Coachman's cottage of Subiaco, Rydalmere

[maddys52]

There is a picture of the barn at Norwood here:
http://www.higginbotham.com.au/goulburn.html
(the 5th photo down from the top)

[maddys52]

In the 1880s the site of Vineyards/Subiaco was subdivided. There are a number of advertisements on Trove regarding the different subdivisions, you can get an idea of where they were by some of the street names - South St, "Victoria St" (presumably now Victoria Rd). Some of the advertisments eg:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13507777
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28380422

and this one which includes a "cottage residence"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238477736

[iwccc]

Thanks maddys52,  Very interesting reading.  Appreciate your help

[Shylie Brown]

Some years ago a lady  gave me a drawing of a cottage in the grounds of the vineyard which she wanted to sell It was titled Vineyard cottage. I did sell it for her to an antique dealer who has a very old house in Hope Street Rydalmere. Somewhere I copied the drawing and will try to find it for you. How many cottages were on Vineyard I am not sure.

[iwccc]

Hi Shylie Brown ,  Thanks for looking.  Hopefully you can find the copy. 
I have lots of people who refer to the ORIGINAL  house on The Vineyards (Subiaco) that stood behind (and next to) the Mansion.  BUT the house I am looking for was quite a distance away in what is now 44/46 Mary Parade, Rydalmere.  My brother and I remember it as a dirt floor house that had a lean to on one side and we only remember it being two rooms (possible more). It had an open hearth.  In our time it had a corrugated roof which was probably over shingles. It would appear that it stood within the Vineyard estate - we knew it as the coachman's cottage (but this may or may not be right).
Thank you

[majm]

Fingers crossed 

May I mention that back in the 1800s having 'dirt floors' were the usual way the outbuildings on many/most large land holdings and errr .... some outbuildings still stand that had 'dirt floors'.   Where these buildings were used for living accommodation, then some households would place matting/rugs/carpet runners on the flooring.  This was a remedy for keeping clothing clean (especially female clothing - petticoat hems, dress hems, apron hems etc) and had no bearing on avoiding illness from any diseases found in the soil. 

Afterall, by the end of the 19th century, NSW cottages occupied for a generation or three or more ... by humans with dirt floors ... well those floors had effectively been stamped, levelled, and were 'lifeless' from the constant human occupation.

Council post WWII may well have condemned the building and required it to be demolished, but it would be the building's deteriorating structure rather than lack of floorboards.  Is it possible the building was 'off its foundations' or perhaps had had no foundations ....  Perhaps Rising damp etc ....

I am aware of some habitable cottages in rural NSW built back in the 1860s era that had 'dirt floors' and are still standing and still have their 'dirt floors', although they usually have rolled out the lino .... which if rolled up again will often give up old newspapers/cardboard etc.   

JM   

[iwccc]

Thank you majm,  I  did realise that many homes had dirt floors in this era.  I only mentioned them as that is one of the things my brother and I remember of the house when we were children.
We remember that the cottage  had (we seem to remember) only two rooms with an open hearth in one.  Of course there could have been more rooms - we just don't remember them.  It had a lean to on one side of the building with a cast iron bath outside the house with a pipe coming off the roof.  The family who lived there used to slide down the roof (corrugated iron - probably over shingles).  There was also a large shed/barn/stables in the yard.
We were told that the house had been condemned for living in by the council on a few occasions but that the family would/did not move out.  This would probably be in the 1950/60's.

[Jmcclean]

Hi. I know this is a serious thread mine and you may be no longer following, but you can get a low-res aerial view of the house taken in 1943.
The Subiaco houses were demolished by Rheem in 1961. Your unlikely to find much information on the Coachmen's house, as no information or photos was kept on the cottage near the mansion that was the original 'Vineyard' built in 1792.

Anyway to get the image of the house,
1 Type 'six maps' into Google. It's a NSW Govt Lands site.  (https://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/)

2 Enter the address in the top left search box. The current satellite view will come up. Zoom in. then
go to the top right box marked 'Base Maps'. You will see a mention of 1943 map, Click that and select 1943....you can alternate from there between 1943 and current.

You can use 'print screen' to save the images to notebook to save them.
One suggestion after you have found it, enter an address in another part of the suburb so the red marker isn't on top of your subject, then go back once you know where it is.
Cheers and good luck

[iwccc]

Hello Jmcclean, Wow!  Thank you so much for this suggestion.  I have been trying to find out about the Coachman cottage for many years. Historical Societies and other sites didn't want to acknowledge it existed but I knew it did as I grew up with the cottage with adjoining fences.  The maps finally prove the building was where I said it was.  It is a shame that we do not have a close up photo of the home but at least we know something was on this site.  Your post was so appreciated thank you very much.