'Bulkira' 'Brigadoon' Epping

Details

DetailsIn August 1891 Henry Albert Brigg purchased 26 and a half acres of Crown land on the Field of Mars Common. On the highest part, later to be known as 'Brigg's Hill', Henry Brigg built his home 'Bulkira'.
The large grounds were developed as a small home farm, with a poultry yard, a dairy, and an orchard of mixed fruit. There Mr Brigg had seat built in the trees in the shape of boats, where children and grandchildren spent leisure hours.
After Henry Brigg sold the property in 1926, he and his wife moved to Bellevue Hill. Mrs Brigg died in 1931 and Henry lived with two of his daughters until his death in 1950 at the age of 102 years.

In 1926 Brigg sold the house to Irish farmer Mark Thompson, who renamed it 'Ulsterholme'. In 1929, his wife Elizabeth Mary Jane Hurst Thompson died, leaving Mark Thompson living in the property with his two children Mabel Adelaide Thompson (b 1910) and Mark Hurst Thompson (b 1912). He remained the owner occupier of the property until his death in 1949.
From 1950 until 1954, Mark Thompson’s daughter, Mabel Adelaide Thompson, a teacher from Strathfield was the owner of the property and the executer of Mark Thompson’s estate.
The property was then sold again in 1954 to Ethel Lacey, Adelaide Gibb and Violet Scott who became the new owners with a one third each. The house was renamed 'Brigadoon'. According to a member of the Scott family, her grandparents Ethel and Samuel Barningham Lacey (OBE), their daughters and son-in-laws, Adelaide and Donald Gibb and Violet and William Scott conducted extensive renovations to the house.
The subdivision of the land, including construction of Brigadoon Court was done by Mr & Mrs Gibb and Mr & Mrs Scott before selling the property in 1964.

Today the house is known as 'Araluen' and is the home of Achieve Australia.

An early image of 'Bulkira'supplied by A. O'Neill Last edited by: Karen R