Lothlorien Farmhouse

DESCRIPTION

NameLothlorien FarmhouseAlternative NameTongarraTypeBuildingFarmGeolocation^[1] Last edited by: Will Chittick

DescriptionThe land on which Lothlorien was built is located on part of the original land holding of 1200 acres granted to Rosetta Terry 11 April 1857. The estate was advertised for sale 21 April 1917 and this portion was known as Farm No 1 of the Tongarra Subdivision. Robert Joyce Jervis purchased Farm No 1.

Jervis arrived in Australia c.1879 with his parents and siblings. He was living in Kiama when he volunteered to serve in the Sudan war long with six other men from Kiama. Robert married Helen Blow at Marrickville in 1910. They had a son Hector who was just 11 years old when he drowned. In 1917, Robert purchased the farm at Tongarra, and the farm house was built some time between May 1917 and April 1925. Robert died in 1925 and the farm was advertised for sale the following year.

The Illawarra Mercury Friday 23 April 1926 advertised 'That well-situated farm of 311 acres at Tongarra, with water frontage of over half a mile to the Macquarie Rivulet. The farm is well sub-divided and partly netted with rabbit-proof wire netting and is permanently watered and conveniently situated'. The auction was held at the Commercial Hotel at Albion Park 28 April 1926, and the farm sold to Stanley Mattinson with a certificate of title issued 21 July 1928.

Stanley joined the AIF in 1916 when he was 24 years old. He was severely wounded at Ypres, Belgium 17 May 1917 when he received a gunshot wound to his right arm and shoulder. On his return from the war he worked on a sheep station at Nyngan and met Annie Blanche (Blanche) Fleet, a school teacher whose parents farmed 'Green Valleys' dairy farm at Tongarra. 'Green Valleys' is reputedly the oldest house in the district, built by convicts, some of whom were later hung on a nearby tree. Stanley was employed by Blanche's parents, George and Mary Ann, to manage their farm. Stanley and Blanche were married 2 December 1924, and lived at 'Green Valleys' farm. The couple purchased 'Lothlorien', a farm just across the creek and moved there in 1928. Stanley planted a 100 metre row of hedges along the driveway to the house to remind him of his birthplace, England. Stanley died of meningitis in 1932 aged just 40 years old. The children were five and seven at the time. Blanche and the children remained on the farm.

Stanley and Blanche's daughter Gwendoline married Sydney Haertsch at Albion Park in 1944, and they had six children. The Haertsch's eventually moved to Berrima but kept the farm at Tongarra, which was inherited by their children. Son Peter Haertsch, in partnership with Jim Strong established the Lothlorien Strongbark Dairy in the 1990's. They introduced a new breed of Speckle Park cattle to the existing herd of Holsteins Friesians, supplying processors with over 5000 litres of milk per day.

Peter Haertsch became the Founding Head of the Plastic and Reconstructive and Burn Surgery Unit at Concord Hospital in 1983. In 2003 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his work in treating the Bali bombing victims. In the Australia Day 2018 honours he was awarded and Order of Australia for significant service to medicine in the field of plastic surgery as a clinician and administrator, and to medical education.

(Property research by Robyn Florance 2020)

External LinkDeaths Jervis 1925Obituary Mr Robert Jervis 1925Mr Stanley Mattinson 40 YearsDeath Stanley Mattinson 1932Obituary Mary Anne Fleet 1948Wedding Haertsch-Mattinson 1944Gazette Water Act 1912 Peter Haertsch 1999A Man of Many Talents 2018Burns Surgeon Peter Heartsch Honoured 2024

Photograph

Lothlorien

'Lothlorien'

Cam Craig bailing oaten hay at Tongarra about 1956

Family

Mattinson

Fleet

Lothlorien, Tongarra, c.2003.

Heritage Information

Heritage NSW LinkShellharbour Heritage Inventory Sheet Last edited by: Erin Tierney

CONNECTIONS

CollectionPlacesFamilyMattinsonFleetLocalityTongarraPlaceGreen Valleys

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Lothlorien Farmhouse