Bramshaw House, Pennant Hills Road, Parramatta

Parramatta: Bramshaw House, Oatlands | Campbell (Verge) / Broughton House 1838-9 | Oatlands House 1833-40+ | UFO encounter, Parramatta, 1868 |

Michael Organ and Graham Shirley

Bramshaw House (Mary Francis Troup Home), with orphans and supervisor, circa 1930s.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Bramshaw (Troup) / Garfield Barwick School
3. Chronology
4. Construction date 
5. Photographs 2026 
6. The Day Family
7. References

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1. Introduction

Since at least 2022, the site of the former Royal Institute for the Deaf and Blind School building on the corner of Gollan Avenue and Pennant Hills Road, Oatlands, Parramatta, has been closed to facilitate redevelopment. Though it substantially looks like a modern building complex, those buildings fronting Pennant Hills Road features a section of what appears to be a nineteenth century homestead. This ‘heritage’-style portion of the building was first noticed by Graham Shirley during April 2022. The 1930s era photograph at the head of this article confirmed his suspicion that the ‘homestead’ portion of the building was much older than recent times, perhaps dating to the turn of the century.

Bramshaw, 106 Pennant Hills Rd., Oatlands, April 2022. Photo: Graham Shirley.

At the time of Shirley's discovery in 2022, he thought it to be either a genuine 19th century building or a faux-heritage frontage built at the same time as the remainder of the complex. However, he noticed that the front section convincingly presented as a heritage structure when compared to the larger modern brick annex attached to its southern side. The present article outlines a possible history of the building which, as of 26 July 2025, was identified by the authors as Bramshaw, thereby confirming heritage aspects which likely date back to the late 1880s or possibly even before that.

Burnside Presbyterian orphanage and educational complex, aerial view circa 1930s. Bramshaw House is located at the far left, on Pennant Hills Road, Parramatta.

Milton Kent aerial view of Parramatta before 1950, State Library of New South Wales. Below - Bramshaw House, right of centre, and expanded below.

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2. Bramshaw House (Troup) / Garfield Barwick School

The single story building located at the front of the complex at 106 Pennant Hills Rd., Oatlands, was early in its history known as Bramshaw. Its three distinctive large chimneys which feature in old and new photographs enabled a relatively easy identification. The original Bramshaw, plus later additions, were described by the architect Gregory Nolan, as follows:

A colonial stuccoed brick structure with a hipped terra cotta tiled roof and features a galvanized iron veranda around the front. The house was originally only one room deep, with a service room or kitchen at the rear. The floors are timber, the walls are cement rendered and the ceilings are plaster. It also features French doors to the living rooms. The 1933 renovation, including the kitchen, dining rooms and dormitories are brick additions to the original home. They have a hipped roof of terra cotta tiles, windows are casement with brick sills. Floors are timber except to the bathroom and ceilings are AC sheeting. …. Several major and minor brick extensions have been added to extend the dormitory wing. (‘Find & Connect: History & Information about Australian Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Other Institutions’ website, 2025)

The earliest known reference to this building as Bramshaw dates back to an 1890 newspaper advertisement in which the owner-occupiers – Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cooper Day - were seeking a young girl to nurse their two children. After passing through a number of hands - most notably Robert and Ethel Gracey between 1895-1910 - Bramshaw was purchased from the estate of their daughter Mabel Ethel Gracey on 8 December 1932 by Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes and converted from a residence and farm into an orphanage cottage home for about 25 kindergarten-age children. The site, which came to be known from 1933 as Troup, deriving its name from the Mary Francis Troup Home, was opened in October of that year. The ceremony was performed by Sir Isaac Isaacs, Australian Governor-General. Its history from then until almost a century later when it no longer served that use was a colourful one.

During the years of World War II, the Mary Francis Troup Home, along with the other Burnside orphan homes for children, was evacuated. The Find & Connect website - a government initiative providing information on orphanages, children's homes and related institutions, recorded the following information on the Troup site:

January 1942: During World War II, the children were evacuated to the Blue Mountains and the Second General Army occupied the whole of the Burnside Homes, and Gowan Brae used Troup as an Officers Mess. The children returned in January 1945.

