HISTORY OF KEN AND HARRIET’S HOUSE:
At 1606 CHAMBERS FLAT RD ......
.... As at 1981 – 2009 = 28 years on .....
..... How to build a house for $A31,000.00 in 1981 and buy 5 acres of land for $A13,00.00 in 1977 ......
Where does House, Garden and Bush End?
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The First Photograph shows the interior of the house ... the stone wall of the living room, the bricks on the floor, the big beams, the glass windows looking into the bush, the red cedar timber doors, vertical timber walling and undressed cypress pine ceiling.
The Second Photograph shows the Amphitheatre in front of the house.
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HISTORY: 1977 to 2009
We live in a special house built largely of demolition timber and stone, built twenty seven years ago in 1981 for a fraction of the cost of a new house. Some of the stone is very old from the late 1800's. Australia as a whole was only settled after 1788. Compared other countries, the 1800's is very old to us. The house is on five acres of light open Australian bush which we bought very cheaply when we came out to our bush block in 1977 ..... four years earlier. We were way out thirty five kms. south of Brisbane then in the countryside. Now we are in the middle of everything .... not that we want to sell. Acreage land has become very valuable around us now.
We initially came here to Chambers Flat in 1977 after spending the first two years of our married life in a small rented cottage at Taringa, one of the suburbs of Brisbane for $A25.00 / week from some older friends. In those days, the area was still very much bush. We came to this bush block where wallabies grazed on the side of the road down around the corner. Across the road, was a 1000 acres of bush with no houses whatsoever. Trees crowded and overhung the narrow road which had been an early stock-route from Beaudesert to Waterford / Beenleigh in the late 1800’s. You could then buy 5-10 acres of land for about $10,000-$15,000.00. Land was out in the middle of nowhere, 35 kms. from Brisbane. Now in 2007 it is in the middle of everything with land being in great demand.
Right from the beginning, I had a dream to build a house that seemed as though it had grown up from the ground. We had an architect friend draw some initial plans. With more discussion, the plans were changed to accommodate demolition stone, beams and bricks which had been recently been acquired. The idea was to create a total concept where bush, house and garden flowed together. The architect submitted the plans to the Beaudesert Shire Council enabling us to live on the block whilst the house was being built. A builder was eventually contracted in 1981 to build the plans for $32,000.00, about 1/3 the price at the time with using demolition materials.
In 1977, we came out to live in a 27 foot Caravan and Annexe in the hot dry bush in the middle of a December drought. The van was like a sauna during the day. We had no power, water or telephone. The power was several kilometres down the road. Candles were all we had for lighting. We were fortunate to have friends across the creek in a small house. It was a welcome break to go over for a shower every night, a bit of black and white TV and social contact.
Unknowingly, I had always had an artistic, innovative creative side from my farming background. I could pictorially visualise things in detail long before they were constructed. That I understand is a special gift in life. I had grown up in the rainforest country of Wilson’s Creek, up in the mountains out from Mullumbimby, Northern New South Wales. This meant I had developed a special affinity to nature and the natural environment. My father had taught me by example, how to make things from the bare minimum of scrap, to turn unwanted scraps into useful items He had come through the Depression days of the 1930’s. This was recycling things long before recycling was a fashionable term. I had put this knowledge into good effect in the building of the future house. See the following posts as an overview of the house and garden.
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2 comments:
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Hi Ken, I am peter lawler with the boggo road gaol historical society and the government has just done a dig at the old gaol and we were wondering what had happened to the foundation stones? could you ask Neil to contact us and give us some background on the stones.
Peter Lawler
Dear Peter, thankyou for your comment. Neil is uncontactable now. He is living permanently in the Philipines. I bought 10 of the foundation stones 26 years ago and have 5 of them in two stone walls of the house and five in the outside ... stone seats in the amphitheatre. You are welcome to come and visit us and see the house and our use of the stones. Phone us on 3297 0069.
Regards, Ken Aitken