Australian Archaeology

Saturday, March 30, 2019

Restoration Australia Season 2 Ep 2 Hunting Ground Tas

"Dale and Michael embark on a project to restore two 19th Century timber cottages on their Tasmanian rural property. Will they accomplish their dream?"

Depends on what their dream is really.

Episode 2 of the second season of Restoration Australia takes the rental car (at least 4 of them) out to Hunting Ground, located at Dysart near the Jordan River in southern Tasmania. Despite the repeated establishment shots proving we have arrived at each stage of the restoration, it is still hard to get a sense of where we are. My own hunting shows the nearest town is Dysart, the Post Code area is Kempton (which contains Dysart house - an attractive wayside inn), the general locality is Clifton Vale, historically it was Green Ponds. Hunting Ground appears to be appropriation of an historical name for another vaguely defined place a bit to the east. It is hard to find much history of the area, Real Estate listings are the main online record. The pioneer settler in 1816 was:

"Anthony Fenn Kemp, a thoroughly unpleasant and despotic soldier-merchant, who seems to have spent most of his life fighting with governors and trying to manipulate the political scene in both New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land"

"Dysart was formerly known as Shepton Montacute, just south of Green Ponds, now known as Kempton. Its current name is taken from estate Dysart Park in Kempton, which in turn takes its name from Dysart near Edinburgh"

"Circa 1826, "Clifton Vale" is a significant property steeped in history. Both the main house and the convict brick gaol that is reputed to have once housed bush ranger Martin Cash are heritage listed. Ancient Oak trees surround the house and garden and the front road boundary is lined with a Hawthorn hedge recreating the ambience of old England."

Turns out The Gents, (Brady Michaels and Dale Campisi), make their living from heritage (of sorts) running tours, publishing books (including one in the now ubiquitous ghost signs genre), and creating exhibitions, pop-up shops, art installations, pocket history books and telling stories. The Hunting Ground adventure is for personal and business benefit. (I'm confused: is it Brady and Dale or Dale and Michael doing the resto?)

The site contains several buildings, a timber and corrugated iron barn, a red brick 1850s chapel, and two timber buildings which are subject of the restoration. These appear to be late nineteenth, early twentieth century house and detached kitchen, with evidence of a former connection between them. They are in a bad way. Windows gone, a section of wall missing where the connecting room was demolished, and the usual decay resulting from abandonment.

They also plan to be off- grid. Looks to me like they have no choice. Desert has no articulated sewer, gas, water, or NBN, and the nearest power pole is a couple of hundred metres away. Connection costs would be huge.

The restoration focusses on windows and and a new bathroom. The house didn't have one before. There is also the new build to join the two structures back together.

"Architect Christy Bryar designing a simple yet striking glass and steel addition that connects the two existing cottages [with an] 'invisible link'"

Then there is also a sub-plot about the slightly feral relative who can put in sun-tracking solar panels, the part of off-grid we get to see (we so no plumbing, septic or sand filter work)

These shows are of course about drama and conflict. But everything seems to be going smoothly. The tradies all know what they are doing. The lean to on the chapel comes town with little more than a whimper. The weather is warm then cold but doest hold things up. So we are left with the problem of what to do about the rusty roofing iron. Seems the plumber reckons their tank water won't be ok if they collect water off a rusty roof. The gents plan was to:

"retain their rustic feel, with original features, materials and weathered surfaces. Our vision was to keep it much the way we found it: well worn, with all the character and age that a 160+ year old property contains."

I haven't heard that a bit of rust was a problem for tank water. The first flush digester that lets the dust and leaves flush off before any water goes in the tank would take care of a bit of rust. But they go with the Zincalum - one bit of character gone.

Windows needed remaking and one of the gents thinks he can do it but he can't. Commercial windows are brought in. Not 12-pane double hung sashes but single sheet special double glazed casements - another bit of character gone.

Southern Midlands Shire promotes the Centre of Heritage, which incorporates Heritage Building Solutions Services and Heritage Education and Skills Centre Services. It offers services for "the restoration and conservation of heritage buildings and sites for valued re-use". Wonder if they took advantage of this service?

The cottage interior is all timber lined. This faded shabby chic aesthetic looks like it can be retained. We don't see how the modern services, plumbing, lighting, insulation and the like are fitted in, but two small elements are featured to make the point that the new and the old are melded. The joint between the steel framed glass wall of the new link and the weathered weatherboards of the old building is given its closeup and we marvel at how the straight line of the former sits against the zig zag of the latter. Except we don't get to see how it was done. Are the gaps filled with silicon or has someone cut neat triangular fillets to fill the gap?

The other fill is needed in the gap between the chimney and the new glazing. About as much drama as we are likely to see. Then some bits of salvaged door frame serve the purpose and add some more rustic.

Hunting Ground includes an 1850s brick Congregational Church, a left over from some early religious zeal and later subdivision and consolidation. This is given a much lighter conservation treatment - repair to the eroded bricks, replacing floorboards, like for like, and some reasonably innocuous new lighting.

Some other lost buildings from the area hint that this was once a lively settlement. The cottage in the picture on the left was just south of The Gents place, but is now gone. Clifton Vale, the pioneer establishment, along with its convict built gaol that purportedly held Martin Cash, was recently sold for 3/4 of a million. The pioneers are presumably in the Clifton Vale Private Cemetery.

Today Dysart/Hunting Ground is a quiet and sparsely populated rural area with only hints that 150 years ago it was a vibrant part of the Colonial experiment. The Gents are perhaps bringing some life back to the area as well as to the little timber cottage.

Monday, March 25, 2019

Restoration Australia Season 2 Ep 1 Paganin House WA

The ABC's 'Restoration Australia' has a second season. No longer hosted by interior designer Sibella Court, but now by architect and historian Stuart Harrison. It has taken a few years to make and has been contracted out by the ABC to Freemantle Media. The result is more renovation, interior decoration and bathroom fit-out and less restoration. The difference might seem semantic but is critical to the concept of heritage conservation.
The Burrs Charter defines Restoration as:

Returning a place to a known earlier state by removing accretions or by reassembling existing elements without the introduction of new material.

Episode 1 looks at the Ivan Ivanov (or Iwan Iwanoff) designed Paganin house in Perth after a fire that left only the concrete slab and some perimeter walls intact. Ivanov was a Bulgarian-born architect who emigrated to Australia in 1950. his buildings seem quirky even for 1950s and 60s standards. Not pure modernist, but given a flair for a sort of eastern European kitschy love of unusual shapes, shiny materials and multiple textures. The inclusion of the destroyed house in this second series of Restoration Australia, where there is really nothing left to restore, might be the result of a personal choice. Harrison confesses: “I have a soft spot for the Paganin House, it was actually part of my introduction to architectural Modernism when I was studying architecture here in Perth...His creations were, both then and now, seminal examples of creativity and innovation".

before fire in 2014

fire damage 2015

restored (reconstructed) 2018

[Seeking new photos]

The Paganin house is described as 'a beacon of postwar design amid Perth’s suburban architecture', a 'classic example if Ivanov's 'late expressionist style', a 'brutalist masterpiece', 'one of the earliest examples of open planned interior design' and was noted for its 'heavy touches of marble, timber, laminate and stone'.

While it is clearly not brutalist (being a steel frame clad in glass, metal and stone panels), and it doesn't seem to have been very well known before it burnt down in 2015, appearing only in specialist writings and the occasional obsessive website such as the house nerd, or the Perth 6000 blog, it now has become an 'Iconic Modern Masterpiece', and proof of the sophistication of mid century Australian home design innovation. I don't doubt all this is true, but the show's premise that it is about restoration of historic buildings or as they put it 'follows homeowners across the country as they restore forgotten heritage gems', needs a bit of tweaking to make this one fit in.

