The Laurentz Campbell (Verge) House [Broughton House], Parramatta, 1838-9

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta, 1839. Watercolour and gouache, 44.5 x 69 cm. Signed and dated lower left 'C. Martens 1839'. Collection: State Library of New South Wales. The Laurentz Campbell house can be seen on the hill section to the right, with the front of the house facing the Parramatta River and smoke billowing from one of its chimneys.

Abstract

A recently (2019) discovered 1839 watercolour painting by Conrad Martens, being a view of Parramatta looking west alongside the Parramatta River, features the 1838-9 house of Acting Colonial Treasurer Laurentz Campbell. It was most likely designed and built by noted Sydney architect John Verge. Unfortunately, there is a mistaken belief that it was erected around 1840 for the Marsden family, though they did obtain possession of it from Campbell during that year. The house survives, with extensive external alterations, having been named Broughton House in 1910 by Percy Waddy of the King's School. It is one of the last early colonial period houses surviving in the area, and therefore of special heritage significance. This article outlines the history of the house and the subsequent confusion surrounding its construction and ownership. As a result of this new information, a reassessment of the official heritage status of the Laurentz Campbell house is recommended, with a view towards preservation and restoration.

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Contents

An interesting auction
Laurentz Campbell 1809-48
Conrad Martens and Parramatta
The local landscape circa 1839
Campbell's house 1838-39
Timeline 1822-Present
Design & construction by John Verge?
Heritage listings
Controversy and confusion
Summary & Recommendations
Acknowledgements
References

1. An interesting auction

During November 2019 an untitled, signed and dated watercolour by the English-born artist Conrad Martens (1801-1878) was offered for sale by Bozna Kunstauktionen [Bozna Art Auctions], Bolzano, Italy for €5,000-€6,500. It went on to sell for €15,000 – a reasonable price, considering the rarity of the piece, the location of the sale, the aged nature of the work and the vagueness of its catalogue description, wherein the painting was allocated the somewhat generic title Landscape near Sydney 1839. Martens had arrived in Sydney in 1835 after a period as artist on HMS Beagle, alongside Charles Darwin and Captain Robert FitzRoy. He remained resident in the colony until his death in 1878.

Upon becoming aware of the auction through the Invaluable website, the current author began researching the work, the result of which was the publication of the first draft of this blog on 21 June 2021. This presented a determination that the watercolour was actually View of Parramatta originally sold for £15.15 (15 guineas) by Martens in Sydney on 4 April 1839 to 'L. Campbell' - actually Pietre (Peter) Laurentz Campbell (1809-1848). This opinion was later reinforced by the State Library of New South Wales which acquired the work sometime in 2021 and placed it on public display during July 2022. An item of special interest to this author proved to be the house built for Campbell during 1838-9 and depicted on the hill to the right side of the painting.

The Laurentz Campbell house from the east [detail from Conrad Martens painting, 1839].

Campbell's house survives to the present day, though not in a form that is easily recognised as the one portrayed by Martens almost two centuries ago.

Laurentz Campbell (Verge) house / Broughton House, 1922. View of the front, from the south.

The aim of this article, therefore, is to peel back some of those layers and reveal the history and original form of the house constructed for Pietre Laurentz Campbell during 1838-9. This is important because, as it stands, there is much confusion surrounding the construction and ownership of the house, with a recent heritage study of the Parramatta foreshore continuing this unfortunate trend (Sahni & Finlay 2021) and the current New South Wales State Government heritage register information attributing its construction to the famous Parramatta chaplain, missionary and farmer Samuel Marsden (1765-1838). It has also been confused with nearby Newlands House (1835), constructed on behalf of the elderly Reverend Samuel Marsden just three years prior to his death in 1838. The following year (1839), at the time of the Campbell building's offering up for sale or let, an advertising noted: 'no pains having been spared by the late lamented proprietor in its construction.' The difference between the form and location of the two buildings - Newlands House and the Campbell house - can also be seen in the extract below from an 1844 plan of Parramatta and the Vineyard Estate (Brownrigg 1844).


William Meadows Brownrigg, Plan of the town of Parramatta and adjacent properties, 4 July 1844, E.D. Barlow, Sydney, map in 4 sheets. Source: State Library of New South Wales, M M4 811.1301/1844/1.

On the top right, next to the text 'Mrs Thos. Marsden', is the cross-shaped floor plan of the 1838-9 Campbell (Verge) house, with two out-buildings also evident. On the left-hand side of the image, below the words 'Henry Harvey (P)' is seen the rectangular floor plan of the 1835 Newland/s House, with a smaller structure alongside. This was the state of ownership of the two properties as of 4 July 1844.

Conrad Martens' watercolour was tentatively and vaguely listed by the Italian gallery in 2019 as a Landscape near Sydney, with no detailed provenance information provided. This is suggestive of its initial appearance on the market, in all likelihood having remained in a private, family collection outside of Australia up to that point in time, and with no ownership history being provided to the auction house. It is interesting to note that another 'unknown' work by Martens entitled Macquarie Place, Sydney 1839 [Residence of the Colonial Secretary, Alexander Macleay], with a suggested provenance to Campbell, was sold at auction by Hampel Fine Art Auctions, Munich, on 4 July 2018.

Conrad Martens, View of the Colonial Secretary's residence, Sydney, 1839, watercolour on paper, 46 x 64 cm, State Library of New South Wales. Sold in May 2019 by Hordern House, Sydney, following the original July 2018 Munich auction..

That work was eventually acquired by the State Library of New South Wales, which houses the most comprehensive public collection of works by the artist (Hordern House 2019). Once again, this is most likely the work originally titled Mr. Mcleay's House that Martens sold to 'L. Campbell' on 22 March 1839 for £15.15 - a price similar to the View of Parramatta. Both were large Martens watercolours on paper, approximately 46 x 64 cm (18 x 25 inches) in size. The appearance of the two watercolours during 2018-19 in European auction houses - one in Germany, the other in Italy - is suggestive of a link, due to the rarity of such previously uncatalogued works by Martens. The Bozna Kunstauktionen and Munich watercolours represent genuine works by one of the most famous artists of Australia's colonial period. They likely come from the same source, namely descendants of Peter Laurentz Campbell, the original purchaser. But who was Mr. Campbell?

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2. Laurentz Campbell 1809-48

Pietre (Peter) Laurentz Campbell was born in England during 1809, the son of Ronald and Charlotte Campbell. He initially pursued a military career and in 1822 was a Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. From there, between 1826-8 he was Private Secretary to Richard Bourke, Acting Governor at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. During 1829 Campbell moved on to be Assistant Clerk to the Council, Cape of Good Hope. In 1830, just prior to Bourke leaving to take up a position as governor in New South Wales, Campbell returned to military service and by June of that year was an Ensign in the 55th Regiment, India. In November he transferred to the 89th Regiment. By 1832 he had reached to rank of 2nd Lieutenant with the 21st Regiment, Royal Fusileers.

At the end of 1832 Laurentz travelled to New South Wales to work once again with Bourke, arriving there as a free settler on 7 February 1833 aboard the Rosalin Castle. Upon his arrival the young former lieutenant sought to engage with local society and on 19 September attended the wedding of Colonial Secretary Edward Deas Thomson to the governor's daughter Anna Maria Bourke at St. John's, Parramatta. The following year, on 13 August 1834, Campbell married Barbara Isabella Macleay in Sydney, daughter of the Colonial Secretary, Alexander Macleay. Shortly thereafter, in October, he was given the position of Police Magistrate at Maitland, located north west of Sydney. There he was known as Lieutenant Campbell. He also, during that year, acted as Governor Bourke's Aid-de-Camp, replacing Robert Marsh Westmacott in the role. 8 July 1835 saw the arrival of the couple's first daughter, born at the Government Cottage, Maitland, and on 24 September 1836 Barbara gave birth to a son, Ronald Macleay Laurentz Campbell (1836-97). The birth also marked the end of Campbell's time at Maitland, for on 29 September he was appointed Police Magistrate, Parramatta, and supervisor at the Female Factory there.

For the next 18 months Campbell worked solidly at these tasks and gained a notable reputation. As an indication of his rising standing in the community, on 6 June 1838 he was appointed Trustee for the Savings Bank and in March of 1839 began a term as Acting Colonial Treasurer. In December of that year a daughter was born at the couple's property Zandvliet, on Watson's Bay, Sydney. When his term as Acting Colonial Treasurer ended in March 1841, Campbell found it necessary to return to England, due to ill-health. Upon arrival there, from 1842 to 1844 he was employed by the Board of Trade and in 1845 became Secretary of the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company. This was followed by a similar position with the London and Southwestern Railway from 1846 through to the time of his unexpected death on 4 October 1848 at his residence, 62 Chester Square, London. Campbell left behind a wife and three children. They thereafter moved to Germany / Prussia for reasons not known, though some of the children eventually returned to England. Any links with Australia were severed upon the death of Laurentz, and it is unclear if Barbara ever returned to Sydney to visit her family.

