Sunday, June 7, 2026

House of Mary Putland / Frogmore / Werrington Park – Werrington – NSW

House of Mary Putland / Frogmore / Werrington Park – Werrington – NSW

Frogmore grant 1806 (Mary Putland) · Mid-19th-c. farmstead fabric much altered · Williams “Werrington Park” 1930s · Standing — Western Sydney University (Frogmore / Chancellery)

The Women’s Weekly walked Alan Williams’s hilltop garden in 1951 and heard an unbroken Bligh-daughter legend: built 1806, Mary’s portrait over the fireplace, secret cellar door. Land was Mary Putland’s Frogmore grant — but the house fabric is a debated mid-century farmstead raised into Georgian Revival splendour by Williams and later Cobden Parkes, not a verified 1806 governor’s-daughter mansion. This scrapbook keeps the AWW gold, prints the scholarly dispute in plain sight, and never confuses Frogmore with Lethbridge’s Werrington House.

At a glance

  • Names: Frogmore (grant / university); Werrington Park (Williams from 1935); live/AWW “House of Mary Putland”
  • Location: Great Western Highway / Werrington North — now Western Sydney University campus; house used as Chancellery / administration (WSU / Find & Connect)
  • Traditional Custodians: Dharug country (Penrith LGA acknowledgement — verify preferred local wording)
  • Grant: 1 January 1806 — 600 acres Frogmore to Mary Putland (daughter of Governor William Bligh) by Governor Philip Gidley King (Macquarie Archive / Penrith land-grants table)
  • Marriage: Widowed Lieut. John Putland (d. Jan 1808); marries Lieut-Col. Maurice O’Connell 8 May 1810; further grant Coallee 1,055 acres adjoining (WSU / Penrith)
  • Early built form: Houses on site from about 1830; O’Connells often absentee; relationship of standing fabric to any Putland/O’Connell house disputed (WSU; Find & Connect “some conjecture”)
  • Williams era: Iron merchant Alan Williams from 1935; names Werrington Park; C.D. Leake second storey 1938 (Liston & Jack via WSU)
  • Institutional: NSW Child Welfare Werrington Park boys’ home from 1954; closed by 1988; Cobham Children’s Court/remand on estate corner 1978 (Find & Connect)
  • University: Site into University of Western Sydney / Western Sydney University; house restored and referred to as Frogmore House
  • Heritage: Locally recognised / planning documents call Frogmore House heritage-listed (Penrith LEP context; Planning Portal Werrington precinct) — confirm Schedule 5 item number at publish
  • ≠ Werrington House (King–Lethbridge, completed 1832) — different grant and family (Penrith Library)
  • Fate / current use: Standing — university heritage house / Chancellery precinct (check campus access rules)

Site & setting

Hilltop above the South Creek / Blue Mountains view cone described in AWW — “magnificent landscaped hilltop setting” in Penrith conservation language (WSU quotation). The romance of Bligh’s daughter on the grant has always outrun the archaeology of the walls. Across the district, Governor King’s daughter Mary (King) Lethbridge’s Werrington House is the other gubernatorial-daughter homestead — keep the disambiguation in every caption.

Timeline

  • 1 Jan 1806 – Frogmore 600 acres granted to Mary Putland (King).
  • 1808 – Lieut. John Putland dies; Mary remains central to Bligh household through the Rum Rebellion aftermath (biographical context — keep light).
  • 8 May 1810 – Mary marries Maurice O’Connell; additional Coallee grant; Macquarie party visits Frogmore on 1810 tour (WSU).
  • c.1830–40 – House(s) on site; Maurice Charles O’Connell & Eliza resident for a time from c.1840 (WSU).
  • 1850s – Mortgaged estate sold and subdivided (WSU).
  • 1919–35 – Caroline Sutherland reunites portions; interim uses (vineyard / racing / golf / aerodrome claims — WSU; treat as reported variety).
  • 1935 – Alan Williams purchases; names Werrington Park.
  • 1938+ – C.D. Leake second storey and expansions (WSU).
  • 27 Jun 1951 – Australian Women’s Weekly feature (live post source) — Williams restoration narrative; 1806 build claim.
  • 1954 – Child Welfare Department Werrington Park home opens (Find & Connect).
  • 1950s – Cobden Parkes / Government Architect Georgian Revival institutional alterations (WSU).
  • 1978 – Cobham Children’s Court and remand centre on estate corner.
  • By 1988 – Welfare home closed; university era begins; house restored as Frogmore / Chancellery.
  • Today – Frogmore House on WSU Werrington North; precinct subject to ongoing planning (Planning Portal).

