|
Shared note |
Mr I'Anson drew up the plans for the family home on Prospec
t Hill Farm. The home consisted of six large rooms, a large cellar and pantry, and a 66 foot long hall. The hollow walls were 12 feet high and 18 inches thick. Also there was a detached kitchen and dairy. Mr Nourse, a master builder, was brought up from Adelaide to erect the building. The stone was taken from a quarry on the property; a soft multi-coloured stone being used for the front walls. The natural markings in the stone took various shapes - a cross, a dome, spoons, boots, lakes, a heart, etc, can easily be picked out. In later years verandahs were added to the four sides, two stone rooms for the working men, a stone barn and sheds were among other improvements Mr I'Anson's hobby was carving, and when ill health forced him to lead a less active life, he gave much of his time to this work. two whale's teeth and two pieces of whale bone, relics of his whaling days, show delicate and quaint designs, carved and drawn by himself. All of his work was done without the aid of set squares, yet with crude and simple tools he executed a number of fine pieces of carving, using pictures and prints for models. The family have preserved these tools wrapped up as he left them.
The younger members of the family took great delight in bringing their father the materials he needed - the soft multi-coloured stone, grasses and moss to be used in some of the pieces he constructed. The finished works were put into glass cases, some of which contain: "The Ruins of Netley Abbey", "Charles Dicken's Estate", "Viscount Lewisham's Estate", a light-house, a case of deer, and another of two hounds and a horse, and a horse 12 inches high. The most ambitious piece being "The Unknown City", which was always a great delight to the grandchildren. The tiny lamp-posts in the streets, the glassed windows, and the quaint names and signs over the shop doors and windows |