During 1968-1970 babies and toddlers, aged birth to three years, were the focus, with an annex added to the original Bramshaw cottage, turning the newly combined house and annex into the Babies and Toddlers Centre. This closed in 1976. The site was eventually sold by the Presbyterian church’s Burnside group during 1988, and in 1989 it re-opened as the Garfield Barwick School. This was now operated by the Royal Institution for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC), who continued to do so through to the early 2020s and its eventual closure. The following April 2022 photograph by Graham Shirley highlight the condition of the site in that year, the house being overgrown and in some instances boarded up.

Bramshaw House, April 2022. Photo: Graham Shirley.

A search by the authors has not found any registration of the building as a local, state or federal heritage item. Prior to any detailed heritage study of Bramshaw it is proving difficult to precisely date its original construction, and the extent of its subsequent modifications and extensions. Though the earliest reference to the building is the aforementioned newspaper article from 1890, this does not mean it was necessarily built around this time. It is possible it was built earlier (e.g. the 1880s) and could also have existed under another name before coming into the hands of the Days.

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3. Bramshaw House chronology

This chronology comprises known references to Bramshaw House and its occupants. It supplements the References listing which follows. During this period the ownership of the house was as follows:

• late 1880s - early 1895 : Mr and Mrs Mark Cooper and Blanche Day.
• 1895 - December 1932 : Mr and Mrs Gracey and their heirs.
• December 1932 - 10 June 1988: Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes.
• 10 June 1988 - 2019 : Royal Institution for Deaf and Blind Children.
• 2019 - Present : Private developer.

Dates

* 1791, 22 February - Grant of 50 acres given to William Parr on land which later included the Bramshaw House site. 

* 1831, 19 October - Grant of 120 acres to John and Thomas Hackett on land which later included the Bramshaw House site. Known as John Hackett's Orange Grove.

* 1860, 9 April: Marriages. On the 9th April, 1860, at Sydney, by the Rev. J. Fullerton, LL.D., Thomas P. Dale, Esq., of Maitland, to Mary Ann, second daughter of Mr. Hackett, of Orange Grove, near Parramatta. (Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 1862).

* 1879, 15 September: Death of John Hackett, at his residence, Orange Grove, Pennant Hills Road, Parramatta, in his 77th year. (Sydney Mail, 17 September 1879).

* late 1880s (?) - Bramshaw House built.

* 1890, 18 January - The Cumberland Mercury - Advertisement for a young girl to nurse two children for Mrs. M.C. Day, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills Rd., near Parramatta.

* 1890, 22 February – The Cumberland Mercury - ‘A Thorough Gen. Servant wanted; small family; others kept; refs, indispensable. Mrs. M.C. Day, Pennant Hills-road’.

* 1891, 11 February – The Cumberland Mercury - “Tenders are invited for Additions to Private Residence, Pennant Hills-road, Parramatta. For further particulars, apply to M.C. Day, Architect, Norwich Chambers, Hunter-street, Sydney.”

* 1891, 30 May - The Cumberland Mercury - Cow for sale at Bramshaw, Parramatta. Comment: It is possible that a livestock owner paid the Days an agistment fee allowing the owner to graze cattle on the Bramshaw property.

* 1891, 7 November - The Cumberland Mercury:

Wanted: A Respectable Young Girl, as General Servant, in small family; country girl preferred. Apply, personally or by letter. Mrs. M.C. Day, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills Rd.

* 1892, 13 August – The Cumberland Mercury - “Cow for Sale, perfectly sound; 6 quarts daily. M.C. Day, Pennant Hills-road, near Cottage Homes.”

* 1892, 27 August - Sydney Morning Herald. Unclear if this story refers to the Bramshaw Estate.

In Bankruptcy - (Before the Registrar, Mr. Arthur Henry.) Examination of Witness under Section 30. Re T.S. Richardson, Mr. W.H. Pigott appeared on behalf of the official assignee. .....

Mr. Piggott: You knew about the alleged sale of the Bramshaw estate. Did you know that the whole thing was a bogus sale?

Witness: Certainly not. Richardson came to me, and said he had sold it for the amount in the books....

* 1893, 21 January, 4 February - The Cumberland Mercury, Parramatta. For sale advertisement, providing a summary description of the house as it is offered for sale on 10 February.

Auction Sale, 4 February 1893, The Cumberland Mercury.

