Seacroft Fernhill Restoration Australia Season 4 Episode 5

Host Anthony Burke meets a couple who are saving an important example of Federation Queen Anne architecture in coastal NSW, while dealing with a profound health crisis.

Has there always to be a personal tragedy behind every reality show episode? 

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But in this case Dutchman (Hollandischer, Nederlandertje?) Pieter, has every reason to give up on the restoration project and just go find a proper comfortable house to live in. But he has found the distraction he needs,  possibly to the point of obsession, even building a scale model to test his design and decoration ideas.

Perhaps there is a symbiotic relationship that helps heal both weary, crumbling body and neglected house.

His partner Mattie seems to get it. Between them they needed a project and Seacroft certainly fits the bill. Quite a number of bills it seems. So many that Pietre needs to do some hands on restoration himself just so can reclaim some ownership of the project and isn't just the signer of cheques.

Season 4 has dropped the "struggling battlers doing it by themselves" narrative in favour of better financed couples  style and the sense to engage competent building contractors. The builders have turned out to be the real stars of this season. 

I think I can guess why. The doityourself stories take a long time to unfold. Kevin McLeod has been going back to the same houses for decades. This must put pressure on the production budget. There is also the risk of not meeting the schedule deadlines. We can only guess what teams of real tradies are waiting in the wings of The Block, Renovation Rescue, and their ilk, who jump out when the cameras turn away to make sure the job gets done.

Fremantle Productions may well have decided the formula doesn't actually need construction site drama, so they have cast for personal drama instead.

Located at Fernhill near Wollongong, Seacroft was once part of a 1,920 acre grant, 'Balgownie', to John Buckland.  John Stewart, a local member of the NSW Parliament, veterinary surgeon and land speculator. bought part of it. Stewart also owned Keera Vale house (Bukari St, West Wollongong) that was the subject of a previous episode of Restoration Australia.

Stewart died in 1896 and his sons subdivided the 40 acres into 157 allotments in 1904 but only 53 sold. Auctioneer W H Rees sold a few more in 1906 including several to James Thomas Watson who then sold them in July 1908 to Stanley Ewart Elphinstone. [NSW Land Title 1659-231]  Elphinstone was a local builder and land developer whose mother, Annie, acquired lots 18 and 19 in 1905.  Elphinstone mortgaged the land in 1909 and may have used the funds to build the house.  The property was sold again in 1914 to Lawrence Crofton. Thereafter ownership alternated between members of the Crofton and Collier families who were related, Joseph Collier marrying Mary Kathleen Crofton, Daughter of Lawrence and Winifred Crofton in 1923.   Mrs Collier appears to have lived a comfortable life, taking her holidays in Elizabeth Bay. 

A local auction company got it a bit confused with its architectural periods describing it as a Federation "Queen Anne" style, but also that it was from the 1890s. They sold it for $650,000 as a unique restoration opportunity and as "one of Fernhill's most historical federation heritage listed homes"

We are told that the house was probably a display home for a new subdivision, and that most of the other houses in the estate have been replaced by brick veneers and units. It is hemmed in by modern houses.

Seacroft certainly needs someone to come to its rescue. It's problems are evident, even though inside doesn't look too bad. I admit I don't know how these things work, and that a bit of chocking, patching, painting and making do is not enough for most people. Restored has to mean like new.

The rescuer is Mark the builder. Mark Tarasenko really needs more acknowledgement for the work he has done. Like most of the people doing the important work on RA, he isn't allowed a surname, or a credit to his company, Eastbourne Builders in the show.  He and his firm have in fact been awarded by the National Trust for their work on an adaptive reuse project of the Old Bulli Railway Guesthouse. 

Similarly, the window restoration is credited only to 'Stuart,' although a glimpse of his workshop shows he is in fact Stuart Montague of the Illawarra Woodwork School.

