National Trust of SA Heritage Living. Ayers House Special Edition

H ER I TAGE L I V I NG SPECIAL EDITION

AYERS HOUSE

T HIS SPECI A L EDI T ION OF HER I TAGE L IV I NG IS DEDIC AT ED TO

Ayers House

F

ONE OF SOU T H AUST R A L I A’S MOST SIGN IFIC AN T HER I TAGE BU IL DI NGS AND TO T HE T HOUS ANDS OF PEOPL E W HO H AV E M A DE I T A U N IQU E AND P R ECIOUS COM M U N I T Y ASSET.

or more than 50 years, the National Trust has fought to preserve Ayers House for the people of South Australia. We are now fighting for its future once again.

Over that time, we have battled proposals to demolish the house, to convert it into a health facility, a casino and a hotel.

Now Ayers House faces a new threat.

In June 2021, the State Government announced with media fanfare a $6m 'upgrade' at Ayers House.

What it did not say in its news release was, just hours before that announcement, Minister for the Environment, David Speirs, served a notice on the National Trust evicting it from Ayers House after 50 years.

With that notice, giving 31 days to vacate the property, a new battle to Keep Ayers House for the people began.

This issue of the magazine is all about why that battle is worth fighting and how you can help.

3

4

6

8

10

14

16

18

WHY WE ARE HERE

WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY

THE MAGIC OF AYERS HOUSE

WHAT OUR VISITORS SAY

CHILDREN & FAMILIES

COLLECTIONS

EVENTS

SIX DECADES OF THE NATIONAL TRUST AT AYERS HOUSE

AYERS HOUSE SPECIAL EDITION

Why we are here The National Trust of South Australia is a public charity that works to protect, preserve and promote our built, cultural and natural heritage for the benefit of all South Australians.

W

e work without funding from government for our operations, relying on the remarkable support of our 6,000 members and volunteers across the State. We manage 125 properties on behalf of the community and run public events, training and learning programs at those places and online.

In 2021, the Minister for the Environment and State Government officials decided to evict the National Trust from Ayers House after 50 years.

The lease termination notice (see opposite page) was served on the Trust without prior warning.

The National Trust was first asked to manage Ayers House in 1971 after having assisted in protecting it from demolition in the 1950s and 60s. Former Premier Don Dunstan invited the Trust to join his plan to restore, furnish and present the house to the public. A lease was offered on the condition that the Trust furnished and managed the house as a public exhibition space at its own cost, and the first refurbished rooms were opened to the public in 1973.

For 50 years the Trust has cared for Ayers House, and created and managed an extensive collection of significant artefacts, developed with generous donations from numerous people. We have opened the house six days a week to people visiting from far and wide

at no cost to government. The Trust has also undertaken major conservation works to restore much of the interior decorative paintwork which is one of the house’s most distinguishing features.

Hundreds of people have worked as volunteers over the decades, contributing many thousands of hours to maintaining the house and sharing it with the public as a community service. In that time, the Trust has invested an estimated $30 million, directly and indirectly, in sustaining Ayers House for the community.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ayers House hosted many enthusiastic visitors from around the world. Before and after the pandemic we welcomed thousands of local school students for unforgettable learning experiences.

Now, Ayers House faces a new threat.

The State Government wants to further commercialise the house for private events and to repurpose large parts of the building for government offices.

We think this precious building deserves a much better future and invite you to join us in the ongoing fight to keep Ayers House for the people.To find out more about how you can help us secure a safe and flourshing future for Ayers House, in the permanent care of the National Trust, turn to page 35.

KEEP AYERS HOUSE FOR THE PEOPLE

20

22

24

HENRY'S STORY

HENRY’S HOUSE

AUSTRAL HOUSE

26

28

THE PUSH FOR A VISIONARY PRESERVATION PARTNERSHIP

30

32

34

HIDDEN TREASURE

DONORS

MEMBERSHIP

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

3

§ W hat

the pe ople say

Righting a wrong Public reaction to the Ayers House eviction notice has been intense.

Two petitions have gained huge support to Keep Ayers House for the people in the care of the National Trust.

ll.

Hands Off , Mr Marsha . ne alo e Leave Ayers Hous

as is This needs to be kept ne yo er for the people - ev to enjoy.

Here’s what some of them have said.

JANICE JOLLY

FRAN SHORT

of preserving have done a great job st Tru l na tio Na e th hands.

I believe to do so. it is in safe e inu nt co ll wi d an the building ULOS OPO TONY CHRIST

I think it's an outrageous act by the SA Govt to try to evict the National Trust from the building the Trust has been caring for so long. I'm sure the establishment of government offices will have a very damaging effect on the building.

The $6.6m will mostly be used by governmen the t to fabric and c destroy the heritage harac turning it in ter of Ayer's House to making mu offices, as well as ch of Aye accessible to r's House less the public.

A

DAVID DRAGE

NDREW

I'm signing because the National Trust of SA are, by far, the best placed and qualified custodians of the Ayers House Museum.

CHRISTINA VAN KALKEN

THOMP

SON

Very important to keep the National Trust involved. Don’t undo all the work they have done. No need for government offices there.

There are plenty of empty offices in. the CBD. DEB MORGAN

the best custodian of The National Trust is ry we have.

South Australian histo BRONWYN PA

RKIN

I urge the Government of South Australia to rescind its eviction notice and fulfil its commitment to the National Trust for an ongoing long-term lease and funding for its vision of a world class and wholly public cultural destination for the future.

job, They have done a good them. why would you shift BEV GUM

ANN WILLIAMS

ry Trust The Government can afford to place their Histo g too, vatin reno elsewhere. What hypocrisy. Scary thought re vating. Leave needs saving, restoring and treasuring, not reno ing our our National Trust alone, they fight so hard in keep do so. to nt rnme historic buildings, often fighting the gove

How dare SA Government completely disregard all the hard work performed by volunteers over the years to maintain this unique piece of Australian history. Do not proceed!!!

KAY SPRY

JUDY REES

at can be for lease buildings th nt ca va y an m e ar e Ther belongs to offices. Ayers House used for government of history for us all. the community. A slice KAREN GEORG

E

I’m really concerne d that the Nationa treated shabbily l Trust SA is being by the SA Governm en t in this instance. I been to Ayers Hous have e and to turn it in to government offi catering facility so ce s and unds to me like an abuse of the histor the house and also y of very elitist.

ANNE LANG

LEY

The National Trust do a wonderful job running this museum. It allows the general public a precious glimpse inside a gracious and important historical building of Adelaide.

§ page

4

CHRISTINA TA

PL

SARA LIVSEY

This beautiful build ing wouldn't still exist except for the National Trus t. Please allow th em to continue to look after it and sh are it with visitors . Thank you to all the volunteers who work there, this ne ws must be so disappointing to all of you who ca re fo r he ritage. I hope the Government re verses its decision .

S U SA N A R M

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

ns and gift to future generatio National heritage is a tly. y discarded so flippan all su ca so be t no t us m ER

ST R O N G

Adelaide's Ayers House is one of na tio l Trust has treasures and the Na of making it so. done a wonderful job VIST

HELEN LINDQ

the heritage is building is part of th e us ca be is th ng presented I signi National Trust have . lia ra st Au h ut So the for all in ld be continued for ou sh at th ns tio bi hi amazing ex benefit of all.

ANNA LISTER

It is such a disgrace that Speirs acted in such a temper tantrum.

Stamping his foot over the win of the Gatehouse, also the fight to stop the privatisation of Martindale Hall....a bequest is for the people, and to extinguish a charitable trust , places all other such places at risk of the same...

JACK CONDOUS

nth century house e of the finest ninetee on is um se Mu e us erating for 50 The Ayers Ho by volunteers and op ly ge lar d ffe sta a, ali environment, museums in Austr is a unique historical It . ing nd fu t en m rn ve children alike. years without any go nal tourists and local tio na er int by ed lov h muc MANN JOHN HER

r This should remain fo the people and for The National Trust.

ROBYN COLEM

AN

This is outrageous, espe cially the 30 day eviction notice.

That is just damn rude.

And how long will this mo ve last, if successful? Will it be a rerun of moving Arts SA int o the West's Coffee Palace bu ilding, or the State Archiv es into the Bickford Building ?