*1893, 25 February – The Cumberland Mercury – “To Let or For Sale, ‘Bramshaw’, Pennant Hills road, property of M.C. Day. Suitable terms to good tenant.”

* 1893, 9 August - The Cumberland Mercury.

A Superior Young Girl Wanted, as General Help. No Washing. Comfortable Home. Mrs. Day, "Bramshaw," Pennant Hill.

* 1894, 14 April - The Cumberland Mercury and Parramatta Gazette.

Important Sale of Furniture - On Wednesday next, Mr. A.H. Ferris will dispose of the superior household furniture and effects belonging to Mr. M.C. Day, "Bramshaw," Pennant Hill-road.

* 1894, 5 May - The Cumberland Mercury.

A RESPECTABLE Little GIRL wanted, to make herself generally useful. Mrs. DAY, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills-road.

* 1894, 6 October - The Cumberland Mercury.

To BE LET, "Bramshaw," Pennant Hills Road, 8 rooms, every convenience, splendid situation; bus passes gates. Inspect Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

* 1894, 10 November - The Cumberland Mercury, Parramatta.

* 1894, 11 November - The Cumberland Argus, Parramatta. Notice of auction sale:

A.H. Ferris has received from M. C. Day, Esq., who has leased his premises, 'Bramshaw,' to sell by Public Auction on FRIDAY NEXT, 16th NOV., at 11 a.m., the balance of Household Furniture & Effects without the slightest reserve.

* 1895, 9 February - Evening News, Sydney.

Property Sales. Hardie and Gorman report having sold the following properties ...... Carlingford, Pennant Hills road, Bramshaw, gent's residence and 5a of land, at satisfactory cash price.

* 1895, 27 April - J.R. Mason, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills Road, is a signatory to a counter petition against annexation of a certain area of land in the Parramatta municipality.

* Circa 1895 - Mr. and Mrs. Gracey purchase Bramshaw as a retirement residence.

* 1899, 2 December - The Cumberland Argus.

To Let, 'Guyscliffe,' Pennant Hills road, opposite 'Gowan Brae,' lately occupied by Capt. Lee 13 acres land and brick villa, 7 rooms and offices. Gas stove, etc., gardens, lawn, tennis court, coach house and stable, every convenience, Rent, £75 per yr. Keys at 'Bramshaw' next door, or at Mr Mobbs' office. Apply to Raine and Horne, Sydney, or G.H. Mobbs, Parramatta.

* 1908, Saturday, 30 May - The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrower's Advocate, Parramatta reports:

A Broken Leg.

Mr. Gracey, of 'Bramshaw, Pennant Hills-road, met with a rather singular accident last week. He was strolling on his lawn, after tea, and accidentally slipped down a terrace which slopes steeply, to the tennis ground. Mr. Gracey sustained a fracture of both bones of the left leg, below the knee. Dr. Kearney put the broken limb in splints, and the patient is progressing satisfactorily, but he will probably be confined to his bed for some weeks.

* 1910, 19 December - Daily Telegraph, Sydney.

Gracey, 16 December, at her residence, Bramshaw, Pennant-hills road, Parramatta, Mary, beloved wife of Robert Gracey, aged 70 years.

Gracey, December 18, at his residence, Bramshaw, Pennant-hills road, Parramatta, Robert Gracey, heart failure, beloved father of Misses A. and M. Gracey, aged 76 years.

* 1910 - the Bramshaw House site comprised 5 acres (rate book). 

* 1910, 17 December - Funeral of Mary Gracey of Bramshaw.

* 1910, 22 December - Goulburn Evening Penny Post. Report on the death of former residents of Bramshaw:

Death of Mr. and Mrs. Gracey.

The death of Mr. and Mrs. Gracey, which occurred within two days of each other, will come as a shock to their many Goulburn and district friends. Mrs. Gracey, who was 70 years of age, and had been ailing for some time, passed away at her residence "Bramshaw," Parramatta, on Friday last, the 16th, and was interred in the Church of England Cemetery, Rookwood, an Saturday; and Mr Gracey, who suffered from heart disease, succumbed from shock on Sunday, and was buried beside his wife on Monday. Deceased was 76 years of age. They leave a family of one son and two daughters, and it is probable that the latter will shortly leave Australia to take up their residence in Ireland, the birthplace of their parents. Widespread sympathy has been extended to the lonely girls, thus suddenly bereft of parents.

