Projects

2003

Heritage Assessment: 'Illabunda',16 Buckleys Road, Winston Hills.

Heritage Assessment: 'Illabunda',16 Buckleys Road, Winston Hills.
A view of Toongabbie in the 1790s, situated some three and a half miles beyond the Government House at Parramatta, showing the thatched roofed convicts huts, described by Tench. This view is believed to be in the general vicinity of Oakes Road, with Toongabbie Creek in the foreground and may include the study area. [David Collins, An Account of the English Settlement in New South Wales, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney, 1975, pp. 346; 525]
Aboriginal History & CultureInterpretationLandscapeSydney - WesternHeritage AssessmentOral HistoryResearch

 

 

 

Author: Sue Rosen

Client: Manidis Roberts

This heritage assessment of Illabunda, at 16 Buckleys Road, Winston Hills is part of a master plan for a proposed development of the site. The purpose of the heritage assessment is to examine the existing site to identify any items of Aboriginal or European heritage within the study area so the impact of the proposed development can be investigated and assessed in the design and development process.

The study area is culturally significant because of its association with this early phase of European settlement in Australia and there are numerous references to it in early first hand accounts. If reference to this phase of its history and to the original  Aboriginal occupation of the country could be made either in design elements, or signage or art work it would help preserve these associations in contemporary minds. Of lesser significance, but nevertheless part of the sites history are the links with George Oakes, William Rose and Valentine Woodbury. The contribution of the Cook family to the re-vegetation of the area with species indigenous to the site should not go unacknowledged in the design process.