Garthowen

Statement of Significance

Garthowen is of significance: • As the inter-war home of members of the Terry family, early settlers of the Augusta Margaret River area.

Physical Description

Garthowen is a single storey residence, which has been developed in a number of stages, including major renovations and internal alterations in the early twenty-first century.The external style of the place is largely defined by major alterations undertaken in c.1963-64, which extended the house and covered the whole area with a new, low-pitched gable roof (replacing a traditional, small, gable roof that had attached, raked-roof skillions).The original front verandah faces east towards Caves Road, while the current main entry faces south. The east façade retains the original square edged weatherboards, and inter-war (or early post-war) door and window detailing. The rooms facing onto this verandah retain the highest level of earlier detailing (although with some modifications). Other external walls are clad with a mixture of weatherboard and flat sheet fibrous cement.The house is set in a cottage garden bounded by a post and rail fence. To the south, this opens up onto an informal access drive and carpark, which serves the house, farm buildings and the studio. Also on the southern side of the house, is a small cottage, which has been extended and adapted from workers quarters.

History

From around 1910 the Garthowen property was owned by Marmaduke and Filumena (nee Bussell) Terry.Marmaduke and Filumena were married in 1900 and in 1910 Marmaduke purchased the former Bussell house, Wallcliffe, from Loaring and McLeod - although he only secured 10 acres of the original property. The Terrys then added a further 1000 acres to the estate, 200 acres of which eventually became the part of the property known as ‘Garthowen’ – which was apparently named after their first child, Owen, with the ‘Garth’ prefix meaning ‘farm’ or ‘pasture of land.’The 200 acres at Garthowen was used by the Terrys as a winter pasture for cattle from Wallcliffe (which was their main family residence).It is not known if any houses were built on Garthowen in the early years. However, from the mid 1930s it was the place of residence of Marmaduke and Filumena’s third child, Lennox Terry, and had possibly become his family home after his marriage to Francis Mary Giles in 1936.At some stage during the 1940s the property was occupied by Allan and Margaret Salmon, who were listed in the 1949 electoral roll as diary farmers of “Garthowen”. They remained there until the early-mid 1970s and would therefore have been responsible for the major works to the house in the early 1960s.In 2003 Garthowen became the residence of Paul Rigby, an award-winning Australian cartoonist and artist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the UK and the USA.As at 2012, ‘Garthowen’ is a private residence.

Integrity/Authenticity

High: The original use has been maintained. Medium: The place has had some alterations, but the original intent/character is still clearly evident (at close inspection).

Condition

Good *Assessed from streetscape survey only

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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