Above: National Trust members around the world have rallied to support our cause.

ALISON HOYLE

This is a important & valuable piece of SA history the National Appalling in absolutely every way! Kicking out that needs to continue to be managed & maintained public Trust & shutting off this major landmark to the

by National Trust to provide access for all South age is who relish and visit to admire such beautiful herit Australians & visitors to the state. d by tireless unthinkable!! Ayres House is beautifully maintaine SUE FOX .

I'm signing because a Sta volunteers - does this not say anything to the govt te controlled occupant wi ll not have the people as a priority, KAREN DECEAN but its own needs. Why ch an ge when it is not broken? Let's ho pe the Government will be gutsy enough to come out with the real reasons for this mo ve.

Politics is a dirty busines s!

I'm shocked and dismayed that our FREDERICK VAN GESTEL Premier, Minister and Cabinet could act in such a dishonorable and distainful manner to a professional and dedicated volunteer ic access site of maximum publ a ain m organization like the National Trust. re ld ou sh e Ayers Hous life, rather than al period in this State’s I'm signing because I'm disgusted ric CARLSA CARTER to his a to s es tn wi to ation centre… str ini m ad aic os pr a thst Liberal Govt would do this be offloaded as D AL N just to boost Marshall's ego!

LUCY MACDO TRISH COOPER

Make your voice heard.

Sign and share the petitions to Keep Ayers House for the people.

Download the petition to Parliament and help us collect

10,000 signatures to keep Ayers House for the people bit.ly/ayershousepetition

Sign and share the online petition

www.change.org/ KeepAyersHouseforthepeople H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

5

§ T he

M agic of Ay ers Hou se

The magic

of Ayers House Ayers House is a unique place, preserved for everyone to enjoy. The sound of a chiming clock, the laughter of children on the stairs, the brilliant flash of gilt surfaces and sparkling crystal create an experience like no other. Over 50 years, the National Trust has nourished and nurtured Henry’s legacy as a community service, generously shared with people of all ages from around the world.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

6

T he M agi c of Ay ers Hou se

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§

§ page

7

§ V isitors

What our visitors say

Visitors to the Ayers House museum have always rated it highly. Their comments in the visitor books and online with Trip Advisor show great appreciation and gratitude for the experience.

“A very great Victorian house!

We had a good time! – thanks (Grazie)” Manzo family, Milano Italy

“A guided tour is a must.

It made this place completely come to life!

Thank you!”

Mariette Van Beylan, Gierle Belgium

“The highlight of Adelaide!!”

Leslie Tyler, San Francisco, USA

“Thank you! for showing us around.

My appreciation to the National Trust for treasuring our past” Bettina Friend, Brisbane

“Best preserved/refurbished Victorian home I’ve seen. Very impressive – thank you!”

Hannah George & Ceri George, Cardiff UK

“Beautifully preserved and presented. Grant was a wonderful guide – extremely knowledgeable!”

Jan Wand & Petra Webster, Hawthorn Vic

“Thanks for the tour! Fantastic home – hope it is always looked after” Geoff & Glenys Muncie, Bamawn Vic

“Beautiful house, I loved visiting.

Thank you for taking care of it, it is a real jewel” Eliza

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

8

V isitors

THE DRESSMAKER EXHIBITION

AGE OF ELEGANCE EXHIBITION

“Such a beautiful house and wonderful dresses, it was great and interesting to talk to the kind welcome lady at the entrance”

“So evocative of another time & lifestyle. Thanks!!”

Jella Schutte, Hanover Germany

MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES EXHIBITION

“Wonderful exhibition, could not have been at a better venue. The settings for the costumes were perfect (well done)” Rosalie & Frank, Ireland

“Gorgeous, even for the younger generation, really feels like you’re back in the 1920’s.

Ayers House, perfect setting!”

Brianna Maxwell, Strathalbyn SA

“Superbly curated in a spectacular setting. Will make a return visit.

Thank you” Jill Thompson, Adelaide

“Stunning costumes, Amazing House”

§

“This was a really beautiful visit!

Lots of things to discover” Chi-an Peng,Taiwan

“I really enjoyed here, thank you” Rikie Ishii,Japan

“Many thanks Ian for this wonderful guided tour, you made this house live again!”

Robert & Sylviene, Montreal,QC, Canada

“So glad that I crossed the road and travelled through time”

Liz Butler, Canberra, ACT

“As a student of textile and fashion design (1970’s!), this exhibition was like walking through my study classes. Loved seeing real examples of ‘broderie perse’ on clothing & quilts. Loved it all!!!”

Anne Martin, Kensington Gardens SA

“Absolutely stunning.

Would love to see something like this in New Zealand.

A real credit to all involved showcasing the era” Jacqui White, Renwick, Blenheim

Faye Skyvalaki, Thessaloniki, Greece

“Beautifully presented part of Australia's history.”

Annette & Kim Giles, Wingham, NSW

“A beautiful home filled with beautiful things.”

Sweet family, Clare, SA

Nicole & Judy Hegarty, Sunshine Coast, QLD H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

9

Learning and loving Ayers House The National Trust has welcomed people of all ages to experience and explore Henry’s former home. We know that such places are outside the experience of many children and therefore offer a unique learning environment. Since 2016 the Trust has offered curriculum-based learning programs for school groups as well as a range of weekend and holiday activities and events for families to enjoy in the house together.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

10

Chil dren & Families

§

Some excerpts from letters written by teachers, parents and carers, reproduced with their permission.

I

n designing children’s experiences, we know that for many students this could be the only 90 minutes of their lives they might spend in a Victorian-era mansion. It would be a shame if this time was anything less than wonderful! The focus of the structured learning programs is therefore on active, immersive experiences that transport children to a different era and encourage them to develop inquiry skills and to explore different versions of themselves. These learning opportunities are unique and hugely popular with children, carers, teachers, parents and grandparents.

The house is spread over three levels, with each of these levels reflecting its original use as a nineteenth century mansion. With no room barriers, ‘do not touch’ signs or interpretive text panels, Ayers House feels more like the film set of a period drama than a museum. While some of the rooms are ‘no-touch’ zones, the very human desire to touch things is honoured in a number of spaces with the hands-on kitchen, nursery and ‘making room’ available to all, to encourage unstructured play and interaction.

Our structured education programs are engaging, handson, warm and fun. They are responsive both to teachers’ requests and to the National Curriculum. Mostly, they are scenario-based and always highly interactive. The programs are cross-curricular with many incorporating the visual arts, dance, song and poetry. We work with an enormous cross section of primary and secondary students and modify our programs to include students with special needs. We also offer programs for homeschooling families, who generally have limited access to such experiences. Supplementing all of these programs are online resources for use in the classroom before or after a visit.

Children and families are some of the most important visitors at Ayers House. We have extended our learning programs into weekend and holiday activities and events for families like 'A Very Victorian Christmas' and ‘A Very Victorian Halloween’. We supply dress-ups and games, and run activities that cater for intergenerational groups and participants in the Children's University passport program.

it long after they use talk about their vis Ho s er Ay to n ke ta ve of overall learning Children that I ha rience, both in terms pe ex e th r fo r he ric s of valuing have left. They emerge scussing) and in term di g, rin pa m co g, nin , questio t and their future. skills (e.g. observing eir past, their presen th nd ta rs de un lp he history to

Over many years our Year 2 classes have participated in the Spit and Polish program on offer at Ayers House. The key word here is ‘participated’.

With a little bit of dress up and a delightful role play scenario, students are transported back in time. Unlike a more static museum display, students step into the past in a real and engaging way.

The value of the learning experie nces on offer at Ayers house is unrivalled. The rich learning acquired during the visi t is only the beginning as studen ts’ enthusiasm to further investigate South Austra lian history reaches back into the classrooms. perience dents from my school to ex stu 2 ar Ye ing tak en be tastic, immersive For many years I have at Ayers House. It is a fan run m gra pro lish Po d an it the Sp ly enjoyed. have taken has thorough I nt de stu ery ev t tha m the past, progra te of what life was like in tas n s-o nd ha a th wi nts It provides stude tched by other venues. that in my opinion is unma

I cannot speak highly enough of the education programs offered through Ayers House Museum. I hope children and teachers can keep visiting this learning gem for many years to come.