Laurentz Campbell had a somewhat checked career in Australia between 1832-41. His marriage to Barbara Macleay opened opportunities for him within the local public service, despite some personal baggage. Barbara's sister Fanny noted at the time concerns by his new father-in-law in regards to Laurentz's ability to handle his finances (Cherry 2012). A supporter of the arts, whilst in the colony Campbell purchased a number of works from Conrad Martens, specifically between 1836-39 and relating to his own property and those of his familial relations. The following extract from the Martens' manuscript ledgers Account of Pictures Painted in N.S.W. [1835-1878] in the State Library of New South Wales collection (DL MS142 & 143) lists the works purchased by 'L. Campbell':

[1836] Novr. 4. View Brownlow Hill L. Campbell Esq £6.6. paid. [Now in the National Library of Australia collection. Dimensions: 14 x 20 cm.]

Conrad Martens, Brownlow Hill, 1836.

[1837] July 18. Sydney from Sandy [Rose] Bay. L. Campbell Esq £6.6. paid. [A copy is in the State Library of New South Wales collection, as a number of versions of this view were produced by Martens during 1837, both large and small.]

Conrad Martens, Sydney from Sandy Bay, 1837.

Augst 3. View from Mount Pleasant L. Campbell Esq £6.6. paid. [Location unknown]

13. View at Moorea. L. Campbell Esq £3.3. paid. [Location unknown]

[1839] March 22. Mr McLeay's House. L. Campbell Esq £15.15. Pd. [Now in the State Library of New South Wales collection - illustrated above.]

April 4. View of Parramatta. L. Campbell Esq £15.15. Pd. [Sold at auction in Italy during November 2019 and the subject of this blog.]

[April] 19. House at Parramatta. L. Campbell Esq £3.3. Pd. [Sold at auction in Sydney by Sothebys, therein erroneously titled Hobartville.]

[April] 22. Copy of the above. do. £3.3. Pd. [Location unknown.]

Laurentz Campbell's time in Australia was unfortunately cut short, despite his obvious plans to settle with his family. Due to his own actions and the political machinations of the day, he fell out with Governor Bourke's replacement George Gipps, who took over as governor of the colony in 1838. The lack of opportunity for advancement arose in light of the Gipps antipathy, and assorted scandal such as the Henry McDermott public accusation of May 1838 that he was 'A liar, a slanderer, and a coward'.

Placard, 31 May 1838. Source: State Library of New South Wales, ML MSS 9723.

There may have been factors for his leaving, in addition to his publically stated ill-health, the truth of which was evidenced by his subsequent death at a relatively young age (King 1969). This negativity - which was in many ways part and parcel of life in Sydney at a time when the transformation from penal colony to free settlement was in full swing - was balanced in part by testimonials from colleagues and community following Campbell's work at Maitland and Parramatta between 1836-9, and his relatively successful period as Acting Colonial Treasurer (1839-41), despite the opposition from Gipps and the prevailing economic depression of the period. All in all, it seemed as though Campbell and his wife were keen to make a life for themselves and their young family in the colony, judging by Laurentz's chosen career path as a bureaucrat and his investment in property both in Sydney and beyond. For example, during 1837, whilst Police Magistrate at Parramatta, Campbell purchased the Mortimer Lewis designed Dunbar House at Watson's Bay on Sydney Harbour. He named it Zandvliet, possibly after the Belgian town of that name, and the family lived in it for a number of years. The building survives to this day, though much altered.

Frederick Charles Terry, [Zandvliet] Watson's Bay, circa 1840s, watercolour, State Library of New South Wales, ML199.

It was later said that the house '....was originally designed and built of the very best materials procurable, by Pietro Laurentz Campbell, Esq., for his own occupation and family residence (Empire, 18 January 1856) though Campbell may in fact have purchased it already completed. The following year (1838) he obtained a loan from William Lawson to begin construction of the new house at Parramatta, this time most likely designed and constructed by John Verge, who had only just completed the grand Elizabeth Bay House on Sydney Harbour for his father-in-law Alexander Macleay. The beauty of that building, situated as it was overlooking Sydney Harbour, was exquisitely captured during 1839 in a watercolour by Conrad Martens.

Conrad Martens, Elizabeth Bay 1839. Watercolour, 44.8 x 65.4 cm, National Gallery of Victoria.

By the time of the Elizabeth Bay house completion around 1 March 1839, Campbell had taken on a position in Sydney acting for the Colonial Treasurer, Campbell Drummond Riddell (1796-1858), who was on a two year sabbatical in England. Campbell moved his family from Parramatta into town shortly thereafter - to the Watson's Bay marine villa - and leased his Parramatta property around the same time (February 1839) to the Marsdens, whereby it eventually became part of the Newland/s Estate. The Campbell (Verge) building's subsequent complex ownership history and relationship with nearby Newland/s House / Villa, within the context of the expanding and contracting Newlands Estate, is outlined below.

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3. Conrad Martens and Parramatta

The Landscape near Sydney watercolour illustrated at the head of this article was readily identifiable as a view by Conrad Martens looking westerly along the Parramatta River towards the township of Parramatta, located approximately 16 miles (26 km) west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Prominent in the picture was the then distinctive Howell's Mill windmill in the central, middle distance on the southern shore of the river, and various historic buildings which were seen in other contemporary works by the artist, such as the twin spires of St. John's Church of England towards the middle right section of the painting. In the middle distance near the skyline and to the right on a hill is a large house - a mansion in the colonial context - with smoke billowing from its chimney, whilst in the foreground two Aborigines are stoking a fire in their camp, located beneath a small hill beyond the property's fence.

Two Aborigines tending a fire on the edge of the Campbell property.

Thismotif is perhaps a subtle comment by the artist on the fate of the Indigenous (Aboriginal) population of Australia, following the British claim to discovery of the 'uninhabited' east coast by Captain James Cook in 1770, and the subsequent formation of a penal colony there with the arrival of the First Fleet under Governor Arthur Phillip in January 1788. By the time Martens came to paint this view, the northern bank of the Parramatta River was a popular place of residence for some of the colony's wealthier free settlers. The original Aboriginal inhabitants had been dispersed, with no compensation for the loss of their land and associated livelihood. Martens likewise featured local Aboriginal people in the Macquarie Place, Sydney 1839 watercolour earlier purchased by Campbell. This work eventually sold for Aus$245,000, a price ten times that of the Parramatta work, perhaps as a result of the latter's poor condition.

Based on a reproduction at the time of the auction sale, it was clear that the Parramatta watercolour was heavily faded, most likely asa result of exposure to the Australian sun, with Martens' distinctive blues and greens largely, if not totally, absent in sections of the work, leaving an overall brownish tone with only a hint of grey-blue sky in the distant background and within the river. The Macquarie Place, Sydney 1839 watercolour has suffered less in this regard. The paper on which the watercolour was laid had also been subject to fading and yellowing due to age and sunlight. This degradation is common among watercolour paintings and drawings by Martens from the second half of the 1830s and into the following decade. The strong light of the southern continent varied considerably from that of Martens' northern hemisphere English birthplace, and took a toll on the delicate watercolours he produced in Australia. The artist arrived in Sydney in 1835, following a brief stint aboard HMS Beagle, alongside Captain Robert FitzRoy and scientist Charles Darwin, and a visit to Tahiti, between 1833-35.

A Voyage of Sketches - The HMS Beagle art of Conrad Martens [video], Cambridge University Library, 2014. Duration: 5.45 minutes.

Martens' Australian works in oil were generally exempt from such fading, as were his watercolours from the 1860s through to his death in 1878. A digitally enhanced version of the View of Parramatta watercolour is included below to provide a somewhat exaggerated suggestion of its appearance at the time of sale.

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta 1839. Digitally colour-modified version with enhanced blue and green tints and heightened contrast.

This attempts to restore some of the lost blue and green elements, though without the subtleties of the original. This deterioration can be compared with other watercolours by Martens from around the same period, with some of those related to Parramatta reproduced below. The painting under discussion is similar in composition to a number of watercolour views of the Parramatta River by Martens taken from a more easterly vantage point along the river and based in part on his original pencil sketch dated 25 September 1837. That finely drawn, en plein air sketch is reproduced below, from the State Library of New South Wales collection.

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta, Sep. 25th 1837, pencil sketch, State Library of New South Wales.