It will be remembered that the late Mr. Gracey was a member of the police force, honoured and respected by all who knew him. Among other places he had been stationed at were Taralga, Collector, and Bungonia, from which last-named place he retired about fifteen years ago to take up his abode at the pretty residence which he had purchased, and which he occupied until his death. Many were the startling and exciting adventures he had with bushrangers. On one occasion he narrowly escaped being shot, the bullet passing through his cap. He was at Louth and Bourke during the strike, and also acted during the maritime strike in Sydney. He had an eventful career and could tell many exciting episodes.

* 1911, 7 January - Sydney Morning Herald.

Return Thanks .... The Misses A.M. and M.E. Gracey, Bramshaw, Parramatta, desire to return THANKS to their kind friends for letters, cards of sympathy, and floral tributes in their recent bereavement.

* 1911, 17 June - The first Presbyterian Burnside Orphan Home is opened in a cottage on Pennant Hills Road, Parramatta (west of modern-day Glencoe Avenue and Pennant Hills Road, Oatlands). The site operates until 1955. It extended west towards Bramshaw.

Bramshaw circled in red; Burnside orphan homes to the west. Google Maps 26 July 2025.

* 1911 - the Bramshaw House site comprised 5 acres (rate book).  

* 1914, 10 March - The Sun, Sydney; 28 March - The Methodist, Sydney.

Death.

RABONE — March 9, 1914, at his residence, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills Road, Parramatta, Alfred James, beloved husband of Evelyn C., and third son of the late Rev. W. T. Rabone and Mrs. Rabone, of Telopea, Mosman, aged 32 years. Funeral will leave his residence at 9 a.m. Wednesday for the Methodist Cemetery, Rookwood.

* 1914, 28 March, The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Parramatta.

Amongst the deaths of the week was that of Mr. Alfred James Rabone, of "Bramshaw," Pennant Hills road, Carlingford. Mr. Rabone was a young man - only 32 years of age. He was the third son of the late Rev. W.T. Rabone, of "Telopea," Mosman. The deceased was the manager of the Brickworks at Flemington, and his funeral was attended by large bodies of men, officers and workmen from the establishment. On Mr. Rabone's coffin were laid a number of lovely wreaths. The funeral service was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Crosby, assisted by the Ven. Dr. Sellors, an old life friend of the deceased's revered father. Messrs. Wm. Metcalfe and Co. had charge of the arrangements in connection with the funeral.

Alfred Rabone had married Christina McMaster at Bandella, NSW on 7 December 1904. Between 1905 and 1909 they were to have three children. In 1907 the family was living in Dungog, and the following year Alfred applied for a lease of 2,500 acres near Goulburn. By 1913, the electoral roll listed Alfred and Christina Rabone as living at Pennant Hills Road, North Parramatta. At that time, Alfred was described as a ‘manager’, and Christina was undertaking ‘domestic duties’. On 2 April 1914, the Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative reported that Alfred had had an operation to have an abscess removed from the liver, but death ensued on the third day after. It is likely that for their North Parramatta accommodation, Alfred and Christina had rented part of the Bramshaw house from the Gracey sisters.

* 1929 - Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes receives a bequest of £3,500 to purchase a property.

* 9 September 1932 - Sydney Morning Herald:

Gracey - September 7, 1932, at her residence, Bramshaw, Pennant Hills-road, Mabel Ethel Gracey, youngest daughter of the late Robert and Mary Gracey. (Privately interred September 8, 1932).

* 1932, 8 December - The Bramshaw residence at Pennant Hills Road, North Parramatta, is purchased by Burnside for £1,550.

* 1933, 5 October - Bramshaw is opened as the Mary Francis Troup Home by His Excellency the Governor General Sir Isaac Isaacs as a home for kindergarten children.

* 1942-45 - Children are evacuated from Troup during World War II, following Pearl Harbour and the entry of Japan into the war. It is subsequently used as an Officer's Mess.

* 1945 - The children return to Troup.

* 1968-1970 - Troup becomes a home for babies and toddlers aged birth to three years, with an annex called the Babies’ and Toddlers’ Centre.

