Built c.1890. Located 73 Windsor Road, Rouse Hill.
There is no clear evidence for the existence of the house prior to
1915, in fact according to the Hills District Historical Society the
house may date to c.1920. However the fabric of the house is more
consistent with a date c.1890 and the style and layout suggest an even
earlier date of construction, between 1860-1880. In all likelihood, as
with most pioneer homes, the house was no doubt rebuilt and refashioned
several times, each time incorporating the earlier building into the
new, hence such a wide ranmge of dates is quite understandable. As of
the 1940's the
house consisted of 5 rooms, along with a number of out-buildings which
may have dated to the 1890's or earlier. Between 1940 and the 1980's a
series of additions expanded the house to its present size. By 2000 all
the out-buildings had been demolished, removing all trace of the
property's in situ use.
The house is a currently a 14 room U-shaped cottage constructed of
weatherboard in late Georgian/early Victorian style. It has a hipped
corrugated iron roof, with a separate bullnose corrugated iron roofed
verandah on three sides. There is a kitchen wing and several additions
to the rear with iron roof and chimney. The house has two symmetrically
placed chimneys. There was, up to the 1990's, a post and rail fence to
Windsor Road, which has since been removed.
The area that Mungerie house is sited on forms part of the land that
was granted to Edward Robinson in 1809. When Robinson died in 1820, his
15 year old son, Edward, inherted the property. The property was sold
to Jonas Bradley in 1828. White's 1827 survey map of Windsor Road did
not show a house on the property, indicating that at the time it was
solely used for grazing. In 1866 Robert Pearce aquired the property.
During the nineteenth century the Pearce family were prominent
landholders and orchardists in the region. In 1915 the property
was sold to Charles Baker. As Baker has been described as a grazier, it
is assumed that any orchards on the site did not survive past his
occupancy.
The house, in a somewhat dilapidated state, is currently unoccupied and
is hoped to be restored as part of the new Rouse
Hill development. The Rouse Hill Shopping Complex is located less than a kilometer west of the property.
Sources:
NSW Heritage Office Website, http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au
Rebirth for Historic House, Rouse Hill Times, 2nd May, 2007
Personal correspondence, Ian Nowland, former President, Hills District Historical Society