The pencil sketch is a view taken from the Vineyard property of Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, and was subsequently developed as finished watercolours for sale by the artist from late 1837 through 1838. It is likely that Campbell saw some of these works and determined to have a version painted when construction of his own house in that location was completed, it having commenced sometime during 1838. The preliminary pencil sketch reveals Martens' skills as a draughtsman, with his precise use of the pencil and keen eye recording in exquisite detail prominent and picturesque features of the local landscape. The sketch was close to the original view as seen in situ by Martens - an almost photographic replication. It was also the initial phase in the artist's process of creating a somewhat artificial, idyllic and pleasing to the eye landscape in the Picturesque manner of the British watercolour movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, to which Martens adhered. He was primarily a landscape painter working in watercolour, skilled in that regard and less so in the use of oil or production of figurative works such as in portraiture (Lindsay 1920, Ellis 1995). This profession was developed with some success during his time in England from the mid' 1820s and as official artist aboard the HMS Beagle expedition to South America and the Pacific between 1832-5, prior to arriving in Australia. His brother Henry was also a prominent English artist, working in the area of military scenes. Conrad Martens pursued his art in Sydney from 1835 through to 1878, taking commissions, teaching and exhibiting. He derived a livelihood for himself and his family from art, and his clients were many of the wealthier members of the local community, such as the MacArthur family of Camden and Parramatta, and the Macleays of Sydney. His romantic watercolours, featuring local landscapes, flora and fauna, buildings and, to a lesser extent events, proved extremely popular with many of the permanent and temporary residents of the colony, some of whom dispatched the works to family and friends back home in the British Isles and Europe, or took them overseas with them when they left the colony. This was obviously the case with Peter Laurentz Campbell. Martens often pursued, or received, commissions to paint properties and/or residences. He was attracted to certain picturesque localities, including Sydney Harbour, the lush Illawarra district to the south, and west towards the Parramatta River and Blue Mountains gorges. His methodology was to travel to these localities, take detailed pencil sketches and wash drawings of panoramas and individual elements, and then work them up back in his Sydney studio as finished watercolours for sale, or less commonly as oils and lithographed or engraved prints. A study of his work in relation to Parramatta can help reveal elements of the likely provenance of the View of Parramatta painting.

Based on evidence from Conrad Martens' Account of Pictures Painted in N.S.W. [1835-1878] ledgers in the State Library of New South Wales collection, along with known works in public and private collections and from auction sale records, we can identify a Parramatta-based group of paintings in watercolour and oil which are possible variants of the aforementioned pencil sketch. A related, and later, sketch of a house is also included in the discussion, to assist in a more precise identification of the 1839 watercolour. This replicates the process utilised by the author in determining elements of its provenance.

1837

25 September - View of Parramatta. Pencil sketch, State Library of New South Wales PXC 971 f.2. Reproduced above and the basis for a number of watercolours painted during 1837-8. It is also likely to have formed part of the template for the 1839 Campbell watercolour.

10 October - View Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to Captain Phillip Parker King for 12 guineas. Possibly one of the watercolours in the State Library of New South Wales or the Historic Houses Trust collection. King was former commander of HMS Beagle, prior to FitzRoy.

1838

30 March - View of Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to Robert Scott for 6 guineas. Possibly the work On the Parramatta River, oil on canvas, 20 x 26 cm, sold by Goodman & Co., February 1992, lot 158.

12 November- View of Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to Robert Mackenzie for 15 guineas. Now in the National Gallery of Victoria collection. Reproduced below.

1839

1 January - View of Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to Captain Wright for 15 guineas. Possibly the work Parramatta River, oil on canvas, 28.7 x 45.7 cm, State Library of New South Wales, ML 598.

20 March - House of L. Campbell J.P. Parramatta, March 20, 1839. Pencil sketch, State Library of New South Wales, PXC 970 f.8. Reproduced below.

4 April - View of Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to L. Campbell for 15 guineas. Likely the watercolour under discussion and featuring Campbell's new house. Reproduced above.

19 April - House at Parramatta. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to L. Campbell for 3 guineas. Possibly a copy of the 20 March pencil sketch, or a small watercolour.

22 April - House at Parramatta. Copy of above. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold to L. Campbell for 3 guineas.

1840

19 August - View of Parramatta.

1856

18 August - View at Parramatta.

1859

7 November - Parramatta River. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sketch, sold to Ed. Hamilton for 2 guineas. Possibly the small work Parramatta River, 20.4 x 29.3 cm, sold as part of the George Page Cooper Collection, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 21 November 1967, lot 26.

We can see from this that during April 1839 Laurentz Campbell purchased / acquired three works from Conrad Martens, all related to his recently completed residence. Some of the works by Martens of the Parramatta River landscape survive in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, the State Library of New South Wales, and the Historic Houses Trust, Sydney and reproduced below. The whereabouts of other related works is unknown. Lack of provenance information makes it difficult to align all the works referred to in Account of Pictures [1835-1878] with extant items.

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta 1838, watercolour, 45.2 x 66 cm, Felton Bequest, National Gallery of Victoria. Note the rich, deep blues and greens of this work, and in the distance, what appears to be storm clouds and rain. The house on the top right of the view is Newlands House, built by Samuel Marsden in 1835.

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta 1838, watercolour, 45 x 66 cm, DL Pg 15, State Library of New South Wales. Signed and dated lower right.

Conrad Martens, View of Parramatta, watercolour, 44.8 x 66 cm, Historic Houses Trust, Sydney. Not signed or dated. An exquisitely beautiful watercolour and fine example of the artist's best work.

The above works are significant to the current discussion, both in regard to their structure and content. The layout relates to the Picturesque landscape art movement which arose in Britain during the latter part of the eighteenth century, whilst the content is obviously related to the historical development of Parramatta following European settlement of the area. All three illustrated works are identical in their perspective, looking westerly along the Parramatta River from the area of the Vineyard estate. The elements of View of Parramatta as seen in the aforementioned watercolours adhered to the Picturesque formula often applied by Martens to his Australian works (Organ 1993). This was manifest in the form of:

1) creation of a structured landscape with characteristic depth of field through contrasting light and shade and framing features, as exemplified by the works of Baroque French artist Claude Lorraine (1600-1682). In this instance the perspective is provided by a slightly meandering river on the left heading off into the middle distance, with flat to steepish, rolling banks on either side. This structure subconsciously forces the viewer's eye to look into the work and focus beyond the foreground;

2) a large tree to either frame the complete landscape, or part thereof, or create an initial foreground focus. In this case both are provided, with a small framing tree on the right and a large tree in the central foreground;

3) buildings dotting the landscape to add interest, scale and points of focus, such as the windmill, the steamer on the river, and a large villa on the hill to the right; and

4) Australian Aboriginal natives or local European settlers and convicts in the foreground providing both scale and geographical context.

The overall structure of the four View of Parramatta works, in presenting a land mass on the right and a body of water on the left, balances and enhances the Picturesque qualities of the scene. These elements would reappear in the subsequent finished watercolours with minor variation. For example, the 1838 National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) version is an accurate replication of the pencil sketch along with the addition of Picturesque elements such as the large tree and bush in the middle and right foreground. It is also distinguished by darkish tones which are generally suggestive of stormy weather. The slightly faded and damaged State Library of New South Wales version is brighter and sunny, as is the Historic Houses Trust copy wherein the original watercolours are better preserved. Both of these have an almost identical structure to the National Gallery of Victoria work. Martens had a tendency to reproduce his favourite views for sale, and this was obviously one of them, resulting in what proved to be a popular suite of works. The subsequent 1839 watercolour variant for Campbell, though similar in many ways, must be considered separate from them. However, before explaining that, a brief discussion of some of the prominent buildings within the Parramatta landscape at the time of its construction is presented.

3. The Parramatta landscape circa 1839

Utilising various artworks and archival records such as maps, plans, letters and land title records, it is possible to gain a clearer picture of the buildings present in the Parramatta area during 1839. Those that are relevant to this discussion and feature in the works by Conrad Martens during the period 1837-9 include the following:

* Experiment Farm Cottage, circa 1795 - residence of Surgeon John Harris (Rosen 2007). Located adjacent to Elizabeth Farm on the south side of the Parramatta River.

* Elizabeth Farm, 1797. Built by John MacArthur and subsequently expanded upon by the architect / builder John Verge.

* St. John's Church of England, with twin spires. Built by the Reverend Samuel Marsden between 1797-1817.

* Commissariat Store, 1812. Three-storey government stone building situated adjacent to the river's southern shore.

* Pemberton Grange house, circa 1816. Built by the Palmer family. Located on the north side of the river between Newland/s house and Vineyard, but at a lower level and close to the latter's jetty and boat house. A later (1855-6) building survives nearby with that name and is now known as Macarthur House. It is located at 8 Melville Street, Parramatta.

