Marble Hill, South Australia

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Marble Hill South Australia
Ruins of the Governor's summer residence, showing the restored tower.
Population:	479 (2006 Census) [1]
Established:	1878
Postcode:	5137
Location:	14 km (9 mi) from Adelaide
LGA:	Adelaide Hills Council
State District:	Morialta
Federal Division:	Mayo

Marble Hill was the Vice-Regal summer residence for the Governor of South Australia from 1880 to 1955. It is also the name of a district of the Adelaide Hills Council, named after the residence and in which the residence is located. It is about 20 km east of Adelaide between the towns of Ashton and Cherryville, and has expansive views of the Adelaide Hills to the North and East, and the Adelaide Plains to the West.^[2]

Governor William Jervois is said to have given the hill its name when informed that marble had been found during the excavation of the site. To this he remarked "Then we shall call it Marble Hill". In fact, there is no true marble at Marble hill. The Governor's informant had merely misidentified the locally abundant quartzite.^[3][4] An alternative account contends that it was instead named for the hill's rounded top, which resembled a marble when viewed from a distance.^[5]

The residence was destroyed during the Black Sunday bushfire of 1955. Subsequently the site was managed by the National Trust from 1967-1992, and the Department for Environment and Heritage from 1992-2009. A volunteer Friends of Parks group, Friends of Marble Hill, ran open days and maintained the site from 1994-2008. To date, the main building has never been fully restored, but the National Trust undertook restoration of the tower and the nearby stables in the 1970s. Successive State Governments have not been prepared to restore the building, as the expense involved would not be considered responsible use of public funds.^[6] Marble Hill was sold to a local family, who plan to reconstruct and re-use the building, in 2009.^[7]

Contents 1 Planning and construction 2 Governors in residence 3 Bushfires 4 Destruction 5 Ruin 5.1 National Trust 5.2 Friends of Marble Hill 6 Reconstruction 7 Native land claims 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Planning and construction

The first Vice-Regal country residence was at Government Farm, Belair, but it was a relatively small structure. Governor William Jervois led the drive for a grander building. He was instrumental in securing government expenditure, and also personally oversaw the selection of a site and directed the design process. The first stone was laid on July 18, 1878, and the structure was completed and furnished in late 1879.^[3] A budget overrun led the Hon. G. C. Hawker (the Commissioner of Public Works) to invite South Australian Parliamentarians to see the completed structure in December 1879. Seeing the magnificence of the building, they were convinced that the money had been well spent.^[8]

The architect was William McMinn, and the chief supervisor was James Shaw. McMinn's design was of the Victorian Gothic Revival style, adapted for Australian conditions by the addition of large verandahs on three sides which shielded the structure from the fierce northern sun. His original design was for 40 rooms, although only 26 were ever completed, with the western aspect of the building left for possible later addition. The main eastern rooms included a drawing room, a morning room, a dining room and a spacious staircase of Kauri pine. There was no large ballroom, and the dining hall was not grand - it was a residence intended to be primarily a retreat from the summer heat of the Adelaide plains, rather than a primary place of residence with all the accompanying facilities for entertainment. The sandstone used for construction was sourced from local quarries.^[3]

A short distance to the west, the stables and caretaker's cottage were built.^[3]

[edit] Governors in residence

All fifteen governors who held office from 1880 to 1955 spent at least some time at Marble Hill. In addition, a number of distinguished guests were welcomed throughout the house's 75 year history as a viceregal residence, particularly King George V and Queen Mary (as Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York) who stayed in 1901. Many governors also welcomed local children and other such groups on tours from time to time.

