The writing's on the wall

I was doing some blog editing over the weekend and decided that this story, which I recounted earlier in a history post, really was such a lovely one it deserved a post all of its own.

Do you remember your grandmother using these tea cosies?

 

http://crochethealingandraymond.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/fancy-a-cuppa-granny/

The ones I found at Hanworth were not quite so glamourous as this one, but the whole concept of some of the residents crocheting is one which really thrills me. I am guessing knitting and crotchet were the older days version of social media! At least it was functional.

Remember I have talked about Hanworth's hallowed halls?

Before fire

after fire

Well when we moved in the halls were not nearly as wide, they were cluttered with cupboards

They were not uninteresting cupboards inside (don't be fooled by the ugly mission brown exteriors). The Anglican church left lots of cups, teapots, cutlery, plates, old tablecloths, linen and , yes of course, the beloved teapot cosies.

I'm a little teapot

and my Hanworth cosy comes in pink...

 

or green

(this is my personal favourite - being the Green Cosy for the Green Lady naturally!)

But an even more exciting find lurked in the first cupboard on the left...

 

The wall being brick you see was only really visible once we removed the cupboards - see

 

Look how fantastic the hallway looked when those eyesore cupboards were removed. Since I loved the natural brick (and hated the paint which had been used to disguise them), we pondered about ways to bring the natural brick back:

We mulled over the many removal options and slowly gathered confidence to peel away.

And in that journey of discovery, look what we found inside written between the bricks in that cupboard:

A message on the wall!  Better than a message in a bottle. There was high excitement ! The previous tenants had told me about this and it was just like discovering something in the Harry Potter cupboard underneath the stairs (except that there were no stairs).

And this was Hanworth - not Hogwarts! 

But nevertheless the discovery was a moment of fabulousness!

You probably can't see it that well in this photo but what is clear is that it is a full sentence and was written in November 1890 (it s pictured on the middle mortar of this photo).
 
We have presumed that one of the numerous Heath children might have written it as the words seem to jump out at us that "Mamma and Dotti ...are coming home". As this was likely very soon before the whole family were to return to England,  it was obviously a significant time for the writer.

And a very exciting find for us.  As we had worked so hard to protect the inscription from the paint stripping, you can see how the fire, whilst peeling all the protective coating, did actually leave this patch of the wall alone. We were so relieved!

 

Now it is here to be preserved for another 123 years at the very least, hopefully longer.

 

Might just go and get that tea cosy now and make myself a cuppa - happy Monday everyone

 

Aren't some people so clever!

 

x HH

 

 

http://cosytea.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/fairy_cake_tea_cosy-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

The House that a Tragedy (and Renee) Rebuilt

My sore knee and I, crutches in hand, returned to HH today after a week of convalescence (interpret as "and me going stir crazy not being at HH"). But it was worth the pain ...because look what was there to greet my return...

I know, my life has officially been reduced to the arrival of a builders' storage shed! But, this is symbolic don't you see!  This was the first sign of progress back at HH. It means the builders are lurking somewhere close because this is their storage shed. And we all know what they store in it (actually we don't - only the builders really know that!) - but for all intents, surely there must be tools at the very least  in it isn't there?

And don't tools mean potential rebuilding?  This photo was the one which greeted me the first day back in 2013 - I love that sight - lots of utes, lots of fluro builders vests and lots of builders and - of course - progress!

Sadly this visual has been replaced by this one the last few weeks since the fire

But, as if the garden knows more than you or I, look what is currently blooming amidst all the ashen chaos

So it might just be a shed to you, but to me it is much more - it is symbol of hope. And providing that everyone else starts behaving the way of the flora, maybe it won't be long before the fluro building brigade returns to paint the town (or specifically the Green Lady) red!

Rest assured, I will report it here the very minute it happens! So stay tuned! Heart Hanworth House will be sure to feature any breaking news on this front!

After all, any two days are never the same at this joint. Ask this gal!

Meet Renee - aka PA HH.  She came to us late last year - we needed a PA desperately. She was looking for "a job in which 2 days were never the same" Let's just say it was a match made in Hanworth heaven (or in hell considering what she has had to endure the last 6 months and depending on your perspective).  Here is a whirlwind..

This was her first day on the job

Lucky it is a cupboard she has her head in and not the oven! She did not bat an eyelid when "contacting the gross cupboards" inserted its way into her position description on day 1!

Nor did she complain when cleaning a midget fridge found its way as her responsibility

or supervising whitegoods removals

Occasionally, such as in the case of post-fire, trading in her exquisite Alannah Hill shoes for work boots was required out of necessity (rather than choice!)