Pemberton Grange / Macarthur House.

* Waddon Cottage, circa 1820. Built by the Palmer family. Located immediately to the east of Pemberton Grange, on the north side of the river.

* Hambelton Cottage, 1824. Built by John MacArthur and located near Elizabeth Farm.

* Howell's Mill buildings and windmill, 1828. Located within the township of Parramatta. A prominent feature of the Martens watercolours.

* Vineyard house and boat shed / jetty, 1835 - residence of H.H. MacArthur. A two-storey mansion designed and built by John Verge. Painted by Conrad Martens in oil during 1840. Located on the northern side of the Parramatta River. It was from this location that Martens took his initial pencil sketch view looking west along the Parramatta River towards the township and various properties lining the shoreline to the north and south.

Conrad Martens, The Vineyard 1840, oil on canvas, State Library of New South Wales.

* Newland/s house, 1835 - located on the northern side of the river and featuring in the Martens 1837 pencil sketch and the three subsequent watercolours. Discussed in detail below.

* Campbell house, 1838-9 - located on the northern side of the river and featured in Martens' 1839 watercolour. Discussed in detail below.

The Bozna Kunstauktionen Conrad Martens watercolour from 1839 is slightly different from the three 1838 works in that it presents the same view of Parramatta from a point slightly to the west, and right of, the more expansive Vineyard-persepctive panoramas. The tree which is a central focal point in those 1838 works now forms the left border of this closer-in view from 1839. What is also unique and distinctive of the 1839 work is the somewhat incongruous inclusion of a large, roundish, two storey residential building on the hill in the middle distance to the right. This building did not exist in 1837 when Martens took his original pencil sketch, nor is it included in the subsequent 1838 watercolours. As such, it should be noted that the house on the hill to the right in the aforementioned 1837 pencil sketch - seen in detail below - is different to the one in the 1839 watercolour.

Detail of Conrad Martens pencil sketch of 25 September 1837, showing the rectangular-shaped Newland/s House (1835) on the slope to the right of the view.

That 1837 house was the property of Jane and Thomas Marsden and referred to at the time as Newland/s House or villa. As seen in the pencil sketch, it is a substantial, two storey, rectangular residence overlooking the town of Parramatta. Built in 1835 on behalf of the Reverend Samuel Marsden for his daughter Jane (1808-1885), there are no details regarding the architect or builder who undertook the work, though Marsden likely played a prominent part. The house was demolished in 1931 to make way for the present Macarthur Girls High School, located on the corner of Thomas and MacArthur Streets, Parramatta.

4. The Campbell house

In contrast to the house featured in the 1837 pencil sketch and 1838 illustrated watercolours above, the house in the 1839 watercolour, located on a separate parcel of land to the east of Newland/s House, is decidedly different in regard to its external woodwork features and generally curved elements of the floor plan and structure. It is, in fact, the substantial house portrayed in a Conrad Martens pencil sketch taken on 20 March 1839:

Conrad Martens, House of L. Campbell Esq. JP Parramatta 20 March 1839, pencil sketch, State Library of New South Wales, PXC 970 f.8.

This exquisite, finely detailed sketch is of a building which has survived through to the present day, with extensions, and is now known as Broughton House, located at 43a Thomas Street, Parramatta. A watercolour variant of this pencil sketch is known from a reproduction in a Sothebys, Sydney auction catalogue. Therein is was listed [wrongly] as the residence Hobartville, located in Richmond, west of Sydney, and built in 1828 for the Cox family, possibly by Francis Greenway.

Conrad Martens, [~~Hobatville~~] / House of L. Campbell Esq. JP Parramatta, pencil and watercolour, 19.5 x 29 cm. (7.7 x 11.4 in.), n.d., private collection. Auction: Sothebys, Fine Australian Paintings, Sydney, unknown date of sale.

This watercolour is smaller in size than the 1839 View of Parramatta work and is most likely one of the two works titled House at Parramatta sold by Martens to Campbell on 19 and 22 April 1839 for £3.3. each. It provides the most detailed contemporary image of the recently completed house. The erroneous attribution to Hobartville is interesting, as it points to the lack of recent knowledge in regard to the true history of the building.

It would appear that at some point during 1838-9 Conrad Martens received a commission to sketch and paint the house upon its completion. This he did in March-April 1839, following Campbell's commencement of duties as Acting Colonial Treasurer on 1 March of that year. Martens, upon preparation of the sketch in situ, appears to have made use of his original 1837 pencil sketch View of Parramatta as a template to feature this new structure in a finished watercolour. The Campbell residence therein becomes the focal point of the right side of the work, with the diminished view of the river and Parramatta township occupying the remainder of the view on the left. The fact that the scale of the house in the 1839 watercolour appears slightly out of proportion - larger - in comparison to the earlier watercolours featuring Newland/s may be due to the fact that Martens did not prepare a separate, panoramic sketch of this altered landscape in situ, as he had done in 1837. Upon receiving his commission, Martens worked quickly for Campbell to produce a number of works that would feature the new house. Surviving records indicate the following relevant activity in March - April 1839:

1839

March

3rd - Conrad Martens produces the original pencil sketch entitled Residence of Alex. McLeay Esq., Sydney. This is shortly thereafter transformed by the artist into two watercolours for Alexander MacLeay's son-in-laws Thomas Cudbert Harrington and Laurentz Campbell. It is not clear who commissioned these works.

20th - During March, Martens receives a commission from Laurentz Campbell and travels to Parramatta on this day to produce the small pencil sketch House of L. Campbell Esq. JP Parramatta 20 March 1839.

22nd - Martens sells the finished large watercolour Mr McLeay's House to Campbell for £15.15. It is based on the pencil sketch taken on 3 March.

April

4th - Martens sells the large watercolour View of Parramatta to Campbell for £15.15. It is based on the pencil sketch produced on 20 March and also incorporating his early views of the Parramatta River landscape from 1837.

19th - Martens sells a small watercolour House at Parramatta to Campbell for £3.3. It is based on the pencil sketch taken on 20 March.

22nd - Martens sells a copy of the small watercolour House at Parramatta to Campbell for £3.3.

This information verifies the fact that the building known as Broughton House was in fact built for Laurentz Campbell during 1838-9, and not by or for members of the Marsden family. This is further reinforced when we investigate the Parramatta land purchases by Campbell during the period 1837-9. These are described in the timeline below.

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5. Timeline

The following timeline deals with the Laurentz Campbell & Marsden properties at Parramatta from 1822 through to the present day. It will assist in understanding the complex use of the land and construction of houses on the north shore of the Parramatta River, expanding upon the above discussion. It is followed by a discussion regarding the confusion over the name and ownership of the Campbell house of 1838-9.

1822

The Reverend Samuel Marsden constructs a weatherboard cottage by the northern bank of the river at Parramatta and names it Newland Cottage.

1834

10 September - Laurentz Campbell marries Barbara Isabella Macleay, daughter of Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay. At the time, Macleay is supervising the design and construction by John Verge and others of Elizabeth Bay house on Sydney Harbour.

1835

The Reverend Samuel Marsden builds a new house / villa at Parramatta for his daughter Jane and her husband the Reverend Thomas Marsden. It is subsequently known as Newland/s house or villa, and the surrounding property is known as the Newland/s estate. This is different to the previously built Newland Cottage (1822).

1836

October - Laurentz Campbell is posted from Maitland to Parramatta as the Police Magistrate. He and his family take up temporary residence in an official house near the Government Paddock, on the south side of the river.

1837

1 January - Laurentz Campbell purchases 8 acres from the Reverend Samuel Marsden on the northern side of the Parramatta River, with the likely intention of building a house there. The property is located east of Thomas and Jane Marsdens' Newland/s House and almost directly opposite Experiment Farm Cottage, which is located on the south side of the river.

25 September - Conrad Martens sketches View at Parramatta, with Newland/s House on the hill to the right (north side of the river) in the middle distance. Rosen (2007) states erroneously that this is evidence of the construction of the Verge house for Laurentz Campbell. However, the house in this 1837 sketch - Newland/s Villa - is very clearly a rectangular construction, and not distinctively semi-circular like the later (1838-9), Verge designed house for Campbell.

24 November - Laurentz Campbell purchases a further 15 acres 3 roods from the Newlands Estate of the Reverend Samuel Marsden. This brings his holdings at Parramatta up to 23 acres 3 roods.

- During 1837 Laurentz Campbell also purchases a property at Watson's Bay, Sydney Harbour. This would become his Sydney residence.

