On December 1, the Club was most fortunate to have a fascinating speaker, Chris Banffy, who professionally is a ranger looking after The Blue Mountains National Park. However, Chris is also an ardent historian and archivist whose passion is to preserve dwellings of an immense historical interest.
In particular, there is an original “drop slab” hut built by William Maxwell. As a point of reference, William Maxwell was the son of two transported Irish convicts. Williams’s father, Thomas Maxwell was charged with counterfeiting and transported in 1823. Williams’s mother, Elizabeth Osbourne, transported 1831 for stealing woollen yarn.Three generations of the Maxwell family lived and farmed the Kedumba Valley from 1860 – 1992. During this period of Maxwell family occupation, they constructed five timber slab huts and a number of utility buildings. Only one of these huts, built in 1925, is still standing.
Just for the record, Kedumba Valley lies in the heart of the Upper Blue Mountains, some 80 kilometres from the centre of Sydney. The valley lies about seven kilometres south of Wentworth Falls and now occupies a northern part of the immediate catchment area for Warragamba Dam and Lake Burragorang, the principal water supply for Sydney. Although Kedumba is very close to Wentworth Falls as the kookaburra flies, it lies far below the town.
The hut was completed in 1925, but expanded from four to six rooms, with a cooking fireplace and new verandahs, which took place in 1926. The addition of rooms was understandable given that Maxwell had 11 children. Chris pointed out that no nails were used in the construction as all joints were “dove tailed.” This type of construction is commonly referred to as “bush carpentry.”
In summary, Chris said that the remarkable absence of nails, the integration of the floor and ceiling within the overall conception, the use of vertical wall slabs as the framework for the door and windows, the attention to stability and protection against decay, all combined to make the Kedumba hut a rare example of bush carpentry which is well documented. It is remarkable that the hut still stands despite the poverty and isolation of the Maxwell family.
For a birds-eye view, have a look at the https://youtu.be/FBFHroNqYRM