Tuncurry House (John Wright's House), Tuncurry, NSW - Built in 1887 - From a Painting by Clarrie C.

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'Tuncurry House', otherwise known as 'John Wright House', was built in 1887 and is the oldest surviving building in the Forster - Tuncurry area and one of the oldest in the Great Lakes Manning area, outside the former Australian Agricultural Company Estates.

Tuncurry House has, ever since it was built, until recent years, been the home of various members of the Wright Family. The last family members occupying the home were Sue and Brendon Gogarty. The current owners are the Bourke family who purchased the property in early 2000?

John Wright sold his one third share in a sawmill at Bungwahl in 1877 but he had actually settled on Forster's North Shore by 1975 after previously having searched up and down the coast to find the best location to build a shipyards and sawmill. He later named the North Shore Tuncurry, meaning 'Plenty of fish in the Biripi language.

By 1878 with the twin objectives of building a shipyards and sawmill achieved his wife Catherine, who had remained at Bungwahl looking after their children, finally joined him in Tuncurry.
With a growing family, eventually totaling 10 children, and while Catherine was living alone at Bungwahl, John and Catherine lost two of their children to diphtheria.
Such were the difficulties for pioneering settlers of the day.
While John had been forced to live apart from his wife Catherine for 3 years he had nevertheless worked hard to establish a home and future for his family while at the same time pioneering the establishment of the new and prosperous community of Tuncurry.

He became a patriarchal figure in the developing Tuncurry community as his shipyards went from strength to strength, building some of the largest and best wooden ships to ply the NSW coast at that time.
It was not till 1887 however that John Wright finally built a substantial family home, one which remains privately occupied as a family home to this day.

Historic Tuncurry House, shown in this painting, is an appealing 19th century style home that is not replicated anywhere in the Mid Coast Council area today. Similar homes in Taree were gradually lost to progress over the years.
The home retains an interesting verandah and exterior detailing and interior fittings, most still in highly original condition while continuing to be of significant research importance of these aspects of its style and construction.

Tuncurry House is of single storey splayed weatherboard construction with a steep pitched roof and three impressive attic rooms and windows above. The roof while now of corrugated iron construction was originally shingled.
Timber valence or frieze to the front verandah with chamfered posts, decorative brackets and picket railing give the building an interesting and appealing appearance.
The rear verandah is now enclosed but the home has original doors and windows on the front along with original internal lining board walls.

Tuncurry House originally stood on the Tuncurry waterfront at 18 Manning St, across the road from the former site of John Wright's shipyards and sawmill.
After John's death in 1910 his son Ernest took control of the Tuncurry Shipyards and Sawmill business while Ernest's older brother Sydney Garden Wright managed the Avalon grazing and sawmilling side of John Wright's businesses. With the arrival of steel ships and the railway to Taree in 1912 construction of wooden ships progressively became less and less viable and John Wright's Tuncurry shipyards and Sawmill were finally closed down in 1958, by this time with Ernest's son John Wright Junior at the helm.

The land on which the shipyards stood had been under a 99-year lease and a condition of the lease was that the land be returned to its original state. This was done by Bruce Wright, a former owner of Wright's shop along with the help of many others. Once the land had been cleared of buildings, wharves and the sawmill in 1966 the land was returned to the crown and officially designated as John Wright Park.

Tuncurry House, in its original location, was located just a few doors from the existing Community of Christ Church which was financed by John Wright prior to his death in 1910 and built in the same year by Ernest Wright. The church was on land just a few doors from Ernest Wright's own home Tokelau House which was built in 1909. The stylish old home is still in existence today and is now a luxury Air B&B.

Originally, Tuncurry House was located next door to Wright's shop, but after the shop was demolished in 1881 it was moved on the 2nd February 1982 to 143 South Street Tuncurry, to land owned by descendants of Ernest Wright. This move was necessary to make way for a new high-rise residential development which was built across both the original shop and house sites.

The new setting for John Wright's old home was then, and remains today, idyllic, also being very private, located in the midst of a cabbage palm and flooded gum forest.
The home and land on which it stands was sold out of the Wright family in the early 2000's and remains a private home to this day.

In October 2019, as a result of the rampaging Minimbah Bushfire, Tuncurry House came within a whisker of being totally destroyed. Only excellent preparation and availability of critical firefighting resources saved the home from destruction. My own very elderly parents who lived just two doors from John Wright House were evacuated as fire tore along the back of houses backing onto Eden Close. Miraculously no homes or lives were lost.

John Wright - Summary
Known to the indigenous people as "Big Boss First Fella"
Birthdate : May 21, 1835
Birthplace : Nether Dallachy, Parish of Bellie, County Banff, Aberdeenshire, AB45, Scotland (United Kingdom)
Death : May 28, 1910 (Age 75) Tuncurry, Great Lakes, NSW, Australia (Heart Attack while chopping wood.)
Place of Burial : Tuncurry, NSW, Australia
Family : Husband of Catherine Wright
Father of Marian Mayfield McLaren; Sidney Garden Wright; John A Wright; Alice Catherine Wright; Edwin Wright , Ernest Wright and 6 others
Occupation : Businessman, Shipbuilder/Shipwright, Sawmiller, General Carpenter, Farmer/Grazier.

This painting remains in the Wright family and has been photographed and displayed here with permission of the owner, Don Wright.

www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDe...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126481194

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Taken in: Australia / New South Wales / Tuncurry (show map)

Taken on: October 28, 2020

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