The Burra Charter helps again with a definition of reconstruction:

Returning a place to a known earlier state and is distinguished from restoration by the introduction of new material.

So Episode 1 is really 'Reconstruction Australia'.

What is being restored then? The house is recreated for sure - and in all its shiny surfaces and timber paneling and screens the after shots look convincingly mid century modern. The idea that stands out in the show however, is that it is the restoration of the owner's belief in the house that matters, that the emotional attachment can be recovered and restored by rebuilding the place exactly as it was, as if this somehow wipes out the disaster that occurred. it makes me think of Dresden, and the reconstructions undertaken to somehow reduce the grief of loss that war, conflict and natural disasters cause. This is a reasonable idea, and one that is proper for heritage to consider. The conservation of cultural heritage is about maintaining and sometimes restoring a belief system, one that says the things from the past somehow make us what we are and maintain our sense of place in the world.
Unfortunately little of this is articulated in the show as it fetishises the accurate recreation of what was lost. We see the metal brackets that supported the timber screens around the dining area, recovered from the fire and reused, becoming a reliquary of the martyred house, despite them being practically invisible and causing additional headaches for the tradies. An internal wall is reconstructed according to the plan (it is believed). "But something's wrong" the wall is 300mm out and has to be demolished and started again. The show is starting to sound more like The Block or even Bondi Rescue.

The obsessive concerns for details continue - int the accuracy of the gaps between the timbers; In the worry about matching the Jarrah timber; Even in Ivanov's own house (which is visited to compare) where the books are arranged according to spine colour.

It is this sort of obsessive stylism that seems to drive both the new owner's urge the recreate the house from scratch as well as the host's enthusiasm for the place. One thing that bothered me was the was the ABC parenthesised 'architectural' masterpiece'

Modernism is still on the rise. Facebook groups extol the glories of mid century modernist homes (mostly architect-designed), post-modernism and even brutalism. We might conclude that concepts of heritage have caught up and these styles can now be seen as part of an architectural history cannon, or they have aged sufficiently for feelings of nostalgia to develop.

The contradictions in the pursuit of the new style, and the conservation of heritage, stand out in the show. The Modernist credo of stripping away decoration, of honesty in materials, is contradicted by the complicated and fiddly concrete blockwork, and the emphasis on shiny surfaces and expensive or difficult to manufacture or maintain materials. Ivanov's own house the polystyrene packing form concrete casting could well have been Italianate render moldings. but then most architectural theories are full of holes.

The fact that a building, so far gone, can be brought back, and then considered still to be heritage, provides evidence for another way of looking at conservation of cultural heritage. My daughter suggested the Paganin house restorers could next take on the rebuilding of the Corkman Hotel.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

How old is a scar tree?

Aboriginal Scar trees are a diminishing archaeological resource. Those still in existence are generally more than 150 years old in Victoria. Continuing Aboriginal traditions of course, mean that culturally scarred or carved trees may still be created in traditional ways, but the record of the past, the trees that existed prior to the impact or invaders on the indigenous population, is rapidly being lost. There are a few mechanism's for this - both natural and human-induced. Land clearing, timber cutting, and increased burning were all brought about by the invaders, and probably accounts for the vast majority of scarred trees being removed. These impacts are continuing, either because of lack of knowledge about where the trees are or why they are worth keeping, or intentional damage by vandalism, illicit clearing, or racism-inspired acts.

But there are also natural forces at work reducing the stock of surviving scarred trees. Scars are lost both because trees die, or because the continue to live. Despite some Eucalypts being very long lived, many are senescent in a couple of hundred years. In 400-500 years, it might be assumed that natures elements - of disease, decay, storm damage, natural fire, insect and animal damage, and just old age, will result in trees dying. Even dead a scar tree can stay in the landscape for another hundred years of more, but it will not last forever. Even the cases where tree surgery and preservation techniques are used to extend its life, the scar will still be lost. The stump in the Fitzroy Gardens is a case in point - gradually loosing height and volume and sinking into the ground, despite various treatments.