And, at HH, one catastrophe seems to beget another - such as a week after the fire, this semitrailer decides to overturn right outside HH and close the entire road for hours and send the smell of damp bad rubbish our way until late evening

However, on the bright side, we did get to see the hunky firemen from the week before again (so life was not all bad!) So we celebrated that! We could not get home so what else was a girl to do?



 But no one could have ever predicted her workplace would be devastated by fire and be reduced to looking like this overnight

or that the office we worked so hard to create (including this glorious stationery cupboard)

would  be reduced to this in the fire

PA HH had raised 5 beautiful children - of course she could organise a stationery cupboard with military precision! And of course she could endure the hardships which come each day.

but the job as PA HH was not all that bad

PA HH must have known a love of champagne was a pre-requisite for the job 

and that she could still get dressed up for special occasions - PA HH  made this Easter outfit - can you believe it?  She made it! There are bunnies on it, go look closely! I dare you!

And her workplace employment agreement provides a continual outlet for office creativity and humour

Even the fire would provide a golden opportunity to see a humorous side (when I really was unable to see any funny side).

And in her role as PA HH, she has been driven to the lofty heights of high level executive decision making - we made a pact to live on the edge after the tragedy we had endured:

 

No sense in wasting valuable working time looking at a plain white plastic or stainless steel kettle when purple was on offer!

But more than anything, we share  - a love of beautiful daughters, families and friends...

A mutual love of Fridays at Four (and a philosophy that if we can't solve a problem, a little help from something  French is never unwelcome!)

and we collectively live by the credo that no two days spent at the office should ever be the same ! No chance of that ever happening for Team HH.

So that was today!  In closing, I promised your my impression from the last post - Remember this picture I posted?

This is actually on the current sooty kitchen wall. Remember I talked about the HH history? And all the women involved in it? Well correct me if I am wrong, is not the tallest figure on the right a woman (from the 1800s perhaps?) - women facing right with bustle on the left and large hat?  And are there not two other women and a child in the photo. I am sure there is - can anyone else see it?

I am not completely sure. But I swear there is something in this graphic on the kitchen wall - I think this is more about the Spirits in Hanworth House asserting themselves as I shared with you in my previous post  - read the Spirit post here.  Or maybe, just maybe, perhaps I am just hallucinating due to the effects of the fire fumes I work with each day recently!

On that eerie note, goodnight

x HH 

Home to Hospice

Hi readers,  I missed my usual mid week post this week - I'm sorry - but I had a good excuse - look!

I know - it looks severe - ACL reconstruction.  And yes, pity is good. The more the better!  I am sore (and sorry) but it also serves me right for earlier this year having an altercation with a tree whilst skiing.

Don't let this picturesque shot of these snow capped trees fool you - these trees are dangerous!  Particularly when they get in the way of me skiing!  Anyway, all in all, I am on the road to recovery.

But the stay in hospital did actually provide a great segue for this post - because it made me want to write more about the HH history and the transition of our Green Lady from home to hospice.

You can just see from this shot how HH it must have looked during the years as this transition occurred.

But let's go back... remember I told you that the Heath family lived in HH until about 1890 - so for about 25 years it was their private home?  So thoughts I would return to complete the history lesson about our Green Lady.

TheHeaths decided to return to England around 1890 and, after they left, HH was apparently leased out for 22 years to bank manager, stock and share broker, Alexander Henry Hudson and his family.

They were, like the Heaths, very good entertainers.  Probably why they needed a housekeeper - there is an advertisement from around their time which very simply said:

HOUSEMAID wanted. Apply Mrs Hudson, Hanworth, Norman Creek

When the Hudsons left, the surrounding land was subdivided and Hanworth was put up for sale in 1909 but failed to sell.  Joseph Tritton later purchased the estate, subdivided the land into 60 allotments and auctioned them off. Look at this ad from the Brisbane Courier on 25th March 1912.

Today's real estate agents should note the colourful and alluring advertising -  "fronting the tram line" "close to the new East Brisbane steam ferry" and, the bit I love the most "most suitable for a private residence - medical man - private school". I laughed!

How ironic is it that the opening line in the ad was "Every one knows the Hanworth Estate" and yet, in 2013 before the fire (and 100 years later), hardly anyone knew it!

So I know you will be much relieved to hear there was good news after the auction - The auctioneers, Messrs. Cameron Bros.,  reported the successful sale and that every allotment, with the exception of the house, was disposed of for a total of £2807. The highest price reached was £163 and the best offer for the house was £1280, but the house was passed in at £1400. There was apparently a large attendance of buyers and spectators at the sale.

