page_title: Old Government Cottages Group, Bathurst
section_title: Old Government Cottages Group
hierarchical_section_title: Old Government Cottages Group, Bathurst / History / Old Government Cottages Group
caption_attribution_description: English: Heritage-listed cottages in en:Bathurst, New South Wales in late winter, 2018
context_page_description: The Old Government Cottages Group consists of two heritage-listed houses at 16 Stanley Street and 1 George Street, Bathurst, Bathurst Region, New South Wales, Australia. The group was built from 1837 to 1860. The buildings are also known as 'Old Government House', Macquarie House, Miss Falloon's cottage and John Ford's house. The property is owned by Bathurst Regional Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 February 2003.
context_section_description: The land on which this building group stands, on the corner of George and Stanley streets, originally surveyed as Lot 6, was set aside as a government reserve until it was sold to James William Bligh, a solicitor in 1847. The purchase price for Lot 6 was £10, while its neighbour Lot 7 was £7.
  Bligh, who lived in Bathurst from 1841 to 1851, was presumably a speculator in land. It is supposed that an existing dwelling may have existed then on this site, and part of that building has come to be popularly known as "Government cottage", having been built on Government land while it was still in their control. (i.e. pre 1847). However, there is no direct evidence to support this proposition. No building is shown on this site on a Government Survey of 1833, which did show all other "government buildings" of the time. The purchase price of £7 does not indicate an "improvement" of any consequence on the land. However one old brick at No. 1 George Street embedded into the wall is dated "AD 1827", and this may relate to some earlier structure, or the construction of the cottage, or both.
  James William Bligh however probably did not build on the land but sold it on to Miss Falloon, who had been living in the Government House at this time. She ran a small home school at the time. She may have built or improved the cottage known as No 16 Stanley St. She then sold the property to Mr John Ford in 1857. Mr. John Ford of Kelso, "a banker and coach proprietor", who had a run of coaches, was possibly also the same John Ford who owned a steam flour mill in Kelso in 1851.
  John Ford built the two storied house in 1859/60, probably with the cottage at the rear serving as kitchen and servants quarters. By 1862 he was registered as a resident in that area of Bathurst.
  In 1875 the 2 storied house was owned by John Gardiner, and then sold to John Ford junior in 1883-84. From 1884 to 1887 Macquarie House (as it was then known), served as one of the ladies colleges of Bathurst.
  Bathurst High School started operating in 1884 first only as a boys school, and then as a boys and girls section from 1885, but by 1887 it was forced to close due to lack of students. This may have been because of rival schools including the "Pixie Ladies College", in Upper William Street under the direction of Miss Keyes, and this establishment of Macquarie House for Young Ladies under the direction of Mrs. Mackenzie.
  John Ford Junior died in 1890 and is buried at Kelso cemetery. The house then passed to Alfred Gordon Thomson, who died 6 July 1908, who left it to his heir Minna Augusta Thompson who sold to Charles William Griffin of Granville for £720.
  At this stage the description of the house containing thirteen rooms clearly indicates that the "old government cottage" formed part of the premises.
  On 20 April 1918 the local Bathurst paper has an advertisement for a property. This advert appears to refer to No 1 George Street and 16 Stanley street, which described it as a 'fine two storied brick residence, with verandahs and balcony, built at the rear of "old Government House" and with "a 99 foot frontage to George Street, and opposite the Ordinance Ground" advertised "on account J.B.Richards". (What was meant by "at the rear of Govt house" is not entirely clear, but the actual Govt house is shown on the 1833 surveys as east of this site and would probably have addressed itself to the East, leaving this house 'at the rear').
  In 1964 No 1 George Street was bought by the Bathurst City Council and given to the Bathurst Historical Society. It was stated in an article by Mrs J. Rutherford in the Bathurst Historical Society's 1968 Annual Magazine that No 1 George St then 'consisted of two parts: the two storey section still known today as No.1 George St, and the single storeyed wing behind being described as "the only remaining building authorised by Governor Macquarie".
  In 1972 with Dr. Brookmore at the head of the Historical Society, major restoration was undertaken at the cottage by builders from Penrith and furnishing of the cottage in "period" style.
  A number of subdivisions 
caption: The cottages that may have faced Stanley Street, Bathurst.
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