Tempe House

This is a collage of Tempe House and I have made it from a book of Canadian topography maps.  The book of maps was from the Almaguin Highlands Secondary School library and was dated in the 1970s. This was my high school and I wonder if any of my friends used this book for geography projects. In case you are wondering I did buy this from the church bookshop in Powassan last summer.

If I were a bird I could fly to Tempe House in a minute or two, just over the hill and across the valley.   You can see it after crossing the Cooks River on the Princes Hwy just before the Wolli Creek development.   It sits overlooking the river and has been doing so since 1835. Tempe House was designed by  the colonial architect John Verge for  Alexander Brodie  Spark . It was Spark’s  rural retreat and he had a rococo bathing house close to the river as enjoyed swimming all year round.  He  had prize winning gardens , the plants were a mix of exotics and natives  as well as more than 154 fruit trees.  Spark had 250 acres  which of 10 acres were worked by  13 convict labourers.

 When entertaining he would have his visitors brought across the river by punt by his convict boatman Willie.  They would have enjoyed the lavish interiors of Tempe House with it’s marble fireplaces and parquet floors.

Unfortunately, Spark became bankrupt in 1843 but he continued to rent the villa until his death in 1856.  

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan bought 8 acres of the land including the villa and they conducted a laundry from 1880s until 1983.  It was staffed by woman from the country and those who needed care and rehabilitation.  They built a church many years ago and this, as well as the villa, have been restored.

I have known about Tempe House for many years but it wasn’t easily accessible until more recently.  A number of times I drove to the opposite side of the river, trying to get a glimpse of the house through the bush with no success.  Now you can walk around it and there are probably times it is open to the public.  When I was there last weekend I saw a couple getting married in the church and it was quite a romantic sight.  There are many modern apartment building  behind these structures but at least Tempe House and the church were restored and valued as an important part of local history.

If you live in Sydney, I recommend a look around this interesting landmark.

 

This is a painting of Tempe House by Samuel Elyard in 1836