These stunning photographs, taken by an unknown builder, document the conservation of roofing timbers, shingles and iron at Elizabeth Farm in the early 1980s. They were culled from the vast Public Works Department archives, now in the museum collection.
HISTORIC HOUSES TRUST
In 1981, roofing workers carefully peeled back layers of corrugated tin, patched and mended for well over a century, uncovering the roof of Macarthur’s original shingled hut of 1793.
HISTORIC HOUSES TRUST
These prints have been selected from a vast archive of plans, drawings, correspondence and photographs, amassed by the Public Works Department between 1978 and 1984, now in the possession of the museum.
Rough sheets of tin, most dating to the late 19th century, have been conserved and coated with a protective metal paint. Surviving underneath are Macarthur’s she oak shingles, ironbark rafters and roof beams, hammered into place over two hundred years ago.
HISTORIC HOUSES TRUST
Photographed ‘on the job’, by a now anonymous builder, these images document an important turning point in the life of Elizabeth Farm. The once quiet, private home, grown old, worn and dilapidated, was about to become a museum.
