A poultry research complex most recently operated by the NSW Department
of Agriculture and containing a number of heritage listed buildings,
the most notable being Melrose House, built 1897. The complex is
located at 71 Seven Hills Road, Seven Hills.
In the 1890's the then 100 acre site was owned by William Chadwick, a
city solicitor. In 1897 Chadwick had a country residence built on the
site, which he named "Melrose". Chadwick had no interest in farming and
in 1906 sold the house and surrounding land to Francis Martin who
appointed James Hadlington as a manager and operated the property as
the "Grantham Poultry Stud".
Hadlington was a leading expert in poultry farming research and the
farm was just as much a research farm as a stud farm. In 1917 the
property was sold to the state Government who continued to operate it
as a poultry research farm and breeding farm, supplying the needs of
surrounding poultry farms as part of the "Returned Soldiers Settlement
Scheme". The project proved unviable and was wound up in the early
1920's. In 1923 the property, then some 46 acres, was transferred to
the Department of Agriculture. The "Government Poultry Farm" continued
to operate as a research and breeding farm until 1939. In 1939 the name
was changed to "Poultry Experiment Farm" and its use as a breeding farm
was phased out, leaving it as a research farm. During the 1940's it
established itself as one of the top six poultry research centres in
the world. In 1960 the name was again changed, this time to "Poultry
Research Station", however in 1959 the surrounding region was rezoned
from farming to residential and the increasing urbanisation of the area
increasingly hampered the work of the farm and in 1988 the farm was
closed. Subsequent to this the site remained untennanted and was, at
one stage, threatened with demolishing to make way for the Western
Motorway. It was, however, saved from this and the motorway diverted
around the core of the site. In 2004 Blacktown City Council aquired the
remaining 5 hectares, including the core buildings, for $1 million and
plan to operate the site as a heritage park, probably in conjunction
with the nearby historic sites also owned by the council (such as St
Bartholomew's). The council also hopes to aquire neighbouring crown
land, which was once part of the farm.
Throughout it's life from the 1890's to 1988, many buildings have been
added to the site, some having since been demolished. A large number of
buildings were demolished after 1988, however all but two of those were
built after 1930. The two exceptions were the Vehicle Depot and
Foreman's Cottage, both built before 1925. Wooden Bachelors Barracks
built during the late 1910's were demolished in the mid 1920's. Four
heritage buildings remain on the site including the the two farm
residences, Melrose House and Drumtochty, the Old Feed
Shed and the Workshop (c.1900). The property includes one of the
largest remaining tracts of the
Cumberland Plain Woodland in Seven Hills and one of few in the eastern
part of Western Sydney.
Melrose House
is a single storey Federation style brick residence, constructed
c.l897. It originally had a slate roof with terracotta ridge capping,
and three false gables, one to each side of the verandah. Curved stairs
approached the front doors. The false gables and verandah rail have
since been removed, and the roof now has corrugated iron cladding. The
interior comprises a central hallway, four bedrooms with open
fireplaces, lounge room with open fireplace, kitchen and pantry,
bathroom and laundry. Some of the rooms have been modernised, others
remain much as they originally appeared..
Drumtochty
was built sometime between 1890 and 1900. It is a typical
Victorian weatherboard cottage with a corrugated iron cladding roof. It
was restored in 1984 when it was
relocated from elsewhere on the property. Prior to the restoration
there was considerable interior water damage. The two bedrooms house
also contains a lounge and separate dining room,
kitchen and family room. The building retains much of it's original
design and material.
The Old Feed Shed
is a single storey, open-sided shed built from rough hewn posts with a
corrugated iron gable roof and concrete floor.
The timber supports for the roof are exposed within the shed.
The hewn posts, post heads and bracketing are typical of rural
buildings largely classed as the style known as Rude Timber Buildings.