Experiment Farm Cottage
Places of Interest
Experiment Farm Cottage is open Tuesday – Friday 10:30am – 3:30pm Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 11am – 3:30pm.
(Rate this event!)
Information
Special event on Saturday 27 October
Call it a ‘tellabration:’ The National Trust of Australia (NSW) and Australian Storyteller’s Guild will present a special storytelling session for families with Canadian ceremonial drummer, singer and storyteller, Denise Miller.
The event takes place in the gardens at the National Trust’s Experiment Farm Cottage on Saturday, 27 October. Denise will be joined by other members of the Australian Storyteller’s Guild with the program running from 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm that afternoon.
Denise will present a family-oriented program of stories, songs and ballads inspired by her native North American and Celtic ancestry. The session will kick off with a Cherokee blessing song and drumming. Her stories hail from nations including the Ojibway, Cree, Mohawk and Cherokee tribes.
“I use the drum, song and storytelling to inspire and educate people,” says Denise, who trained as a therapist and uses her storytelling techniques to help people. She also worked as cultural liaison and reporter at CFWE, a native radio station in Edmonton, Alberta.
Denise is a sought-after speaker at universities, colleges, conferences, conventions, schools, libraries and storytelling festivals across Canada. Her first CD of native song and storytelling came out last Northern spring and is called Soul Stories, Wise Ways. This is her first visit to Australia.
Visitors can bring a picnic and enjoy the gardens at Experiment Farm Cottage while being entertained by the storytellers. They can also take tours of the 1830s Anglo-Indian bungalow, once owned by Surgeon John Harris.
Experiment Farm Cottage stands on the site of the first land grant in Australia, made in 1789 by Governor Phillip to the former convict, James Ruse. By 1791 Ruse had successfully farmed the 30 acre site as an experiment in self-sufficiency, proving that a new settler could feed and shelter his family with relatively little assistance to get started.
The Indian-style bungalow there today was built by Surgeon John Harris, who purchased the land from Ruse in 1793 for £40. It is thought to have been built by c1835. It is one of Australia’s oldest standing properties, and features in an 1837 sketch and subsequent watercolour by Conrad Martens.
The house is furnished to reflect the home of Surgeon Harris, with simple but elegant pieces from the National Trust’s collection of early colonial furniture, the largest of its kind in Australia. In the year 2000, the National Trust landscaped and planted the immediate grounds, using evidence from early paintings, plant catalogues and photographs to recreate, as far as possible, an authentic setting for the cottage. Guided tours are available, and a permanent display in the cellar tells the story of the site in all phases of its occupation; indigenous and colonial to the present day.
Venue
Experiment Farm Cottage @ 9 Ruse Street, Harris Park
Price
Admission: National Trust members free, adults $6, concession $4, families $14.
Bookings
n/a