• 1880 -1883: William Jervois - From his earliest days of residence, Jervois was very friendly with the locals, and keenly assisted with fundraising for church and district projects.^[9]
• 1883 - 1889: William Robinson - Sir William found the isolation of Marble Hill lonely, and had no sooner arrived there than he was wanting to be elsewhere, such as Glenelg or some other seaside resort.^[10]
• 1889 - 1895: The Earl of Kintore - Lord and Lady Falconer made regular visits during their tenure, and had the gardens laid out.^[8]
• 1895 - 1899: Thomas Buxton
• 1899 - 1902: Hallam Tennyson - Sir Hallam and Lady Audrey Tennyson were particularly fond of Marble Hill, despite having to contend with heat, drought and bushfires during their stays. They returned in December 1902 when Lord Tennyson was Governor General, and entertained the idea of buying it if it ever became available.^[10]
• 1903 - 1909: George Le Hunte - The annual visit of the LeHuntes was keenly anticipated by the local children, as the Governor regularly held entertainments for them at the residence.^[9]
• 1909 - 1914: Day Bosanquet
• 1914 - 1920: Henry Galway
• 1920 - 1922: Archibald Weigall - Governor Weigall was a keen cricketer, and during his residence held an annual match between the Viceregal party and locals at the nearby Ashton Oval.^[9]
• 1922 - 1927: Tom Bridges - Governor Bridges occupied Marble Hill only for the occasional weekend, prompting the government to consider selling the residence. Some suggested uses were flats, a large boarding house, a hostel or a consumptive sanitorium.^[11]
• 1928 - 1934: Alexander Hore-Ruthven - Marble Hill continued to fall from favour under Governor Hore-Ruthven, who indicated in 1932 that he would be willing to forgo the use of Marble Hill under his contract (a possibility the Government had been investigating since 1928). However, the remoteness of Marble Hill had made it difficult to retain staff and difficult to easily convert it to a government institution, and so it was retained.^[12]
• 1934 - 1939: Winston Dugan
• 1939 - 1944: Malcolm Barclay-Harvey - During the years of the Second World War, Sir and Lady Barclay-Harvey spent time at Marble Hill whenever they were able to take a break from supporting the war effort. They restored the beautiful gardens, and Sir Malcolm (an avid railway enthusiast) had a large scale outdoor model railway installed.^[13]
• 1944 - 1952: Willoughby Norrie
• 1952 - 1955: Robert George - In 1954 the Government commenced renovation of both viceregal residences. The original acetylene gas lighting at Marble Hill was replaced, at considerable expense, with electricity.^[4] Sir and Lady George's possessions were moved to Marble Hill while Government House was being renovated, and Marble Hill was to have been renovated the following year.^[14]

[edit] Bushfires

Marble Hill's location at the peak of a steep, densely-wooded ridge meant that bushfires were a regular threat.

• 1882 - On February 8, only two years after being completed, Marble Hill was first threatened by a bushfire. The fire broke out in a gully to the east of the residence during the afternoon, possibly due to careless cooking by locals. Swift action by the police and residents contained the fire, but it continued to burn along the gully until the evening of the 9th. The garden and some of the fences were damaged.^[15]
• 1901 - The intense heat and drought of the summer of 1901 resulted in a number of bushfires while Sir and Lady Tennyson were in residence. Lady Tennyson wrote that the bushfires, with their billowing smoke and glowing hilltops by night, were a remarkable sight. The garden gully and some of the fruit trees were burnt.^[10]
• 1910 - On Sunday February 20, bushfires that had been menacing the Mt Lofty Ranges around Norton Summit began to threaten Marble Hill. The Governor in residence, Admiral Bosanquet, directed firefighters and local volunteers in the burning of firebreaks, but the it was a tense night for those guarding the residence. On Monday, a change in the wind brought the fires rapidly upon them. The Register reported that "big trees were as matches before the advancing fire." The full force of the firefighters was mustered, which enabled the residence to escape damage, although the Government Domain was largely burnt.^[16]
• 1912 - Admiral Bosanquet had to defend the residence a second time. Early on January 14, a fire broke out at Morialta on the property of the late Sir Richard Baker. It soon became apparent that the westerly wind would drive the fire toward Marble Hill. When the fire was at its height, the English cricket team and Lord Richard Nevill arrived, having been invited for lunch. They had to dash through the flames to reach the residence, and were able to render most useful assistance. The servant's quarters, the caretaker's cottage, the stables and even the kitchen of Marble Hill itself were all ignited, but fortunately these were all noticed and quickly extinguished. The gardens, however, were destroyed.^[17][18]
• 1930 - Around 100 acres of stringybark forest adjoining the house were destroyed on February 18. The Governor and staff managed to subdue the fire when it was halfway up the drive.^[19]
• 1939 - Marble Hill was again threatened by the Black Friday fires of 1939.^[8]

[edit] Destruction

On the 2nd of January, 1955, fifteen people were in residence at Marble Hill, including Sir and Lady George, their family, staff and servants. The bushfire conditions were extreme, with a temperature of 36°C (96° Fahrenheit) at 7:00 in the morning, rising to 42°C (107°F) by 1:00p.m, with winds of up to 70kph. A bushfire had broken out at nearby Anstey's Hill earlier in the morning, and the governor regularly checked its progress from the tower.