This is not his tory through showing images of th e past or exa mining artifacts; the programs at Ayers House provide an o pportunity to a little history ‘live’ .

In our school community visits to the Ayers Hous e programs have become a much-anticipated excursion as older students pass on the joy and delight they experienced to their younger siblings.

We have partnered with other programs and events for children and teachers rstand erent perspective. To unde diff a m including the Dream Big Festival, fro life e se to y children the abilit I have watched my The Childrens University, The This beautiful house gives se that have come before. tho m fro nt ere diff are w no rvelling at all Primary School's Festival of Music, bottom, delighting and ma that the lives they are living to top m fro e us ho nd tting gra and the Teachers Big Day Out. or in front of the mirror se s and nieces explore this Our programs for schools have become even more popular during the pandemic. The house offers a safe and controlled environment for learning, including working with Covid-related constraints.

nephew writing desk sing seated at the grand po d an es icl , we got to hand make art ng sti ere the int very Victorian Christmas” “A d, de en att we t en ev one ss up in costumes. in the lady’s bedroom. At ions in the kitchen and dre rat co de as tm ris Ch h ug do salt

Recognising that the pandemic has removed most tourists from the city, we opened the house exclusively for school groups during the week, attracting record numbers of program participants.

History comes to life wh en children visit Ayers Ho use. They travel back in become immersed in Vic time to torian-era Adelaide - to dress like Victorian serva see the toys and games nts, to those children used, to sing their songs and to their kitchen items. This explore kind of 'first-hand' educ ation experience is alm impossible to replicate ost through other resource s.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

11

§ Vol u nteers

Volunteers: the heart of the house

Top left: Sandy Whitelaw curates the extensive costume collection.

Top right: Geoff Cowl keeps the clocks chiming and on time.

Centre: Rosemary Palmer transcribing Sir Henry Ayers’ letters.

Right: Anne Wallman OAM, served at Ayers House for more than 30 years.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

12

The success of Ayers House as a public destination has depended on the dedicated service of National Trust volunteers who welcome our visitors, facilitate and enrich school visits and public events, as well as caring for the house and working with collections and exhibitions.

Over sixty years, hundreds of people have given more than a million hours to keep the house open to the public, to restore and maintain its interiors and collections and to create unforgettable experiences.

Vol u nteers

§

E

ven before the Trust was formally invited to refurbish Ayers House, a unique band of volunteers was formed to accomplish the task. In August 1961, ten women gathered at Murray House in Grenfell Street to take up an important challenge.

It was the first official meeting of the National Trust Women’s Committee.

Initial members were all married to founding members of the Trust. Among those in the room that morning were Dorothy, Lady Morgan, Gwynnyth, Lady Angas, Mrs Margery Bonython and Mrs Kathleen de Crespigny, who was appointed the first chairman. Margaret, Lady Rymill, wife of the first National Trust of South Australia president, Sir Arthur Rymill, was an apology but also became an active member.

Addressing the meeting, then President Sir Edward Morgan explained the main function of the committee would be to raise funds “by any appropriate means” and generally to further the interests of the Trust, including helping to publicise its work. He suggested organising exhibitions, garden open days and open inspections of historic homes, which had proven popular interstate.

The Committee soon got to work.

Its first fundraising event raised an “astonishing” £973 and garnered considerable publicity. More exhibitions followed over the next ten years, including a showcase of French craftsmanship held as part of the 1966 Festival of Arts and an exhibition on Australian heritage staged in collaboration with the South Australian Museum. That exhibition, hosted in the David Jones department store, featured artefacts from Aboriginal culture, whalers, navigators and settlers, showcasing the State’s prehistory and colonial period. A fashion parade staged at the South Australian Hotel, before its demolition in 1971, was also a fundraising success. Open house events in private family residences such as Eurilla at Crafers and Cummins House at Novar Gardens were also popular.

As plans developed to open Ayers House to the public, the Women’s Committee was charged with the formidable task of furnishing the rooms and styling them as authentically as possible to the Victorian era. By 1971, enough money had been raised over ten years to make a start.

Above: Gail Mitchell (left) and Cynthia Wynne in welcoming servant mode.

One of the original Women's Committee members was Leonie Matheson. She recalls how members scoured antique shops and attended auctions to acquire suitable items, as well as drawing on their own collections and networks for donations. Everything needed to be found, from fabrics to make curtains and cover chairs, to china and cutlery to set the table in the State Dining Room. Among the most remarkable pieces acquired was a silver epergne made in London in the 1830s and presented to Robert Gouger, one of the founders of the colony.

Pressure mounted in the final weeks leading up to the official opening on 30 June 1973, with members working frantically to prepare the three main rooms on the ground floor. Leonie Matheson recalls volunteers spending hours polishing silver, cleaning china and arranging carefully selected pieces to bring the rooms to life. “They worked very hard,” she says.

A Foundation Patron who later chaired the committee, Mrs Matheson joined when she was only in her midtwenties. “How I came to be invited, I can’t imagine. They were really a very powerful committee in that they knew so much about antiques, what was right for the house and what was totally wrong, and how to look after them. It was fascinating,” she said.

For Leonie, a highlight was refitting the downstairs kitchen, where staff had prepared meals for the Ayers family. “I bought some jelly moulds and then we made jelly one day and it came out all fluted,” she said. “We used to have a

bit of a laugh, we really did. They were all people I knew, and we enjoyed each other’s company.”

The camaraderie and dedication to the house established by the Women’s Committee has been the hallmark of the volunteer community.

Hundreds more have followed in their footsteps. Ann Wallman, another member of the former Women’s Committee, volunteered at Ayers House for 30 years, with her service being recognised with an award of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for service to the heritage of South Australia, particularly through the National Trust of South Australia and Ayers House”.

In recent times, the work of volunteers has diversified across both front of house and back of house roles. It ranges from welcoming visitors and conducting guided tours, caring for collections, undertaking research, assisting with school learning programs, cleaning and maintenance of rooms and displays, as well as performing in the popular After Dark theatrical re-enactment of life in Henry’s house from a servant perspective.

For fifty years, our volunteers have provided a warm welcome at the front of house, as well as working hard behind the scenes to maintain collections, undertake research and to plan and prepare exhibitions. We all owe them a great deal of gratitude for their contribution to keeping Ayers House for the people.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

13

§ C olle c tio ns

T

he National Trust began collecting items for Ayers House 60 years ago as it anticipated the long-awaited restoration of the property. That collection, which now numbers more than 30 000 items, is one of the most extensive collections of nineteenth century objects in Australia, ranging from artworks and furniture, to costume, toys and domestic items, as well as an extensive photographic and documentary archive.

Collections

The collection features Australia’s most significant period costume collection, rare silver and other decorative objects, as well as many ordinary household items that reflect the everyday life of the servants as well as the masters and mistresses of the house.

What is most extraordinary about this collection are the many hundreds of donors who made it happen, entrusting precious and valuable items to the cause of recreating the house as Henry knew it solely for the benefit of the public. From the first calls out to our members in the early 1960’s the Trust has enjoyed the most extraordinary generosity from numerous of people to realise the vision of recreating the most magnificent house in Adelaide.

Their kindness has helped create an enduring testament to Sir Henry Ayers, but also to celebrate the work of the many people who created the beauty of his house, as well as those whose work kept it running smoothly.

We are very fortunate, at the moment, to have a house whose story is largely intact, furnished with care and with a genuine community spirit for public enjoyment and use. We will all be impoverished if this is lost.

Top left: The finest doll in the collection, made in Paris c 1885.

Top right: The Bargain, (1888) painted by Charles Hill, shows a woman 'bargaining' for a possum-skin rug with Aboriginal people.

Centre: The collection features fine glassware and porcelain such as this Brownfield Staffordshire porcelain bowl.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

14

Right:Some of these pieces were purchased at auction with funds raised by the Trust’s tireless Women’s Committee.

Most remarkable of those is the silver epergne (table centrepiece) made in London in the 1830s and presented to Robert Gouger (at right), one of the founders of the colony, in recognition of his service and by way of an apology for apparent mistreatment during his time in Adelaide.

C olle c tio ns

§

Many of the exquisite dresses represent not just changes in fashion, particularly for women, but tell personal stories and showcase remarkable skills and extraordinary materials. A recent major exhibition Age of Elegance highlighted the important role of fashion in the social life of the South Australian colony.

