Anne Puniard recalls stories of her family’s life in Rock Valley Homestead, nestled in the Tidbinbilla Valley.
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Built in 1895 by her great grandfather George Green, the pise structure was the social centre for the 10 or so families who had settled into the Tidbinbilla area, for the next 100 or so years.
“They were all mad card players and would play 500 up to three nights a week,” says Puniard, now president of the Tidbinbilla Pioneers' Association.
“There’d be tennis tournaments and dances in the woolshed, or they’d clear out the loungeroom and dance inside, dance all night and go home in time to milk the cows.”
As part of the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival, which starts on April 14 and runs until April 29, everyone will have the opportunity to sample Rock Valley Homestead’s hospitality with an open house, as such, on April 21 and 22.
The picnic is just one of more than 130 activities planned during the festival which celebrates much more than buildings, the 2018 theme is “My culture, my story”, recognising the importance of people in the history of the region.
What makes Rock Valley Homestead interesting is that it was inhabited since 1895 until 2003 when the Canberra bushfires devastated the area.
George Green and his wife Mary Ann raised seven children there, working the land, planting orchards and tending animals. Their youngest son Tom spent his entire life in the homestead, staying on with his wife Mary Elma until his death in 1957. Their son Eddie took over the property and ran it until 1968 when he sold it to the ACT Government as the homestead was now inside the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, which was declared in 1959.
Since then reserve staff have lived in the house; ranger Geoff Underwood and his family were living in the homestead right up to January 18, 2003, when the Canberra bushfires destroyed much of the house.
Today three pise rooms remain, including the original 1895 room and two larger rooms added in 1905. There are also two fireplaces from the kitchen extension, in 1920. After the fires a new roof was added in 2008, to stave off erosion of the pise construction.
With a deck facing off into the valley across a lovely garden, it’s possible to imagine the people that have lived, or visited, the homestead over the past 123 years.
Geoff Puleston, also from the pioneers’ association, says “our history is what helps us go forward”.
“There are so many great stories here to learn from,” he says. “The way the people in the valley shared and cooperated and worked together.
“It was very hard living off the land here, it was tough, but to share things like shearing or butchering, being able to swap vegetables, or eggs, helped everyone.
“It was really quite a community.”
The heritage festival offers up quite a range of activities from the popular Jane Austen Festival on April 14-15, an Aboriginal cool burning workshop for land managers run by traditional custodian Wally Bell which looks at what can be learned from traditional fire management, to art exhibitions, talks, walks and tours.
For a full list of events head to environment.act.gov.au
