Government House

 

Government House during the Second Settlement was the physical strategic and political centrepiece of Kingston. Its sheer size compared to other domestic dwellings of the civil and military emphasised its dominance.

The Government House complex built high on Dove's Plot at the back of Chimney Hill was so positioned to create a deliberate visual impression. Its proportions solid and simple Georgian features and fortress like attributes served to remind the convicts of ever-watchful authority.

Dove's Plot was first occupied by the stone cottage built in 1796 for the settlement's Assistant Surgeon Thomas Jamieson.

The first Government House was built on the rise behind the pier at Kingston in 1788 just six weeks after Port Jackson was settled. It was of simple pine construction lasted three or four years and was replaced by a two storied stone building. The foundations of both theses structures are located beneath the Surgeon's Quarters and are visible today.

By November 1802 the second Government House was in such a poor state that the Commandant of that time Major Joseph Foveaux ordered the construction of a new Government House.

When Mrs Eliza Kent wife of Lieutenant William Kent visited Norfolk Island in HMS Buffalo in 1803 she recorded her impressions of the new Government House:

"It will be a large and substantial house pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence commanding a view of the town of Sydney Turtle Bay and the Nepean and Phillip Islands".

The new building the Island's third Government House was described by Foveaux:

"An extreme length there of 94 feet breadth there of 42 feet height of walls 14 feet containing 8 rooms and a cellar partition walls of stoner with a double roof with an additional wing for a kitchen extreme length of 28 feet breadth 23 feet walls there of as before".

The dimensions of this structure are exactly those of the present and fourth Government House. The foundations and footings of the house are evidently those built during the First Settlement placing Government House in the very early rankings of Australian colonial architecture. When the First Settlement was abandoned in 1814 all buildings were ordered to be destroyed including the Third Government House.

Government House was at its zenith between 1825 and 1855. During this period it was built extended and maintained by an army of convicts. However by 1855 the urgency of penal reform had been recognised the majority of convicts had been shipped to Van Diemen's Land and the Governor of New South Wales once again became Governor of Norfolk Island.