Gerald Terry Collection

fonds

1774-2014

Textual Records, Photographs, Graphic Materials, Architectural and Technical Drawings, Ephemera

9675379

20.88 metres of textual material (58 boxes and 14 outsize boxes)
4 albums (approximately 400 photographic prints)
1 photograph - ambrotype in red velvet lined case - visible image 10.5 x 8.5 cm
2 photographs - hand coloured miniatures in ivory case - visible images 5 x 4 cm
33 negatives - glass - 17 x 22 cm or smaller

Richard Rouse (1774-1852) was born in Oxfordshire, England to Richard Rouse and his wife Elizabeth, née Taylor. In 1796 he married Elizabeth Adams. He arrived in the colony in 1801 and by 1805 was Superintendent of Public Works and Convicts at Parramatta. In 1813 he began building Rouse Hill House in the Australian Georgian style off the Windsor Road at Rouse Hill. Rouse prospered and eventually owned the stations Guntawang and Biraganbil in the Mudgee district, and other NSW properties such as Ewenmar, Gillendoon and Cobborah. He died in 1852 leaving the Rouse Hill House to his son Edwin Rouse. The property went to Edwin’s son Edwin Stephen (E S) Rouse on his death in 1862. Edwin Stephen married Eliza Ann Buchanan (known as Bessie), the daughter of William Buchanan.

In 1894 Edwin Stephen's nephew, Dudley Batty, visited from England with his brother Aubrey and took photographs of the extended family at Guntawang, Baroona (Singleton) and Rouse Hill House.

Edwin Stephen and Bessie’s eldest daughter Nina Rouse Hill House in 1895 to marry George Terry. One of their five sons was Gerald Terry, who was born in 1904 at Box Hill House. He was educated at the Kings School, Parramatta, and later worked as a share farmer and jackeroo in Queensland. He returned to NSW in 1930. His parents, having both been bankrupted, were living at Rouse Hill House, home of Nina’s father and sister Kathleen. Edwin Stephen Rouse died in 1931 and in 1932 Gerald Terry agreed to manage the property. Edwin Stephen Rouse’s estate was administered by Trustees until 1969. Nina and George lived in the main house and Gerald and his wife, Peggy, moved into the workman’s cottage. Estate subdivision had begun in 1951 and the property had been reduced to 43 hectares by 1963. Nina Terry died at Rouse Hill House in 1968 and the following year the remaining 43 hectares were subdivided.

Four years after Nina’s death, Rouse Hill House passed to her two sons, Gerald and Roderick, as tenants in common. The property was resumed by the NSW Government in 1978, although Gerald was in residence until his death in 1999. Rouse Hill House is currently managed by Museums of History NSW as a museum which is open to the public.

References:
Library acquisition file
Thornton, Caroline. Rouse Hill House & the Rouses. North Sydney, N.S.W. : Caroline Thornton Publishing, 2015.
Lenehan, Marjorie. “Richard Rouse (1774–1852).” Australian Dictionary of Biography. Accessed 7 March 2024.
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rouse-richard-2612

By descent from Richard Rouse through successive generations of the Rouse family to Gerald Terry, son of Nina Rouse. The donor is the daughter of Gerald Terry.

SERIES 1
Rouse and extended family significant documents, journals, invoices and invitations

SERIES 2
Rouse and extended family correspondence

SERIES 3
Photographs of the Rouse family

SERIES 4
Dudley Batty glass plate negatives, predominantly of Guntawang, Baroona and Rouse Hill House

SERIES 5
Oral history interviews and audio of the play 'Counting Icebergs'

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder