Last updated 22Apr23

Blythburn Cottage

Blythburn Cottage is located on the west side of Blue Gum Creek around 1.8km south-east of the Booroomba property homestead on private property.

Location: GR 55H FA 80276-69572 (MGA94), Corin Dam 8626-1N 1:25000


Blythburn Cottage, July 2007

Visits: 22 Apr 23, 29 Aug 15, 14 Sep 13, 19 Feb 08, 17 Jul 07

Photographs are available.

Documentation:

• Australian Heritage Database: Blythburn is a significant heritage site in the ACT region, demonstrating a sequence of settlement and development dating from the first exploration of the region. Settlement of the site was reported before 1839 and the development proceeded in stages which relate to the growth of the region and the colony. Evidence of the early phases of occupation remains, forming significant archaeological and historic resource. Two buildings remain to document the later phases. The remaining buildings, the stone Homestead (built about 1885) and separate kitchen buildings, are significant examples of local vernacular masonry construction. Their original fabric is basically intact and relatively undisturbed except for a bathroom addition to the front verandah of the Homestead and the relocation of the kitchen within the Homestead. This has preserved the nineteenth century character of the site. The place has been owned and occupied by several important early settlers of the region. James Wright of Lanyon soon acquired the original property and amalgamated it with his adjacent Booroomba property. These two properties were transferred to William Davis and later to Charles McKeahnie, who was responsible for the significant pastoral development and expansion of Booroomba. Blythburn’s particular significance and identity were created by McKeahnie’s daughter Elizabeth Julia, a unique and remarkable woman who developed an all female dairy and cattle station there. No significant occupation or development has occurred at the site since her death in 1919. Blythburn is a modest single storey Homestead with a separate kitchen building, surrounded by mature deciduous trees. The structures are now vacant and disused and all that remain of a larger number of buildings which once existed on the site. The Homestead has three rooms, a loft and a front verandah with a later fibro (asbestos cement) bathroom addition at one end. All the rooms are accessed from the verandah as there are no internal doors. The walls are constructed of random masonry, the top of the flues are brickwork and the gable roof is timber framed with shingles under corrugated iron. The kitchen has one stone flagged room with a fireplace and a bread oven and has been extended by a now dilapidated timber addition to one end. The walls of the kitchen are random masonry, the flue tops are brickwork and the gable roof is sheeted in corrugated iron. Integrity is good. The condition is fair; minor restorative work required; cottage is intact and being maintained by the present owner, Mr Hyles of Booroomba.

• Heritage (Decision about Provisional Registration for Booroomba Station incorporating Blythburn and Braeside and adjacent ploughlands) Notice 2011. See here.

• Sites of Significance in the ACT. A 9 volume set, pre-cursor to the ACT Heritage Register. Published in 1988 (Vols 1-7), 1989 (Vol 8) and 1990 (Vol 9). Site PT20. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.