Southampton Homestead

Statement of Significance

Southampton Homestead was one of the first homesteads in the Balingup district and was constructed by settler Richard Thomas Jones for his extended family. The simple Victorian Georgian homestead and its adjacent kitchen/bakery constructed of hand made bricks with mortar of local clay are located in a picturesque setting on the banks of the Blackwood River. Mature oak trees dating from the early twentieth century contribute to the setting. The place demonstrates the lives and farming practices of the early settlers in the district and Jones had a water mill nearby on the banks of the Blackwood River.

Physical Description

Southampton Homestead comprises a single-storey mud brick and corrugated iron homestead and a related brick and corrugated iron kitchen/bakery, both constructed in the Victorian Georgian style. The homestead house has a moderate to steeply pitched roof with a symmetrical front facade. The central front door is flanked by vertically proportioned casement windows and a verandah runs along the front of the house, flanked by brick enclosures at each end. Internally there are nine rooms with cellar, plus outbuildings (one wattle and daub). Located approximately 100 metres from Southampton House is a wooden grave, sometimes called the Afghan's Grave. The inscription on the tombstone reads, 'Sacred to the memory of John Allum who departed this life May 15 1868, aged 83 years'.

History

Southampton, named by its first owner, Richard Thomas Jones (arr. 1829, d. 1876), who was granted Nelson Location 4 in 1860, is one of the three oldest homesteads in the Balingup district. He and his sons, Richard Thomas and William James, initially built a wattle and daub house on the river flats. After floods swept through the house in 1862, they selected a site on higher ground where they built a nine room house of mud bricks, made on site, and timber, with a jarrah timber shingle roof, outbuildings including a kitchen/bake-house and scullery adjacent to the house, a workers’ cottage (known as Hampshire Cottage) set apart from the house, and a brick barn. The Jones family took up additional leasehold land, mostly using the property for mixed farming and cattle grazing, and oak trees and fruit trees were planted. In 1868, John Allum, believed to have been the family’s elderly Indian/Afghan/Cinghalese servant/cook, died and was buried about 100 metres from the house (at the side of Southampton Road). In 1882, Southampton was advertised for sale but it did not sell and the brothers continued to live and work there. An 1895 sketch showed the house, outbuildings and plantings. After Richard died in 1903, Southampton was sold to Eliza Annie Gull, of Guildford, in 1905. In 1910, she sold it to William Nicholas, who with his wife and family moved to reside at Southampton. After he and his wife died their daughters, Zoe and Shirley, lived reclusively. By the mid-1940s, the farm was un-worked and the outbuildings in poor condition. From c. 1950, it was left vacant and in 1952, when Eric Frank Aurisch and his wife, Dorothy May, Aurisch purchased Southampton, the house was dilapidated. They made it habitable and re-built the rear verandah. In 1956, Southampton was sold to dairyman Edwin ‘Jack’ Miles, who established his herd on the property, where he lived with his family. By 1966, when the Forests Department acquired Southampton for pine planting, some outbuildings were no longer extant. In the late 1960s, the house and remaining outbuildings fell into disrepair. In 1972, the so-called ‘Old Miles Farmhouse’ was leased for 20 years to architect Beresford Collins and his wife, who were required to restore the house, which they used as a weekender. The work was not completed, so the lease was not renewed. From 1996, Jack Miles’ son, Dennis, leased the house and used it intermittently. From the late 1990s, CALM undertook a rationalization program in the Blackwood Valley, and Southampton homestead and the surrounding unplanted area was sold to private owners, who have done some restoration, and also located sites of some outbuildings.
In 2013 the place was badly damaged by fire.

Integrity/Authenticity

High

Condition

The place was badly damaged by fire which destroyed all but the walls of both the main house and the kitchen.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.