* 1988, 10 June - Troup is sold by Burnside to the RIDBC for $625,000.

* 1989 - RIDBC introduces a range of innovative early childhood and school support programs, and the Garfield Barwick School at North Parramatta is officially opened by NSW Premier, Nick Greiner. The school provides a spoken language program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

* 2012 - Troup is the Garfield Barwick Special School, run by the Royal Institute for the Deaf and Blind Children. The north-eastern section of its property is occupied by a children's playground.

* 2019 - Troup is closed and the site sold. The site is fenced and shut down, subject to planning for redevelopment.

* 2024 - Development Application goes through Council approval process.

* 2025 - Redevelopment of the site begins.

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4. Construction date?

The earliest reference found for Bramshaw is a newspaper advertisement dated 18 January 1890. This would in all likelihood indicate that the house was built prior to that date, perhaps in the late 1880s. Was it relatively new when the advertisement was placed for a girl to mind the Day family children, or much older? A possible hint is provided by Pomona House (illustrated on the right) at 333 Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills. It was built in the High Victorian style for the Palings family during 1886 and features a single storey floor plan and distinctive tall chimneys similar to Bramshaw. The nearby Cheddington, built in 1894, is more expansive and its windows are distinctive of that era. However, it too has the tallish chimneys. In addition, the simpler window surrounds of Bramshaw point to an earlier colonial period. The 1893 auction sale notice describes the Bramshaw house and property as follows:

Pretty cottage residence ... containing dining-room, drawing-room, studies, and three bedrooms and man's room, kitchen, bath, etc., spacious verandah at back (commanding magnificent views), land 5 1/2 acres, tennis lawn, fruit and vegetable gardens etc., abundance of good water, gas on premises.

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5. Bramshaw House 2026

The following photographs were taken by Graham Shirley on 3 & 17 January 2026. They show the major alterations to the internal fabric of the building as part of the restoration / reconstruction.

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6. The Day Family

Between possibly 1886 and 1894, Bramshaw’s owner was one of Sydney’s best-known architects - Mark Cooper Day (1856-1933), who advertised as M.C. Day. Born in Croydon, Surrey, England, to Mark Cooper Day and Caroline Day nee Harman, he trained as an architect under John Berney in Croydon. Day then began practicing in Surrey as an independent architect before emigrating to Australia in 1880. Three years later, he became the business partner of the prominent Sydney architect Henry Austin Wilshire (1860-1923) in the firm Wilshire & Day. From 1886, their office was at Norwich Chambers, a picturesque building completed that year on the corner of Hunter and Bligh Streets, in Sydney's central business district. In 1855 Day married Blanche Evelyn Montagu, daughter of Henry Neville Wortley Montagu and Theodora Montagu. In that same year, and for his father-in-law Henry Montagu, Day designed Montagu Chambers, a new building for the corner of Sydney’s Hunter and Elizabeth Streets (street address 2 to 6 Elizabeth). Before its construction, the Sydney Morning Herald of 26 February 1885 announced:

A public want of long standing is about to be supplied by the erection of a commodious and handsome building on the vacant piece of ground at the corner of Hunter and Elizabeth streets. This spot has hitherto been an eyesore, and the numerous tram passengers who met their trams at this point have long complained of the want of proper conveniences. We understand that Mr. H.N. Montagu has leased the ground from the Railway Department, and has commenced the erection of a block of buildings, to cost about £2600. The structure will include a large tram waiting-room, neatly fitted with seats and counter for the purchase of tram tickets and refreshments. There will be a ventilated verandah 12 feet wide on the outside, affording additional shelter. The buildings will also contain four first-class shops and several spacious and well-lit offices upstairs, with private entrances. The waiting-room will be closed at night with an ornamental cast-iron gate. Mr. M.C. Day, of George-street, is the architect, and Mr. Laurence Frost, of Camperdown, is the contractor. When finished, the building will be an ornament to its neighbourhood, and the accommodation it offers will doubtless be much appreciated.

Also writing about the impending Montagu Chambers on 26 February 1885, Sydney’s Evening News added that M.C. Day was “already very favourably known by some elegant buildings erected under his supervision”. The construction of Montagu Chambers was completed on schedule in July 1885, and on 14 August the Sydney Morning Herald published:

Applications for Shops and Offices in the new premises, Montagu-chambers, Tram Waiting-rooms, corner of Elizabeth and Hunter Streets.

