Denfield

About

Denfield is a heritage-listed former farm homestead complex, residence, inn and farm and now residence located in the outer Sydney suburb of St Helens Park, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1837 by John Farley. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

The original inhabitants of the Campbelltown area were mostly people of the Tharawal (sometimes referred to as Dharawal ) people, who ranged from the coast to the east, the Georges River in the west, north to Botany Bay and south to Nowra. However Campbelltown was a meeting point with the Dharug language group (whose area extended across the Blue Mountains ) and early history of the area includes references to both peoples.

With establishment of the convict colony in Sydney in 1788 the displacement of Aboriginal people began. A smallpox epidemic decimated many of the coastal clans, but was less destructive amongst the inland peoples.

Escaped cattle from the convict settlement moved south and bred in the Campbelltown/ Camden area and after their (re-) discovery in 1795, the area became known as the "Cow Pastures" (or Cowpasture). In 1805 Jon Macarthur obtained a grant of 2,023 hectares (5,000 acres) (later expanded to 4,047 hectares (10,000 acres)) in the area, some of the best grazing land then known in the colony.

By 1809 34 settlers had received grants in the newly named Minto district (named after Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India ) in the northern portion of Campbelltown. Many of these were Irish, including surveyor James Meehan, who allocated himself a generous portion (now Macquarie Fields ). Prominent settlers included Charles Throsby, who was allocated 202 hectares (500 acres) (now Glenfield ), Dr. William Redfern (Campbellfield), Dr. John Townson ( Varroville (homestead) ) and Richard Brooks ( Denham Court ).

Though peaceful, the Tharawal people bore the brunt of a punitive expedition led by Captain James Wallis in 1816. At least 14 Tharawal people were massacred at the Appin Massacre, to the distress of sympathetic settlers such as Throsby of Glenfield. Corroborees and other ceremonies continued under the protection of the Macarthurs of Camden Park, though numbers steadily declined.

As the district became more densely settled a town was needed further south than Liverpool. Campbelltown was formally established in 1820 and named in honour of Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie 's maiden name, Campbell. In 1826 the town plan was formalised.

The original house and a roofed but open sided link to the original kitchen block behind it, was completed between 1835–37 by a John Farley.

Farley arrived from England in 1812 and became what was described at the time as a "sober, hard working and prosperous farmer" on approximately 81 hectares (200 acres). His claim to fame was that he was the first man claiming to have seen 'Fisher's Ghost', the centre of a local legend involving murder and intrigue.

Campbelltown farms produced wheat for the colony. This crop was short-lived as the disease "wheat rust" infected the area.

Farley sold the property to John Bray in 1840. Bray owned other properties to the south and used Denfield as a cattle fattening holding farm, closer to the Sydney markets for stock from his other more distant holdings. Bray married three times, each of his first two wives dying at Denfield. The third wife outlived him and was still in residence in the early 1900s. It is thought that for some time the building became an inn.

Following the death of the third Mrs Bray the property was rented over a number of years, substantial parcels of land were hived off and sold and Denfield's homestead fell into disrepair.

The property was purchased in the 1960s by architect Sydney Palmer and renovated (cf restored) in 1964. A December 1965 article in "Building Ideas" showcased the "sensitive restoration and renovation, installation of electrical service and plumbing which have made Denfield a house for modern living while still preserving its early colonial character." It noted that the original detached kitchen had become a bedroom, with bathroom and laundry added. Where possible original materials were reused, e.g.: sandstock brocks for rebuilding the southern wall and the 6" wide blackbutt boards for flooring drawing room, study and dining rooms. New verandah columns were designed in the spirit of the original period to replace the then existing mid-or late-Victorian columns. The graceful valance board was cut from a template of the original valance, still in position, by decayed beyond use. All walls were stripped and re-plastered, ceilings replaced with Gyprock sheets and plaster cornices.

In 1970 Palmer sold the property to the Sefton family who operated it as a lavender farm for ten years.

In the 1970s the urbanisation of Campbelltown started with significant urban expansion in the district. While the start of subdivision of St. Helens Park did not start until the 1990s and the subdivision stage around Denfield until the mid-1990s, the smaller lot and housing future of the locality/suburb was sealed with the demise of farming and planned urban development.

In 1985 it was sold to Mr and Mrs Robinson who spent c. $45,000 on maintenance and improvements, including eradicating termites in the house, outbuildings and fencing, and planting over 1400 trees and shrubs. In 1987 the property was about two hectares (four point nine acres), zoned Special Uses, surrounded by land zoned 2(c) residential.

The Heritage Council of NSW approved a four-lot subdivision of the property on 7 March 1991, subject to moving the then-proposed eastern boundary of Lot 1 (containing Denfield homestead and slab hut and an original fence) further east by 3.8 metres (12 ft). On 24/7/1991 the Minister for Planning signed an exemption thus not requiring Heritage Council approval for subdivision and residential use of Lot 4 which is to the east of Lot 1. This order was gazetted on 2 August 1991 in the NSW Government Gazette no. 112.

Approximately 1.0 hectare (2.5 acres) was sold to Landcom, approx. zero point four zero hectares (one acre) retained by Mrs Robinson and the remaining 0.61 hectares (1.5 acres) was sold to the previous owners, the Laws, in 1992. The Laws lived in Denfield for over 23 years, undertaking restoration to the house and garden areas, with the assistance of Federal Government and Campbelltown City Council grants. They built the two modern outbuildings in 1997 (to the house's north-west, near the pool) and c. 2004 (a southern pavilion, connected to the house).

1994 and 1997 proposals to rezone land nearby to the north on Appin Road for a service station would have further eroded Denfield's remaining semi-rural setting into suburbia. The Heritage Office provided advice recommending against such actions.

Denfield's previous owners the Laws in 1999 bought an additional acre directly to its south, to increase the curtilage around the main house on the south, where the house was very close to the then southern boundary. The property now comprises 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres). Lot 122 was acquired by the Laws so they could control when it would be subdivided, with appropriate development, rather than what was occurring locally at that time by others.