ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0456 Melrose Valley Farm Papers

Melrose Valley, 174 Old Tuggeranong Road, Tuggeranong, once known as Dunn's Flat (1891 Census) and The Springs, was originally occupied by Andrew J. Cunningham. The introduction of the Crowns Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) by the then premier John Robertson, enabled free selection of crown land and took away limitations of land sale in certain counties. Several selections were made on the what is now Melrose Valley. They were taken up by Andrew Cunningham, John Owens, John Mulqueeny and John Brennan.

In 1938, under the soldier settlement scheme, the present day Melrose Valley (Block 35 Lanyon) was leased by Doctor Faulkner Andrew Ormiston, a dentist from Sydney, and his wife Varlerie Bruce Ormiston, where they built the existing Connecticut-style double-storey homestead. The Ormiston family named the property 'Melrose Valley'.The property was taken over by their son Adrian (Faulkner Adrian Andrew Ormiston), shortly before enlisting in World War II. Adrian died on active service aged 22, when his plane crashed at Norwich England, in 1944. Faulkner and his wife then moved to Mittagong selling the property to Doctor John Wear Burton,  former Secretary of the Department of External Affairs and the youngest person to ever head a Commonwealth Department. He was 32 when he was appointed. After an attempt to run as a Labor candidate in the 1951 federal election, in which he was defeated by William McMahon for the seat of Lowe, Burton turned his focus to farming at Melrose Valley. He did this for the next few years while also writing his first book, The Alternative.

Public Servant, David Denholm Shaw and his wife Tekla Shaw bought the Tuggeranong property from Burton. Unfortunately David was one eleven passengers and four crew members killed a plane crash in 1961. Tekla and their son moved on from the farm a couple of years later, with Doctor Sydney Ralph Reader and his family taking over the lease in 1963. 

Ralph and his wife Hazel used the property for commercial farming, running sheep and cattle. Both Ralph and Hazel were heavily involved in the ACT arts scene. Hazel was a music committee convenor of the ACT Division of the Arts Council of Australia, could play the guitar and was a concert pianist with a mezzo soprano voice. Both Ralph and Hazel penned their thoughts as they saw fit by contributing on a number of occasions to the 'Letters to the Editor' in The Canberra Times. In one such instance, Hazel pointed out the lack of reference to the women who attended Robert Menzies' funeral in 1978  stating "I'm sure that I speak for the wives of Australia in saying we would like our tributes of admiration and affection noted alongside those of our men" (The Canberra Times, 04/06/1978, p. 2).

Ralph established the first department of Renal Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1957 and was the first medical director of the National Heart Foundation of Australia in 1961. It was during this period with the National Heart foundation that Ralph conducted the ground breaking Australian National Blood Pressure Study (1973-1979). He was instrumental in establishing the triple '0' emergency line, helped establish the Canberra School of Music and was president of the ACT Division of the Arts Council.

Harold John Parker Adams and Marion Kay Adams (nee Maidment) purchased Melrose Valley Farm in 1983 from Ralph's family. 

After a career in the navy, Harold spent his retirement participating in many ACT community groups, including the Rural Lesees’ Association, where he was President for many years; Legacy; Returned and Services League (RSL) of Australia, ACT Branch; Maritime Studies Centre where he was an editor for the Australian Maritime Digest; Friends of St John’s Reid; Friends of Grasslands (FOG) and Regular Defence Force Welfare Association (RDFWA). 

Marion and Harold made many improvements to the existing buildings and gardens. A new wind break planted of native species with the assistance of Landcare and other community groups led to Marion and Harold winning an ACT Landcare award.

The property was mainly used as a hobby farm and and mostly worked by Marion until her death aged 57 in 1996. In the 1980s, Marion spent a few years running a herd of Tukidale sheep. This New Zealand breed of sheep produced fast growing strong fibres suitable for carpets. They were perfect for the Japanese tourist demonstrations run by Marion with the Murray’s coach/tourist company.  

The farm hosted a number of open days as part of the Open Garden Scheme and regular visits to the farm were also made by local community groups for school children, bird watchers and university study/research projects.

Harold developed a friendship with a local Aboriginal man named Eddie. He and Eddie fastidiously walked the entire property and identified remnant trees with aboriginal markings and a site in which aboriginal tools were made.

The main farm challenge was the 'Millenium Drought' (1995-2006). Large old trees died, the type of grass feed gradually altered and the spring which supplied the main farm house since it was built failed. Stocking rates were reduced to a small flock of ewes which had to be hand-fed. The stand of rare and endangered trees planted by Harold were nearly wiped-out. Harold also observed that the population of small birds decreased significantly. 

When Harold died in 2007, aged 74, the farm was managed by his two children, Sarah Renwick (nee Adams) and Charles Adams. They focused on pasture improvement after the long drought. The soil needed work and due to a heavy weed load most of the paddocks were not able to be used for grazing. A program of weed control and pasture sowing was took place from 2008-2012. Once the new pasture established, the re-introduction of cattle started, some 50-80 Angus/Limousin.

In 2013, when Melrose Valley Farm had been in the Adams family for 30 years, the farm sold.

This collection is mainly concerned with the period when the Adams family owned the property. It contains photographs, farm history papers, regeneration plans and works, as well as maps of the region.

Bibliography:

• Renwick, Sarah, 'Farm story', 2016
• 'Burton, John Wear (1915–2010)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/burton-john-wear-15790
• Williams, Karen,'Part 2: Melrose Valley preliminary historical archaeological survey report' Melrose Valley report. 2003-2004. http://canberracamps.webs.com/aboriginal/Melrose%20Valley%20report%20PART%202[1]%20p27-64.pdf
• Mellor, Lise Reader, Sydney Ralph. Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive, University of Sydney, 2008 https://sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Reader,_Sydney_Ralph
• ACT Memorial ORMISTON, Faulkner Adrian Andrew, ACT Memorial. http://www.memorial.act.gov.au/person.php?id=87
• 1978 'Wives were there, too', The Canberra Times, 4 June, p. 2
• 1963 'Widow Issues Writ Against Airline Co.', The Age, 31 May, p. 9