Almost fifty years later, on 31 July 1933, Milton Kent photographed Montagu Chambers for the Sydney City Council’s demolition books.

Milton Kent, Montagu Chambers, 2-14 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, 31 July 1933. Note tram to the right.

In the Daily Telegraph on 18 August 1934, sketch artist Gayfield Shaw featured the building under the heading ‘Vanishing Sydney’ – “Montagu Chambers … another Sydney landmark, has disappeared – vanished in the night”. This followed public controversy over the extent to which the chambers had become a “danger to pedestrians” due to Elizabeth Street’s increasing traffic congestion (Traffic Congestion, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 January 1934).

Two years after his design of Montagu Chambers, Day designed Orient Chambers on the diagonally opposite corner to that of the Montagu building. Orient Chambers, whose address was given as 96 Hunter Street, was on the corner of what today is occupied by the heritage-listed Qantas House at the intersection of Phillip, Hunter and Elizabeth Streets.

Milton Kent, Orient Chambers, Hunter Street, Sydney, 19 October 1937.

Orient Chambers was built for reasons similar to those that had led to the construction of Montagu Chambers. The Sydney Morning Herald of 30 March 1887 reported:

For many years past the queer-shaped piece of ground next to Mrs. Kirby’s [funeral business], fronted by the irregular curve which joints Hunter-street to Phillip-street, has been a great eyesore to the residents in the neighbourhood, as well as to passers by, having long been a kind of recognised receptacle for all kinds of rubbish – animal, vegetable and mineral. Some time ago this site, valuable on account of its position, passed into the hands of Mr. W.H. Traill, who instructed Mr. M.C. Day, architect, to prepare the necessary drawings for its conversion into suitable business premises, and Mr. T. Wickland was the builder employed.

The article went on to observe:

The site is, perhaps, the most awkwardly shaped in Sydney for making a successful disposition of the available space. It is true that the frontage to the street has a bold sweep of 80 feet, but there is not a single right angle on the plot; and on plan the site looks exactly like a slice cut off haphazard from a large flat “bias” used by skittle-players. To turn this curious piece of landed property to profitable account demanded much care and ingenuity from the architect. The plan and construction of the roof were also unusually complicated by the numerous angles and re-entering angles, and the consequent difficulty of getting the hips and ridges into practicable positions, and there is certainly not another such roof in this city. The architect has, however, surmounted all obstacles of construction and site. The building is divided into five bays, the style being a picturesque treatment in pressed brick, with blue mortar joints and coloured cement dressings (the only instance, it is believed, of this kind of work in Sydney) of the French variety of renaissance.

In 1938, Orient Chambers was demolished to make way for an extension of Elizabeth Street.

While M.C. Day was known for the buildings he designed for Sydney’s CBD, he also designed or modified buildings further afield in places such as Parramatta, Katoomba, Guildford and Narrabri in New South Wales, and Charters Towers and Townsville in Queensland. Two of the Queensland buildings he designed have survived and are registered on the Australian Heritage Database. They are the Stock Exchange Arcade (originally called Royal Arcade) built in 1889 in Mosman Street, Charters Towers, and the North Queensland Insurance Building, built in 1890 in Flinders Street, Townsville. The Charters Towers Herald and Mining Record wrote on 19 February 1889:

The Royal Arcade erected in Mosman-street for Mr. Alexander Malcolm is now completed, and is without exception the most imposing building (in) Charters Towers; in fact for general style and finish it would do credit to any of the southern cities, and when the shops are all let and furnished with the various wares their owners may have for disposal, the effect especially at night when the building his lighted, will be extremely brilliant.

One of Day’s biggest and most spectacular projects was the ornate mansion Gowan Brae, a central feature of shipowner and philanthropist James Burns’ Gowan Brae estate at North Parramatta. From the mid-1880s, Day designed and supervised the construction of the house, whose two storeys and a tower were built from sandstone quarried from land on the north of the nearby Hunts Creek.

Gowan Brae, North Parramatta, constructed 1886-1888.

