Newington House is a historic house in Silverwater, New South Wales

Silverwater, New South Wales

Silverwater is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Silverwater is located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and is located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district

Sydney central business district

The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...

, in the local government area of Auburn Council

Auburn Council

Auburn Council is the governing body of a local government area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, about 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district...

. The house and chapel are sited on the northern bank of the Parramatta River

Parramatta River

The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....

 and are now enclosed by the Silverwater Correctional Centre

Silverwater Correctional Centre

Silverwater Correctional Centre is a minimum security Australian male prison facility, located in Holker St, Silverwater, west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia.-Notable prisoners:...

. With Elizabeth Bay House

Elizabeth Bay House

Elizabeth Bay House is a historic home in the suburb of Elizabeth Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Built between 1835 and 1839, Elizabeth Bay House was known as 'the finest house in the colony'. Elizabeth Bay House is a home in the Regency style, originally surrounded by a garden, but...

 and Camden Park

Camden Park Estate, New South Wales

Camden Park was a large sheep station established by John Macarthur south of Sydney near present day Camden in New South Wales, Australia. Today, part of the original estate contains the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute.- Origins :...

, it is considered to be one of the three great houses of the County of Cumberland

Cumberland County, New South Wales

Cumberland County is a county in the State of New South Wales, Australia. Most of the Sydney metropolitan area is located within the County of Cumberland....

.

Newington is a substantial and intact example of a rural colonial villa, and demonstrates the quality of life of prominent citizens and families from early settlements. It is associated with a notable New South Wales family, being built for John Blaxland

John Blaxland

John Blaxland was a pioneer settler and explorer in Australia.-Early life:Blaxland was born in Kent, the eldest son of John Blaxland and Mary, née Parker, of Fordwich, Kent, England. He was the older brother of Gregory Blaxland. John Blaxland was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, later...

, whose entrepreneurial business activities were amongst the oldest in the colony, and whose brother Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland was a pioneer farmer and explorer in Australia.- Early life :Gregory Blaxland was born 17 June 1778 at Fordwich, Kent, England, the fourth son of John Blaxland, mayor from 1767 to 1774, whose family had owned estates nearby for generations, and Mary, daughter of Captain Parker,...

 assisted in activities generally relative to the site. Its use since the occupation of the Blaxland family has reflected a number of social changes as the founding site of Newington College

Newington College

Newington College is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Stanmore, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

, and as an asylum, hospital, and prison administration building.

The estate

The Newington estate was established on aboriginal lands of the Wann-gal which encompassed the southern side of the Ghana River from Cockle Bay

Darling Harbour, New South Wales

Darling Harbour is a locality of the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street...

 to Rose Hill

Rose Hill

-People:* Rose Hill , British actress* Rose Hill , British wheelchair athlete-England:* Rose Hill, Derby, inner city suburb in Derby* Rose Hill, Oxfordshire, city council estate near Oxford...

.

In the first 40 years of European settlement, grants of land in this area, ranging from 100 to 10,000 acres (40 km²), were made to settlers. These land grants were inked in on County of Cumberland maps, with names of owners and land granted clearly indicated. In 1807, John Blaxland acquired 520 hectares of land, reserving the original grants of Waterhouse, Shortland, Archer and Haslam. He named the estate Newington after his family estate in Kent, England

Newington, Kent

Newington, Kent may refer to:* Newington, Shepway* Newington, Swale* Newington, Thanet...

. Blaxland established a series of salt pans on the banks of the Parramatta River and by 1827 was producing 8 tons of salt each week for the Sydney market. Blaxland also established a tweed mill, lime kiln and flour mill. In 1843, Blaxland mortgaged the property to the Australian Trust Company. After he died in 1851 the Trust Company sold the property to John Dobie to recover the mortgage. The Blaxland family re-purchased the estate from Dobie in 1854 but offered it as security against a large loan. The property was transferred to the Official Assignee of the Insolvent Estate of Edward James Blaxland in 1860 and subsequently leased to the Methodist Church, who established Newington College on the estate. The College remained on the site until 1880.

The property, extending from near the current Holker Street to the current Carnarvon Street, was sold to John Wetherill in 1877. The following year, John Wetherill registered a subdivision plan for the entire 520 hectare Newington Estate. This proposal comprised an extensive grid layout, of some 114 lots, which extended well into the mud flats and mangroves of Wentworth Bay and Homebush Bay. In 1906 and 1909, Wetherill further subdivided his property as Riverside Heights, with the first allotments sold in that year. It was hoped that the location of the subdivision in close proximity to the developing State Abattoir and Brickworks would attract people to the area in association with the employment opportunities offered by these establishments. This venture was largely unsuccessful, with only a few lots being sold. However the layout of the western part of the Newington subdivision remains obvious in the current street pattern and street names.