1838

February - Laurentz Campbell purchases a further 7 acres from the Reverend Samuel Marsden, next to his already purchased acreage. This brings his holdings up to 30 acres 3 roods, in a thin strip of land extending from the bank of the Parramatta River, north to present-day Victoria Road.

c.March - Campbell contracts (?) John Verge to design and construct a house for him on his 30 acre property at Parramatta. Verge had recently completed working on Elizabeth Bay House for Campbell's father-in-law Alexander Macleay.

12 May - Reverend Samuel Marsden dies. His property is subsequently sold and purchased by members of the family and the general public.

c.June-December - construction of the Campbell house at Parramatta takes place.

1839

c.January - the Campbell (Verge) house at Parramatta is substantially completed.

February - The Campbell property at Parramatta is leased by Jane Marsden - daughter of the late Reverend Samuel Marsden, and wife of that latter's cousin the Reverend Thomas Marsden (1806-1837). This comprises a Lease and Release contract, with a 1 year lease followed by the option to purchase, which is apparently taken up. Rosen (2007) states that for this lease period the family of Laurentz Campbell made use of the property, though no evidence is provided for this and the Elizabeth Macarthur letter of 6 March 1839 (reproduced below) indicates that by that stage they were living in a cottage on land next to Elizabeth Farm on the south side of the river. This would suggest that shortly thereafter i.e. from circa April 1839, the Campbell family were resident at their Watson's Bay property in Sydney, having probably moved out of the newly constructed Parramatta house by the time of the signing of the Lease and Release document with Jane Marsden.

1 March - the property Newlands, containing Newlands House, is transferred to Jane Marsden for £1500.

6 March - Elizabeth Macarthur of Elizabeth Farm writes a letter to her son Edward Macarthur in England, referring to the nearby 'new cottage' occupied by Mrs Campbell and her three children on the land of the late Surgeon John Harris.

Mr Riddell has two years leave of absence from his duties as Colonial Treasurer. Mr Laurentz Campbell who has been our Police Magistrate for the last three years is to take Riddell's place - & he is already gone to Sydney - His little Wife and three little ones, who are our near neighbours - & have occupied a new cottage on the Estate of the late Dr. Harris follow as soon as they can get a house in Sydney. Mr Campbell is a most vigilant & active Police Magistrate and has kept the Town of Parramatta and its neighbourhood free from robberies and disturbances... (Macarthur 1839).

It is assumed by some that this reference is to Harris's Experiment Farm Cottage (c.1795), though it was very likely a reference to a later, and recently completed cottage built on his property next to Elizabeth Farm. Rosen (2007) suggests that Macarthur has made a 'slip of the pen' and meant, instead, the the new, two-storey, Verge designed building. The current author would suggest that there was no error by Macarthur, and the letter should be read as is.

20 March - Conrad Martens sketches 'House of L. Campbell Esq. J.P. Parramatta March 26, 39'. This is of a seemingly completed two-storey house, as designed and built by John Verge. On the pencil sketch the words 'House of' are partially erased, indicating that at the time, or shortly thereafter, Campbell was no longer the occupier or owner of the house, but was nevertheless the commissioner of the pencil sketch.

4, 19 and 22 April - Laurentz Campbell purchases from Conrad Martens the finished watercolour View of Parramatta (£15.15) and a sketch, plus copy, entitled House at Parramatta (£3.3. each). Rosen states that the watercolour is the one at present in the Historic Houses Trust collection. However, that view dates from the 1837 pencil sketch and shows Newlands House of 1835 on the easterly hill in the distance, not the closer in Campbell (Verge) house of 1838-9.

4 October - Newland/s House and Rangihou Cottage are offered for sale as part of the breakup of the Newland estate (Sydney Morning Herald). Having obtained the Campbell house through a Lease and Release, Jane Marsden has no further use for Newland/s House and attempts to sell it. She subsequently finds this difficult to achieve in the short term, as there is a depression in the colony at that point.

1840

1 January - Newland/s Villa is offered on a 3 year lease by (Mrs.) Thomas Marsden (Sydney Morning Herald). It is likely that Mr Henry Harvey takes up the lease.

February - Jane Marsden, also listed as Mrs. Thomas Marsden, obtains ownership of the Campbell (Verge) house through purchase, following a 1 year period of lease.

1841

A published plan of part of the Newlands Estate at Parramatta for sale by Mr Stubbs of Sydney shows the location of Newlands House, 'the residence of Mr. Harvey.'

Plan of 37 allotments at Parramatta / being part of the estate of Newlands, late the property of Mr. Marsden for public sale by Mr. Stubbs. Lithographic map, W. Stubbs, Sydney, 1841. Plan shows the location of 'Newlands, the residence of Mr. Harvey.'

May - Mr. Henry Harvey advertises for a gardener for Newland/s Villa. At some point during this year he acquires it from the Marsdens (Sydney Morning Herald). He also then leases it out and leaves Parramatta to take up farming elsewhere.

c.June - Laurentz Campbell and his family leave Australia for England. Their property Zandvliet at Watson's Bay - sometimes known as Tandalie - is subdivided and offered up for sale.

5 June – For Sale: Watson’s Bay - The Splendid Estate of P.L. Campbell Esq., consisting of his late residence and other buildings, with about eight acres of land, known as Clovelly, adjoining the Estate of H.H. Macarthur, Esq., bounded on two sides by the main road (Sydney Morning Herald).

25 November - Notice that a Mrs. Perrier will utilise Newland/s Villa as a female boarding school (Sydney Morning Herald).

? - Jane Marsden leaves Australia for England with her two children Samuel Edward (b.1832) and Anna (b.1833). She retains ownership of the Campbell (Verge) House and returns to Australia in 1870.

1844

January - Mrs. Perrier commences classes for girls in her Academy at Newlands Villa. Henry Harvey retains ownership of the property.

4 July - On the Brownrigg plan of Parramatta and the Vineyard Estate, Mrs. Thomas Marsden is listed as owner of the property containing the Campbell (Verge) House. Henry Harvey is listed as (P) owner of the property containing the original Newlands House, which is now operating as a school.

1845

Newlands Estate and dwelling is offered for sale by Henry Harvey.

1856

Neil Stewart moves to Parramatta and subsequently purchases Newland/s House. It becomes known as Athole House.

1864

William Woolls, former teacher at King's School and operator of an Academy at Harrisford, Parramatta since 1841, moves his academy into the former Campbell (Verge) house, which is still owned by Jane Marsden.

1876

The Campbell (Verge) House is sold by Mrs Mary Marsden (Jane's sister) to Thomas Kendall Bowden for £2,000. It is renamed Bowden House.

1877

The above assessment of the distinction between Newland/s House (1835) and the Campbell (Verge) House (1838-9) is verified by an 1877 bird's eye view of Parramatta (Gibbs, Shallard & Co. 1877, reproduced in Rosen 2007). It shows the adjacent properties - Newlands House and the tree-lined Campbell (Verge) House in some detail, and in a perspective which differs markedly from the Conrad Martens sketches and paintings.

Birds Eye View of Parramatta, Gibbs, Shallard & Co., Sydney, 1877 [detail]. Source: State Library of New South Wales ML XB1B Parr 01.

In the above birds eye view, the Campbell (Verge) house is seen on the right foreground, with a large pine tree next to it on the western side; further to the west is Newland House. Across the river from the Campbell House are the large Commissariat Store buildings. In the foreground is the steamer jetty and behind that is Elizabeth Farm.

1880s

Photograph of the original 1835 Newlands House / Athole, Parramatta. Source: State Library of New South Wales collection. This clearly shows the house in a similar form to that portrayed in the Conrad Martens pencil sketch and watercolours of 1837-8.

Newlands House, circa 1880s.

1893

Neil Stewart, owner of Newland's House, refers in an invoice to his residential address as Newlands, though this may have been in reference to the suburb and the Newlands Estate in general, rather than to the house.

1897

20 August - Sarah Emily Richards purchases Bowden House / the Campbell (Verge) house for £2,000.

1906

James Swanton Vickery, on behalf of Sarah Emily Richards, discharged a mortgage of £4,100 on the property containing the Campbell (Verge) house.

1908

Percival Stacey Waddy, headmaster at King's School, privately purchases the Campbell (Verge) house for £3,500. It is then leased from him by the King's School.

1909

The former Campbell (Verge) house is known as 'The Farm House.'

1910

The former Campbell (Verge) house is renamed 'Broughton House' by Percival Stacey Waddy of the King's School, in honor of the school's founder, Bishop Broughton.

1913

Neil Stewart dies at Athole House, formerly Newlands House. The property is subsequently sold.

