The Homestead, Chipping Norton, Heritage homestead in Chipping Norton, Australia.
The Homestead is a preserved house in Chipping Norton featuring architectural elements from the late Victorian period and construction methods from the 1880s. The property stands on Charlton Avenue and contains several structures that demonstrate nineteenth-century building techniques and materials.
William Alexander Long, born in Sydney in 1839, bought the former Rowley and Johnston grants in 1884 and named the property after the Oxfordshire village where he had lived. The house was built between 1884 and 1893, and the 1890s recession forced him to mortgage the whole estate by 1899. After Long died in 1915, the New South Wales government bought the estate and subdivided it into farming blocks for soldiers returning from World War I.
The name Chipping Norton was chosen by William Alexander Long after the Oxfordshire village where he had lived. The property is also known as Chipping Norton Homestead. A timber wishing well with a shingled gable roof and windlass stood over the brick cistern until it was recorded and removed in 1992.
The Homestead has stood vacant since its restaurant lease expired in 1998, so it is not open to visitors and can only be seen from outside. It sits on Charlton Avenue within a public recreation reserve beside the Georges River, managed by Liverpool City Council as trust manager. A picket fence runs along the northern boundary.
The estate was subdivided by the government during World War I as part of a settlement program for returning soldiers. This makes it an important example of how the Australian government distributed land to veterans after the war.
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