Fairvue (fmr)

Statement of Significance

Tom Willis cut the timber and carted the stone for this building. The farm was a War Service Farm from WWI. The home has deep cupboard recessed into the walls, made from the flat timber. Sash windows throughout. A Metters No 1 Stove in kitchen with a mantlepiece of the flat timber. A tin bath in the bathroom. There was a fully enclosed (with doorway) thatched bough shed - built for a cool room. This was burnt down and never re-built. A notice of the front gate - H.V.McKay Sunshine Header - "Please Shut the Gate". Gate 12 x 12. Tom had to send a photo of the house to Fairbridge Farm, so they could see the home his wife was to live in.

Physical Description

The building is clearly visible from the road. The two main rooms were built of cut wattle timber from Grant's paddock and stone from the Greenbrook at Bore Corner, where drilling for coal had previously taken place. Iron roof and pressed metal ceiling. There was a passage also and a kitchen of weatherboard, vestibule, bathroom and laundry attached to rear of two front rooms. A verandah was added later. The kitchen was lined with tongue and grooved timber and other back room with flat metal. Timber floors. It was built in a 5 acre stand of jam trees and a beautiful display of pink everlastings and yellow nobbies in season. The lounge room contains an art nouveau mantle piece around the fire-place. The following is a description of Fairvue Homestead given by Jim Willis:- Fairvue Homestead Site selected during winter of 1926. Reasons for site selection 1. Medium loam. 2. Thick jam tree and reminder bush with small belt of tammar. 3. 10 acres fronting Nobles' Road with drainage to the north west at the front of the house and to the south west at the rear of house. 4. Protection from S.E. and easterly winds during the summer and access to sea breeze in afternoons. 5. Close to PMG phone line which connected to the Overland Exchange situated at WS Saunders homestead. 6. Close proximity to sandstone deposit in green Brook due west from site.

History

Building commenced summer of 1925/26. Stone was blasted out of the east side of the creek bed directly below the first exploratory drill hole for coal on the Irwin River coal seam. The reason for this was that the drill cores showed that the sand stand was of a particular type that did not fret or weather. Also because there was no bank to the creek at the western side, making it easier for horse-drawn drays to pull out with a full load. As the stone deposit was laid down in layers, which averaged 1 foot (300 mm) thick, it was ideal building as very little shaping was required. This work of collecting, loading, carting and shaping pieces was done by Jabe Willis, father of Tom Willis who owned the block Lot 46. A spring cart of 1 ton capacity with single horse shaft and two horse tandem harness was used to transport the 27 loads of stone required. Bill and Spider were the two horse's names and each weighed about 1 ton, so easily handled the loads. Along the western side of the Green Brook to the creek crossing was known as the Bore Corner - then a half-mile along the road to the homestead site. The story is told of how the horse knew exactly when the cart was loaded and would proceed of their own account to haul the load to the house site. Jabe and Tom Willis would walk straight east to the workings and be there when the horses and cart arrived. It took a period of seven working days at four loads a day to cart the stone which was spread over two months. Building commenced 1/2/1926 and finished in May 1926. The two stone rooms, timber and iron roof, passage way and lean-to of timber and weather board on the south side. The stone was put together with a mix of two parts red loam, one part lime then sand and cement rendered over mud joints on the outside to protect joints against weather. As it was, one coarse of stone was washed down due to an overnight thunder storm. The inside of the rooms were cement lime and sand rendered and plastered. The ceilings were pressed steel. The two windows were jarrah and sash, the front door and lead light of Oregon and the three room doors were jarrah ledge and brace stained and varnished. Jarrah 6 inch floor boards. A verandah was built on the front of the house facing north. Cement floor, timber front and custom ord roof. Timber and iron and all windows, doors and hardware were supplied by Whittaker Bros of Perth and railed to Yandanooka. Cost was 375 pounds ($700). The builder was a stone mason from Sussex, England by the name of Arthur Osbome who worked on an hourly basis of 10/- or $1 per hour. The southside lean-to consisted of three rooms. Kitchen on the west, sleepout or spare room on the east and dining room in the middle. The kitchen consisted of a sink, pots and pan cupboard in S.W. corner. A No. 2 Metters stove in middle of south side, with wood locker and pantry in S.E. corner. A bathroom was built off the dining room on the south side, which also acted as a stand for a 200 gallon square tank which supplied water for kitchen sink, bathroom and shower. The first bath was of galvanised iron. Hot water came from a wood fired copper in the wash-house. The overhead tank was filled by a semi rotary hand pump which got its water from a 2000 gallon tank on the S.W. corner of the house at ground level. Tank was supplied from the house roof and interestingly, never ran out of water and supplied the family of five's cooking and washing needs. 200 gallons in overhead tank lasted 4 weeks. To fill the tank took exactly 1 hr 20 mins by manual bloody labour! The house was one of the first to be fitted with the Wizard Shellite Pressure Lamps which were a magnificent light. The principle of operation was cylinder upright that held 4 gallons of shellite which in turn was pressurised to 301bs/psi by way of hand-operated tyre pump. This vapour was then conveyed along very small thick walled copper capillary pipe to a light which consisted of a heated coil called a generator which fed a fabric mantle made of treated silk which was lit with a long thin tapered candle. Each room had one of these lights either with a mica or glass shroud around them to protect the mantle from being damaged by wind or insects. Lighting was quite an acquired art. I remember I was about 11 years of age before being allowed to start a light. The Yandanooka Hall was also equipped with two of these units which were locked in a cabinet because the young bards would wait until supper time and let the pressure out which would bring about darkness. The following floor plans and photographs show earlier lives at Fairvue.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: The building retains its integrity with most original fabric intact Modifications: Back verandah filled in, a/c lined

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update