LIFESTYLE: Defined by its generous proportions, traditional details providing a private Oasis for a relaxed family lifestyle.
. Fully Fenced (land size Approx 5100 m2)
. Versatile interior 12′ Ceilings
. Art Deco Lighting
. Fully Ducted Air Conditioning
. Slow Combustion Fireplace in Lounge
. Huge Character-filled Covered Veranda
. Seperate Guest Dwelling with Combustion Stove
. Spacious Grounds and Meandering Pathways
. Bore Water
. True Country Comforts

“TOWRIE” Mangrove Mountain
In 1915 Miss Grace Hull, her sister Claudia and their niece Bertha Margie had their home “Towrie” built on Mangrove Mountain. Grace had bought 1000 acres and it was here that their farming careers commenced by growing passion fruit, although it was some five years later before Grace was able to go and live there after winding up affairs connected with their Sydney life.

In moving into “Towrie” they travelled from Sydney by train, then to Mangrove Mountain by horse and sulky, then over sandy bush tracks. They had been wondering what to do with their lives when they retired from teaching in their private girls school, Linwood College, in Marrickville.

Throughout the years they did the major part of the work, employing very little outside help. Later they added another 40 acres of better land to their property, and introduced some fruit trees.

As Claudia said, “Some years the orchard kept us, and other years we kept the orchard”. During the second world war, when the American troops were in Australia, the orchard brought in the amazing sum of 1000 pounds.

Claudia’s talent for painting when a younger woman provided outstanding evidence of the inheritance of artistic ability. As a young girl before the age of twenty-five years she completed art studies under a French master, Lucin Henoi, at the Sydney Technical College. Examples of her work in the home on Mangrove Mountain were very lovely. One painting was of two horses at play, showing remarkably fine use of light and shade, and was from a statue of the horses cast in bronze. Her flower paintings were also of superb quality.

Grace founded the Mangrove Mountain Branch of the Country Women’s Association, holding office as President. Bertha was also a well loved member and they managed to get into town regularly enough during the war years to take their turn in assisting the Red Cross with refreshments for the soldiers passing through Gosford, and to help the C.W.A Rest Rooms.

Claudia and Bertha started the Mangrove Mountain Sunday School and they had regularly presented book prizes for both the local school and the Sunday School, and a comfortable tapestry covered chair at “Towrie” was a gift from the local children.

Before the road was completed to Wisemans Ferry, the orchardists had to take their fruit to Mangrove Creek for shipment to Sydney. In wet weather the road quickly became a quagmire and often horses and drays were bogged. Transport to and from Gosford was provided weekly by Chapman’s dray, drawn by six horses.

Grace, who had a way with wild creatures was sometimes attended by as many as seventeen kookaburras when in her garden at “Towrie”. These pioneer women loved the garden and often had vases of flowers wherever vases of flowers could be put in the living room.

Many native flowers were preserved and cultivated and one summer more than one hundred and eighty Rock Lillie’s burst into fragile, radiant bloom. Over the years they gradually brought into the area additional native species and overseas trees and flowers.

Bertha was an expert beekeeper. She had many beehives and her own bee house for extracting the honey, and she wrote regular articles for one of the Sydney papers. There was always a pot of home-produced honey on the dining table at mealtimes.