Last updated 7Oct23

Westermans Homestead

Westermans Homestead is in the Grassy Creek valley and one of the features of the Settlers Track in the Namadgi National Park.

Location: GR 55H FA 77947-26774 (MGA94), Shannons Flat 8626-2S 1:25000


Westermans Homestead, March 2013

Visits: 7 Oct 23, 27 Aug 16, 30 Aug 14, 8 Jul 14, 23 Mar 13, 15 Mar 11, 28 Dec 10, 20 Jul 10, 13 Apr 10, 24 Jun 08, 18 Mar 08, 8 May 07, 2 Oct 04

Photographs are available.

Documentation:

• KHA web site: Westermans is located 3 kilometres over a rise, on the path immediately adjacent to the border with NSW. The start is marked by a metal stile over the fence. The grid reference is 778 266 on the Tantangara 1:100,000 map. Westermans Hut is on the Namadgi Historic Homestad Triangle. View the brochure here. Also known as Westermans Homestead and Lons Vale. Westermans is a substantial dwelling of five rooms, now beautifully restored. It is renowned for its scalloped bargeboards, and solid stone chimneys. This is a homestead, built in 1916 by Bruce Jeffery for grazing. It was originally occupied by Selena Westerman and Bruce Jeffrey, and later by Selena’s parents, Thomas and Mary Westerman. It replaced a small mud brick house with a shingle roof, which was placed about 50 m to the south and a second house immediately behind this one. The ruins remain visible. A Westerman baby and adult daughter are buried nearby in a visible grave, up the hill from the house. In the late 1990s, a team of KHA volunteers, led by Maurie Sexton, spent many hundreds of hours restoring the homestead to its original form. Mr Sexton received a well earnt award from the ACT Heritage Commission, for this restoration and that of Brayshaws.

• KHA Namadgi database (private source). Site 262. AHC Registered Site No. 101059.  The present homestead is said (oral) to be the third built on this site, the first dating at least to the 1880s.  The present weatherboard building dates from around 1916.  Large pines and other exotics are present.  A she …

• Gudgenby: A register of archaeological sites in the proposed Gudgenby National Park, J H Winston-Gregson MA thesis, ANU, 1978. Site B21 1-2. Weatherboard on granodiorite foundations, corrugated metal roof, two external granodiorite chimneys, one faced internally with modern brick; internal walls wattle and daub, ceiling tongue and groove timber. On a small knoll half surrounded by poplars and large firs. Fair condition, both chimneys collapsed, notable for decorative barge boards. Both flues canted backwards away from end wall. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.

• 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 G44. It is situated on a terrace on the southern side of Grassy Creek 1km north-west of the Boboyan Road and the ACT border. Behind the house is a very large pine tree and several willows and poplars beside a small creek. The house is timber framed on stone perimeter footings and internal stumps and is clad with a mixture of plain and feather-cut boards. There are 5 enclosed rooms (including sleepout) all with timber flooring and a small front verandah. The house features tongue and groove ceiling lining boards and some internal lath and plaster walls. Some internal walls have remnants of newspaper (1923/24) lining. There were two stone chimneys, both now collapsed and the opening this has introduced is accelerating the deterioration of the building. Some external cladding boards and verandah boards have fallen or been removed. An unusual feature for a small remote house are the decorative scalloped barge boards on the gables of the main roof. No outbuildings are standing although there is ground evidence of structures and fences. An overgrown grave enclosure lies about 200 metres south of the house. This is one of the more substantial abandoned dwellings representing the former pastoral era in the Namadgi National Park. There are a number of features that mark this as being a permanent family home rather than an outstation hut. Of interest is the fact that the kitchen is included in the main building rather than being a separated or detached unit. The site has a clear association with several phases of land tenure and utilisation of rural lands and is an important component of the history of European occupation of the southern ACT. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.

• Settlers Track brochure