Bella Vista is a heritage-listed residence at Elizabeth Macarthur Drive, Bella Vista, The Hills Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1830 to 1960. It is also known as Kings Langley, Stock Farm, Seven Hills Farm and Bella Vista Farm. The property is owned by The Hills Shire Council and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History Indigenous history Aboriginal sites have been identified at Bella Vista.
Ownership and management from 1799 to 1842 Matthew Pearce was the first settler to receive land at Seven Hills, having been granted around in 1794–5. Pearce's property became known as King's Langley. In 1799 a joint grant of was made to Joseph Foveaux and Charles Grimes. Within a month Grimes signed over his share of joint grant to Foveaux. The property was known as Stock Farm and adjoined Pearce's property.
Other smaller grants were made near Foveaux's land later in October 1799 with William Goodhall receiving while was granted to Richard Richardson. It was on Richardson's holding that the Bella Vista farm complex was to evolve.
By September 1801, Richardson had sold his entire grant to a Thomas Jones who sold it just under a year later to the well known Irish emancipist Richard Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was also to acquire of Goodhall's land.
Having been appointed Acting Lieutenant Governor at Norfolk Island, Foveaux found it necessary to sell his Toongabbie holdings and by December 1801 John and Elizabeth Macarthur had bought up Foveaux's Stock Farm along with all the livestock on the property. Subsequently, Fitzgerald, who acted as the Macarthurs' steward, manager and record keeper during John's absence from the colony, sold his holdings to the Macarthurs. This conglomerate of around was to become known as Seven Hills Farm. It was here that Elizabeth Macarthur bred some of the first Merino sheep.
In 1821 the Macarthur's Seven Hills Farm was returned to Crown land in lieu of land at Camden. Fresh grants of portions of the Seven Hills Farm were made almost immediately. James Robertson was granted on which the present-day Bella Vista is situated. Other grantees included Matthew Pearce who was allotted in 1835.
Robertson grazed sheep and cattle on his property but found that orcharding was much more productive. The property was advertised for subdivision in 1838 but was purchased outright to his neighbour, Isabella Acres in September 1838. In 1842 Acres returned home to England which led to the sale of the property to William Pearce.
Ownership and management by the Pearce family (1842-1949) Almost nothing is known of developmental works on the property during William Pearce's period of ownership (1842–65), though it seems that the first stage of the Bella Vista homestead was constructed prior to his death in 1865. Edward Pearce inherited the property upon the demise of his father. From this time on, major consolidation, expansion and property improvement were to see the evolution of the Bella Vista farm complex which is left today. Edward Pearce appears to have moved into his inheritance, Robertson Farm. Second storey additions were made to the homestead between the end of 1864 and April 1865. Though mixed farming continued, orchards were the dominant land usage on the property.
By the 1880s Edward Pearce had established himself as one of the most successful orchardists on the central Cumberland Plain. In 1887, Pearce grossed a minimum of A£8,500 for citrus fruit shipped to Melbourne. The same year also saw the homestead refurbished and the construction of the vault at the family's cemetery. Commercial activities included the additional planting of at least 400 fruit trees. Pearce's farming was based on capital and that allowed him to employ at least 30 full-time workers. A substantial number of the workforce were Chinese who had turned to agricultural labour once the goldfields had been exhausted.
The citrus fruit grown found good markets in Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania. With the establishment of irrigation area along the Murray River during the 1890s and later irrigation developments in South Australia and southern New South Wales, these markets were seriously eroded. The citrus being grown in the newer districts produced the navel orange which were much superior to the common orange variety.
Thus around 1912, when Edward Pearce's son Edward William Charles Archdall ('Toby') Pearce inherited Bella Vista, sheep were reintroduced onto the property. The old packing shed was converted into a shearing shed. Around 1910 a reaper and binder was purchased. A mechanical seed drill was also purchased at the turn of the century, although most cereals were sown by hand. An engine and pump was placed on the large dam in order to water the vegetable garden. Previous to this Jimmy the Chinese gardener had used a yoke and buckets. Having diversified their activities, the Pearces continued to profit from Bella Vista. He employed a full-time housekeeper, two maids and a casual ironing lady in a large, well furnished home. By the early 1920s, Toby Pearce began removing the sheep and the orchards in preference for commercial dairying. Considerable expansion of the industry occurred, facilitated by the new introductions of exotic grasses and the rise of modern agricultural science in this period. After Toby's death in 1933, his wife Nellie leased the property: two different leases ran the dairy from 1934 to 1938 and 1938–40. In this period a new dairy was constructed east of the old packing shed. Nellie Pearce died in 1941 and for some time the property was managed by her son Edward. By late 1949, the Pearce family had decided to sell Bella Vista.