Clocks, furniture and artworks are used throughout the house to showcase the skills of artists and artisans and to demonstrate the domestic and social life in the colonial period.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

15

Events

O

ver 50 years the Trust has hosted a vast array of public events at the house, including many exhibitions of art and artefacts, theatre and cabaret performances, grand dinners, high teas and cocktail functions, fashion parades, workshops and public lectures, antique shows and appraisals, flower shows, game nights and dancers, as well as hundreds of music performances featuring some of the best chamber, choral, folk and Aboriginal music ensembles.

Henry built his house for entertaining on a grand scale and we have proudly continued that tradition for many thousands of visitors.

Top: After Dark performance. Centre: Actress Sarah Snook at The Dressmaker opening event.

Bottom Left: Titjikala Women's Choir perform. Right: Gala dinner.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

16

E vents

§

This page features Historic fashion parade, chamber music, exhibition opening, Mother's Day high tea and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries exhibition.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

17

Six decades of

the National Trust at Ayers House

1961

ustral (Ayers) House is A the first building added to the National Trust’s heritage register.

1971

1960s 1964

1965

remier Don Dunstan invites P the National Trust to decorate and furnish the main rooms of the house as a public display.

1970s

I n Tom Playford’s final year as Premier, the National Trust establishes its offices in the former coach house at Austral House.

1972

ational Trust moves its office N into the main building.

1980s Ayers House hosts film shoots,

1973

Opening of Ayers House to the public.

1983

1986

1974

he Trust purchased Gouger’s T silver epergne at auction for Ayers House.

1976

Basement rooms opened to the public, showing the ‘working’ house.

From mid-1960’s The National Trust’s Women’s Committee organises fundraising events including exhibitions in department stores and open days in stately homes.

§ page

18

exhibitions and events.

roposal to turn Ayers House P into a casino is rejected.

Ayers House is the backdrop for scenes in the television mini-series Under Capricorn.

onations began to be made D to furnish Ayers House, including the chandelier gifted to the Trust by Dorothy Mortlock.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

1980s

An annual Festival of Flowers is established by the Women’s Committee to raise funds.

epairs to original bronze R gasolier in State Dining Room by the Trust.

The Women’s Committee runs film nights, flower arranging workshops, bridge days and exhibitions. A program of Aboriginal poetry reading takes place.

2013

1990

During the 1990s the Young Trust (formerly the 1836 group) continues to hold working bees at Ayers House.

1991

2000

proposal from Metrocorp to A convert Ayers House into the reception space for a hotel is rejected.

esire to Adorn, an exhibition D and sale of antique and tribal jewellery.

he Trust holds a Heritage T Festival at Ayers House during Adelaide’s Festival of Arts.

A heritage dinner recreates a seven-course state dinner from the early 1900s.

Major exhibitions Lady in Mourning and All That Jazz take place and the Australian String Quartet performs.

2003

estoration and conservation R of irreplaceable valuable documents and photographs of Ayers House.

The Mortlock chandelier restoration project is unveiled in 2015 by the Governor of South Australia His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO.

2016

1990s 1993

e called it Austral House W exhibition displays memorabilia and nurses’ uniforms.

1993

ational Trust relocates its N offices from Ayers House to Pulteney Street.

1994

ost decorative paintwork L uncovered in first floor bedrooms.

omething Old, Something S New, an exhibition of wedding gowns and accessories of the 19th and 20th centuries.

2000s

onservation works commence C to restore painted decoration in small dining room.

1998

he Trust’s retail presence is T set up at Ayers House.

1999

estoration work commences R on front veranda.

A series of Appraiser Days, where experts provide assessment of antiques, jewellery and ceramics.

2010s ollowing in 2016 is an F exhibition of dazzling costumes from the Australian film The Dressmaker.

From 2016

2005

he Summer Sitting Room T in the basement is restored including the highly decorated ceiling.

Life Membership is awarded to three members of the Women’s Committee for outstanding commitment to fundraising for Ayers House.

1997

nnual chamber music series A commences.

A major exhibition of 50 costumes created by renowned costumière Marion Boyce based on the ABC-TV’s series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries generates huge interest in 2015/16.

A commemorative booklet on Ayers House is launched.

2004

he National Trust celebrates T six decades of conserving the State’s heritage at a black-tie dinner at Ayers House.

2008

The Ayers House After Dark theatre performance is introduced.

Curriculum based hands-on learning opportunities are offered to school groups, showing children what life was like in Victorian times.

Games, dances, dress-ups, crafts and ‘touch and guess sessions enable children to fully explore the house.

2017

Spectacular Silver event features a range of exhibitors, displays and workshops.

2018

ge of Elegance, an immersive A exhibition featuring original Victorian costumes arranged in tableaux by Marion Boyce.

That same year, the Titjikala Women’s choir from Central Australia performs during the SALA Festival.

2020s With restrictions imposed to manage a pandemic and the loss of international and interstate tourists to Adelaide, the Trust adapts by extending its popular school programs, continuing After Dark night time tours and rotating costume exhibitions.

Programs for home-schooled children are developed, such as the Spit and Polish servant training program, Mind Your Manners experience and writing workshops for students of all ages. Where to for 2022?

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

19

§ H enry ' s

S tory

Henry’s magnificent progress from clerk to knight

BY LIZ HARFULL

The story of Sir Henry Ayers has been told with significant variation over the years, but careful research by Adelaide author Jason Shute and his detailed biography, Henry Ayers: the man who became a rock, sheds a more accurate light on this complex character and his path from humble origins, the son of an English shipwright, to one of the most influential men in the colony of South Australia.

H

enry Ayers was only nineteen and newly married when he and his wife, Anne, boarded the Fairfield for South Australia in July 1840. The colony was looking for people with practical skills so he ‘feigned’ being a carpenter to gain free passage, when in reality he was a legal clerk.

Henry was born in Portsea, England, in May 1821, the son of William Ayers and his wife Elizabeth (née Breaks). Older by eight years, Anne was the daughter of retired linen draper, Lawrence Potts. He accompanied them on the journey with her stepmother, Elizabeth, who died at sea. They planned to reunite with Anne’s brother, Frank, who was already in the colony and later founded Bleasdale winery at Langhorne Creek.

After landing in December 1840, Henry found employment in various legal offices, at one time working for (Sir) James Hurtle Fisher. His prospects improved considerably in 1845 when he was elected secretary of the South Australian Mining Association. The discovery of copper at Burra Burra that same year helped make him a wealthy man, with the Association owning what became known as the ‘Monster Mine’, which returned dividends of between 200 and 800 per cent per annum in its early years. Ayers held some shares and also went on to manage the affairs for a number of shareholders when they returned Home after making a fortune. He had a clientele of about 50 prominent colonists, including Sir James, who trusted him implicitly.

Top: Henry Ayers, 1865.

Middle: Sir Henry Ayers, c.1895.

Bottom: Anne Ayers approximately 1867 (aged 54).

Right: Burra Mine operations 1847.

Engraving by ST Gill for Illustrated London News.

Credits: State Library of South Australia.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

20

H enry ' s S tory

§

Above: An early (daguerreotype) portrait of Henry Ayers, accompanied by a note signed by him explaining the photo was taken a few years after his appointment as Secretary of the Burra Burra mines in 1845: 'This was taken by a travelling Artist at the Burra sometime in 1847 or 1848 when I was 26 or 27 years old. It was greatly esteemed by my Dear Wife as a capital likeness of... H.A.' Credit: State Library of South Australia.

Right: Henry's Collar and Badge of the Grand Cross (Order of St Michael and St George) GCMG awarded in 1894.

With his business career thriving, Ayers entered politics in 1857 after self-government was granted to the colony, serving an unbroken 37 years in parliament. He became a founding member of the Legislative Council, presiding over the chamber for some twelve years. Ayers was premier on seven occasions during a turbulent period of the state’s parliamentary history when ministries might only last a matter of weeks. His final official ministry fell apart in July 1873, on the same day explorer William Christie Gosse came upon Uluru in Central Australia and named it Ayers Rock in his honour.

