House - Nyleeta (fmr)

Statement of Significance

SCIENTIFIC/ARCHEOLOGIAL IMPORTANCE: This building has remained in the same family since being designed and built for them in 1908 and is to a large extent virtually intact, and more importantly still contains many items in common domestic use eighty years or so ago. It is therefore of archaeological significance further enhanced by being to a large extent in its original setting. EDUCATIONAL/RESEARCH VALUE This property comprises an important and intact collection of the contents of a comfortable middle class residence of its period and displays some interesting artefacts some of which result from the inventive output from the industrial revolution. The collection is important for the education and research of future generations. The house was built whilst the area was essentially rural in character, and to a large measure provided a degree of self suffiency related to its distance from the city. SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE Being one of the early homes in Swanbourne specially built for the Cairns family, it demonstrates accurately the social expectations of this family and their inter relationships with others in the district. SCARCITY VALUE There would be few remaining homes completely furnished as is this one in this area, still in the same family, in excellent order and on a large piece of land. ARCHITECTURAL/TECHNICAL ACCOMPLISHMENT To some extent, the brief given the architect is known and the approach to resolving the plan is visible. The application of the occupant’s woodcarving internally is of importance. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPORTANCE This block, comprising 2786 sq m is unique in this very sought-after area where most blocks are around 600 sq m. All of the early allotments have been subdivided to the point where the rural and to some extent self sufficient character of the original holdings has been lost. This last intact holding gives an important glimpse into a landscape that was, as well as being of a size to provide a focus and contrast in this small block environment of today. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE This home and land gives an encapsulated view of the phase of suburban development along the transport artery established by the railway, earlier developments having relied mainly on proximity to either the main centres of the river.

Physical Description

The intention of the original design was to locate the bedrooms to the south for coolness, and the living rooms to the north to take in the expansive view down to the lade. Due to an oversight, however, an additional window on the south wasll was added later to the main bedroom. This window came from the contemporary renovation of the Perth Town Hall. The window has a quaint pointed head, and of course does not match any of the other windows. I would appear that additional cross ventilation was required as internal windows between the hallway bdrooms and the lounge were probably added later as the workmanship does not match the original structure. The lounge and kitchen windows on the north elevation had sun hoods in gci on a timber frame and have since been removed. Miss Cairns relates that her father used to watch progress of the house every day. The accommodation comprises a drawing room and lounge both opening from the front hallway. The hallway arch is still fitted with red velvet curtains to mark the boundary of the formal part of the house and a plaque mounted with antlers and the crest of Perth, Scotland superimposed with a set of horns from Wyndham and the crest of the City of Perth, W.A. The light fitting in the hall is original. The leadlights in the front door and sidelights are original and depict residential, rural and marine motifs. Mr Cairns hobby was woodcarving, and the house has an important collection of his work on the architraves in the hall and the lounge. The motif for these is possums and gum leaves and the earlier work is beautifully executed. A number of loose items of significance include two fire fenders in rough polished Jarrah with beautifully carved local wildlife, a bob-tailed goanna, a frog (allegedly fed to the goanna after its image was complete) and a dolphin sketched from the base of the C Y O Connor statue in Fremantle. Other items include bookshelves, tables and furniture specially made for the bay window in the drawing room and carved lozenges applied to a bought sideboard. A matching set of dining chairs in the same motif as the seat is also extant. The toilet was in the garden, and the soil was collected twice a week, and dumped where the Swanbourne Bowling Club is now located. Later the toilet was repositioned in the laundry when the property was sewered, and later again brought up to the level of the house in the laundry. The earlier laundry was fitted with cement troughs and a wood-fired copper at the lower level. The bathroom was always in its present position, but was fitted with a sheetmetal bath and shower originally, later modified to a cast iron model which is on site, restorable although presently used as a garden bed. Miss Cairns suggested that the house was connected to electrical supply from the outset and that the power was supplied by the Municipality from a local plant in the Town of Claremont. Occasionally the plant required and overhaul, so back up oil lamps were kept handy. The house construction is not unusual for its time, being founded on local limestone with brick walls unusually tuck pointed all round except for the back verandah section. The underfloor space formed by the slope of the land is used as a storeroom. The roof is zincalum and the woodwork is simple and unadorned. Originally the roof was sheeted in red corrugated galvanised iron, the verandah bull-nosed sheets being alternately coloured red and white. A flagpole was located on the gable at the north west corner of the house and its base fitting is extant. Internally, the floors are jarrah boarding approx. 150mm wide, and were covered with linoleum, and later treated with a shellac made up by Mrs Cairns and also used on Mr Cairns’ carving. An unusual glazed screen is fitted to the verandah panel outside the front door, with chequerboard panes of alternate coloured obscure glass, extending down to only handrail height. The nature of the installation may indicate that the screen originated from somewhere else. The gardens were laid out with a hedge leading diagonally in a north westerly direction from the north west corner of the house to the boundary as a privacy measure. A bamboo gate made by Mr Cairns was swung in the hedge. Grape vines grew over trellises and a number of fruit and fig trees were planted although only a few figs remain. A bush house was positioned off the back verandah for growing more tender species. A cubby house, still standing, was built for the children with timber siding, unusual widows and an iron roof. Miss Cairns had a potter’s shed and store built in the grounds for her hobby; the building being sheathed in sheoak shingle.

