Dalwood House, House museum in Singleton Council, Australia
Dalwood House is a homestead in the Hunter Valley that preserves the layout and design of early colonial settlement. The building shows how living spaces, work areas, and storage rooms were arranged to support both family life and farm operations.
David Maziere acquired a 2,000-acre crown grant in 1823 and called it Anandale Estate. After insolvency, George Wyndham bought it for £1,200 in January 1828 and renamed it Dalwood after a wooded part of Dinton Estate. Construction began in 1829 with convict-quarried stone, and the first two roofs were occupied in February 1830. It joined the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The name Dalwood comes from a wooded part of the Dinton Estate in England, the Wyndham family's home. George Wyndham's diary of 1830–1840 records his first wine-making attempts, including vine cuttings from James Busby in 1830 and from Captain Wright in 1832. The house later became a museum within the former Wyndham Estate winery grounds.
Dalwood House stands on Dalwood Road at Branxton, within the grounds of the former Wyndham Estate winery, now Dalwood Estate. The homestead is a house museum, so access is tied to the estate's opening arrangements; confirm days and times before travelling. The site lies in the Hunter region of New South Wales, north-west of Newcastle.
The flat roof was split slabs over timber beams, covered with about 150 mm of earth and a 40 mm layer of tar, sand, lime and blood. Analysis found a one-to-three lime-sand mix topped with bitumen or coal tar, meant to waterproof the house; it failed and a pitched roof was added around 1838.
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