''Bethungra'' is a large stone house in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. It is

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

, and was at one time used as a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

, but now a private residence. The house is located at 9 Fore Street,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. It was designed by

Varney Parkes Varney Parkes (4 June 1859 – 14 May 1935) was an Australian politician, architect and son of Henry Parkes. Life and career Parkes was born in the Sydney suburb of Ryde, the seventh child of Henry Parkes and Clarinda Varney. He attended p ...

and built during 1896. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999.

History

''Bethungra'' was constructed for the Quigg family by

, the son of Sir

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and the longest-serving non-consecutive Premier of New South Wales, premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in ...

. Varney Parkes was a Liverpool Council Alderman, State Parliamentarian (1885 - 1913), MLA for Canterbury 1895-1900 and 1907-1913,

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government officia ...

(1889 -1899) and successful architect. He trained under the Colonial Architect,

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Barnet was born ...

between 1878 and 1880. He established a successful architectural practice with C. H. E. Blackmann and was responsible for the design of a wide range of buildings over much of urban and rural New South Wales, including hotels, warehouses, banks, commercial premises and domestic residences. One of his best known designs was the "Marble Bar" for George Adams's hotel in

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sect ...

, begun in 1891 (now re-erected within the redeveloped Hilton Hotel on George Street). Parkes was known for his use of pattern books in the design of his buildings, and the houses he designed in Canterbury for the Quigg and Nicholas families demonstrate his enthusiasm to adopt architectural ideas from overseas for his work in New South Wales. Houses in Fore Street designed by Parkes around the turn of the 19th century, particularly ''Wyuna'' at no.10, are characteristic of the transition between the late Victorian Italianate style and the

Federation Queen Anne Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the British colonies of Australia collectively became the Commonw ...

style of domestic architecture. Although these have render decoration characteristic of the Italianate style, the "tower" with conical roof at the end of the veranda of "Wyuna" is typical of the later Federation style, and the house is an important landmark in the transition from one domestic style to another. ''Iserbrook'', the house that Parkes designed for himself and lived in until 1925, was unfortunately demolished in the 1960s, and replaced by featureless red brick home units. The Estates surrounding the house, large sections of the Bridgewater Estate, were owned and subdivided by Alderman John Quigg, the Mayor of Canterbury (1891), and his son-in-law Frederick Augustus Nicholas. They engaged Varney Parkes to build several other houses on their land, and Parkes remained a family friend and their preferred architect. Another relative by marriage, Jeffrey Denniss, also lived in Fore Street, ran a successful tannery at the eastern junction of Cup and Saucer Creek with Cooks River, and became Mayor of Canterbury from 1900 to 1903. His friend, Frederick Augustus Nicholas, with his sons started a furniture manufacturing business in Canterbury just after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. This was a time of great expansion in the area, 10,000 houses were built in the Municipality between 1919 and 1929, and all of them needed furniture. The family prospered, eventually moving up the hill to land beside John Quigg's house, ''Austral Eden'' (now demolished). Fredederick Augustus Nicholas subdivided part of his land, creating a new street, Nicholas Avenue. In 1924, the family went on an overseas tour, and Frederick's wife, Elizabeth Amy Nicholas (formerly Quigg), became particularly impressed with the California Bungalow style of house. She brought back plans for a large residence in this style, and their friend, Varney Parkes, was entrusted with supervising the construction of a new family home in Nicholas Avenue (no.15). Some time between 1922 and 1931 three other houses were built for the Nicholas sons, probably under the supervision of Parkes, on the land at the southern end of Nicholas Avenue. John Augustus Nicholas married Annie Batting in 1922, and lived in no.18, and Vivian Price Nicholas married Beatrice Mackie in 1925, and lived in no.16. Adrian Howard Nicholas married Una D. Wiseman in 1927, and no.11 was built for him some time between 1927 and 1931. In 1901 ''Bethungra'' was sold to Mary McKillop (since

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

), the founder of the

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for Saint Jo ...

, and was used as a convent for nuns of the Order who were attached to St. Anthony's Catholic Church. In 1980 the Heritage Council received a request for an Interim Heritage Order from the local historical society as ''Bethungra'' had been purchased and a development application submitted for its demolition and construction of a two-story block of six home unties. An Interim heritage Order was placed over the property on 16 July 1980. Following further consideration the Heritage Council placed a Permanent Conservation Order over the property on 23 July 1982. It was transferred to the State Heritage register on 2 April 1999.

Description

''Bethungra'' is constructed of local

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

quarried from what is now the cliff face above Karool Avenue, Canterbury. The house is a single-storey asymmetrical-form late Victorian style 3-4 bedroom residence. Its construction features rough dressed irregular and tuck-pointed masonry, with rusticated

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

and window dressings. Varney Parkes designed ''Bethungra''. Parkes was known for his use of pattern books in the design of his buildings, and the houses he designed in Canterbury for the Quigg and Nicholas families demonstrate his enthusiasm to adopt architectural ideas from overseas for his work in NSW. Houses in Fore Street designed by Parkes around the turn of the 19th century, particularly ''Wyuna'' at no.10, are characteristic of the transition between the late Victorian Italianate style and the Federation Queen Anne style of domestic architecture. Although these have render decoration characteristic of the Italianate style, the "tower" with conical roof at the end of the

veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

h of ''Wyuna'' is typical of the later Federation style, and the house is an important landmark in the transition from one domestic style to another.

Modifications and dates

*1980slate roof replaced with concrete tiles. Bullnose verandah removed.

Heritage listing

As at 29 September 2008, ''Bethungra'' was a rare example of a substantial Victorian period residence with the local area. Constructed , ''Bethungra'' is associated with Saint Mary McKillop, the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was also used as a convent for nuns of the Order who were attached to St. Anthony's Catholic Church. ''Bethungra'' was listed on the

on 2 April 1999.

References

Bibliography

* *

Attribution

{{NSW-SHR-CC, name=Bethungra, dno=5045405, id=00224, year=2018, accessdate=1 June 2018 New South Wales State Heritage Register Canterbury, New South Wales Houses in Sydney Former convents in Australia Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register 1896 establishments in Australia Houses completed in 1896