Described in The Cyclopaedia of South Australia as a man of commercial courage and ‘one of the best administrators and organisers that ever served the state of South Australia in the political arena’, he was considered a cautious businessman of absolute probity by many, and ‘miserly’ and ‘ruthless’ by critics. Extremely well read despite leaving school at the age of eleven, he also loved theatre and opera, and took a keen interest in science.

Ayers did not believe in charity, taking the position that government should manage things so it became unnecessary.

However, he personally helped out many who needed it and gave his time and energy freely to numerous charities and public institutions. Chairman of the Wyatt Benevolent Fund, he also served for many years on the council of the University of Adelaide, as well as boards for the Botanic and Zoological Gardens, Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia, and the South Australian Cricket Association.

He was a long-standing member and chairman of the board of trustees of the Savings Bank of South Australia. He was also first chairman of the South Australian Gas Company and President of the South Australian Old Colonists’ Association.

Meanwhile, Anne gave birth to eight children, two of whom died in infancy — Frank Richman (1842-1906), Harry Lockett (1844-1905), Frederic (1847-1897), Margaret Elizabeth (18481887), Charles Coke (1850-1850), Arthur Ernest (1852-1921), Lucy Josephine (1856-1945) and Sydney Breaks (1858-1859).

The family moved from a small home in Pulteney Street to 288 North Terrace in 1855 when the oldest child was thirteen and Arthur was only three. Lucy and Sydney were both born at Ayers House, which Henry initially leased from friend and colleague William Paxton, another director of the South Australian Mining Company who had also made a fortune through the Burra Burra copper mine and was returning to England.

Life at home for the Ayers family appears to have been happy, with no stinting for comfort and entertainment. In addition to card evenings, theatre and music were greatly appreciated, and two spectacular balls were held each year, when the dancing continued into the early hours of the morning. The house was also noted for its fine dinners and generously stocked cellar.

Henry was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1870 and a Knight of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George for service in the colonies in 1872, in recognition of his role in the transcontinental telegraph line.

Anne died in 1881, aged 68. Ayers House remained Sir Henry’s home until his death sixteen years later in June 1897, at the age of 76. He left behind an estate valued at some £225,000, but none of his children or their families chose to make the house their permanent home. After remaining virtually empty for many years, apart from a small caretaking staff, it was sold twice in the same year.

The building and its surrounding acres were initially purchased

by Adelaide property investor Harry Woodcock in January NOT E: 1914. Six months later the house was sold to the Austral Liz Harfull shares a Gardens Company to develop connection with as an entertainment venue.

Sir Henry Ayers. Her Between 1918 and 1923 part great, great grandfather of the house was used for the Robert Thomson and rehabilitation of servicemen his family sailed to returning from World War 1.

South Australia with It was never again a private the Ayers on the residence.

Fairfield, his wife also dying at sea.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

21

§ H enry ’ s

hou se

Above: The western large dining room with its magnificent painted ceiling and bow window matching the eastern side was completed in 1876, Henry's last major extension to the house.

Below: The Ayers home following major additions on the eastern side by Henry in 1859-1862. This image from the late 1860s includes two of Henry and Anne’s daughters, Margaret (in the porch) and Josephine (left walking on the gravel).

Credit: State Library of South Australia.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

page

22

The House that Henry built ‘The best in Adelaide.’

So wrote the Governor’s wife, Lady Audrey Tennyson, about Ayers House in a letter to her mother in 1901.

H enry ’ s hou se

§

Left: Henry’s family crest on the dining room ceiling, commissioned in 1870 in England includes in Latin the motto Laeto Aere Florent (they flourish in the joyful air) and features three doves.

Credit: Andrew Montana Right: Family Dining Room.

R

ate assessment books indicate the original house on the site was built by Robert Thornber after he purchased Town Acre 30 in March 1845. Within about a year, he had built a brick dwelling with a well on the western half of the site.

By 1852, its next owner, William Paxton, had expanded the house from five to nine rooms, with a veranda, domestic offices, enclosed gardens, stables and a coach house.

When Henry Ayers and his family moved in three years later it was still a relatively modest home, which Ayers transformed over the next twenty years into a handsome bluestone mansion of 40 rooms that reflected his growing wealth and influence.

The first major changes happened in the late 1850s, while he was leasing the property from Paxton. Ayers’ diary of January 1858 reveals that work had commenced on adding a library and bedrooms. The following year he noted further ‘extensive alterations and additions’, including a large drawing room on the eastern side, which was completed in 1862.

During the 1850s, a suite of rooms was also built under the main part of the house to help the Ayers family escape Adelaide’s summer heat. Aside from a spacious wine cellar, there is an underground library lit from a large, tiled, sunken verandah; a small sitting room with a ceiling delicately painted with flowers in arabesque; and a sitting room, occasionally referred to as the smoking room.

One of few examples in Australia, the summer sitting room was also decorated with painted ceilings and a frieze, bearing beautiful and intricate floral designs with both Georgian and Victorian influences, and exhibiting a style entirely different to work found elsewhere in the house.

After Ayers eventually persuaded Paxton to sell him the property in 1871, he engaged notable colonial architect Sir George Strickland Kingston to design and oversee more additions.

Known for buildings characterised by their ‘clean-cut, Georgian proportions and features’, Kingston proposed arched porches and semi-circular fronts in keeping with his favoured style.

In 1876 an upper floor with bedrooms was completed, along with a new wing at the western end of the house.

Kingston’s symmetrical form with the matching bow windows is how we recognise Ayers House today. A new coach house and stables were also built of the same material, with proportions to match the house.

Known as North Terrace or The Terrace in Ayers’ day, the expanded mansion was designed for entertaining on a grand scale, with a large ballroom on the eastern side and a magnificent dining room for formal entertaining on the western.

The dining room features an ornately decorated ceiling over six metres in height, recognised as one of the most significant examples of its kind in Australia. No records exist documenting the contractor responsible for the exceptionally intricate painting and stencilling. However recent research concluded the ceiling was likely painted

by William Joseph Williams, who was also responsible for ceilings in the Museum of Economic Botany at the Botanic Gardens.

Painted above the fireplace is the Ayers’ family crest, which Henry had commissioned during a trip to England in 1870. It depicts three doves above a Latin motto that translates as “they flourish in the joyful air” — a play on his name and a compliment to South Australia, where he had achieved great success. The version in the dining

room apparently took the artist three days to paint lying flat on his back on a mattress laid across several ladders.

A smaller family dining room is also intricately decorated, with the ceiling featuring four richly-decorated ‘plates’ of fruit, vegetables and game. A frieze with oriental influence features a crane and sunflower, while the doors are decorated with stencils of wheat —a reference to daily bread and the colony’s important wheat industry.

Sliding cedar doors lead from the family dining room into the sitting room, where the ladies of the house would sew, play music, or simply sit and talk.

Another set of sliding doors lead into the ballroom, so that all three rooms could be opened up to form one large entertaining area.

The upstairs rooms are reached via a magnificent cedar staircase, believed to have been completed at about the same time as the large dining room.

Bedrooms on this level were set aside for guests, with the Ayers family inhabiting bedrooms on the ground floor that were later demolished to build a restaurant.

With carefully defined separation, behind and below the grand public rooms was the working part of the house – the domain of servants and suppliers where food was delivered, stored and prepared; and washing, ironing and cleaning took place. In this way, the architecture of Ayers House embodies the social structures of the time, providing tangible insights into the daily lives of all its inhabitants.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

23

§ Au stral

Hou se

A home for our nurses For more than 40 years, what was then known as Austral House provided convenient accommodation and training facilities for nurses working across North Terrace at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. As they recollect, the conditions were surprisingly spartan behind the grand façade.

B

efore the 1920s, nurse training at the Adelaide Hospital (the Royal prefix was not added until 1939) revolved around gaining practical experience on the wards and informal lectures, usually held at night after nurses had come off duty. This changed after 1920 when South Australia enacted a Nurses’ Registration Act to regulate training and accreditation.

Top left: Preliminary Training School classes at Austral House, 1955.

Top right: Nurses outside Austral House, 1952.

Middle: Halloween ball in State Dining Room, 1947.

Bottom: Group of nursing finalists on the lawn, 1963.

Credits: Health Museum of South Australia.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

24

In 1926 the State Government purchased Austral House and converted it into residential quarters. At this time nursing staff were required to ‘live in’ for the duration of their training and employment, and the hospital was running out of space, with new wards opening and the number of nurses increasing significantly.