Architecture

AWW 1951 inventory (period voice): pillared entrance porch; panelled front door to small dining room; brass owner-plate; two reception rooms; long ballroom with tallow-wood floor and circular balconies; upper floor five bedrooms; Jacobean four-posters in Williams furnishing; mahogany/rosewood pieces; convict-made cedar cabinet claimed; Mary Putland painting above fireplace with secret cellar door panel. Treat furnishings and the 1806 continuous-occupation story as 1951 presentation, not proof of 1806 fabric.

WSU / Penrith: mid-19th-century farmstead much altered; 1938 second storey; 1950s Georgian Revival institutional layer (Parkes). Strength is setting and layered history, not untouched colonial interiors.

People

Mary Putland / Lady O’Connell — Bligh’s daughter; Frogmore grantee; hostess of early colonial politics; absentee landholder for long stretches. Maurice O’Connell — military/political career; co-manager of pastoral holdings. Alan & Laura Williams — 1930s–50s restorers who coined Werrington Park and staged the house the Weekly photographed. Cobden Parkes — Government Architect of the welfare-era Georgian Revival campaign (including playful “GR” rainheads — WSU anecdote).

Gallery

Transcription (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1951 (year as given in the post; exact date and page not shown) — photo captions)

GENERAL VIEW of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Williams' historic home at Werrington, N.S.W. Of Georgian design, the house was built in 1806 by Mary Putland, daughter of Governor Bligh. Within 12 months of the death of her husband, Lieutenant Putland, Mary married Sir Maurice O'Connell.

MRS. ALAN WILLIAMS pauses on the old circular brick walk to admire the beauty of her petunias. More than 3000 roses bloom along the drive and in the five-acre garden surrounding the home. Mr. and Mrs. Williams' aim in life is to restore and keep Werrington Park in its original state of splendor.


Transcription (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1951 (year as given in the post; exact date and page not shown) — photo captions)

MR. ALAN WILLIAMS and a friend survey the countryside and the tiny town of Werrington, which boasts about thirty-seven houses, including the home once owned by Governor King. From this miniature balcony can be seen on clear days Barrenjoey Lighthouse and the entrance to the Hawkesbury River.

OLD-FASHIONED PILLARED ENTRANCE porch and verandah. Panelled front door leads into small dining-room. The brass plate on left wall bears the names of owners since the death of Mary Putland.


Transcription (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1951 (year as given in the post; exact date and page not shown))

Photo caption: GLIMPSE of one of the superb four-poster Jacobean beds with its lovely Jacobean-design quilted spread. There are five bedrooms on the upper floor which are very spacious and lead on to balconies.

Historic homestead

One hundred and forty-five years ago, Mary Putland (later Lady O'Connell), favorite daughter of Governor Bligh, was given a 300-acre land grant at Werrington, N.S.W.—just beyond Parramatta. There, on top of a hill, her house was built and named Werrington Park. To-day, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Williams own the house. They have furnished it with grace, and so it stands—a serene link with a stirring past.

Photo caption: WESTERN END of first reception room. The sideboard is mahogany. The solid rosewood table stands majestically in the centre. At left, the door opens into the second reception room.


Transcription (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1951 (year as given in the post; exact date and page not shown) — photo captions)

THE LONG BALLROOM with its mellow, polished tallow-wood floor has been the scene of many glittering assemblages. Glorious mountain views can be seen from the circular balconies opening off ballroom.

SECOND RECEPTION ROOM houses lovely old pieces, including the cedar cabinet (left) made by convicts. On the shelves are historical treasures. A massive wall-mirror reflects the richly toned furnishings.

ANOTHER VIEW of the resplendent reception rooms, showing the windows overlooking the undulating countryside and a door to the garden. Here, in the early years of the Colony, Governor Bligh and his aides often forgathered.


Transcription (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1951 (year as given in the post; exact date and page not shown) — photo caption)

THIS PAINTING OF MARY PUTLAND, first owner of Werrington Park, hangs above the beautifully proportioned fireplace as it did one hundred and forty years ago. The panel at the extreme right of fireplace forms a secret door leading to the cellar. The fender-stool and fire-irons are treasured antiques.

What stands today

Frogmore House stands on the Western Sydney University Werrington North campus — a heritage-managed university building, not a ticketed Bligh museum. Public access follows campus rules. Always disambiguate from Werrington House (Lethbridge).

Sources & further reading

Related

  • Other gubernatorial / early colonial grants west of Parramatta — search labels
  • Do not merge with posts on Werrington House (King–Lethbridge) without a clear “different house” banner
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