Authors: Dr Sue Rosen and Liz Gorman

Client: The Homeowner

Our team prepared a history of the property as part of a Heritage Impact Statement required for the client to undertake minor, historically sympathetic, alterations.

Bathurst was established as a military station in 1815. From 1818, Kelso, on the east bank, was developed by private individuals. Under Governor Darling, in 1826, the entire region was opened up for European occupation.

It was upon land from an 1823 grant to Henry Cox, son of William Cox, that the property Littlebourne was constructed. Lieutenant Thomas Evenden constructed the property around c. 1830, naming it Littlebourne after the town in Kent where Evenden's father had a farm. Littlebourne may have been built by government labour, as a number of private houses were built for the military in addition to the barracks at that time.

After Evenden, retailer Edmund Tom Webb purchased the property in 1883 and held it until his death in 1925. Webb engaged architect James Hine in 1885, who designed additions including a large billiard room, a master bedroom with faceted bay windows and Regency style boarded ceilings. Another famous Australian architect, Alfred Norman Henry Sambrook was responsible for alterations, general repairs and painting at Littlebourne in 1930.