Ownership since the 1950s The Pearce family sold Bella Vista in 1950 to the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company (later to become Norbrick) for A£34,492 and 10 shillings. In 1952 the house and farm buildings was leased to a Mrs Jones who continued to use the property as a dairy farm. Some poultry was kept but not as a farming venture.Email note from Ms Gwen Desmond. 29 March 2006. The North Sydney Brick and Tile Company commenced brick making on the southern side of the site in 1956. The onsite operations expanded during the 1960s and 1970s.
The site on which the Bella Vista now stands were acquired by the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board in 1974 as part of its resumption of for the potential erection of water storage facilities.
In 1979 the Jones family left the property.
Conservation orders and subsequent heritage protection An Interim Conservation order was placed on Bella Vista in 1979. A permanent conservation order was made on 25 July 1997.
A report on the history of Bella Vista prepared by Jenny Pearce, a descendant of the family which owned it for over 100 years, was made available to the Heritage Council of New South Wales' Restoration Steering Committee in 1982. Arrangements were made with the Policy Department to regularly patrol the property and Len Ward was appointed as a resident caretaker.
Officers of the NSW Department of Public Works working with staff of the Heritage & Conservation Branch prepared a schedule of urgent stabilisation works. The Heritage Council recommended funds be allocated for weather-proofing buildings per this works schedule, purchase of a suitable pump and hoses to work with the underground water supply for fire fighting. A statement of intent and draft brief for the garden and grounds was adopted by the Heritage Council and it was agreed that the garden study should be carried out by the Landscape Section, Public Works Dept. Michael Lehany of that section prepared a preliminary report on aspects of the landscape and Caroline Burke commenced recording physical evidence of the garden. It was agreed the report on the garden would include an inventory of existing vegetation, a plan showing the garden's evolution and guidelines for its future management.
Cathy Pinchin was engaged as consultant to interpret available aerial photography of the property from 1930 onwards to aid preparing garden evolution plans. A grid system was devised to enable accurate location of structures, garden elements and archaeological features and artefacts on survey plans prepared by the NSW Department of Lands. An additional report was prepared by the Heritage & Conservation Branch, in consultation with the NSW Department of Planning to include a visual catchment analysis and examination of planning issues relevant to the property's landscape setting such as quarrying operations and residential development.
Work commenced on clearing the underground water tanks under supervision of consultant archaeologists from the University of Sydney, directed by Judy Birmingham. Arrangements were made for more regular consultation on the architectural, archaeological, historical and landscape studies and a Working Group comprising representatives of the relevant departments and consultants was established.Heritage Council of NSW, Annual Report, 1982
By 1987 much of the land was being prepared for the Norwest Business Park.Howard Tanner and Associates 1987:84-93
In 1997 a Permanent Conservation Order was placed on the Bella Vista property. In that year the property was transferred from the Department of Planning to Baulkham Hills Shire Council (later to become The Hills Shire Council), along with funding for conservation works and preparation of a conservation management plan. Council have since progressively undertaken a range of conservation works to various structures and elements of the property, opened sections of it for passive public recreation, constructed walking and cycling tracks, picnic shelters, interpretive signage and investigated compatible public and other uses for the property as a public asset.
Description Overview The Bella Vista farm group comprises the homestead, collection of outbuildings and core of an historic farm including slab fencing, series of paddocks, remnant mature indigenous vegetation, cultural plantings such as the bunya pines down the southern entry drive. The farm buildings are mostly timber slab construction, situated in a rural park like setting. The overall farm complex is a typical 1800s farming community virtually untouched.Commission of Inquiry 1997:5
The remnant farm estate comprises open woodland that is located north of the homestead group. The area retains mature indigenous eucalypt trees in both clumps and as individuals. Broadly this vegetation follows the natural ridgeline on which the homestead group is located. Trees include a mixture of "Cumberland Plain Woodland" species such as forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis), narrow leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), white stringybark (Eucalyptus globoidea) and forest oak (Casuarina torulosa). These species form key components of the endangered ecological community of the Cumberland Plain Woodland, listed under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act.
Cultural plantings are generally located close to the homestead complex, and running south along the entrance drive are a row in places an avenue of bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii). Other significant species/specimens include Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), chir or Himalayan pine (Pinus roxburghii), stone pine (Pinus pinea) and cypresses (Cupressus spp.).
Scenic landscape Traditionally the Bella Vista farm has had a number of approach routes. Each was unsealed. Four key ones have been identified: the southern approach and bunya pine avenue, connecting the Pearce's other property to the south, including the homesteads of Kings Langley and Orange Grove (to Seven Hills Road). Thought to date from when the Pearce's first bought the farm. the south-western approach, which provided access to a loop in front of the house and to the homestead courtyard, connected with Old Windsor Road to the south of Meurant's Lane. Date unknown.