History

Assessment 1992 Mr & Mrs Cairns originally came to WA from Queensland in 1902 after migrating from England. Mr Cairns was and engineer specialising in refrigeration. His early work included development of refrigeration at the Wyndham meatworks. On first arriving in Swanbourne, the family lived nearby and selected two blocks in Central Avenue, subsequently purchasing a further three, two of which adjoin as part of the present holding. At that time there were no formed roads or footpaths, and the section adjoining Shenton Road comprised two planks for the wheel tracks. The locals used to hide rags in the bush at the top of the road to clean the dust off their shoes as they made their way to the railway station. Several times a week a water cart dampened the gravel sections of the roadway. It was usual for property boundaries have large, well clipped hedges to give privacy to family members sleeping on the verandahs and to reduce dust from the roadway. There were no other buildings between this property and the swamp, by then a lake. The hillside was well treed and the last remaining stump of an original tree still stands near the eastern boundary of the allotment. Miss Cairns recalls wonderful stands of orchids on the slope leading down to the lake. Further east there were several cottages, and a dairy, all contributing to the rural atmosphere. Scotch College also had a dairy herd which used to cross the road to graze in the fields now known as the Memorial Grounds. The family, comprising two boys and four girls (Miss Cairns was the youngest) and including Mr Cairns sister, used the house as a social centre. A tennis court was built on the eastern portion of the site. One of the sons left home at the age of 13 to join the navy. He brought his friends home to the tennis parties occasionally. The court was a north0south layout with a bougainvillea formed into a shade area with a seat under (still there). The court was grass, mowed and rolled (the roller is still there) by hand and marked out with limewash through a marker devised by Mr Cairns. The court was only netted at the ends. The family did all the chores and had no outside help for the day to day jobs. Mr Cairns grew fruit which he dried, (figs, sultanas, raisins) and vegetables. He also kept bees. Mrs Cairns did the washing, ironing and of course the cooking. The nearest shops were at Swanbourne Station, with a grocer, a butcher and the equivalent of today’s delicatessen on Shenton Road. The family kept their own fowls, and purchased other vegetables from Mr Castledine’s at the end of Stirling Road. Butter, cheese, milk and bread were all delivered by horse and cart to the house. On Good Friday, the treat for the locals was the early morning trip to the shops at the station for hot cross buns. Mr Cairns made his own first ice chest. Being a refrigeration engineer, he included plenty of insulation with the result that the iceman much to his annoyance called much less frequently at the Cairns’ than was usual for the district. Cooking was of course done on the wood stove. The first of these was replaced, the second unit is still mounted in position. A later stove is fitted for convenience. The family struck up a great friendship with the Anderson family, one of their sons also joining the navy. Mr P. C. Anderson was a well known headmaster of Scotch College. The family originally met visitors and entertained guests in the drawing room, while the lounge was the equivalent of a family room today, although then on a more formal basis. Accordingly the drawing room was furnished with chairs, the piano, china cabinet and small tables.

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