What price history?

Readers of Hobart’s Sunday newspaper were probably left bemused by a seemingly unrelated reference in a May 2 article on the threatened heritage-listed old oak tree at the Southern Outlet.

Having mentioned the strong response of 30 representations to the Tasmanian Heritage Council for the tree’s preservation in the face of Hobart City Council road work proposals, the reporter wrote of the heritage body that “when it is not considering whether a tree can be pruned, debates such weighty matters as whether a tower block can be built behind Australia’s oldest three-story brick building, Macquarie House”.

Why was Macquarie House singled out for mention when the Heritage Council has a wealth of other protection issues landing on its desk?

The same reporter wrote in January of developer Fahed Aziz-Elali winning an appeal to the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal on his bid to build a tower block in Victoria Street behind – but excluding – Macquarie House (he owns both properties).

The article said the developer would preserve an old cottage on the site and this was portrayed as predating Macquarie House, the developer saying Macquarie House was built in 1817 – which it wasn’t; the correct date was 1815. And the cottage was, in fact, built in the 1820s as a dining room addition when Macquarie House had changed from being a family home to hotel (see Gilding the Lily here, posted January 18).

What the most recent Sunday Tasmanian comment has done is again throw the spotlight on the importance of Macquarie House to Hobart’s history, and why a good case remains for its preservation. Plenty of “weighty matter” there to consider!

In its decision RMPAT agreed with expert opinion on the cottage being the dining room built in the 1820s. But RMPAT disregarded a strong presentation on the worth of Macquarie House from Peter Freeman, a national expert in built heritage preservation and who has been responsible for conservation management plans for numerous old Tasmanian buildings.

Just consider what was contained in his statement of Macquarie House’s cultural significance, rating it of high heritage value, with it being important “in demonstrating the evolution of Hobart in the early decades of development from temporary to permanent buildings”.

There was its importance in demonstrating the attitude of colonists to the threat of French invasion – thus the owner, Dr Thomas William Birch, built it with battlements, armed with cannons pointing at the Derwent.

It was also important in demonstrating the evolution of early settler Birch from humble beginnings to become merchant, ship owner, builder and explorer, Freeman describing him as “socially progressive despite his self-made wealth”.

There was also its recognition as a de facto Government House with Governor Lachlan Macquarie staying there, and Lieutenant Governor William Sorell, at various times.

In Birch’s time it was home to one of Tasmania’s first of the “stolen generation” of Aboriginal children with Kickerterpoller, known as Black Tom, living with the Birch family. And after Birch’s time and it became a hotel it was used for the planning of the infamous “Black Line”, that failed effort to round up the Aboriginal people.

From family home to hotel, to boarding house, to Trades Hall, headquarters for the union movement; as Freeman observed: “From the time of its construction until the 1930s it was a place of profound influence on the social and cultural development of Hobart.”

There is also another significant phase of use during its long history, something which appears to have been overlooked in present-day considerations, yet it’s something the Catholic Church should remember.

Freeman noted that from 1854 to 1860 it was St Mary’s Seminary, established by Bishop Robert William Willson (1796-1866), the first Catholic bishop to Van Diemen’s Land, to educate and train young men as missionary priests to spread the Catholic faith in the colony. The bishop was a great builder of churches here, Freeman saying his aim was to establish in remote Tasmania the “design ideals of his great friend the nineteenth century English colossus of Gothic revival architecture and ecclesiastical design, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin”.

The bishop was regarded as a tireless champion for improving the conditions of Catholic convicts. Having made three visits there, he was a powerful voice in having Norfolk Island closed as a convict prison.

The Pugin reference is worth thinking further about for back in early 2008 I wrote about the excellent efforts that the Pugin Foundation did in restoring the Pugin-designed St Patrick’s Church at Colebrook. It was the first focus of the foundation’s work to preserve Pugin’s Australian heritage (even if he didn’t visit here).

Perhaps its also time for the Catholic Church to consider the fate of Macquarie House, given the role it played as a seminary. The same goes for our new State Government – the previous all-Labor government was happy to hand out considerable money for the conservation of Hobart’s Catholic and Anglican cathedrals.