by Alderman R.W. Rathbone, Hon. Secretary, Lydham Hall Local Committee
It is now ten years since Council, as part of its Centenary Celebrations, purchased historic Lydham Hall as a local history museum and handed it over to a Local Committee consisting of representatives of the Council and the St. George historical Society to restore and administer.
Perhaps in this year’s Annual Report, it is timely to look back over those years to see whether the Council’s initiative has been justified and what progress, is any, has been made.
Initially, the purchase and early restoration of the building were fraught with difficulties. The previous owners, Mr & Mrs G Long, had a great love of the building and were most reluctant to part with a house they had struggled for years to maintain. Only by granting them a life-tenancy was the Council able to purchase the property at all.
This was a most unhappy arrangement and resulted in serious personality clashes between the previous owners and members of the Local Committee. Another problem was the lack of accommodation as only the two front rooms and the hall could be made available for display and public viewing.
For two and a half years this frustrating situation existed and only the efforts of the late Arthur Ford, Miss Bet Otton from the Historical Society and myself, who placed ourselves on duty every weekend and endured untold provocations enabled the building to remain open and some basic restoration to proceed.
When I returned from a trip overseas in 1973, I discovered that Mr and Mrs Long had vacated the premises and negotiations were immediately entered into which, after protracted legal argument, resulted in the who building becoming available in September 1974.
The next three years were a time of unprecedented activity. Firstly, the caretaker’s quarters, which were in a very poor state, were renovated with Council’s assistance and Miss Bet Otton who had been unanimously recommended by the Local Committee, moved in as the Curator.
The Historical Society then arranged for the renovation and redecoration of the bedroom. This was followed by the re-arrangement of the sitting room and the redecoration and papering of the dining room. Then followed restoration of the room adjoining the dining room as a display room for the unique collection of Willow Pattern China which had been collected. This room was in an incredible state.
As the building had no authentic kitchen, one was created by demolition of the laundry and the toilet and by building an artificial fireplace.
Finally the upstairs gallery was renovated and many of the artefacts previously stored were able to be displayed.
For nearly three years Miss Otton and I worked every Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday and many evenings until after midnight to restore the interior while Arthur Ford maintained the grounds. Because of the complicated nature of the work, progress was often frustratingly slow but bit by bit it was accomplished.
By early 1978 the whole building was open to the public and the number of visitors per annum had increased from an average of barely 1000 in 1972 to almost 3000. Without exception, they were ecstatic in their praise. In 1978 Lydham Hall was twice featured on T.V.
In 1977, Alderman Phil Lang, a Council representative on the Local Committee, suggested that Council apply for a grant to erect proper accommodation for the Curator. Council’s application was successful and work began late in 1978. This enabled the show kitchen to be greatly enlarged and the unsympathetic fibro addition on the back verandah which had formerly housed the Curator’s kitchen to be removed.
During 1979 the former storeroom was attractively renovated as a display area for the very extensive collection of clothing the Local Committee had accumulated and during 1980 the gallery was recarpeted and provided with built in show cases. At the same time the slates on the roof were replaced, the verandah rebuilt and the rear garden landscaped.
The renovation and restoration of Lydham Hall to its present high standard of development has been quite a remarkable achievement in the relatively short period of ten years, particularly when it is realised that it was achieved by a handful of people who gave an enormous amount of their time, dug very deeply into their own pockets when funds were not available and endured endless frustrations.
Lydham Hall stands today as an outstanding tribute to the foresight of the Aldermen of Rockdale Council who in 1970, agreed to purchase it; to Miss Otton for the immaculate way in which she maintains it and to that very loyal but again, very small band, of Historical Society members who give up their time to conduct visitors through the building.
Since its opening in February 1971, more than 20,000 people have inspected the building and it has proved one of the Council’s most effective public relations outlets.
To complete this report I should mention also the work done by Alderman Reg Whiteoak and Mr Arthur Ellis in the early days of the restoration and Mr Lloyd Deller of the Council’s staff in more recent times, but above all I should record the names of three Council Officers, Mr. (now Alderman) Charles Daly, Mr Kevin Casey and Mr John Franklin. Without their sympathetic assistance and their help in so many ways much of what has now been achieved would never have been possible.
At the same time, I should mention those hundreds of people too numerous to detail individually who have given or lent furnishings and artefacts of priceless value to make this home one of the most attractive restored Victorian residences in Sydney.
This article was first published in the June 1981 edition of our magazine.
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