1916

6 June - The King's School council purchases Broughton House from Waddy.

1922

12 June, Building, 30(17), 85: The Architects of Tomorrow. Chapter VI. - Architectural Design and Construction. This article includes a photograph of Broughton House from its front, facing the Parramatta River, whereas the only publicly visible view of the house today (2023) – from Thomas Street, Parramatta – is from the rear of the original building.

Broughton House, Building, 12 June 1922.

1927

King's School photograph of Broughton House students, 1927, showing some of the original (?) carved wood verandah features, plus later second storey balcony additions. Photograph provided by 'Bird' Avery.

King's School, Broughton House, 1927. Source: Class of 67.

1928

The Newlands property is cited as owned by Mrs Robert Betts. The Betts' and Marsdens were related by marriage in a number of instances.

c.1930

Photograph of Broughton House. Substantial additions can be seen in this image.

King's School 'Broughton House', circa 1930s. Source: Facebook.

1931

Athole / Newlands House is demolished and in 1934 the land becomes part of the Macarthur Girls Domestic / High School, on the corner of Thomas and Macarthur Streets, Parramatta.

1942-6

Broughton House closes due to wartime restrictions.

1963

King's School photograph of Broughton House students, 1963, showing some of the original (?) carved wood verandah features, plus later second storey balcony additions.

King's School, Broughton House, 1963. Source: Class of 67.

1965

December - King's Schools sells the land containing the former Campbell (Verge) house to Panoramic View Units Pty Ltd for £60,000. It is subsequently subdivided and developed.

1971

24 July - the land containing the former Campbell (Verge) house is purchased by Parramatta Convalescent Home Pty Ltd. It operates for a period as Parramatta Nursing Home. Substantial extensions to the building are made over the following decades.

Broughton House / Parramatta Nursing Home, Parramatta, circa 2014. View of the rear section of the house, from Thomas Street, looking south.

1974

Broughton House is included in the Heritage Study of the City of Parramatta.

1988

1 August - Broughton House is sold for $1,302,000. Most likely purchased by Anglicare.

1991

14 May - Broughton House is placed in the Register of the National Estate.

1999

1 October - Broughton House is included on the New South Wales Heritage Register.

2001

Broughton House is included in the Parramatta Archaeological Landscape Management System AMU3024.

2016

Broughton House Conservation Management Plan prepared by Caldis Cook Group Architects.

2019

The former Campbell (Verge) house is known as the Anglicare Thomas Street Lodge.

2021

November - Google includes the Campbell (Verge) property in Google Maps, with aerial and street views. Some sections of the property are shown as boarded up.


Street view and aerial view of 43a Thomas Street, Parramatta, Google Maps, November 2021.

2022

May - Aged care facility at 43a Thomas Street, Parramatta, closes.

circa November - Broughton House sold by Anglicare and purchased by a group called Broughton House.

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6. Designed and constructed by John Verge?

John Verge

Based on the evidence revealed in Conrad Martens' pencil sketch and the finished watercolour of 1839, this new building is distinctive of the work of the English builder and architect then resident in Sydney, John Verge (1782-1861). Though up until this point it time, no specific architect or builder has been attributed to Campbell's Parramatta house, it was most likely - in the opinion of the present author - designed and constructed by Verge for Campbell, who was at the time the local Police Magistrate. Even though Verge had at the end of 1837 publicly announced in the Sydney newspapers his retirement to take up farming in northern New South Wales, it seems that circumstances saw him work for Campbell - and others - through to the early 1840s. Unfortunately, no company records exist to confirm this, as was often the case with this somewhat invisible, though extremely talented and busy architect and builder (Broadbent 1978 & 1997, Tanner & Stringer 1980). The only evidence we have at this stage is the Martens artwork and the building itself, which is very much in the Verge style. The job is not listed in Verge's surviving manuscript plans or ledger in the State Library of New South Wales collection. However, it would appear that according to the extensive research of historian Sue Rosen, Verge carried out the work for Campbell during 1838-9 in return for a gift of 1048 acres at the Macleay River, either as part or full payment (Verge 1962, Rosen 2007).

Verge had received a grant on the Macleay in 1838 and the Campbell parcel added to what eventually became the Austral Eden estate (Brown 1999). He settled there around 1841 and spent the next two decades as a resident farmer, leading up to his death in 1861. Verge is well-known as a significant architect from the early colonial period of Australian history, but his primary profession prior to coming to Australia in 1828 was as a builder. As a result, he was able to achieve a great deal in his work in the colony during the 1830s, prior to retiring to his northern New South Wales properties. His ambivalence about the Australian work - he came to the colony primarily to farm - perhaps accounts for the laxity of record keeping, despite the survival of a single ledger and some plans. As a result, the Campbell house remains 'attributed to' Verge in some official heritage listings, though it is usually missing from official and unofficial accounts of the building. For example, there is no reference to it in the published accounts of Verge and his surviving work, or in studies of colonial era buildings of New South Wales. Despite this, there is little doubt in the mind of this author that John Verge was involved in its design, if not its construction also. It is also possible that he received input from the Campbells - Laurentz and his wife Barbara Isabella nee Macleay (b.1814).

The new Campbell building is quite distinctive architecturally, with its cross-shaped floor plan and overall roundish external features. It should be remembered that its construction came at the end of an intense period of work for Verge between 1830-1837 involving, for example, a role in the design and construction for Alexander Macleay of Elizabeth Bay House - Australia's finest true mansion from the early colonial period. This was in addition to a swathe of commercial and residential buildings within Sydney and beyond, including Tempe House (1835) for the merchant Alexander Brodie Sparke.

Conrad Martens, Tempe House, 1838, watercolour, 44 x 65 cm. Private Collection. This residence was designed and constructed by John Verge for Alexander Brodie Spark.

As an extant example of the work of Verge, the Campbell (Verge) House is another significant element of the surviving colonial architecture of New South Wales from the 1830s, standing alongside his Rockwell House (1831), Lyndhurst (1833), Salisbury Court (1834), Elizabeth Bay House (1835), Camden Park (1835) and Tempe House (1836). There are similarities between the Campbell and Sparke houses in regard to their prominent semi-circular elements, with one architectural historian of the period noting of the former:

Tempe was really a picturesque country retreat with balancing semi-circular verandahed bows of columns on the main elevation (Tanner 1981).

The Campbell house featured timbered posts rather than the Greek columns of Tempe, and the semi-circular elements extended beyond mere verandah bows. More importantly, there is an obvious difference between the Campbell (Verge) house and the Jane and Thomas Marsden family residence Newland/s as seen in the 1838 View at Parramatta landscapes by Conrad Martens.

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8. Heritage listings

The house as seen in the 1839 artworks has, unfortunately, been subject to external additions and alterations over the intervening years, masking its original form. It appears to have slipped off the radar of Parramatta heritage sites due to its use as a school and subsequent nursing home. The external alterations and extensions are substantial. With the rise of interest in heritage building within New South Wales from the 1960s, the Campbell house began to be noticed, beneath all the additions. These included the following, wherein it is referred to as Broughton House:

National Trust Heritage Register, n.d., item 9235.
Heritage Study of the City of Parramatta, 1974.
Register of the National Estate, 14 May 1991, item 003092.
New South Wales Heritage Register, 1 October 1999, item 01302.
Local Environmental Plan, City of Parramatta, 27 February 1997.

The most comprehensive description to date can be found within an official New South Wales government heritage listing of 2002, as follows:

Broughton House, Parramatta

Originally a fine Regency two storey house with curved bay sections and French doors opening to verandahs. Much altered and adapted. Set in generous grounds with large trees giving shade and privacy.

Fabric: Slate roof with metal ridge capping on rendered brick walls with ashlar markings.

Roof Construction: Hip roof with projecting hips with segmented bays to south and east elevations. A tower with squared onion dome metal roof with tall metal finial above front entrance. Classical arch entrance with half Corinthian columns set on pedestal flank opening.

Chimneys: Wide tall rendered brick chimneys with steps. Octagonal glazed terracotta pots.

Verandah: Slate roof above two-storey verandahs with segmented bays around two roof bays.

Verandah Floor: Tessellated tiles.

Verandah Supports: Three incised timber posts at each corner terminating at verandah roof otherwise posts are paired. Upstairs now enclosed with sliding glazed windows on fibro balustrades.

Verandah Decoration: Ground floor has cast iron valance between two timber rails.

Window Sill: Sandstone.

Window Arch: Victorian label mould above front door.

Exterior Doors: Transom light over French doors with bolection mould panels below and glazed panels above lead out to first floor verandah.

Garden: Once beautiful garden with mature trees and plantings.

Additions: Two bays on west face now demolished.

Architecture Style: Victorian Italianate with Regency overtones two-storey villa.

