Nil Desperandum - sketches

Nil Desperandum c.1870s (Canberra Country p19)

This farmhouse in the foothills near Tidbinbilla was built in the 1870s for the manager of the Tidbinbilla station.  An earlier cottage on the site was occupied by Henry French Gillman, a local bard of some eccentricity, who waged his own belated war against the district's squatters during the after affects of the Free Selection Act.

The hevy stones on the kitchen's roof imply winter can be quite strong, as does the nearby timber snow traps, which prevent snow drifting into the porch and against the doors.

The pise (earthen) walls of the kitchen does not wear its whitewash well, particularly when it crumbles around the windows.