Treasures

The collections of the Historic Houses Trust are diverse and range from the finest example of early 19th century colonial furniture used to furnish a grand villa like Elizabeth Bay House to a scrap of fabric from a garment worn by one of the Irish famine orphan girls who found temporary shelter in the Hyde Park Barracks in 1849. The ten small treasures represented here have been selected for the variety of the stories that they can tell about our histories and our places. They are not necessarily of much monetary value. Some items are made of gold or fine porcelain but others hide their worth and may be worn from a lifetime’s use.

Luna Park chess set, 2001

Peter Kingston, artist and maker
hand-painted acrylic on cast resin

Museum of Sydney collection

This chess set playfully evokes Luna Park, Sydney’s best known fun fair and place of leisure and recreation for generations of Sydney residents. It consists of a playing board with 32 chess pieces representing elements of Luna Park including the Rotor and River Cave rides as well as figures like Mr Luna, Big Boy and the skeleton character from the Ghost Train. Luna Park was opened in 1935 at Milsons Point on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and although redeveloped a number of times, its original 1930s art deco style is still reflected in remaining elements like Coney Island.

William Charles Wentworth’s fob-watch, 1825

William Bucknell, watchmaker
18 carat gold quarter repeating watch, with chain, seal and key; original invoice

Vaucluse House collection

In the early 19th century, watches were not only useful instruments but also potent status symbols, most being hand made at high cost. This watch was bought in 1825 by William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872) from London watchmaker William Bucknell, who married Wentworth’s first cousin, Martha Wentworth. Watches were also fashion accessories of the Regency Period (1800-1830) as the shorter waistcoats and cut-away coats of the period accommodated their use. They were mainly worn at waist level and later in the period were attached to chains, with the watch hung from the belt or attached to a central buttonhole and tucked into the fob pocket of trousers or vests.

Dish from Chinese export dessert service

made for John and Elizabeth Macarthur, c1812
Porcelain with overglaze polychrome painted

Elizabeth Farm collection

Chinese export porcelain was made and decorated exclusively for foreign markets between the 16th and the 20th century. By the late 18th century, exports from China were in decline due to competition from European porcelain factories, however new geographical markets, such as Australia and the USA revitalised the industry. The bulk export wares of the 18th and 19th century were typically tea-wares and dinner services, with polychrome enamelled decoration painted over the glaze becoming popular.  This Cantonese stoneware dish, is part of a dessert service ordered from Canton around 1812 for John and Elizabeth Macarthur and is decorated with a monogrammed cartouche of 'J E Mc A' (in script) in gilt. The order was placed by Hannibal Macarthur, John’s nephew who also ordered a similar set for himself and wife Anna Maria. Miscellaneous plates from both services survive in private ownership, in addition to two plates now owned by the HHT. They are believed to be the earliest surviving examples of such Chinese export ware commissioned from the Australian colonies.

Convict love token, 1825

defaced 1797 cartwheel penny (copper)

Hyde Park Barracks collection

Convict love tokens were made as mementos and owe their origin to traditional sailors' farewells known as ‘leaden hearts’. They were made for the whole of the transportation period in New South Wales and Tasmania, though the majority of tokens were produced during the 1820s and 1830s. The initials ‘CD’ on this convict love token may refer to Cornelius Donovan, a blacksmith transported to Van Diemen's Land for forgery in 1825. The inscription on the reverse reads: "THIS IS A / TOKEN FROM / MY HAND FOR I AM / GOING TO / VAN DIEMENS [sic] / 18 LAND 25". Love tokens were often made on the behalf of others, making this example particularly significant as it suggests the person who presented it also made it.

Captain Philip Gidley King’s naval uniform shoe buckles, c1798

black leather, cast gold

Government House collection

This pair of richly decorated shoe buckles was worn as part of the naval uniform of Captain Philip Gidley King, R.N., (1758 - 1808), best known for establishing the first European settlement on Norfolk Island in 1788 and as the third Governor of New South Wales, 1800 - 1806. Shoe buckles were worn universally throughout the 18th century, fastening the shoes of men and women, children and adults, slaves and royalty, only the quality of the make and material varying. The great buckle making centres were located in the English Midlands. Shoe buckles gradually went out of fashion from the late 18th century though they were retained as part of ceremonial and court dress until well into the 20th century.