In instances where the tree continues to live and is healthy, in most cases, the bark around the scar will continue to grow, gradually thickening and growing out and into the void where the earlier bark had been removed. Eventually, the two sides of the overgrowth bark will meet together and combine, leaving only a faint vertical line and some additional creasing in the bark around it to signify where the scar had been.

Here is a scar tree supposedly saved when it was relocated from Stanwell to Rockhampton Cultural Centre in Queensland.

How long does this process take? Probably not that long. A good measure is the scar tree cut on 17 November 1824, not by an aborigine, but by William Hovell, now 192 years old. In that time the scar has almost entirely sealed over, and the heartwood of the tree in which the inscription was cut, has rotted away completely. Another few decades and if the tree stays healthy, there will be only the faintest trace of where the scar once was.

So why does this matter? In another 100 years it is likely that the only scar trees left will be those in museum's or heavily restored and conserved. Natural forces will ultimately take all the rest. It is therefore imperative that some consideration is given to what is done in the mean time. Yesterday's The Age article shows an example of well preserved scar trees at Boort, that the local Aboriginal community consider a major part of their culture and heritage. They are, however, preserved in their present dead state,because the lake was artificially flooded as part of an irrigation scheme, which killed the trees and prevented further overgrowth of bark. As they were also in a protected piece of public land, and there was no demand for their timber until, sitting as it is in permanent water, it became commercially valueless, they did not get cut down or burnt.

At least a program to identify and record them, and monitor their condition (not just the Boort trees, but all the surviving scar trees in the country) would at least let us know what we are going to lose.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Pythagoras theorem of road naming

Heritage and archaeology consultants often see the process of change in the landscape when development occurs. We occasionally can be party to the detailed internal workings and decision making processes. For example, naming streets is often a critical element of marketing a new estate. Names that entice new residents meet complex council and Geographic Place Names Register requirements, and help give the neighbourhood a sense of place are very important. Some connection to the existing and past history of the area is sometimes also sought, including Aboriginal place names, in order to respect the local history. Or else the names of the developers' children are used. However, often unrelated or just weird names get through the system, such as Kilkenny Road in the Southpark industrial estate. (this was intentional)

One oddity is Pythagoras St in Epping. During the design stage, a new road was proposed running off Harvest Home Road at an angle. This would form the third side of a triangle. The road engineer referred to it as the hypotenuse road, and this became the working name for the street. Somewhere along the way Hypotenuse Street morphed into Pythagoras Street. In the mean time, the original section of Harvest Home Road that formed the first side of the triangle was removed and open space created in its place, making the initial concept redundant. Pythagoras Street might at least still acknowledge the many Greek Island immigrants who made the Epping area their home in the 1950s. (Pythagoras was born on Samos)

Friday, November 20, 2015

Gough Whitlam's Birthplace, 'Ngara' 46 Rowland Street Kew.

I recently wrote to the Boroondara Council congratulating them on their decision to keep Gough Whitlam's Birthplace on the Heritage Overlay. While this went against the conclusions of a some experts in the Heritage Council and Planning Panel process, it does, I believe, represent the wishes of ratepayers and the general public (despite there being some vociferous detractors on both the question of preserving the house, and the Whitlam Government's legacy generally). I think it is the right decision and one that will be rewarded in the future by generations that look back and will have a place to focus their considerations of the better efforts of our politicians in improving the lives of their constituents.