Newington was first offered to the Government for use as an Asylum for the Insane in 1874. The Government did not accept this offer, however in 1879, Government Architect James Barnett

James Barnett

James Barnett is an American entrepreneur and community activist from Dallas, Texas. At 17, he created a social networking site for gay teens and young adults called My-Boi.Com, which resulted in his father moving him from his Christian high school and his outing to his parents...

 prepared a report on the suitability of the Newington estate for a Reformatory School for Boys. His report concluded that the site was suitable for a Boys Reformatory or a Benevolent Asylum for Aged Women. In September 1897 the Crown Solicitor confirmed that 5000 pounds would be paid to John Wetherill to acquire about 19 hectares of land, which included Newington House.

A new Aged Women's Asylum was constructed to replace the existing asylum which was housed within the Immigrant Depot at the Hyde Park Barracks

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

The Hyde Park Barracks is an internationally significant, impressive brick building and compound designed by convict architect Francis Greenway between 1818–19; originally built at the head of Macquarie Street to house convict men and boys....

. The first buildings were established in 1886 on this new site to house 300 patients. At this time, the hospital was categorised as a state asylum for dependent adults' with infirmity or illness of 'incurable character'. Various additional buildings and structures were added to the Newington Hospital over the years. In 1960 it was proposed that the hospital should be closed and the site sold to industry. The significance of the site, however, stimulated significant public opposition to the plans. In 1968, after a series of drawn out negotiations, the Government of the day decided to close the hospital and transfer the property to the then NSW Department of Prisons.

The house

Newington House is a two storey Regency

Regency architecture

The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...

 villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

, built between 1829 and 1832, in the style of an English mansion, with disciplined English gardens. In its heyday the Blaxland Estate was famous for its landscaped gardens and orchards. The house today is located in the centre of the Silverwater Corrective Centre. The main front of the house is symmetrical, with a central pedimented break-front. The main entrance door is surmounted by a decorative fanlight. The design has been variously attributed to John Verge

John Verge

John Verge was an English architect, builder, pioneer settler of New South Wales, who migrated to Australia and pursued his career there. Verge was one of the earliest and the most important architect of the Greek Revival in Australia. He also brought more comprehensive range of Regency style than...

 and Henry Cooper however no original drawings have been located. Newington House was one of the subjects of architect and writer William Hardy Wilson

William Hardy Wilson

William Hardy Wilson was an Australian architect, artist and author. He "is regarded as one of the most outstanding architects of the twentieth century".-Early years:...

's romanticised drawings of colonial architecture in NSW published in the 1920s. The house is now used as an administration block of the Silverwater Corrective Centre. The house is unusual in architectural terms, for its character rather than its quality; externally it forms a typical Regency structure, its initial conception somewhat marred by the awkward later placement of the verandah, which however presents a fine portal to the house. Internally the main items of significance are the room layout and the rigorous but rustic character of its joinery, where aspirations to the manner and style of a Verge house are seen in primitive form, revealing more general standards of workmanship of the day, and thus the joinery is idiosyncratic in detail rather than of refined quality.

The chapel

The Blaxland family chapel, named St.Augustine's, was built in 1838 and a marble plaque, above the main door, attests to this fact. It is a rendered, single storey building of brick with corner buttresses and is rectangular in plan. In design it is Gothicised Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 with pilasters, a string course and a pedimented gable. The pointed arch fenestration with simple tracery, coloured glass and quatrefoil vents are Gothic Revival in style. St. Augustine's demonstrates the strong religious convictions of the Blaxland family.

The garden

Elements of the former house garden, and estate landscaping remain today. These include the outline of the formal carriage loop north of the house, isolated elements such as mature trees and an avenue of rainforest tree species and palms going north from the house towards the river. More detailed elements such as a pedestal and urn, east of the house on the edge of the former carriage loop also remain. Tree plantings lining the former carriage loop north of the house include Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis), southern nettle trees (Celtis australis

Celtis australis

Celtis australis, commonly known as the European nettle tree, Mediterranean hackberry, lote tree, or honeyberry, is a deciduous tree that can grow 20 or 25 meters in height....

) and cotton palms (Washingtonia robusta

Washingtonia robusta

Washingtonia robusta is a palm tree native to western Sonora and Baja California Sur in northwestern Mexico. It grows to tall, rarely up to . The leaves have a petiole up to long, and a palmate fan of leaflets up to 1 m long. The inflorescence is up to long, with numerous small pale orange-pink...

) with their tall, clean trunks to 20m high. An avenue of trees towards the river comprises Bunya Bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii

Araucaria bidwillii

Araucaria bidwillii, the Bunya Pine, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the genus Araucaria, family Araucariaceae. It is native to south-east Queensland with two small disjunct populations in northern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics, and many fine old specimens planted in New...