Front Door: Victorian label mould and stops above semi-circular arch over Front Door. Glazed fanlight above six-panelled timber door (New South Wales Department of Heritage and Environment 2002).

This substantial description was amended and abbreviated in a 2011 listing to the following form:

.... a two storey Regency style stucco brick dwelling with faceted bays to three elevations. Curved bay sections and French doors opening to verandahs. It has a hip roof covered in slate. Arched entry porch rising to a tower with a metal dome topped by a weather vane. First floor verandah bays are glassed in. Original twin verandah posts to both levels. Cast iron valance to ground floor verandahs. Twelve pane sash windows. The hall has an ornately carved timber dog leg double staircase and return landing with elaborate timber balustrades and coffered Jacobean like timber ceiling. A panelled room leads off the hall with finely carved timber fireplace and coloured panes to the twelve paned sash windows. All the main doors have ornate pedimented architraves. The servants' wing exists (New South Wales Department of Heritage and Environment 2011).

Note that in the 2011 listing the building is only referred to as 'Regency style' rather than 'a fine Regency two storey house', thereby diminishing somewhat its significance - an issue which remains to the present day and which this current article seeks to address.

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9. Controversy and confusion

As noted above, there is some confusion in the literature regarding the two buildings - Marsden's Newland/s House of 1835 and the Campbell (Verge) house of 1839. The most obvious example of this is within the official New South Wales Department of Environment and Heritage information page and heritage listing of the present structure known as Broughton House, Parramatta. Therein Newland/s House (1835) and the Campbell (Verge) house (1839) are identified as the same building. This present blog seeks to remove that confusion. Within the heritage listing, and also in a 2010 talk by Ian Jack of the Royal Australian Historical Society, both buildings are conflated as one, as is the seemingly arbitrary attribution of both to John Verge (Jack 2010). Apart from the information presented above which makes a clear distinction between the two structures, some additional clarification is contained in research published by the Parramatta Heritage Centre. It states:

Newlands House, said to have been built as a residence for Mrs. [Jane] Marsden about 1835, at the sale mentioned above, passed into the hands of Mr. Henry Harvey. He sold it just two years later in 1841 (Jervis 1935). Mrs. Perrier announced in the ‘Herald’ of 20 December 1841, that she had '… taken that spacious and beautifully situated premises known as Newlands to use as a school.' The name Newlands is said to have been transferred to the property known now as ‘Broughton House’, when the original ‘Newlands’ was bought by Mr. Neil Stewart. ‘Broughton House’ was erected apparently about 1839 or 1840.

This paragraph contains both useful information and errors of fact and interpretation. For example, it correctly identifies the date of construction of the Campbell (Verge) building as around 1839, not 1839-40. However, it errs in stating that Mr. Harvey sold Newland/s House in 1841. In fact, at that time it was offered on a 3-year lease by the then owner Mrs. Thomas Marsden, who was still owner at the time of the Brownrigg township survey of July 1844 mentioned above. Neil Stewart settled in Parramatta in 1856 and at some stage purchased the old Newland/s house, which he renamed Athole and where he died in 1913. This paragraph also accounts for some of the present confusion and points to the fact that the Marsdens first occupied the Campbell house in 1839, shortly after its completion.

Samuel Marsdens' first property to be called Newland was a weatherboard cottage he acquired on the south side of the river in 1822 and subsequently sold (Parramatta Heritage Centre 2013). The aforementioned quote also verifies that the present Broughton House is the Campbell (Verge) house, and not the original Newland/s House (1835) which was located to the west and demolished in 1931. The practice of renaming residences is well known, and leads to some confusion in this instance. For example, Hannibal Macarthur's Vineyard mansion was subsequently called Subiaco and remained so up until the time of its controversial demolition in 1961. However, the transfer of a name by a family from one house to another and then another, as has been asserted in regard to both the Newland/s (1822, 1835) and Campbell (Verge) buildings, is perhaps not so common. An amount of confusion has also arisen as a result of the misinterpretation of a letter dated 6 March 1839 between Elizabeth Macarthur and her son Edward in England. The relevant section reads as follows:

... Mr Riddell has two years leave of absence from his duties as Colonial Treasurer. Mr Laurentz Campbell, who has been our Police Magistrate for the last three years, is to take Riddell's place - & he is already gone to Sydney. His little wife & three little ones, who are our near neighbours & have occupied a new cottage on the Estate of the late Dr. Harris, follow as soon as they can get a house in Sydney. Mr Campbell is a most vigilant & active Police Magistrate and has kept the Town of Parramatta and its neighbourhood free from robberies and disturbances ..... (Macarthur 1839)

These comments have variously been interpreted to mean that the Campbell family was resident in the recently completed Verge designed two storey house, or in the 'new' 1830s Experiment Farm Cottage, rather than Mrs. Macarthur's clear statement to the contrary. The new Campbell (Verge) house - as has been shown in the discussion above - was located on land across the river from Elizabeth Farm and Experiment Farm Cottage. The latter had been built during the 1790s by Dr. John Harris (1754-1838) on his 30 acre property. Harris never owned the property upon which the new Campbell house had been built, as some had suggested. Therefore, it seems likely that Mrs Macarthur was referring to Mrs Campbell and her three children occupying a small cottage recently built on the late Dr. Harris's land on the southern side of the river. They likely resided there in between vacating the Parramatta Police Magistrate's residence, the letting out of their new house to the Marsdens, and their move to the house they acquired at Watson's Bay.

Following their departure from Parramatta, the Campbells resided at Zandvliet house, Watson's Bay. It was here, on 21 December 1839, that Laurentz's wife gave birth to their fourth child - a daughter - and where the family resided up until their departure from the colony in June of 1841, arising out of Laurentz's claim of ill health. His death occurred just seven years later, when he 'expired suddenly on Wednesday, 4 October 1848, at his London residence' (Wright 2012). Zandvliet was, by 1855, known as the Watson's Bay Marine Hotel and also the site of a zoological garden. It is unclear whether Mrs Campbell and her children returned to Australia, though this seems unlikely. Whatever the case, the true story surrounding the construction of the house at Parramatta quickly faded into history, and its present survival as Broughton House is more likely the result of the sturdy construction work of John Verge rather than recognition of its heritage significance, for the original building remains, to this day, largely hidden.

The National Gallery of Victoria copy, and Historic Houses Trust copy, clearly define the rectangular exterior of the Marsden property (see below).

Detail from the National Gallery of Victoria copy of View of Parramatta, showing Newland/s House on the hill to the right and Howell's Mill on the left, with the twin spires of St. John's church in the middle distance.

Detail from the Historic Houses Trust copy of View of Parramatta, showing Newland/s House on the hill to the right and Howell's Mill on the left.

By contrast, the semi-circular nature of the Campbell house is obvious in the 1839 watercolour under discussion.

Detail from the Conrad Martens 1839 painting of the Campbell (Verge) house. Notice the similarity to the earlier pencil sketch, and the overall rounded structure of the building, with circular roofing.

Newland/s House was constructed on behalf of the elderly Reverend Samuel Marsden just three years prior to his death in 1838. The following year, at the time of the building's offering up for sale or let, the advertising noted: 'no pains having been spared by the late lamented proprietor in its construction.' The difference between the form and location of the two buildings can also be seen in the extract below from an 1844 plan of Parramatta and the Vineyard Estate (Brownrigg 1844).

William Meadows Brownrigg, Plan of the town of Parramatta and adjacent properties, 4 July 1844, E.D. Barlow, Sydney, map in 4 sheets. Source: State Library of New South Wales, M M4 811.1301/1844/1.

Therein, on the top right, next to the text 'Mrs Thos. Marsden', is the cross-shaped floor plan of the 1838-9 Campbell (Verge) house, with two out-buildings also evident. On the left-hand side of the image, below the words 'Henry Harvey (P)' is seen the rectangular floor plan of the 1835 Newland/s House, with a smaller structure alongside. This was the state of ownership of the two properties as of 4 July 1844. An explanation of subsequent changes, and the confusion arising therein and continuing to the present day, is outlined below.

Despite the availability of information in regard to the two buildings under consideration i.e. Newland/s House and the Campbell (Verge) house, there is a deal of confusion in the literature surrounding the two. This is due to a variety of factors, mostly associated with the passage of time, scant documentary evidence surviving concerning both buildings, and the fact that Campbell left Australia shortly after the construction of his residence at Parramatta. In addition, the building has, since the 1970s, played a role in the continuing debate over the age of Australia's oldest house - Parramatta's Experiment Farm Cottage (c.1795). This has largely been the result of a misreading of an 1839 letter by Elizabeth Macarthur of nearby Elizabeth Farm, and factors in the design and construction of Experiment Farm Cottage. Of the latter, certain architectural experts deem it untypical of design and construction capabilities in the colony during its first decade of European settlement and therefore date it to the 1830s rather than the 1790s (Rosen 2007). This likely inappropriate / inaccurate dating therefore associates it with the decade in which the Newland/s and Campbell buildings were constructed. In fact, such a connection is unwarranted.