With little warning, the strong winds drove the fire up the slope to the northwest of the house, and flames licked the building. The bitumen product used on the balcony floor and the seaweed used for insulation in the roof were easily ignited, and the house was soon on fire. The governor with his sons and staff struggled to save the building, but it was totally engulfed by flame with astonishing speed. By this time the bushfire had completely surrounded the residence, and the cars which had been prepared as a last-resort option were burning and being showered with molten lead from the tower roof. Escape was impossible.

At the prompting of Sir Robert, the fifteen people at Marble Hill sheltered under wet blankets in the lee of a retaining wall while the fire swept over them and totally destroyed the house. They sheltered for around two hours before rescuers were able to reach them. A servant's cat also survived by sheltering in the cellar.^[8]

Sir Robert and Lady George lost all their possessions in the fire, as they had been transferred to Marble Hill whilst Government House was undergoing restoration. Marble Hill had been slated for renovation after Government House, but the house's destruction forced the Government to reevaluate its plans for the building.

[edit] Ruin

Because of the prohibitive cost of reconstruction, in September 1955 the Government of South Australia announced it would not rebuild Marble Hill. Additional damage was done to the structure when the large eastern bay window and several chimneys were demolished as unsafe a few years later.^[18]

[edit] National Trust

In 1967, the property was dedicated to the National Trust of South Australia as a public reserve, although visitors were still barred from the structure itself. In 1973, restoration work was commenced on the stables, the coach house, and the coachman's cottage. The chief stonemason and supervisor was Mr Ted Eling. The National Trust reopened Marble Hill as a ruin in 1975. In 1979, the tower reconstruction was completed.

In 1980, Marble Hill was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.

During the 1980s, the Country Fire Service used the tower as a bushfire lookout.^[18]

In 1992, the National Trust closed the site to the public due to insufficient funding, and the site reverted to the administration of DEH.

In 1993, the Government called for expressions of interest in the development and management of Marble Hill.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Friends of Marble Hill

In 1994, the volunteer group Friends of Marble Hill was formed to care for the site. The Friends undertook maintenance of the surrounding gardens and bush, as well as opening the site to the public several times per year.^[18]

The 1998 Danvers Report investigated the structural integrity of the ruins and the possibility of reconstruction.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Reconstruction

In March 2007, the State Government of South Australia again called for expressions of interest in the future development and management of the Marble Hill site. Twelve interested parties sought information, and one proposal was received.^[20]

In October 2009, the property was sold to Mr Edwin Michell and Dr Patricia Bishop. A heritage agreement attached to the certificate of title mandates that the ruin will be reconstructed in consultation with a heritage architect, and that public open days will continue.^[7]

[edit] Native land claims

The Kaurna people have written to the Governor claiming sovereignty over the Marble Hill ruins and that they were owed nearly $50 million in rent. In 2009 the South Australian government rejected the claim.^[21]

[edit] See also

• Government House, South Australia
• Old Government House, South Australia
• Governor of South Australia
• Marble Hill Ruins, South Australia

[edit] References

v • d • e Towns and Localities of the Adelaide Hills Council Aldgate · Ashton · Balhannah · Basket Range · Birdwood · Bradbury · Bridgewater · Carey Gully · Castambul · Chain of Ponds · Charleston · Cherryville · Crafers West · Crafers · Cudlee Creek · Dorset Vale · Eagle on the Hill · Forest Range · Forreston · Gumeracha · Heathfield · Houghton · Inglewood · Inverbrackie · Ironbank · Kersbrook · Lenswood · Lobethal · Longwood · Marble Hill · Montacute · Mount Lofty · Mount Torrens · Mylor · Norton Summit · Oakbank · Paracombe · Piccadilly · Scott Creek · Stirling · Summertown · Upper Hermitage · Upper Sturt · Uraidla · Verdun · Woodforde · Woodside

v • d • e Adelaide Hills, South Australia Major Townships Birdwood  · Clarendon  · Echunga  · Gumeracha  · Hahndorf  · Littlehampton  · Lobethal  · Macclesfield  · Meadows  · Mount Barker  · Mylor  · Nairne  · Oakbank  · Stirling  · Woodside Attractions Mount Lofty Botanic Garden  · SteamRanger  · Heysen Trail See also List of towns in the Adelaide Hills  · Wine regions of South Australia  · Adelaide

Coordinates: 34°55′9.80″S 138°45′30.29″E / 34.919389°S 138.7584139°E / -34.919389; 138.7584139