Description
Access to the property was not possible during the course of this study, but the tree is clearly visible from the street. This mature Blackbean (Castanospermum australe), also known as the Moreton Bay Chestnut, is a highly ornamental evergreen native rainforest species. It has been used extensively in private gardens and public parkland since the early nineteenth century. A mature flowering specimen growing in the Botanic Gardens was described in an article of the NSW Horticultural Magazine, and Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Calendar Volume I, 1864 (Horticultural Society of Sydney, p.41).
The Blackbean was often planted in association with other subtropical rainforest and exotic broadleaf species such as the native figs (Ficus spp.) and pines (Araucaria spp., Agathis sp. and Podocarpus sp.), Illawarra Flame Tree, Silky Oak, Crows Ash, Firewheel Tree and others. Although none of these elements exist on this site, these native rainforest and exotic broadleaf species are present throughout other local private gardens and public parkland as fragmented components of earlier planting schemes prior to subdivision (refer to 34A Billyard Avenue, 42 Billyard Avenue ‘Boomerang’, Beare Park, 93 Elizabeth Bay Road “Kincoppal” and Macleay Reserve in this Register). This particular tree remains a single dominant element in the southern garden apart from two tall columnar Cypresses (Cupressus sp.) located near the front boundary. It is believed that these Cypresses are later additions to the garden, possibly dating from the Inter-War period (c.1915-1940).
Significance
This mature Blackbean (Castanospermum australe) is a visually prominent element in this streetscape and is amongst the larger examples of this species in the City of Sydney LGA. This tree is comparable in size to some individual specimens in the Domain, Royal Botanic Gardens and Reg Bartley Oval (refer to listing in this Register). It is believed that this Blackbean and a number of other existing trees on neighbouring properties are garden remnants from the grounds of the Elizabeth Bay House estate and specifically the grounds of William John Macleay’s Linnean Society of NSW Hall built in 1885 (see ‘Boomerang’ – NSW State Heritage Inventory). The 1943 aerial photographs of the area illustrate this tree as a mature and substantial specimen and one of the only mature plantings on the property at that time. It has local significance as an individual specimen with aesthetic, historic and ecological values. ‘Berthong’ is scheduled in the City of Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012.
Historical notes
Berthong, built c1886, and formerly known as Macleay House and Beauregard, has historical and social significance for its association with a number of prominent Australian individuals or families and architects over a period of 120 years including the Macleays, the Alberts, the Murdochs and the architectural firm of Budden and Kent. The villa operated from c 1886 to c1900 as one of the many private Ladies colleges to be established in Sydney at this time. Berthong is a representative example of the type, style and standard of villa constructed on the waterfront allotments leased from the Macleay Estate during the second half of the nineteenth century. A number of these villas survive along the northern side of Billyard Ave to produce a distinctive pattern of large villa dwellings in garden allotments when seen from Elizabeth Bay.
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