Graham Lodge
Graham Lodge is a heritage-listed homestead in Nowra, a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1860 to 1861 by stonemason Charles Moore and carpenter Willet Burry. Later used as a function center and leagues club, it has been historically known as Greenhills, Warragee, Prague Lodge and later as the now-defunct Nowra Bomaderry Leagues Club. The property is owned by Shoalhaven City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 4 June 2004.
History
;Historical context for Graham LodgeAboriginal people are understood to have inhabited the Shoalhaven region for at least 21,000 years. Sue Wesson's atlas identified the language spoken by Aboriginal groups in the Shoalhaven as Tharawal, suggesting they would have identified with the Wodi Wodi people, who formed part of the Yuin linguistic group.
Europeans were slow to settle the Shoalhaven area because of sand and surf obstructing the opening of the river, first noted by George Bass in 1797. The first documented European visitors to the region were Lieutenant Kent and G. Evans, who anchored their boat at Jervis Bay in 1805 and walked to the Shoalhaven, some 30 kilometres to the south, where they found a small boat and used it to explore the river. From 1811 cedar-cutters began transporting wood from the Shoalhaven to Sydney by boat but encountered resistance from local Aboriginal people, on whom they were reported to have had "corrupting influence".
Several landholdings along the Shoalhaven were granted for agricultural and pastoral estates in the early nineteenth century. By 1822 when Alexander Berry settled as the first documented settler in the region, the cedar-cutters no longer frequented the area "as the natives either killed all the sawyers or forced them away". Berry left detailed notes about individual Aboriginal people he encountered and customs he observed, including comments on five clans associated with the lower Shoalhaven: the Shoalhaven, the Numba, the Broughton Creek, the Woregy and the Murroo. Berry estimated the population of these clans for the Census of 1834 at 150 people, however these numbers would have already been affected by disease and displacement. According to Goulding and Schell Berry's estate:
In 1843 William Graham's early home at Greenhills was noted as the only residence in the vicinity of present-day Nowra. By 1856 Greenhills supported five stores, at least three hotels, a butcher and slaughtering business, a post office, school, church and private burial ground. The government town of Nowra was surveyed in the 1850s but only became the main settlement in the area after 1870 when a series of floods encouraged a general shift away from the riverside settlements. The construction of a bridge across the Shoalhaven in 1881 brought the main road into the district near to the house, while urbanisation and economic expansion increased after 1893 with the establishment of a railway connection to Sydney terminating at Bomaderry, just over the bridge.
;Establishing Greenhills
In 1826, just four years after Berry, emancipated convict William Graham arrived in the Shoalhaven together with his wife Margaret and children Jane, William, John and James, and took up the unoccupied Butler's Grant of on the southern banks of the Shoalhaven, in a holding that became known as Greenhills. The following year Graham's two sons, William and James, took up John Layton's unoccupied land grant adjoining Butler's Grant, significantly expanding the Greenhills estate. The land adjoined Prosper de Mestre's small estate of Terara and Alexander Berry's huge estate of Jindyandy/Pyree. The 1828 NSW Census records William Graham living in the Illawarra, on land including that were cleared and cultivated; he had 50 head of cattle. His letter of 1829 to the colonial secretary Alexander McLeay explained:
To help clear and cultivate the land, some of the property was leased to tenant farmers brought out by Graham from Britain in 1841. Heritage Archaeology state that:
Several sources of information do suggest that Greenhills was a contact site between Europeans and Aboriginal people in the area. These sources include: archaeological evidence of flaked tools being found in the same or higher ground level as European implements, paintings depicting Aboriginal people camped in the Graham Lodge area, a contemporary historical account of Aboriginal people being employed and working on the property and historical accounts of Aboriginal people being present on the property. Although there are no entries in the Greenhills Account Book 1848–1854 indicating any transactions with Aboriginal people, Heritage Archaeology suggests that economic exchanges probably took place under barter agreements, possibly exchanging labour for sugar, tobacco, flour or blankets. On the other hand, there is documented evidence that the original grantee, emancipist William Graham, had abusive relationships with Aboriginal people before his time at Greenhills. Heritage Archaeology reports that the Colonial Secretary Index 1788–1825 for 5 June 1822 made several references to his earlier activities at Five Islands, Illawarra:
- "MURRAY, Aborigine; of Five Islands, Illawarra; Assisting William Graham to track Aborigines".