), hoop pines (Araucaria cunninghamii

Araucaria cunninghamii

Araucaria cunninghamii is a species of Araucaria known as Moreton Bay Pine, or Hoop Pine. Other less commonly used names include Colonial Pine, Richmond River Pine, Queensland Pine, Alloa, Ningwik, or Pien, the wood is sometimes called Arakaria)...

), Moreton Bay figs (Ficus macrophylla), Canary Island date palms and swamp mahoganies (Eucalyptus robusta

Eucalyptus robusta

Eucalyptus robusta, commonly known as Swamp Mahogany, Swamp Messmate or Swamp Stringybark, is a tree native to eastern Australia.-Description:...

). The latter of these may be later plantings. Walkway planting dates to the 1860s-1900, the main period of popularisation and fashionability of these species, and their promotion by such public figures as then Directors of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, are the most central of the three major botanical gardens open to the public in Sydney....

, Charles Moore

Charles Moore

Charles Moore may refer to:*Charles Moore , America Olympic hurdler*Charles Moore , director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney...

 and Joseph Maiden

Joseph Maiden

Joseph Henry Maiden was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Maiden when citing a botanical name.Joseph Maiden was born in St John's Wood, London...

. These men provided such species to many public institutions such as hospitals. Cotton and Canary Island date palms were also commonly promoted species in this period. Close to Holker Street and the main entry are large specimens of Hill's fig (Ficus hillii) and Moreton Bay figs, transplanted from estate remnants to the east of the current entry driveway as part of a redevelopment of the main entry. These trees are at least of 1880s vintage but possibly older. Significance trees throughout the site include the extremely rare Schotia afra (Kaffir bean, Boer bean) and the surviving turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera

Syncarpia glomulifera

Syncarpia glomulifera is a tree native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can grow to more than 30 metres in height...

) which are likely to be indigenous to the site.

Newington College

At the Methodist Conference of 1862, the Rev John Manton

John Manton

John Allen Manton was an English-born Australian Methodist minister, school principal and founding President of Newington College, Sydney.-Early life:...

 proposed that a collegiate institute, "decidedly Wesleyan in character", be founded in Sydney. It was expected that the school would "be open to the sons of parents of all religious denominations", and on Thursday 16 July 1863, the Wesleyan Collegiate Institute opened with 16 boys and a small number of theological students. As no suitable buildings were available in Sydney at the time, Newington House was leased. Newington College, as the school soon became known, prospered during its time on the Parramatta River

Parramatta River

The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....

 and in 1869 was the first Australian school to play rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 (against the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

), and soon after was the first school in Australia to hold an athletics carnival. The Newington College Cadet Unit is the oldest corps in the Australian Army Cadets

Australian Army Cadets

The Australian Army Cadets is a youth organisation that is involved with progressive training of youths in military and adventurous activities. The programme has more than 19,000 Army Cadets between the ages of 12½ and 19 based in 236 units around Australia...

. Expanding student numbers meant that more extensive premises closer to the city were required. A bequest, by John Jones

Stanmore, New South Wales

Stanmore is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Stanmore is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Marrickville Council.-History:...

, of land at Stanmore, saw the College move to the newly fashionable inner-city suburbs in 1880. By resolution of the College Council, the name Newington College was perpetuated on the new site, and Newington has remained at Stanmore ever since.

Newington NSW

Newington, New South Wales

Newington, New South Wales

Newington is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Newington is located 19 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

 is a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 built partially on the former Newington House estate. It is located on the western side of Homebush Bay, on the Parramatta River

Parramatta River

The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....

 and 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) north-west of Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

 and is best known as the location of the Athletes Village

Olympic Village

An Olympic Village is an accommodation centre built for an Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, athletic trainers, and other staff. Since the Munich Massacre at the 1972...

 for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and 2000 Summer Paralympics

2000 Summer Paralympics

The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000...

. The Athlete's Village was converted to residential apartments after the Games. Other apartments and double-storey houses have also been built since.

Newington Armory

Newington Armory

Newington Armory

The RAN Armament Depot Newington was a Royal Australian Navy armament depot at Newington, New South Wales, Australia.-Military Magazine:...

 was a Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) ammunitions depot built on the former estate of Newington House.
A powder magazine and camp and were built in 1897 by the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 as an ammunition depot for admiralty ships. After the passing of the Naval Defence Act in 1910, by the Commonwealth that formally established the Commonwealth Naval Forces, the Commonwealth took over the ammunition depot and expanded the facilities. It became known as the Royal Australian Naval Armament Depot (RANAD). The RAN started to vacate the site in 1996, with ownership transferred to the Government of New South Wales

Government of New South Wales

The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...

to be developed as the Sydney 2000 Olympics Athlete's Village and the suburb of Newington.