Mountain View, Richmond

About

Mountain View is a heritage-listed residence at 22 Inalls Lane, Richmond, City of Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1804 to 1870 by Lewis Jones and James Vincent. It is also known as Dight's Farm. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

Indigenous and early colonial occupation

The lower Hawkesbury was home to the Dharug people. The proximity to the Nepean River and South Creek qualifies it as a key area for food resources for indigenous groups. The Dharug and Darkinjung people called the river Deerubbin and it was a vital source of food and transport.

Governor Arthur Phillip explored the local area in search of suitable agricultural land in 1789 and discovered and named the Hawkesbury River after Baron Hawkesbury. This region played a significant role in the early development of the colony with European settlers established here by 1794. Situated on fertile floodplains and well known for its abundant agriculture, Green Hills (as it was originally called) supported the colony through desperate times. However, frequent flooding meant that the farmers along the riverbanks were often ruined.

John Dight (1772 - 1837) with his wife Hannah (1781 - 1862) and baby daughter Sarah arrived in the colony on 12 June 1801 as free settlers on board the " Earl Cornwallis ". They received a grant on 31 March 1802 of 155 acres from Governor King at Mulgrave Place - later called Richmond - the grant to be known as "Durham Bowes". This grant was on the eastern bank of the Hawkesbury River, downhill and slightly north of the location of the later Dight's Farm/ today's Mountain View. Richard Rouse and his sons (of Rouse Hill House and farm) had various grants on the opposite, western bank of the Hawkesbury River. Surveyor James Meehan laid out the grants in the area.

Various disputes arose among grantees about access to the nearby towns. Settlers fenced off access routes across their grants.

The Hawkesbury River was in flood three times during 1806 causing the destruction of the Dight's four roomed brick dwelling on their lowlands grant. This induced them to purchase 9 acres on the highlands to safely accommodate their growing family. It was on the south-west corner of Edward Luttrell's 1804 grant and became known as Dight's Hill. The farm was advertised to be let in 1808 when John Dight was Superintendent of Carpenters at the Commissariat Store in Parramatta during Richard Rouse's absence from that position.

In 1810, Governor Lachlan Macquarie established the five Macquarie Towns in the Hawkesbury region, including Richmond. The settlement thus became more permanent, with streets, a town square and public buildings.

In March 1812 John Dight contracted with Lewis Jones - who together with carpenter James Vincent were described in the Bigge report of 1820 as "two of the best builders in this part of the colony" to erect a dwelling house of two storeys for the sum of twenty six pounds. This building was next to, but independent of the original dwelling and consisted of one room on each storey. The contract was witnessed by Margaret Catchpole, the esteemed convict nurse.

Governor Macquarie wrote to Earl Bathurst in 1817 and expressed indignation at the obstinacy of the Hawkesbury settlers, continuing to reside on lands subject to flooding. In 1819 Richmond's populace petitioned Macquarie with many disputes over access to the towns (around other grants). Surveyor James Meehan's recommendations were disregarded. William Cox Jnr. of Hobartville fenced off the road to Dight's Farm, meaning that John Dight had to go the long way around his land daily to reach his lowland farm.

John and Hannah Dight's family increased to thirteen children with the birth of their eighth daughter Sophia in November 1823. Two years later Elizabeth their second daughter married Hamilton Hume the explorer, following his return from discovering a route to Port Phillip.

During the 1820s and 1830s the sons of John and Hannah Dight were establishing themselves as pastoral pioneers in areas they had helped discover - Hunter River, Liverpool Plains, Namoi River and Macintyre River, Hume (Murray) River and the Yarra River, where John the younger and his brother Charles built the river's first (water-powered) flour mill at what became known as Dights Falls.

The building remains little-altered from the 1870s when the link section was constructed, the south-west and south-east elevations were stucco-ed and the shingle roof was replaced with corrugated iron.

A 1920s photograph from the Dight family showed the homestead complex in a fairly open grassed landscape with few trees.

In the 1970s an internal brick wall was removed in the original cottage and a brick wall on the north-east elevation was rebuilt. 9 acres of the former highland farm was subdivided, alienating the surviving outbuildings and landscape features. By 1978 the barn, hayshed, coach house, servants' sheds and horse mill were all demolished.

The lower Hawkesbury was home to the Dharug people. The proximity to the Nepean River and South Creek qualifies it as a key area for food resources for indigenous groups. The Dharug and Darkinjung people called the river Deerubbin and it was a vital source of food and transport.

Governor Arthur Phillip explored the local area in search of suitable agricultural land in 1789 and discovered and named the Hawkesbury River after Baron Hawkesbury. This region played a significant role in the early development of the colony with European settlers established here by 1794. Situated on fertile floodplains and well known for its abundant agriculture, Green Hills (as it was originally called) supported the colony through desperate times. However, frequent flooding meant that the farmers along the riverbanks were often ruined.

John Dight (1772 - 1837) with his wife Hannah (1781 - 1862) and baby daughter Sarah arrived in the colony on 12 June 1801 as free settlers on board the " Earl Cornwallis ". They received a grant on 31 March 1802 of 155 acres from Governor King at Mulgrave Place - later called Richmond - the grant to be known as "Durham Bowes". This grant was on the eastern bank of the Hawkesbury River, downhill and slightly north of the location of the later Dight's Farm/ today's Mountain View. Richard Rouse and his sons (of Rouse Hill House and farm) had various grants on the opposite, western bank of the Hawkesbury River. Surveyor James Meehan laid out the grants in the area.

Various disputes arose among grantees about access to the nearby towns. Settlers fenced off access routes across their grants.

The Hawkesbury River was in flood three times during 1806 causing the destruction of the Dight's four roomed brick dwelling on their lowlands grant. This induced them to purchase 9 acres on the highlands to safely accommodate their growing family. It was on the south-west corner of Edward Luttrell's 1804 grant and became known as Dight's Hill. The farm was advertised to be let in 1808 when John Dight was Superintendent of Carpenters at the Commissariat Store in Parramatta during Richard Rouse's absence from that position.