Note: The article below predates the Ku-ring-gai Council's removal of the bust and plinth from Heritage Square, Gordon, to make way for the planned development of St John's Avenue into an "eatery street". KMC proposes to install the bust and plinth at the front entry to the heritage Council Chambers on the Pacific Highway, the timetable for which there is no definite information at this point in time.
THE 'PHILLIP' BRICKS
A memorial to Captain Arthur Phillip, first “Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty’s Territory of New South Wales”, was recently erected in Pacific Highway, Gordon at what we now call “Heritage Square”. There are two plaques on that memorial, the major one of which acknowledges Phillip’s character and achievements. However, the object of this article is to draw attention to the second plaque. This refers to the bricks used in the base of the memorial, which were donated by Mr & Mrs G. Cottee of Pymble. These bricks come from the remains of Captain Phillip’s farmhouse at Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England. They were retrieved by Mr Geoff Cottee, who arranged for the bricks to be brought to Australia for use as a tangible memento of the founder of our European society here. His vision in creating such a plan and his energy in carrying it out deserve our appreciation.
The majority of the bricks were used in building the “Arthur Phillip Memorial Bower” in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. This bower, which looks out on the Phillip Memorial in the Gardens, consists of a brick wall enclosing a paved area. Two teak seats of “Cotswold” design are placed there to provide a quiet resting place. The wall has been reconstructed exactly as at Vernals Farm, Lyndhurst, using numbered face bricks and original backing bricks. The bower has a background of shrubs and adjacent to the wall, a young oak has been planted.
An acorn was taken from an old gnarled oak growing in the corner of what was once the “home garden” of Vernals Farm. This was germinated and carefully nurtured in the Royal Botanic Gardens nursery for three years and the resulting young oak has been planted. The new oak will thus provide a living link with Phillip.
On 28 January 1988, Sir James Rowland, Governor of New South Wales, formally opened the Memorial Bower and the following extract from the brochure used for that occasion explains Mr Cottee’s project in his own words:
…. It was during a visit to the United States in their Bicentennial year, 1976, that I began to wonder what would be the main focus of our own celebrations only 12 years hence. As the various plans began to unfold, I noted many and varied activities, but nothing specifically commemorating Captain Arthur Phillip, our Founding Father, a man whom I had long felt was a somewhat “forgotten hero” with regard to his achievements in establishing a settlement in Australia under what must have been soul-destroying conditions.
Recalling that what is known as “Captain Cook’s Cottage” was transported from Yorkshire and re-erected in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens in 1934, I decided, with a similar objective in mind, to set about trying to track down whatever might remain of the house which Phillip occupied during his years as a gentleman farmer, before his historic voyage to Australia.
Subsequent research established the location of Vernals Farm, in the New Forest, near Lyndhurst, Hampshire, but Phillip’s farmhouse no longer existed, having been demolished in the 1950s. This was indeed a disappointment, until an on-site visit revealed that portion of one corner of the original 17th century building had somehow miraculously escaped the demolishers’ hammers and still stood, shrouded in vines and moss, hidden by a high hedge, as if cocooned in its own time capsule, waiting for someone to come along and retrieve those fragmentary remains for posterity.
I am indeed humbled, and at the same time much gratified that it thus became possible for me to contribute to our nation’s “double century”. This Memorial Wall is made of the original 17th century bricks, numbered during dismantling and faithfully reconstructed in the same English Bond method and lime mortar as used by the original builders so long ago.
After building the Memorial Wall, Mr & Mrs Cottee found there was a modest supply of “Phillip bricks” remaining. These were used in selected memorials at various locations where an acknowledgement of Phillip’s activities formed part of a Bicentennial celebration; others were laid in 1991 at memorial at Governor Phillip Lookout at Beacon Hill.
Selected “Phillip” memorials can be found at:
Mr & Mrs Cottee are to be congratulated on the successful completion of their private Bicentennial Project and, particularly here in Ku-ring-gai, we should be aware of the Bicentennial contribution made by these Ku-ring-gai residents. It is appropriate to repeat the quotation used by Mr Cottee at the opening of the Arthur Phillip Memorial Bower. This illustrates a philosophy which has generated many imaginative Bicentennial activities:
Some men see things as they are and say WHY…..I dream of things that never were and say WHY NOT. - John F Kennedy
Recalling that what is known as “Captain Cook’s Cottage” was transported from Yorkshire and re-erected in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens in 1934, I decided, with a similar objective in mind, to set about trying to track down whatever might remain of the house which Phillip occupied during his years as a gentleman farmer, before his historic voyage to Australia.
Article: Journal courtesy of Ku-ring-gai Historical Society, The Historian, Volume 17 No 3, published in September 1988.
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/government---colonial/display/98900-captain-arthur-phillip-
Images from the internet.