Laurentz Campbell's departure from the colony in 1841, and death just seven years later in England, has also meant that there are precious few records of his stay, or detailed studies of his activities whilst resident, apart from a brief entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (King 1969) and more recent, focused work by Rosen relating to the Experiment Farm Cottage issue. The Marsden family property dealings in regard to the Newlands Estate - upon which land the Campbell (Verge) house was built in 1838-9 - is complex and made more so by the death of the two reverends - Thomas and Samuel - in 1837 and 1838 respectively. Also adding to the confusion is the assertion that at one stage both buildings bore the name Newland/s, though this now seems highly unlikely. Finally, though the Campbell building still exists, it has been heavily modified, never restored, or its original form substantially exposed, and its attribution to John Verge remains unproven. As a result, the official New South Wales government heritage listing confuses it on numerous occasions with the earlier Newland/s House (1835). This confusion remains in place at the time of writing (June 2021).

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10. Summary & Recommendations

The Conrad Martens watercolour View of Parramatta 1839 and associated pencil sketch Residence of L. Campbell, Parramatta, are important additions to the historic record in regard to the development of Parramatta and, in a small way, to the controversy surrounding the legitimate claim of Experiment Farm Cottage (circa 1795) to be the oldest house in Australia.

The Campbell (Verge) House was most recently, and prior to its closure, known as the Anglicare Thomas Street Lodge, located at 43a Thomas Street, Parramatta. Though allocated State Significance by the New South Wales Department of Environment and Heritage, and therein called Broughton House, its historical significance has not been given true recognition, nor its association with architect and builder John Verge. It is the sole remaining home of a series of quality colonial period residences which faced south overlooking the Parramatta River, including the Vineyard (Subiaco), Newlands (Athole), Pemberton Grange and Waddon Estate (Palmer Family).

The Heritage listing at present erroneously states that the Campbell (Verge) house is important for its close associations with the prominent Marsden family for whom, it is stated, it was built.

Furthermore, it is not listed on the Wikipedia entry of John Verge buildings (Wikipedia 2019b), nor is this aspect referred to in the Wikipedia entry for Broughton House with largely replicates the Departmental listing. As such, it is recommended that:

The research contained within this article be incorporated into the current heritage listings for the building known as Broughton House, Parramatta, and that the confusion between it and Newland/s House built by Samuel Marsden be removed.
That John Verge be recognised as the likely designer an builder of the Campbell (Verge) House.
That the Campbell (Verge) house be restored, as much as possible, to its state as at the time of completion in 1839, and as portrayed in the Conrad Martens sketches and watercolours.
That the recent, and post-1839 unsympathetic additions would be demolished.

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11. Acknowledgements

This article has been compiled with the assistance of Graham Shirley of Parramatta.

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12. References

Broadbent, James, The Australian Colonial House: Architecture and Society in New South Wales 1788-1842, Hordern House, Sydney, 1997.

-----, Dupain, M., Evans, I. and Lucas, C., The Golden Decade of Australian Architecture: The Work of John Verge, David Ell Press, Sydney, 1978.

Broughton House, National Trust Heritage Register, n.d., item 9235.

-----, Heritage Study of the City of Parramatta, 1974.

-----, Broughton House, Register of the National Estate, 14 May 1991, item 003092.

-----, Local Environmental Plan, City of Parramatta, 27 February 1997.

-----, Broughton House, New South Wales Heritage Register, 1 October 1999, item 01302.

-----, Conservation Management Plan - Broughton House, 43A Thomas Street, Parramatta New South Wales, Caldis Cook Group (CCG) Architects, 2016.

-----, Broughton House, New South Wales Department of Environment & Heritage [webpage], accessed 1 November 2019. Available URL: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5051402.

Brown, Shylie, Broughton House - State Heritage Inventory form, 1999.

Campbell of Craignish [webpage], Wikipedia, 2019. Available URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_of_Craignish.

Cherry, Derelle, Alexander Macleay: from Scotland to Sydney, Paradise Publishers, Kulnura, 2012, 452p.

Derricourt, Robin, South Head, Sydney and the origins of Watson's Bay, Watson's Bay Association, Sydney, 2011, 68p.

Ellis, Elizabeth, Conrad Martens: Life and Arts, State Library of New South Wales Press, 1995.

Gibbs, Shallard & Co., Town and district of Parramatta, New South Wales. Bird's eye view and inset of buildings, 1877, Supplement to the Illustrated Sydney News, November 1877.

Hordern House, Rare Books, Manuscripts, Paintings, Hordern House, Sydney, 2019.

Howell's Wind and Water Mill - Parramatta [webpage], Parramatta Heritage Centre, City of Parramatta Council, accessed 9 December 2019. Available URL: http://arc.parracity.nsw.gov.au/blog/2014/10/07/howells-wind-and-water-mill-parramatta/.

Jack, Ian, From the President's Desk - The Historian and Heritage, Presidential Address to the Royal Australian Historical Society, 27 April 2010.

Jervis, James, The development and the Settlement of Parramatta, Parramatta Historical Society Journal and Proceedings, 1935, 78.

King, Hazel, Pierre Laurentz Campbell, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 1969.

-----, Richard Bourke, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1971, 312p.

Lindsay, Lionel, Conrad Martens: The Man and His Art, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1920. 2nd edition 1968.

Liston, Carol, Parramatta - A Past Revealed, 1996.

Macarthur, Elizabeth, Macarthur Papers Volume 10 - Elizabeth Macarthur Journal and Correspondence, 1789-1840, manuscripts, State Library of New South Wales, ML A2906, 6 March 1839.

Martens, Conrad, Account of Pictures Painted in N.S.W. [1835-1878], manuscript, State Library of New South Wales, DL MS142 & 143.

-----, House of L. Campbell Esq. JP Parramatta 20 March 1839, Pencil sketch, State Library of New South Wales, PXC 970 f.8.

-----, [Landscape near Sydney] 1839, Watercolour and gouache, 44.5 x 69 cm. Signed and dated lower left 'C. Martens 1839'. Source: Bozna Kunstauktionen, Bolzano, Italy, 1 December 2019 [Auction]. Collection: State Library of New South Wales, acquired 2021.

Organ, Michael, Conrad Martens and the Picturesque: Precursor to Australian Impressionism, unpublished manuscript, Wollongong, 1993. Available URL: https://documents.uow.edu.au/~morgan/graphics/cmpicturesque.pdf.

Parramatta Heritage Centre, Parramatta's Rangihou Reserve and its Maori history [webpage], Research Services, City of Parramatta Council, 11 September 2013. Available URL: http://arc.parracity.nsw.gov.au/blog/2013/09/11/parramattas-rangihou-reserve-and-its-maori-history/.

Preston, Harley, John Verge, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 1967. Available URL: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/verge-john-2757.

Proudfoot, Helen, Heritage Study of the City of Parramatta, 1974.

Rosen, Sue, Australia's Oldest House - Surgeon John Harris and Experiment Farm Cottage, Halstead Press, Sydney, 2007.

-----, What's in a picture? The use of images as historical evidence, brought to the reader courtesy of the Australia's Oldest House Debate [webpage], circa 2010. Available URL: https://suerosenassociates.com/australias-oldest-house/australias-oldest-house.

Sahni, Neera and Finlay, The River Foreshore, Parramatta, Caroline, Research & Collection Services, Parramatta Heritage Visitor & Information Centre, June 2021, 128p.

Shirley, Graham, Broughton House, 43A Thomas Street, Parramatta, Old Sydney Album, Facebook, 30 October 2021.

Tanner, Howard and Stringer, Richard, Architects of Australia, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1981.

Verge, Will Graves, John Verge - Early Australian Architect: His Ledger & His Clients, Wentworth Books, Sydney, 1962.

Walker, Meredith, Broughton House, City of Parramatta Heritage Study, 1993, item 564.

Wikipedia (a), Broughton House, Parramatta, Wikipedia [webpage], accessed 1 November 2019. Available URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_House,_Parramatta.

----- (b), John Verge, Wikipedia [webpage], accessed 28 November 2019. Available URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Verge.

Wright, Henry Press, The Story of the 'Domus Dei' of Portsmouth: Commonly Known as the Royal Garrison Church, Cambridge University Press, 2012, 282p.

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Last updated: 1 March 2024

Michael Organ

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The Laurentz Campbell (Verge) House [Broughton House], Parramatta, 1838-9

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