place.- Chris finds the mortises from the original wall studs to relocate the internal walls. Jan points out the remnant red paint on the roof and has a handle on the history of the place. Fragments of wall paper reveal the original finishes and sequence of decoration and they plan to leave some on display. The doors, windows and locks are extracted. They reveal their history in the dings and knocks. The original glass is re-puttied in with linseed oil to give it "...the really good proper look to be exactly the same as when it was first done." The metalwork is soaked in molasses for months to get rid of rust. New timbers are treated with a mix of vinegar and steel wool to age them. the straightening and patching is not shown, but the corrugated iron is reused on both roofs, keeping the rusty finish.

The adjacent "squatters cottage" is less intact, but they recognise that they don't want to over-restore so as not to "loose the beautiful patina". "History lives in the timbers." The restoration requires more intervention - the entire building, except the sandstone chimney is dismantled, the parts are numbered, and new components made out of new and recycled timbers. 

Its taken a year, but the results would satisfy the most stringent heritage practitioner. Strangely enough we don't hear anything about the interfering bureaucrats or meddling heritage advisors.

While the more prominent Glengallan Homestead up the road is on the Queensland State Heritage Register, Rosenthal is only on the Southern Downs local heritage register, which records the place as: why isn't it on the state register? The local listing says:

455 Rosenthal Homestead Homestead Street Warwick L19 RP31031 The footprint of the building, including overhangs. The place is significant: - for its association with the local historical theme of land selection - for its historical association with the early settlement of the Darling Downs - for its scarcity value as rare surviving evidence of an 1840s pastoral homestead in Queensland -for its historical association with early Queensland land exploration as the assembly point for Leichardt’s last expedition.

I presume they needed permits from the Council for the works. At least a demolition permit for the squatters cottage since it was completely removed for a while, but I can't find anything on their system. And no conflict with the council heritage expert. This was a mainstay of the first series. Perhaps council's have seen what happens and are keeping low.

There was a 'Queensland Womens' Historical Association' plaque from 1962, commemorating the first licence to depasture on Rosenthall (with two ls) issued to Captain W C Mayne for the Aberdeen Company in 1843. didn't see this in the show - did the former residents take it with them?

Chris makes the obvious, but unfortunately rarely adhered to maxim, that "There is a difference between restoring and replacing". His approach is far removed from the first three episodes of Restoration Australia, where the intrusion of style and commercial contractors compromised the conservation ethos too often. For Chris his life in carpentry gave him an intrinsic appreciation of the material - the fabric of heritage, and he was grateful to have "stumbled across something that's my calling." He was doing something he enjoyed, that made a lasting contribution not just to his own family, but to Australian Heritage, and there were no mother-in-law jokes.