Kathleen Rouse’s doll shoes, c1890

leather, machine stitched

Hamilton Rouse Hill Trust collection

These dolls shoes are part of the collection of costume, toys and childrens’ books found at Rouse Hill which relate to the childhood of Nina Rouse (later Terry, 1875-1968) and Kathleen Rouse (1878-1932). Doll play influenced and modeled the character and behaviour of girls in the 19th-century and these accessories also preserve examples of period fashions. Kathleen had a particular interest in dolls, staging grand pageants, weddings and funerals and re-wrote popular Victorian melodramatic novels to record the social life of her dolls, which she published in a house journal called the Rouse Hill Gazette. The creation and modification of costumes and accessories at Rouse Hill was often done through the services of Mrs Cockram (b.1850?), Kathleen’s nurse or ‘Nana’, and the nursery was the space in which these grand occasions were held.

Sarah Wentworth’s dress fan, c1870

mother-of-pearl, hand-painted pleated paper

Vaucluse House collection

The popularity of folding fans imported from the East spread across Europe in the 18th century. They became status symbols and accessories, generally carried in the evening and on important occasions. This French dress fan originally belonged to Sarah Wentworth (1805 - 1880), wife of William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872) and has mother-of-pearl guards and sticks with an upper section of handpainted, pleated paper. The Wentworth family acquired many objects that reflected mid-19th-century fashions, though this dress fan also provides an insight into Sarah’s personal tastes.

Governor Darling’s children, c1837

silhouette painting on glass, bird’s eye maple frame

Caroline Simpson Collection

This picture depicts a fashionable interior in which three children are arranging a floral display on a table. Identified silhouettes of early Australian subjects are rare, however this work incorporates the title ‘The Children of Sir Ralph Darling’. As Darling was knighted in 1835, the word “Sir” indicates the children are most likely his and wife Eliza’s youngest daughters: Caroline (b.1829), Charlotte Amelia (b.1831) and Agnes (b.1833). The work was probably executed between 1835 and 1838 and is a fine example of a painting type that, within a decade, would be supplanted by photographic portraits.

Encaustic tile from Duckenfield Park House, c1860

A.W.N. Pugin, designer, for Minton & Co, England
moulded terracotta

Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection

This paving tile was used in a courtyard of the now demolished Duckenfield Park House, near Morpeth, New South Wales. Duckenfield Park House was a 45 room sandstone mansion built by wealthy pastoralist John Eales [1799-1871]. Encaustic tiles gained popularity during the early 19th century Gothic Revival. Architect A.W.N. Pugin [1812-1852] was instrumental in aiding the popularity of encaustics by cooperating with manufacturers, such as Minton, to use Medieval-style tile-work in the rehabilitation works of ecclesiastic buildings. Pugin also played a seminal role in the Australian Gothic Revival experience, designing a number of Australian churches and having a general impact on colonial townscapes and secular taste.

Long Bay mug shot of Tilly Devine, 1925

glass plate negative

NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Devine became Sydney’s best-known brothel madam, her public quarrels with the sly-grog queen Kate Leigh providing Sydney’s newspapers with an abundance of salacious copy. Tilly is just 26 years of age in these photographs, recently convicted of malicious wounding and sentenced to two years gaol for having used a razor to slash a man’s face in a barber’s shop. This image comes from a glass plate negative, one of a collection created between 1914 and 1930 at the State Reformatory for Women at Long Bay in Sydney. A photograph of each prisoner was placed onto a criminal record sheet as part of the identification process, with additional information such as the prisoner’s name and Long Bay identification number, inscribed on the image. Tilly’s portrait stands in stark contrast to the glamorous image of the femme fatale in popular culture.