Au stral Hou se

§

The house was renovated to accommodate up to 50 nurses.

The walls were white washed, covering up the exquisitely decorated walls and ceilings. Extra bathrooms were added and standard but very uncomfortable hospital ‘black beds’ installed in dormitories that were created both upstairs and down, with the ballroom set aside for nurses on night duty.

Around 1950, the hospital established a Preliminary Training School (PTS) at Austral House. Known as Black Pros, nurses who began their career at the Adelaide Hospital were required to train for three years before sitting exams and, hopefully, graduating.

Accommodation for night nurses was moved to Eden Park and the former ballroom was converted into a recreation and meeting room. The western bow-fronted room was used as a lecture theatre, while the other front rooms served as classrooms for practical instruction and the basements were set aside for storage.

“Our first six weeks in Austral House was as Preliminary School ‘black pros’,” recalled Judith Porter, who graduated in 1957.“We did six weeks PTS, living in Austral House, with our class-room in Austral House, and haring over to the wards at breakneck pace to make beds and sponge patients.We slept in iron beds with horse-hair mattresses that I think had one hundred and one other people sleeping on them.They all had hollows, and the pillows had no fluff in them, and it was dreadful.”

Gladys Turner, who graduated in 1954, remembered a watchful member of the domestic staff, Julie, waking them up with a cup of tea, a bread and jam sandwich, and a piece of sultana cake. “It was very civilised over there. I think that the nurses were more scared of Julie than they were of the Home Sister. She kept a pretty close eye on the girls,” Gladys said.

Norma Neill, a 1955 graduate, recalled hearing the tram rattling past on North Terrace from her bed in the former ballroom. “There were eight of us in there, with just a bed and combination wardrobe and dressing table,” she said.

The PTS continued at Ayers House until 1969 when it moved to a new School of Nursing, established in the old Outpatients Building at the hospital.

After 43 years, Henry’s home was finally no longer required by the hospital. Its future was uncertain, but a twenty-year campaign to preserve it for public use was finally about to bear fruit.

Above: Hospital Auxiliary volunteers at work in the Sewing Centre in the former coach house, 1947. Credit: Health Museum of South Australia.

Stable sewing centre While nurses made use of the house, for many years the Adelaide Hospital Auxiliary took over the former coach house and stables. In the late 1920s, the building became a sewing centre, where volunteers stitched thousands of items every year for the hospital.

On the day an Advertiser journalist visited in 1934, five treadle sewing machines whirred ‘ceaselessly’, with a queue of workers waiting to use them. “As soon as one seam, or hem is finished, another worker takes the machine and treadles away a few more yards of cotton and linen, or flannel, into sheets, pillow cases, bed jackets, dressing gowns, screen covers (pink or blue), table covers for wards, doctors’ coats, or the humble pink cover for a hot-water bag.”

Every effort was made to create a pleasant space for the volunteers, who worked from nine to noon, then took a tightly scheduled break to eat lunch brought from home before resuming until five o’clock. The floor of the old stables was covered with polished linoleum; and bright blue curtains protected rows of shelves where material was stacked.

The area where the Ayers family coaches had been housed was transformed into a club room, with blue lacquered wooden furniture, and gayly coloured cushions and curtains.

This area was also used for meetings and small social events organised as fundraisers.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

25

§ T he

pu sh f or preservatio n The Jubilee Exhibition building was one of the most significant losses of the 1960s.

At the time of its construction, Adelaide was at the pinnacle of its prosperity and proudly displayed the colony’s success to the world when the building was completed for the 1887 exhibition celebrating the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign.75 years later a brutal office tower and courtyard for the University of Adelaide was deemed an improvement (bottom left). In the 1960s no building was safe from demolition as heritage protections were non-existent. Ayers House was the first property listed by the National Trust to protect it from demolition.

Preservation in times of change The National Trust has championed the preservation of Ayers House for six decades.

As other buildings fell to the bulldozers of progress, the Trust emerged as the leading public voice for preservation.

Middle: Demolition of Jubilee Exhibition Building 1962. The original 1856 hospital building across the road from Ayers House was demolished in 1963.

Bottom left: The Napier Building and forecourt that replaced the Exhibition Building.

Bottom right: Edmund Wright House, another of Adelaide's most significant buildings was threatened with demolition in 1971.

Credits: State Library of South Australia.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

26

T he pu sh f or preservatio n

§

Left: Ayers House in 1954, at the time of the Royal Visit by the recently crowned Queen Elizabeth and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

Below: Queen Elizabeth (obscured) and the Duke passing Ayers House.

Credits: Health Museum of South Australia.

S

outh Australia, in the period after World War 2, experienced significant population and economic growth, guided for a generation by Sir Thomas Playford, who reigned as Premier from 19381965. The state’s population doubled between 1941 and 1971. As well as driving a massive expansion of suburban Adelaide, the city itself was being transformed with the advent of office towers and modern retail facilities, often at the expense of its distinguished nineteenth century architecture.

Geoffrey Clarke, MP, one of the instigators of the National Trust, had lobbied for the preservation of the former Legislative Council building on North Terrace which Playford had planned to demolish after it was vacated by the Parliament in 1939. Playford was a champion of modernisation, in architecture as in economics. He was not readily persuaded of the benefits of preserving old buildings.

A wave of demolitions took place across the city from the late 1950s.

Another of the most significant buildings on North Terrace, the Jubilee Exhibition Building, completed in 1887 and just a few hundred metres from Austral House, was demolished in 1962 to make way for the modernist Napier office building at the University of Adelaide.

Early members of the National Trust like Clarke and Sir Edward Morgan participated in delegations to Premier Playford in the early 1950s seeking a commitment to preserve Austral House for public benefit as a place of historical significance when it was no longer required by the hospital for

nurse accommodation. These early hopes were dashed when Playford was unwilling to commit, saying Austral House would be required as a training facility for nurses even after a new nurses’ home, the Eleanor Harrald building on Frome Street, opened in 1954. And so it was that classrooms for the new Preliminary Training School for nurses were established at Austral House and remained there until 1969.

Unperturbed, representations continued about a different future for the house throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The National Trust was officially formed in 1955 by an Act of Parliament and took up the cause. Morgan, who later served as the Trust’s second President, was also Chairman of the Art Gallery board and was advocating for a museum use for Ayers House as early as 1952.

Concerned by the growing threats to architecture of the colonial period, in 1961, the Trust established the first systematic register of historic buildings in the state with a view to ensuring their preservation. The classification system used identified as category ‘A’ buildings, those which must be protected from demolition. The first building to be added to that list was Ayers House, Number 1 on the Trust’s register with a ‘Category A’ designation.

Hundreds of other carefully researched and assessed nominations followed, providing the basis for South Australia’s first statutory heritage protection register in 1978.

By December 1963, National Trust President Hurtle Morphett was able to report that the Trust had ‘been promised “Ayers House” on North Terrace when its present function of housing the Nursing Staff from Royal

Adelaide Hospital is finished.’ Playford made good on that promise the following year and the Trust established its offices in the former stable and coach house on the western side of the house. In the 1965 election he was defeated, after 26 years as Premier.

Playford’s long reign was followed by a period of great political instability in South Australia. In five years, there were two changes of government. A brief Labor government under Premier Frank Walsh and then Don Dunstan was followed by Steele Hall’s Liberal and Country League premiership, which lasted barely two years to mid-1970.

In the dying days of Steele Hall’s government, the National Trust was offered custody of Ayers House under a land dedication arrangement. In New South Wales, at around the same time, the State government had entrusted Old Government House in Paramatta to the National Trust in perpetuity through an Act of Parliament. Such a move would have secured the future of Ayers House for public benefit permanently.

When Dunstan returned as Premier in June 1970, he was soon embroiled in some iconic battles to preserve Adelaide’s built heritage. He quickly established himself as a champion of heritage protection, intervening alongside the National Trust to purchase the ANZ Bank building (Edmund Wright House) on King William Street to save it from demolition for an office tower planned by a Sydney-based developer.