Last weekend, anticipating it might be the last opportunity to do so, I drove over to Kew to take a couple of photographs and draw a sketch of the house (I am no artist, this was merely an aide-memoire). In the 20 minutes this took, I saw about a dozen people drive past, and either stop to have a quick look at the house, take a photo, or ask me what I was doing. All were aware that it was Gough's birthplace, and several made a special visit to have a look. This may have only been because of media coverage, but given the last item in the papers was from mid October, they must have had in their minds the need to pay homage of sorts for some time prior. This demonstration of interest in the house confirms to me an underlying need to commemorate and preserve places as symbols of what we hold important in our history and society.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Restoration Australia quick review, Episode 7 Holowiliena

Numerous restored "miner's" and "settler's" cottages have been made available for tourist accommodation in the Flinders Ranges. Frances and Luke Warwick are therefore working in an established context. I went past the station turn-off a few months ago, on a trip to the Flinders Ranges. It is a region dotted with the ruins of heartbreak homesteads, farmers who didn't head Goyder's Line.

The landscape appears to be reclaiming the pitiful efforts of Europeans, with piles of stones left from cottages just looking like natural outcrops, and rammed earth turning back to just earth. Pug and Pine is a local specialty, with Blinim in the northern Flinders Ranges having a regional concentration.

There is a substantial family story behind the Holowilena property – both through the continuing family connection, and the difficult inheritance process. But the main story is really about how preserving old buildings at a local and personal level. It is as much a mainstream activity, and a part of Australia's history and environment as the big museums and tour destinations like the reef, the rock and the rainforest.

Holowiliena itself has been pretty well heritaged, with articles under the auspices of the old Australian Heritage Commission going back 15 years. It was previously subject to an ABC Doco, so it was perhaps an easy choice for the show – maybe the ABC Adelaide production house as already being wound up as it was finishing. An Article in the ASHA Journal.Toured by the Blacksmith's association. Represented on tourist associations and with its own website. Its own facebook page.

Looks like for the last episode, the ABC abandoned its 'Aussie battlers saving old houses' idea, and recognised the benefits of team effort, linkages to support organisations and specialist skills.

That said, I thought Sibella's comment that the Warwicks had "not many heritage skills to speak of" a bit patronising and disingenuous, given the obvious skills that like most outback farmers they do have. Where else could a couple just go out the back and fire up a lime kiln? In fact, for a change the program actually showed some of the restoration and traditional building skills that go into making and maintaining houses. We saw lime burning and slaking, blacksmithing, hot riveting, plastering, bush carpentry, the very rare pug & pine building technique, bag sewing and limed hessian lining, as well as the interminable pointing. In the absence of a dramatic narrative (no evidence or a strained relationship and no clipboard wielding heritage bureaucrats in site), everyone could just get on with the hard work.

The real dilemmas of heritage restoration are also given more space, such as the question of whether replacing all the wall timbers removes so much fabric that the restoration loses authenticity, and they are left with the replica rather than a restored original. We can see the Burra Charter and the Conservation Plan in action. I wonder what documentation was done before the work was carried out and the original fabric lost for ever.

The thousand hours of labour over a few days, that went into the work, equates reasonably well with a couple of years of weekends by the lone amateur restorer, reinforcing the point that all any building needs to bring it back and keep it going into the future is the right amount of effort.

The ‘Construction Industry Training Scheme’, run by English stone mason Keith McAllister is replicated in many states. The range of skills available through the program should make any restoration project a cinch, if you can access it. The ICOMOS Traditional Trades Working Group is doing its part.

While the evidence for lost archaeology was only circumstantial in this episode and it was hard to fault the methods employed, I did noticed that the original timbers in the scalp hut appeared to have been debarked, but the bark was left on the new timbers – I hope this doesn't cause problems for them when the bark breaks away.

Given the heritage and restoration industry is worth billions, this modest program (and particularly as represented by the final episode of the series) should really be among a whole genre of television. Instead we get fake psychodrama, melodrama and soap opera wrapped in infomercials and 'reality' shows. The value of heritage is more than monetary, place defines us, and caring for it properly can cement our relationship with the world around us. Much better to fix up granddad's cottage the way he had it, than fuss over glass splashbacks or concealed lighting.