The same goes for historian Meredith (Hutton, chairwoman of the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Historical Society) and fireplace restorers Stephen and Joe (sorry I could not find them). 

The comparison with the other resto shows is quite marked. Where they constantly plug their suppliers and sponsors, Freemantle Media must be contracted to meet the ABC 'no advertising' rules.

The before view shows that the floorboards have already been pulled up (wonder what happened to them and how bad they could have been, since the rest of the interior is timber lined and looks completely sound)...

But then we see it a bit later and all the lining boards have gone too, and most of the internal wall frames have been redone in pine...

...and the weatherboards have been pulled off (although at least some are evidently planed and put back with replicated profile boards doing most of the work...

... and then the roofing iron is stripped...

...and the metal ceiling...

Some of it must have been retained because Mark went to a lot of trouble to pull the frames back into place.

One element that gets a fair bit of attention is the shingle skirted and capped bay window. The window frames are reglazed to improve insulation qualities by the expert 'Stuart', and the shingles are replaced. But the originals had chamfered corners, 7 rows become 4 with a couple of weatherboards finishing it off, and the contrasting terracotta colour (in reference to the tudor clay wall tiles they replicate) is replaced with off white, which is the colour of everything tastefull of course.

What else is missing from the episode is the obligatory dreaded heritage expert. Perhaps because they couldn't find an angle to paint them as evil. Pietre later said he agreed to participate in the filming out of a sense of civic duty and to thank Wollongong Council's (un-named) heritage experts for all their advice.

Like in much of the Illawarra, mining and miners have left the area and new residents pick out the bits of heritage worth preserving. So the fanciest house in the Fernhill subdivision is considered heritage and gets restored (in a manner of speaking), while the rest of the miners' cottages are left to their own (and developers') devices. There are a few there if you want to look, but they are unlikely to survive the next wave of urban consolidation and aspirational home modernisation.

And of poor Seacroft, it looks outwardly like its Federation/Queen Anne/ Edwardian/Arts and Craft/ Carpenter Gothic original. Except it's not original. Barely a 4 by 2 survives from the house that was there. It is a replicant posing as heritage, and yet the good professor dispenses with his usual  line about them risking losing what makes the place special in their quest for modernising and proclaims it 'a good thing'.

Appendix A

The Illawarra Local Environment Plan, (Item No 6212) includes a well researched history by Zoran Popovic, which, because it gives such a complete story about the house I put in full here:

The house at 457-459 Princes Highway is of significance for Wollongong for historical, associative and aesthetic reasons, and as a representative example of Federation timber cottages in the local area and  is an excellent example of Federation Queen Anne style architecture, one of few remaining in the Illawarra. "Seacroft" house is one of the earliest buildings in Fernhill circa 1914, if not the oldest standing today. The house is also associated with Lawrence Crofton, a well-respected early landowner in Tarrawanna’s first subdivision. The building presents as having a high degree of integrity when viewed externally, and makes a strong contribution to the wider area character.

The Fernhill Subdivision of the Tarrawanna Township finally occurred on Saturday December 3rd, 1904. At this point, the Princes Highway was known as the Main South Coast Road (or even just “Main Road”), and Douglas, Pringle and Charles Roads seemingly stop all of a sudden – typical of an early subdivision. On the 1904 subdivision poster, Fernhill is advertised as being near “Corrimal-Balgownie & Mt. Pleasant Coal Mines”, confirming that proximity to the mines was still an important factor.12 It is very likely that the creation of Fernhill, similar to that of Tarrawanna and Balgownie, came entirely out of housing demand from miners.

It should be noted that according to the subdivision plan and an article in the Illawarra Mercury dated Saturday December 10th, 1904 – Lots 18 and 19 were purchased by Mr. Elphinstone and 20, 21 and 22 (the location of Seacroft House) were purchased by a J. W. Russell.