By the end of his time as Premier in 1979, Dunstan had introduced the state’s first heritage legislation, providing statutory protection for the buildings that the National Trust had been documenting for two decades, starting with Ayers House.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

27

§A

visio nary partnershi p

Don Dunstan and Ayers House In June 1972 Premier Don Dunstan announced plans for the restoration of Ayers House and its development as a tourist and civic attraction, inviting the Trust to help make his vision a reality.

T

he Trust continued its representations to the government about its vision of a restored Ayers House for public use.

It provided valuable support when in 1970 Dunstan committed to stopping its demolition against the wishes of his Cabinet colleagues.

In 1971, Dunstan and the Trust forged a positive relationship through the battle to save Edmund Wright House. Later that year he approached the Trust with his own vision for Ayers House and sought its support and co-operation.

The Trust was given just a year to complete the task of refurbishing and furnishing the first public spaces at Ayers House, and to return them to how they would have been experienced in Henry’s time.

Top left: Ayers House c 1980, with Moreton Bay fig trees removed.

Top right: Don Dunstan cooking at Ayers House in 1980 after resigning as Premier in 1979.

Centre: Dunstan at the opening of Ayers House in June 1973. Bottom: External building works, 1972.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

28

§

A visio nary partnershi p

Left: Dunstan saves Edmund Wright House by purchasing it in 1971. Right: Former stables and coach house before construction of conservatory restaurant.

Fortunately, the opportunity to restore the house had been long anticipated by the Trust. The Women’s Committee had been collecting and fundraising for several years and had already amassed furniture, artworks and decorative objects.

However, the enormity of that first restoration cannot be underestimated.

It was 90 years since Henry had died and his house had been thoroughly transformed during its use by the hospital. For reasons now difficult to understand, the exquisite painted decoration in many of the rooms had been painted over. This no doubt made the rooms brighter and lighter, but hid some of the most spectacular and delicate features of the house.

A few photographs at the end of the hospital’s tenure at Ayers House show how stripped back Henry’s home had become. It was an empty, colourless shell of its former glorious self.

Over the next thirty years, the Trust uncovered, initiated and funded restoration work on many of those decorative features, including the stunning underground summer sitting room, the family dining room, and the upstairs bedrooms.

These details are what make Ayers House one of the most beautiful buildings in Australia, as visitors often observe. Saving Ayers House from demolition was just the start. Bringing it back to its former glory and giving it a new future was harder than anyone had imagined.

The rush to meet Dunstan’s deadline took a toll on Trust volunteers. A few months after the opening, the organisation’s October 1973 newsletter shared the following reflection:

“How did the refurnishing of Ayers House begin? It began as a dream — turned into a nightmare — and is now an awakening, with all the usual problems of living attached! During ‘the dream-time’ we realised that money was essential to achieve reality, and raising this was the responsibility of the Women’s Committee of the National Trust.

“Thanks to the generosity of friends who allowed us to use their houses for ‘Open Days’, and to a city store who lent us their Gallery in which to hold an Exhibition during a Festival and also gave us the proceeds of first nights at other Exhibitions, the fabric of our dreams became a possible reality.

Many people, too, gave us things of interest, of value, or both, and this generosity was heart-warming.”

Curtaining was ordered from England, key acquisitions were made at auctions around the country and painstaking research was undertaken on what was required to recreate Henry’s home.

At least initially, none of the original furnishings remained in the house as they had all been dispersed to family members or sold at auction.

Throughout the project Dunstan took a close interest in many of the details.

As ever, he was pushing a vision ahead of his time. Something as simple as his advocacy of alfresco dining, making the most of South Australia’s Mediterranean climate, was challenging to the Anglophilia that defined Adelaide at the time.

Inevitably, there were tensions in the relationship between the Trust and the Premier. Dunstan wanted to ensure that the house would be a lively place of entertainment and engagement, with dining, music and public events,

rather than a static mausoleum of the past. Some members of the Trust were disappointed that too much of the house was given over to commercial tenancy, including the original ballroom.

Nevertheless, Dunstan was generous in his praise when he spoke at the official opening on 30 June 1973, paying tribute to the National Trust for its contribution at Ayers House, but also more broadly for its success in engaging the community in the value of heritage conservation. He observed: “A civilized community is one which values both the achievements of the past and of the present, and in relation to architecture this means discovering from the past values which can effectively be incorporated in modern planning and designing.

“Over the past eight years or so a number of decisions have been taken in South Australia that indicate such a concept had a growing hold in this community. The Planning and Development Act in a broad sense expresses this. So does the policy of the City of Adelaide Development Committee, which aims at protecting and restoring the Adelaide urban landscape.

“Edmund Wright House was saved from demolition because such values were expressed and respected. And the work of the National Trust and similar conservation bodies has over the past decade or so educated, in a real sense, both the public, and its governments, in a proper respect for architectural standards and achievements.”

In his concluding remarks he gave thanks to the splendid work and cooperation received from the National Trust and its various committees.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

29

§ H i dden

treas u re

Revealing and restoring the beauty of Ayers House

When the National Trust took on the task of presenting the house to the public in the manner of Henry’s day, it was a sad shadow of its former self. 75 years had passed since his death and the house had been through multiple changes of ownership before it was purchased by the South Australian government.

Top: Alan Pullen and son Brett Pullen restoring the Mortlock chandelier at Ayers House, 2014. (Photo by Matt Turner / Newspix) Centre: Restoring the ceiling in the Summer Sitting Room, 2005.

Bottom left: Restored bronze gasolier.

Right: Restored ceiling decoration, upstairs bedroom.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

30

H i dden treas u re

§

Left: Restored ceiling frieze in family dining room. Centre and right: Paint scrapings revealed the lost decorative paintwork in the dining room and upstairs bedrooms.

D

uring its forty years in government hands, the house had a utilitarian life, suffering a range of unsympathetic alterations and additions and with no investment in preserving its most distinctive features. The once magnificent house was tired, dull and neglected. No wonder some advocated for its demolition.

Whilst working at Ayers House, Ott commented, ‘Australians are only now coming to realise and appreciate the value of their historic buildings like this.

So many of them have gone to make way for office blocks.’ Ott’s observations demonstrate the parlous state of the house and the attitude of indifference and neglect that had governed its use for the better part of a century.

Once the hospital had vacated Austral House, it presented as a bare, empty shell, stripped of the sparkle and beauty that Henry had created. At one stage divided into apartments and later used as dormitories and training facilities for the Royal Adelaide Hospital nurses, although intact, it bore little evidence of its glorious past.

In the fifty years since, the National Trust, with assistance from Federal and State agencies, has reversed the damage and neglect at Ayers House with painstaking maintenance, careful use and a number of major conservation and restoration projects, particularly concentrating on the exquisite interior painted decoration commissioned by Henry Ayers.

Henry had created a stunningly beautiful space with his love of ornate design and decoration, employing some of the world’s best artisans. Much of this disappeared behind the hospital’s utilitarian whitewash and practical utilisation of the site.

All of the items which Henry had acquired to decorate his family home and impress his guests had been dispersed. The few remaining features were the grand, albeit damaged bronze gasoliers in the main dining room and the superb painted ceiling above which dominates that room.

Master painter Josef Ott, when he undertook the restoration work on that ceiling in 1973 observed, ‘It is sad how they have let this fine building get into this state.’ Ott hailed from Austria and had, like his father and grandfather before him, worked in castles, palaces and monasteries in his homeland. He was even responsible for restoring the ceiling of the famous Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

The full extent of what had been lost over 75 years was gradually revealed as the National Trust brought the ground floor, basement and upstairs bedrooms back into public view again.

The first comprehensive conservation management plan for the propertyproduced in 1990 - noted the critical importance of the interior painted decoration to the significance of the house.

“It is clear from the statement of cultural significance that architecturally, the most significant part of the fabric of the buildings is the interior decoration.

Exposure of the decoration only makes sense if it is to be able to be viewed by the public. Therefore, the building will be most significant if the public have access to the interiors. Similarly, the building will be less significant if future uses do not allow public access.”

Initial paint scrapings revealed that large parts of the interior decoration in the basement, ground floor and first floor rooms had been painted over with multiple layers of flat white paint.

Over two decades, as funds allowed, the Trust uncovered some of the most beautiful decorative features of the house. Starting with the ornately decorated ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms, the removal of the hospital ‘whitewash’ revealed the exquisite painted designs on the ceiling of the small dining room and recovered stencilled wall decoration in the basement ‘summer sitting room’.

