Wairoa, Aldgate

Wairoa is a heritage-listed home and garden located in the Adelaide Hills situated at 160 Mount Barker Road between Aldgate and Stirling in South Australia. It was for over three decades the home of Marbury School.

History

The 13-hectare (32-acre) property was purchased in 1888 by William Horn, and most of the house had been completed by the early 1890s.[1][2]

Occupied by Marbury School between 1972 and 2004, the home afterwards was converted to a community title and was maintained by a group of families. The gardens have been on occasion opened to the public as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme, and also hired out for weddings. It was put on the market in 2018 as a private dwelling.[2]

The house and associated buildings were listed on the South Australian Heritage Register with effect from 29 June 1989.[3]

Timeline of ownership

The property has been owned/occupied by:

1888 -	1896	William Horn[1]
1896 -	1941	Tom Elder Barr-Smith and family[1]
1941 -	1965	Daughter Joanna Lang Barr-Smith, Lady Gosse (1886-1965) (Married Sir James Hay Gosse (1876-1952) in 1907)[1]
1965 -	1972	Screenings Pty Ltd[1]
1972 -	2004	Marbury School, Aldgate[1]
2004 -	2007	Maintained by a group of local families[2]
2007 -	2018	Community titled;[1] Wendy and Richard Bray, and Kirsty and Ian Dodd.
2018-	2021	On the market, as a private 10-bedroomed dwelling with extensive grounds[2] sold to J. Smigielski

References

1. "History". Wairoa. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
2. Bowden, Tom (4 November 2018). "Country House of the Week: A piece of history in Aldgate". realestate.com.au. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
3. "Marbury School, including Main House (former dwelling 'Wairoa'), & Guesthouse, Stables, Garden, Gatehouse and Gates". State Heritage Register. Government of South Australia. 29 June 1989. Retrieved 21 September 2017.

Further reading

Library catalog entries:

• Keelan, Michael (2009) "Heritage", SA Life, vol. 6, no. 5 (May 2009), pp. 70–75 (Article about the historic garden 'Wairoa' in Aldgate owned by Kirsty and Ian Dodd and Wendy and Richard Bray. Article includes a reproduction of a watercolour by William Tibbetts [sic].)
• "Wairoa, present and past", The Advertiser, 7 July 1979, pp. 21–22
• Jones, David Sydney (1999), "'Wairoa' preserves Victorian charm" Heritage Living, Spring 1999, pg.16)

External links

Copyright photographs:

• Painting of the house and garden (Tibbits, William, 1837-1906, artist)
• The House in 2010 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

35°00′40″S 138°43′42″E