- 'CONTA CONTA, Aborigine of Five Islands, Illawarra, who was accused of stealing corn, and was maimed by William Graham.'
- 'NOLLOGER, Aborigine of Five Islands, Illawarra. Mentioned in the deposition of William Graham re charges against his father, William Graham, for maiming a black native. Graham severed the hand of an Aborigine who subsequently died.'
;Building Graham Lodge
The original grantee William Graham died at Greenhills in September 1852 and was buried in the family cemetery. After his father's death, James Graham took over the running of the estate and, as executor of his father's will, divided the estate between the family members. James retained the original 100 acre grant and house, and he and his wife Mary purchased more land at Greenhills and nearby. James and Mary had six children and it was soon apparent that the older house was too small for his growing family. James contracted Charles Moore, stonemason and bricklayer, and Willet Burrey, carpenter, of Nowra, to erect a new house on the estate. It was commenced in January 1860 and completed in May 1861. James was elected to the first Shoalhaven council in 1859 and became its first Mayor in 1860. Graham's powerful neighbours, the Berrys, had opposed the formation of this municipal government.
The 1997 Shoalhaven Heritage Study identified the majority of early buildings in the Shoalhaven district as being of vernacular idiom and form. The introduction of architectural concepts and design by recognised architects such as Thomas Rowe, John Horbury Hunt, Howard Joseland and Cyril Blacket began only in the 1870s with the construction of a number of churches by Horbury Hunt in Kangaroo Valley and Nowra. "Polite" residential design as opposed to vernacular design does not appear to have begun in recognisable form until the 1860s. The two storey veranda form of Graham Lodge would appear to be the earliest example in Shoalhaven. Similar two storey buildings with two storey verandas were soon erected nearby including Bundanon in 1866 and Boolgatta in 1870. Although modified and adapted Graham Lodge is a late example of the Victorian Georgian style with Regency influences. The use of slates in the roof was probably the earliest in Shoalhaven and reflects the aspiration to express quality and permanency in all parts of the building. This is also evident in the quality of the remnant internal cedar joinery, the design of the principle elevations, the use of the two storey veranda form and the massing and scale of the building.
James Graham died on 24 July 1867 aged 66 and was buried in the family cemetery. Following the death of his 16-year-old son John four months later, James Graham took over the running of the farm at Greenhills. He married Emily Ann Hewitt on 15 August 1871 and their seven children were born at Graham Lodge. The Graham family remained prominent in Nowra affairs until well into the twentieth century, and many descendants still live in the district. James died on 4 June 1927 and his second daughter Margaret Neridah took over the property. In October 1928 Graham farm was sold to John Thomas Bourne, a cousin of Madge's. Jack Bourne and his wife Maud took over the property in 1930 and moved into Graham Lodge with their five children. The property stayed in Bourne family ownership until 1960 when it was sold to a consortium of Greek business people led by Theo and Andrew Mavramattes, Helen Kastrios and George Simos, which subdivided the property. The Graham Lodge portion was sold to Ted Ashcrost who lived there for several years before selling to Mrs Mary Theresa Sherlock. Tess Sherlock turned the downstairs section of Graham Lodge into a function centre named Prague Lodge while she resided in the upstairs section of the home.
After its formation in 1968 the Nowra-Bomaderry Leagues Club began negotiating to take over Prague Lodge. The club leased and then in 1970 purchased the property, further extending the building and making radical alterations to its interior fabric. The Nowra-Bomaderry Leagues Club survived for twenty years before financial difficulties caused its closure in 1992. After a long period of disuse during which the building became derelict, the Shoalhaven City Council purchased the property in 1998 and began restoration and interpretation works.
A 2017 proposal by developers Asset Group Solutions would completely refurbish the building in a $500,000 upgrade associated with the Nowra Gateway multi-storey apartment development, after which time it would be returned to council.There are hopes that the building will once again be a Leagues Club, with the intention of supporting all Rugby League Clubs in the Shoalhaven Region