About this objectThe Plan of the Wellwood Estate is hand painted onto linen and rolled onto timber dowels with turned finials at each end. The plan illustrates the land contours, vegetation and creeks. A hut, cottage, bush inn, blacksmithing shop (on southeast side of road), Cassilis Paddock (10a 0r 20p), Cottage Paddock (5a 0r 20p), Horse Paddock (3a 0r 8p), Garden Paddock (3a 2r 44p) and Garden (1a 1r 6p) are also portrayed. The portion of land, 1195 acres was bounded by land owned by William Charles Wentworth Esq, Government Land, John Betts Esq. and William Lane Esq, all pioneers of the Orange district.
Between 1830 and 1855 the system to contract surveys by the Department of Lands was introduced which led to the introduction of surveys by licensed surveyors. This survey was designed and completed by Alexander Woodburn Meikle (1816-1880) in 1842. Meikle was a Sydney based Surveyor operating out of King Street, Sydney.
The land was originally granted as part of 9000 acres to Sir James Stirling (later the founder of Western Australia) in 1826, but never taken up by him. Andrew Kerr, who was a free Scottish immigrant in the colony since 1825 purchased the land in 1837. Kerr spent the remainder of his life at Wellwood, quietly, adding considerably to his estate. Kerr died at Wellwood, on 3 May 1866 aged 71. Successive Andrew Kerr’s have retained the heartland of Wellwood for 130 years.
Early plans and maps contained key topographical detail that was necessary to plan for transport routes and the siting of towns and villages. The Wellwood Farm Plan is of great interest to historians and to family descendants of the Kerr family. This map is of immense importance to the history of the settlement of Fredericks Valley and is a pivotal artefact in the colonial history of our district. The farm plan is of outstanding historic significance as a rare provenance artefact associated with the early Estates of Orange. A collection of images and ledger was given to the Orange Agricultural College in 1969 when Wellwood was considered as a possible site for the Orange Agricultural College. Rosedale Park was acquired as the site for the College where the collection remained for nearly 30 years.