© Arthur Phillip Chapter of Fellowship of First Fleeters 2023 -
THE 'PHILLIP' BRICKS
A memorial to Captain Arthur Phillip, first “Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty’s Territory of New South Wales”, was recently erected in Pacific Highway, Gordon at what we now call “Heritage Square”. There are two plaques on that memorial, the major one of which acknowledges Phillip’s character and achievements. However, the object of this article is to draw attention to the second plaque. This refers to the bricks used in the base of the memorial, which were donated by Mr & Mrs G. Cottee of Pymble. These bricks come from the remains of Captain Phillip’s farmhouse at Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England. They were retrieved by Mr Geoff Cottee, who arranged for the bricks to be brought to Australia for use as a tangible memento of the founder of our European society here. His vision in creating such a plan and his energy in carrying it out deserve our appreciation.
The majority of the bricks were used in building the “Arthur Phillip Memorial Bower” in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. This bower, which looks out on the Phillip Memorial in the Gardens, consists of a brick wall enclosing a paved area. Two teak seats of “Cotswold” design are placed there to provide a quiet resting place. The wall has been reconstructed exactly as at Vernals Farm, Lyndhurst, using numbered face bricks and original backing bricks. The bower has a background of shrubs and adjacent to the wall, a young oak has been planted.
An acorn was taken from an old gnarled oak growing in the corner of what was once the “home garden” of Vernals Farm. This was germinated and carefully nurtured in the Royal Botanic Gardens nursery for three years and the resulting young oak has been planted. The new oak will thus provide a living link with Phillip.
On 28 January 1988, Sir James Rowland, Governor of New South Wales, formally opened the Memorial Bower and the following extract from the brochure used for that occasion explains Mr Cottee’s project in his own words:
…. It was during a visit to the United States in their Bicentennial year, 1976, that I began to wonder what would be the main focus of our own celebrations only 12 years hence. As the various plans began to unfold, I noted many and varied activities, but nothing specifically commemorating Captain Arthur Phillip, our Founding Father, a man whom I had long felt was a somewhat “forgotten hero” with regard to his achievements in establishing a settlement in Australia under what must have been soul-destroying conditions.
Recalling that what is known as “Captain Cook’s Cottage” was transported from Yorkshire and re-erected in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens in 1934, I decided, with a similar objective in mind, to set about trying to track down whatever might remain of the house which Phillip occupied during his years as a gentleman farmer, before his historic voyage to Australia.
Subsequent research established the location of Vernals Farm, in the New Forest, near Lyndhurst, Hampshire, but Phillip’s farmhouse no longer existed, having been demolished in the 1950s. This was indeed a disappointment, until an on-site visit revealed that portion of one corner of the original 17th century building had somehow miraculously escaped the demolishers’ hammers and still stood, shrouded in vines and moss, hidden by a high hedge, as if cocooned in its own time capsule, waiting for someone to come along and retrieve those fragmentary remains for posterity.
I am indeed humbled, and at the same time much gratified that it thus became possible for me to contribute to our nation’s “double century”. This Memorial Wall is made of the original 17th century bricks, numbered during dismantling and faithfully reconstructed in the same English Bond method and lime mortar as used by the original builders so long ago.
After building the Memorial Wall, Mr & Mrs Cottee found there was a modest supply of “Phillip bricks” remaining. These were used in selected memorials at various locations where an acknowledgement of Phillip’s activities formed part of a Bicentennial celebration; others were laid in 1991 at memorial at Governor Phillip Lookout at Beacon Hill.
Selected “Phillip” memorials can be found at:
- Ku-ring-gai (Gordon)
- Hawkesbury Historical Museum, Windsor
- RAN Museum, Garden Island
- Parramatta
- Mosman
- Norfolk Island
- The Spit, Sydney
- Lyndhurst Public School, NSW
- Blayney Public Library
Mr & Mrs Cottee are to be congratulated on the successful completion of their private Bicentennial Project and, particularly here in Ku-ring-gai, we should be aware of the Bicentennial contribution made by these Ku-ring-gai residents. It is appropriate to repeat the quotation used by Mr Cottee at the opening of the Arthur Phillip Memorial Bower. This illustrates a philosophy which has generated many imaginative Bicentennial activities:
Some men see things as they are and say WHY…..I dream of things that never were and say WHY NOT. - John F Kennedy
Recalling that what is known as “Captain Cook’s Cottage” was transported from Yorkshire and re-erected in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens in 1934, I decided, with a similar objective in mind, to set about trying to track down whatever might remain of the house which Phillip occupied during his years as a gentleman farmer, before his historic voyage to Australia.
Article: Journal courtesy of Ku-ring-gai Historical Society, The Historian, Volume 17 No 3, published in September 1988.
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/government---colonial/display/98900-captain-arthur-phillip-
Images from the internet.
© Arthur Phillip Chapter of Fellowship of First Fleeters 2023 -