54 Australian Country HOMES
This page: Steph and Charles have a deep
respect for the home’s history and any
alterations, including skylights and fresh
coats of paint, have been to lighten up the
interiors and make the house more liveable.- He was buried in the cemetery at St
James’ Church in Jericho.
His widow leased the farm, but
continued living in the homestead with
her family. In 1835 they had been joined by
the doctor’s 75-year-old father and several
other family members also emigrated to
the infant colony. Bowsden celebrated
its fi rst wedding when Alice Hudspeth
married William Patterson of Hunterston,
Bothwell in 1839. Yet another romantic
sidebar occurred in 1853 when John
Hudspeth junior and tenant farmer Richard
Harrison fell in love with the same woman,
Rosa Mills. For some obscure reason they
decided to have a horse race to decide who
should be the one to ask for her hand. John
won the race, but died soon afterwards
from an overdose of laudanum. Rosa
married Richard.
After yet another bushranger attack,
a bell was installed in the roof of the
homestead. “At some stage it was moved
to the coach house, which had been added
along with a barn [shearing shed] and a
sandstone cottage in the 1860s,” Steph says.
“The white horse weather vane is a more
recent addition, as it came from Inglewood,
the Burbury family farm, when Charles’
great-grandfather bought Bowsden.”
The Hudspeths’ 90-year tenure ended
in 1912 when it was sold to Erick Gallus. In
1928 Charles Burbury bought the property
and it passed fi rst to his son, Geoff rey, in
1948 and then to Charles. Steph says the
changes during their tenure have been
mainly cosmetic ... a coat or two of paint,
and some skylights to allow more light into
the interiors. “At one stage we knocked
down a wall in the kitchen and found the
original stove recess,” she recalls. “Work
in the garden is an ongoing project, and
always interesting as you never know what
you might dig up.”Apart from that, life at Bowsden is much
tamer than it was in the wild colonial
days. The Burburys still run sheep, though
have introduced Suff olks over the original
Merino herd in a move away from wool
production into meat. Steph and Charles
continue another tradition in that they
are stalwarts of the local church and
attend services where the Hudspeths
worshipped and are buried. “Most likely
we’ll end up there as well,” Steph says. “We
value our history and respect tradition.
After all, we’ve almost two centuries of
it at Bowsden, and that’s a long time by
Australian standards.” ACH