Sadly, the ceiling in that remarkable underground room has suffered repeated damage from leaking water pipes from the restaurant above, requiring multiple restoration treatments to this important early decorative work which dates from the 1850s.

The task of restoring what had been removed or painted over since Henry’s time has used a range of skilled trades and demonstrated the extraordinary skills that went into creating this special place.

With assistance from the Federal Government to celebrate the Centenary of Federation, the National Trust also undertook major works to the front of the building to reconstruct the front veranda and to reinstate the garden pond and one of the fountains.

One of the cast bronze gasoliers in the large dining room has been repaired with a specially commissioned recasting of missing pieces. Most recently, the magnificent chandelier gifted to the Trust by Dorothy Mortlock has been painstakingly restored with each of its 3 000 crystal pieces given careful attention to reinstate its original brilliance.

By investing much time and significant funds in this work and reopening all of those highly decorated spaces to the public, the Trust has been able to share the full glory of Henry’s house with its many visitors.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

31

§ D o n ors

A tradition of generosity From the early 1960s, National Trust members anticipated that one day Henry’s house would be reclaimed for public use. Even while its future remained uncertain, a range of remarkable benefactors stepped forward to make extraordinarily generous donations of furniture, artwork and other period items to reinvigorate the house as Premier Dunstan had asked them to do.

Since then, hundreds of people have donated thousands of the most diverse and remarkable items.

Top left: Victorian 'tea dress' donated by Ann Wadlow.

Top right: Gloves and jacket from the Daisy Bates costume collection.

Bottom left: Dorothy Mortlock with Indian bronze elephant and Japanese Cloisonne vases (right).

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

32

D o n ors

§

Left: Crystal chandelier donated by Murray Hill AM. Right: Lady Anne Ayers' writing desk donated by her granddaughter Lucy Lockett Ayers.

T

he first donations specifically made for Ayers House are recorded in 1962.

One of the most generous early donors was Dorothy Mortlock, widow of John Andrew Tenant (Jack) Mortlock, owner of Martindale Hall in Mintaro in the Clare Valley. Over a period of 15 years from 1965, Dorothy donated hundreds of items from Martindale Hall to the Trust. The University of Adelaide was taking over the running of Martindale Hall under the terms of her late husband’s will and she was keen and protect a range of valuable items to support the proposed refurbishment of Ayers House by the National Trust.

The most magnificent of these gifts was the 3 000-crystal chandelier made

by Osler, the preeminent glass artisan of Victorian England. Henry purchased two of these massive candle lit chandeliers in London in 1870.

Both of them were sold from the house in 1926. The other one can be found in the Adelaide Town Hall.

The Mortlock’s also amassed an impressive collection of Asian art pieces at Martindale Hall. Some of

the items gifted by Mrs Mortlock for Ayers House include a stunning pair of cloisonne vases from Japan made during the Meiji era.

Another connection to Martindale Hall and its original owners, the Bowman family, is in the magnificent silver racing trophy made by the colony’s finest silversmith Henry Steiner in 1883 and gifted by a Bowman descendent.

In 1966, a National Trust newsletter reports with great excitement on a visit from Lucy Lockett Ayers, Henry Ayers’ last surviving grandchild, who came to the house as a guest of the Trust and shared her childhood memories of the house. The newsletter records that, “[H]er recollections of the decorations and layout were enthusiastically noted down, for there will come a day, not too far distant, when Ayers House will be fully reinstated in the style and manner of Sir Henry’s time.”

Lucy Lockett Ayers died in 1971, aged 84 years. In anticipation of the day when Henry’s house would again resonate with the sights and sounds of her childhood, Lucy left to the Trust a range of items belonging to her grandparents, including Henry’s knighthood regalia and personal letters, the writing desks used by Henry in his home office and by Anne for letter writing, as well as other significant items of furniture from the house.

Shortly after Lucy’s death, that dream of restoring Ayers House and Henry’s legacy began finally to take shape, with the items she donated taking pride of place in the house once again.

Other members of the extended Ayers family have also been generous in donating items from Henry’s house back to the Trust. So too have unrelated people who had acquired some of the many items dispersed from the house.

Former MP the Honorable Murray Hill AM, donated back one of the smaller chandeliers that previously been hung at his Eurilla property at Mount Lofty.

The Trust has benefitted greatly from generous donations of costume from many individuals and families. The collection of Daisy Bates, journalist and student of Aboriginal culture, is as remarkable as the woman herself, showing a practical bent but maintaining adherence to the standards of Edwardian dress in the Australian desert.

Some of the most splendid women’s gowns were donated by Ann May Elder Wadlow. In recent times, one of the most generous donors of recent years has been Violet Rowe, who has gifted numerous gowns, most of which were locally made.

From the beginning, people from Adelaide, South Australia and beyond have been an integral part of the project to create something of enduring benefit for the people through the gifting of artefacts large and small that play a vital role in recreating the world of Henry Ayers, his family and colonial South Australia.

The Trust is deeply indebted to their generosity and community spirit.

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

33

§ M embershi p Our members are the lifeblood of the National Trust. We need your support more than ever.

The benefits of membership include free entry and discounts to National Trust properties across Australia and around the world. We encourage you to sign up a new member and extend your membership to support the National Trust at Ayers House.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

1 year 3 years MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES (save 10%) Individual (One Adult) Individual Senior (One Adult aged over 60 years) Individual Concession (One concession card holder or full time student) Household (Two adults and up to 4 children under 18 years) Household Senior (Two Adults aged over 60 years and up to 4 children under 18 years) Household Concession (Two concession card holders or full time students and up to 4 children under 18 years)

$65 $60 $45 $95 $85 $75

$176 $162 $122 $257 $230 $203

Name of individual or first household member Mr/Mrs/Ms/Other: First name: Address: Phone (Home): (Work): Email:

Name of second household member

Mr/Mrs/Ms/Other: First name: Email: Full Time Student or Pension Card Number (if applicable) 1 2

Surname: (Mobile): Date of birth

/

/

Surname: Date of birth

/

/

Gift membership Only: Tick this box if you would like the gift membership gift pack to be posted to you at your address.

Please provide details below.

Mr/Mrs/Ms/Other: First name: Surname: Address: Phone (Home): (Work): (Mobile): Email: If you would like your membership to be affiliated with a ‘Local Branch’ please tick Conditions of membership Concession memberships apply to Australian Pensioner, Concession Card holders, Healthcare Card holders, Disability Concession and full-time students. Memberships are not transferrable. Only the person named on the card may use it.

Your current membership card must be presented to gain free or discounted entry.

COMPLETE SECTION BELOW IF RETURNING BY MAIL OR EMAIL Enclose a cheque payable to National Trust of South Australia or complete the credit card details below.

Card Holder Name

Card Holder Signature

Visa

Debit my credit card:

Mastercard

Expiry Date

Credit Card Number Cost of membership/s:

JOIN TODAY!

Post completed membership form to: National Trust of South Australia Memberships PO Box 290 North Adelaide SA 5006

$

Or scan and email to: members@nationaltrustsa,org.au Or call (08) 8223 1234

JOIN OR RENEW ONLINE AT: www.nationaltrust.org.au/membership-sa H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

34

HOW YOU CAN HELP Time is running out to save Ayers House and to keep it for the people We ask that you: 1 Sign and share the two petitions, particularly the petition to Parliament.

> bit.ly/ayershousepetition (Petition to Parliament) > www.change.org/KeepAyersHouseforthepeople

2 Spread the word. Talk to your family and friends, write to your MP, support us on social media >

Facebook.com/KeepAyersHouseforthePeople

3 Donate to our Ayers House fighting fund at My Cause > bit.ly/AyersHouseFightingFund

PUBLISHER National Trust of South Australia Beaumont House 631 Glynburn Road Beaumont SA 5066

T: 08 8202 9200 E: publications@nationaltrustsa.org.au W: www.nationaltrust.org.au/sa

Heritage Living is published four times a year.

PP 536155/0036 ISSN 0815-7871

H E R I TAG E L I V I N G

§ page

35

KEEP AYERS HOUSE FOR THE PEOPLE www.nationaltrust.org.au/keepayershouseforthepeople facebook.com/keepayershouseforthepeople