6th July 2011 - Rouse Hill Farm & Homestead

Today I visited Rouse Hill House and Farm.

Located on Windsor Road, Rouse Hill, NSW 2153, this original farm with amazing house and buildings were constructed from 1813 - 1818.The amazing Georgian house was used by six generations of the Rouse family since 1813. It is a complete record of an Australian family's country house with artefacts, furnishings, buildings, gardens and a costume collection.

As you walk along the road towards the main homestead, you can't help noticing these tall Pine trees that have been growing since the early 1800's

You can just make out the top of the homestead as you approach along the same road that horse drawn carriages would have taken to carry the family home after an outing.

At the top of the hill you come to the main house which sits in its original

splendor just as it did in 1813 when it was first built.

You can imagine a family member waiting at the gate for the family to come home!

The house is still in its original condition with its sandstone blocks and great entrance.
Here you can see the circle to the front door that the carriages would have taken.

The back of the house is an addition, built later on in the 1880's
to house servants and children of the family.

The large double doors on the lower level leads into the 'larder' where bulk food such as bags of grain were kept. The door on the first floor is the door to the servants quarters. There were stairs up to this door (you can just make out the original stair line up the wall)

This is the right side of the main house.

This is the bath house...Outside! The servants would boil water in the main house and carry it down to the bathhouse for family baths. It is interesting to note that only one bath would be drawn and all the family would take turns bathing...Father first, then mother, then girls and lastly the boys!

The original tank stand is still at the rear of the house!

Gardens and pathways around the estate are in abundance...

and you can imagine walking through the gardens, picking and eating
grapes and expressing pleasure at the beauty of the gardens.

Down the bottom of the main house yard stands the Gazebo, still in it's original state!

Just right of the Gazebo is the gardeners Potting Shed. This is where seeds and bulbs were kept and new potting would be done.

There are still some pots around and maybe even some original plants in them!

At the front of the house is the main lawn, looking down on the main road

(Windsor Road)

As you leave the main house and walk towards the stable, if you look back

you see the house.

The stables are also original 1800's building. The large doors to the left
are where the carriages were kept and the small door in the middle
goes to the actual stables.

A stately building giving proof that things were built well in those days!

Inside the stables are beautifully build and the horses would have been
well looked after.

The original sandstone still adorns the floor.

Walking through to the harness room and this is where all the equipment
is kept and looked after by the stable boys.

This is a harness for a horse that would have pulled a carriage.
You can see the collar worn by the horse, the blinkers (covering the
side view of the horse so they only looked forwards and would not be
distracted) and the bit that went in the horses mouth.

This is the ladder that the stable boys had to climb each day to go to their

quarters that were above the stables.

This is a descendant of the beautiful draft horses that would have pulled

machinery and drays around the farm. I think this one is named "Billy".

An original water pump with water buckets that would have been used.

It actually works and I couldn't resist trying it!

Of course, no farm is complete without hens for eggs and and
roosters for eating (and for breeding more chickens)!

This is an original workers cottage. It is a slab cottage. The inside is lined
with wooden slabs running horizontal. The outside is lined with wooden
slabs running vertical. Often times there were gaps where the wind
would whistle through into the house!

Our guide opening the front door. The house is very small and would
not have housed a family. Normally it was one large room containing
bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living area together. This cottage
was modified to add a separate bedroom and the and the back verandah
was built in to provide a separate kitchen.

The front verandah would have been used to relax after work or on days off
to catch the afternoon sun.

The toilet was outside and away from the house. It would consist of a
wooden seat over a large can which had to be emptied every now
and again. This "Aussie Dunny" was unusually low and the door is
actually about 5 feet tall (1.5 metres) so you would have to bend
down to enter.

Aussie Dunny!

The family favoured the Humber Super Snipe (1952-1957), a stately car that

would have projected the image of a wealthy family.

Maybe one day, someone will restore this once beautiful motorcar.

There are several Humbers scattered around the farm. In fact this one looks
like it might be a Humber Pullman...the Humber limousine.

There is a lot of old farm machinery scattered around the farm.
This is what is called a jump rake. Towed along by a horse it would
roll the mowed grass (hay) in the curved rake until a worker, sitting on
the seat at the back, would pull the handle, lifting the rake prongs up
releasing the hay into a roll.

Jump Rake.

This is a dray, pulled by a horse, usually a draft horse, that was used to
carry goods such as grain, milk cans or hay.

This is a sulky, a horse drawn open carriage that was used to carry people.
Up to four people would fit into the single bench seat.

Sulky open carriage.

This is a grain header, pulled by a horse of horses. The heads of oats,
wheat or other grains would be cut off with the blades that can be
seen on the left. The grain heads would travel up to the rear on a belt
and into a thresher that would separate the grain from the rest of
the grass (chaff).

Another photo of the sulky. Seeing me stand beside it gives you an

idea of its size.

I found this Oxford Allen lawn mower interesting. I wonder if it still works?

There were a number of milking sheds around the farm. This was an
interesting shed used to milk cows that had just given birth. The calves
would be housed in the back of the shed and the cows would walk in the
front of the shed.

The cows head would be locked in by these planks and the cow would be
given some chaff to eat whilst being milked.

This is a stool that the milker would sit on whilst miking the cow. the
harness sitting on top of the stool is used to carry the full milk pails.

This a the pig pen.

This is the chute where food is tipped into the trough inside for the pigs.

This is a cattle crush. Cattle can be herded into the crush and held by

using a head lock mechanism. The crush is used for a variety of reasons

from administering medication to branding animals.

There are a lot of old machinery around the farm. This is a Mantalini Mangle,
a clothes wringer. The clothes a put through the rollers after washing
and he water is squeezed out before the clothes are hung on the line.

This is an old kerosene oven and stove. In it's day, it would have been
state of the art as most people would have been still cooking on a
wood fire. It works very similar to a gas stove and oven.

Some of the luggage used by the family who travelled overseas

extensively. Most travel was done by ship and all the family's

personal possessions would have bee kept in these boxes.

On the same estate is the original Rouse Hill Public School, established

in 1888 and restored to its former glory. School children still visit this

little school on a regular basis and experience school of the 1800's even

using chalk slates.

The front of the school from the old Windsor Road.

This is the original school bell, once lost but located and restored to

the original bell pole.

The Original Windsor Road ran between Rouse Hill Farm and the School.

After the new widened Windsor Road was built, the government filled the

cutting back up to form the original shape of the hill.

Old Windsor Road

The view from the farm to the west, looking out towards the

Blue Mountains.

Rouse Hill House and Farm is one of Australia's most culturally important historic properties, not only for its artifacts, furnishings, buildings and gardens, but also

because it is the most complete document of continuous family occupancy

of a country house in New South Wales. If you have time and want to visit a place

that will bring joy and interest, this is a place to go!