Lawrence Crofton

After acquiring James Brooker’s farmhouse in 189114 and moving in with his wife and children, they lived without incident until 1895, when the kitchen caught fire and burned the house down.Now is the first of a number of presumptions (as documented evidence of events around this time and place is limited). It can be assumed that he began reconstruction of his home shortly after this event, and as a landowner in Tarrawanna, construction on other homes as well. The Illawarra Mercury issue Saturday June 20th, 1903 states that Lawrence Crofton is “erecting another new cottage at Tarrawanna”.It is unlikely this refers to Seacroft House as further evidence suggests otherwise; it does however confirm that Crofton has built a number of other cottages.

South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus issue Friday January 22nd,1915 – “To let, Cottage Villa, Main Road, Fernhill, adjoining Mr A. L. Elphinstone; every convenience. Mr L. Crofton, Tarrawanna”.17 This almost certainly refers to Seacroft although there is no solid evidence. As stated above, Elphinstone purchased Lots 18 and 19, which does indeed adjoin lots 20 and 21 on which Seacroft is built (interestingly, Alexander Leckie Elphinstone was a prominent architect, though there is no evidence he had anything to do with Seacroft). South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus issue Friday January 17th, 1919 – “To let, at Fernhill, a Villa “Seacroft” every convenience. Apply, L. Crofton, Tarrawanna”. This is the first instance of the word Seacroft being used. Whether this is an amalgamation of Sea and Crofton is unclear, but whatever happened between 1915 and 1919 is unknown.

Unfortunately, the first documentation of Seacroft being inhabited is in 1934, so the events between 1919 and 1934 are also unknown.

The Collier Family 

Son of William Collier and Mary Anne Collier, Joseph James Collier snr was born in 1863 in Newsham, Northumberland, England. After migrating to the Fernhill Estate in 1907, he started work as a miner. Their house was on 17 Douglas Road and can still be seen today. In 1916 he joined the 16th reinforcement, 2nd battalion and fought in WW1. He was sent to Sunray trench in 1917 and was awarded a military medal for running messages “with absolute disregard for his own personal safety”.

Joseph returned home unscathed in 1919 and resumed work as a miner, now residing at 8 Broker Street, Tarrawanna (a miner’s cottage).21 In 1923 he married Mary Kathleen Crofton (the daughter of Lawrence Crofton) in Moss Vale and they moved into their Tarrawanna home. It is evident that the Crofton family (excluding William and Mary Anne) moved to “459 Main Road, Fernhill” after Joseph Collier put up an advertisement for a 1930 Whippett automobile. Interestingly, in 1935, Joseph brought in an elderly fellow miner, Harry Roebuck, to live with them in Seacroft until he passed away on May 10th 1946.

On Saturday July 6th, 1946, the Colliers’ daughter Winifred married Michael McGoldrick and celebrations were hosted at Seacroft, after which Michael moves in.25 Unfortunately, Joseph Collier was so ill he was unable to walk his daughter down the aisle, and on December 26th, 1946, he passed away at Wollongong Hospital. On September 26th, 1947, the South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus declares “For Sale, one block of land 50 x 150 (feet) Fern Hill. Apply M. T. McGoldrick”, referring to the block of land north of Seacroft. This was later (exact year uncertain) loaned by Harry Henson (of Henson’s Buses) and a nursery is established.

In 1952, a fifth birthday party was thrown for Josephine McGoldrick, daughter of Winifred and Michael29 and in 1954, Patricia Collier (the other daughter of Joseph and Mary Kathleen Collier) moves back for a number of years. A few years later the McGoldricks’ move to Bega, then King’s Cross and so too does Patricia depart, leaving just Mary Kathleen Collier and Joseph Collier junior living in Seacroft. In 1959, the garage is added and around 1979 Mary Kathleen Collier moves out. She passes away in Fairy Meadow in 1984. Now only Joseph James Collier junior lives at Seacroft, with no indication (in electoral rolls) that anybody else lived there with him.