In even better news, a year later in July 1913 the house was sold to Mrs J D Wienholt. She purchased just over 3 roods (3040m2) and with Mrs Wienholt ended the home that was known as Hanworth House.

Coincidentally, this was exactly 100 years ago.  We don't know that much about our Mary except that Mary Marguerite Wienholt was described as a philanthropist. But, importantly, she took Hanworth House and established a home for elderly impoverished women.  And she did this in memory of her mother Anne Powell. I loved Mary the minute I learnt about her.   She changed the name of the house to The Hospice and apparently took a strong personal interest in its running.

Now this I just love - check out the listing at the Qld Post office Street Directory of 1931/1932 

"111 - Hospice (The), Mrs Weinholt's home for impecunious Gentlewomen" 

I looked "impecunious" up - it meant having little or no money (Miss HH remarked when I told her "like me" as I am sure most teenagers would!)

  

In 1918, under our Mary's stewardship, there was a major alteration in that a timber wing was added off the west wing - apparently  built on the site of the previous kitchen and was probably aligned with the need for more space as the hospice was created. There was also the interwar 2 storeyed brick addition at the southern end of the house.

Enclosed by these new buildings was a perfect courtyard in which a grove of mandarin trees was  established ( point to note - I am aiming to re-establish them again).  The grounds apparently contained mature pines. Roses and creeping plants climbed the ornamental iron verandah posts.

 I can just imagine the women who came to live here, being wheeled often up these corridors

or sitting on these verandahs

Apparently The Hospice was a wonderful place for the elderly.  As  was written in The Queensland (Thursday 22 May 1930 page 7) it was:

"admirably suited to this purpose, not only on account of its age and form, but on account of its aspect. As it faces almost due east, its residents, in the winter mornings, are able to bask in the warmth and comfort of the sun without leaving the verandas, and but three steps takes them down into the pleasant garden" 

Great news for me too as I recuperate from my ACL operation!

The article written about HH in 1930 was a classic so if you want to read more  Click here for full article

Mary, who we will label fondly as Benefactor HH, was a member of the Brisbane Theosophical Society (which was established in New York in 1976 with the aims of universal brotherhood and the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science) - not sure that I know exactly what that means, but you can't say I didn't tell you!

Mary was married to John D Weinhholt. John was a pastoralist at Saltern Creek, and later at Boonah and came from a family of pastoralists.  Mary was also interested in prevention of cruelty to animals and played a role in the establishment of the animal refuge at Yeronga.

  

Benefactor HH handed The Hospice over on 25 June 1927 to the Theosophical Society with the proviso that they continued to operate it as per her wishes - which they did for nearly 70 years.  And, in keeping with this intent, in 1995 The Anglican Church purchased it and renamed it again - this time "Hanworth House for the Aged". It continued to operate as a home for women  until the early 2000s when the Church tenanted it out.

After the death of her husband in 1936, Mary Weinholt lived in seclusion in Brisbane and Canberra.

As well as her philanthropic gift of Hanworth, she also established the John Wienholt Memorial Scholarship at the University of Queensland.  She died in Canberra on 14 February 1954 and is buried at Cleveland.

And so runs the full circle - do you remember that Hanworth's founder was the Portmaster and, as such, one of his navigational projects was the Cleveland Lighthouse? And, in a coincidence or not, my beautiful 98 year old grandmother (Mamma HH's mother) is still alive and lives at Cleveland, not far from the cemetery where Mary is buried.

Here is a recent visual of my 98 year old nonna - and yes, she is mowing her lawn!

And yes, she is well known to Cleveland residents as she rides a push bike regularly to get her groceries. She is truly one of a kind!

 

And so it came to pass that Hanworth House passed to me on 30 October 2012.  A wonderful history and heritage.

I read that the tenant Hudson wrote to Mrs Weinholt after learning she had purchased the house telling her that one of Captain Heath's daughters said that if her mother were alive "it would give her great pleasure to know to what use Hanworth had been put"

After the pivotal roles played by the women of HH - Mrs Elizabeth Heath and Mrs Mary Weinholt (and her mother Anne Powell), I hope that the Heath descendants would feel the same now as the heritage of the house is preserved in memory of my own mother Romana.  I hope I can continue the legacy - I certainly bought much more than a house. But I realised that only after the deal was well and truly done.

And if I had realised then what I realised now - I still would have done it.  But probably better I knew nothing then - or else I might have been too scared to try.

So now the history is told. But I am posting this interesting closing shot - I'd love to know what you think of this - I'll tell you what I think next time I write

Happy Mothers Day to all beautiful mums for tomorrow

especially those who are not here, but will always continue to have our hearts

x HH