Historic Sydney Mansions, Manors, Villas & Houses : Bonnyrigg House – 19–21 Cartwright Street – Bonnyrigg

Built 1826 · Alexander Kinghorne (site/engineer) / possibly Francis Greenway [design attribution disputed] · Builder Thomas Moore · Standing

On a low rise in Bonnyrigg Heights, hemmed in now by townhouses and the lawns of Homestead Park, stands a plain two-storey brick house that has watched almost the whole story of western Sydney unfold. Bonnyrigg House was built in 1826 as the master's residence of the colony's Male Orphan School – and in October 2026, as it turned 200, the NSW Government announced it would keep it in public hands and restore it.

At a glance

Address: 19–21 Cartwright Street, Bonnyrigg (Bonnyrigg Heights) NSW 2177 – City of Fairfield
Built: 1826 (tenders called July 1826)
Architect: disputed – civil engineer Alexander Kinghorne or Colonial Architect Francis Greenway [historians have not settled this; research is underway]
Builder: Thomas Moore
Style: Colonial Georgian, sandstock brick, two storeys with cellars
Original occupant: the Master of the Male Orphan School (first master William Walker)
Heritage: NSW State Heritage Register no. 00281 (listed 2 April 1999); Fairfield LEP item I00281
Fate: Standing – government owned; passed in at auction in October 2025, withdrawn from sale, and now slated for restoration (announced 22 October 2026)

Site & setting

The house sits on higher ground at the western side of a roughly 2,500 m² allotment, the land sloping gently away to the east across open lawn. In its working life it looked out over bushland, paddocks, terraced vineyards and later market gardens. Today it is ringed by suburban housing, though it is thought to be the oldest standing building in the City of Fairfield.

Timeline

1804 – Governor King grants 12,300 acres at Cabramatta to the Female Orphan School to provide it with income.
1823 – Governor Brisbane rededicates the lapsed grant to its original purpose; Commissioner Bigge had urged a farm school for boys there.
Early 1824 – The Male Orphan School leaves George Street, Sydney, for the "New Farm" near Liverpool.
1825 – James Busby, appointed farm manager, plants a vineyard and teaches the boys viticulture.
April 1826 – The Church and Schools Corporation takes over and a new site is chosen at Bull's Hill, about 1¼ miles from Liverpool, selected by engineer Alexander Kinghorne.
June–July 1826 – Work begins; tenders are called for the Master's Residence and dormitories.
1831 – Wine from the Orphan School estate is exported and favourably noticed in England.
1848 – Last building works at the orphanage.
March 1850 – The school closes and the boys move to Parramatta; the buildings fall into disrepair.
Late 1870s–1880s – The estate is subdivided; William Simpson (Stimson) buys a large section and his family later occupies the house.
c.1914 – Single-storey front addition and a two-storey weatherboard rear extension with verandah.
1977 – Heritage Council of NSW funds an archaeological survey of the orphanage site.
2 April 1999 – Listed on the State Heritage Register.
2003 – Large mature bunya pines near the house removed.
25 October 2025 – Offered at auction by the Department of Planning; passed in and later withdrawn.
22 October 2026 – Government commits to retain and restore the house in its bicentenary year.

Architecture & interiors

The original 1826 core is the two-storey sandstock brick block, with a hipped iron roof laid over the old timber shingles, double-hung sash windows under sandstone lintels, and cellars below. Several blind (false) windows sit centrally on the upper floor [their purpose is uncertain – the heritage listing suggests a possible link to the magistrates who met upstairs]. Inside are painted cedar joinery and a cedar staircase. The original main entrance was probably on the western side. A single-storey wing added after 1827 was replaced late in the 19th century by the present two-storey weatherboard section; the rendered brick and fibro front addition is of the 20th century [sources date the additions variously c.1914–16].

People & anecdotes

The masters – William Walker was the first; the Rev. Robert Cartwright served four years; Lieutenant Richard Sadlier RN held the post until the school closed.
A courthouse upstairs – The upper floor doubled as a court house for the local magistrates' meetings.
James Busby – Often called the prophet of Australian wine, Busby taught the orphan boys to grow grapes and sank bores near the house in search of water. The boys also worked paddocks of cotton.
The Simpsons – William Simpson became the largest landowner in the Fairfield district, ran steam sawmills, and his sons grew grapes and market produce along Orphan School Creek.

Gallery

Bonnyrigg House. Image: NSW State Heritage Register via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

What stands today

Only the house survives of the orphanage complex, which once included dormitories, school rooms, a hospital, bakehouse, stables and more. Archaeologists have identified a bore (probably Busby's), a raised mound that may mark the school building, brick paths and paving, brick clamps and scattered artefacts. Restoration now underway aims to return the house more closely to its colonial form, while vegetation clearing has opened the site for archaeological and landscape investigation.

Sources & further reading

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Sunday, October 25, 2026

Bonnyrigg House – 19–21 Cartwright Street – Bonnyrigg – NSW