The Australian Town and Country Journal of 18 March 1893 declared:

“Gowan Brae is supposed to be one of the finest private residences not only in New South Wales but in the Australian colonies. The house is built in classic style with beautiful sandstone quarried on the estate…

“The entrance-hall and grand staircase, with cathedral-stained glass windows, is acknowledged to be far and away the finest about Sydney, and the whole of the rooms are large and lofty, the drawing-room being 65 ft x 25 ft, and the hall 45 ft x 25 ft. From the tower a magnificent panorama of the surrounding country is presented, and in fine weather, with the aid of a telescope, the time can be distinctly seen on the Post Office and Town Hall clocks in Sydney.”

According to signage outside the mansion at The King’s School which today incorporates the former Gowan Brae estate:

Italian marble for the house was imported for the foyer and red cedar was used extensively for the joinery. The monogram JB is intricately carved into the posts of the staircase. Ornate frescoes flanked the walls of the upstairs landing, of which three remain.

The Gowan Brae house was later registered on the Australian Heritage Database, and both it and its surrounding property are listed on the City of Parramatta’s Local Environment Plan.

As Gowan Brae’s construction ran from 1886 to 1888, it is possible that M.C. Day owned and lived with his wife Blanche and their two young children at Bramshaw as early as 1886. The Gowan Brae mansion was and remains within 10 minutes walking distance from Bramshaw along Pennant Hills Road.

Although newspaper articles and advertisements of 1886 to 1888 continued to refer to Day in the context of his Sydney CBD office address, it is likely that during these years he was semi-permanently based in the Parramatta region. Day’s other work at this time included calling for tenders for the 1890 installation of new flooring and seats at All Saints Church, Parramatta, and in 1892 for brickwork and excavations near Parramatta railway station. How often Day travelled from Parramatta to his Sydney office would have been influenced by 1890s rail travel between Parramatta and Sydney taking two to three hours, and boat travel along the Parramatta River taking far longer.

At least two online references imply that M.C. Day additionally designed buildings for the then CBD Parramatta-based Kings School. However, in an email to the authors on 19 December 2025, The King’s School archivist, James Forbes, wrote:

Our records indicate that Day was only the architect of Gowan Brae and had no other role in buildings for The King’s School which, at that time, was located in Parramatta. I assume that (from) the fact King’s now owns Gowan Brae, it has been conflated the building was designed for the School rather than the School purchasing it later.

The King’s School, originally formed in Parramatta in 1832, purchased the Gowan Brae property and mansion in 1954. By the end of 1964 the school had completely moved to the Gowan Brae property.

In the late 19th century, there were further developments in Day’s career. In 1890 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Architects (FIA). Two years later, as a licensed surveyor, he was elected to the Builders and Contractors’ Association of New South Wales.

Day’s wife Blanche embarked on her own notable career in the late 1890s. By January 1897 her position, under the name Blanche E. Day, was described in a New South Wales Government Gazette as Mother of No. 4 Cottage House, Mittagong. On 7 January, the New South Wales Chief Secretary’s Office announced that in accordance with provisions of section 70 of the Public Service Act of 1895, Blanche was appointed to be an Inspector under the State Children Relief Act of 1896. According to the Find and Connect website:

The State Children Relief Act 1896 amended the State Children Relief Act 1881 to provide clearer regulations around the boarding out and apprenticeship of state children. It provided for state children to be cared for in cottage homes, and created a system for dealing with the money earned by apprentices. It also allowed children to be ‘boarded out’ with their own mothers. The State Children Relief Acts were repealed and replaced in 1901 by Acts of the same name.

The fact that Blanche’s involvement in child welfare began 35 years before Bramshaw commenced a new life as an orphanage home seems today a remarkable coincidence. But from evidence available, this seems to have been no more than a coincidence pure and simple.Blanche Day and a Miss C.M. Burne were respectively in 1909 and 1912 appointed to be the first trained nurses with the responsibility of visiting the mothers of newborn babies in Sydney’s city and inner suburban area to advise them on the care of their children’s health and associated problems. The suburbs they covered were Redfern, Alexandria, Waterloo, Mascot, Botany, Glebe, Newtown, Erskineville, Annandale, Leichhardt, and Balmain. Day and Burne had been appointed on the recommendation of the Board of Health after representations had been made to the NSW Government by the City Health Officer who had established a similar service run by the Sydney City Council in 1904.

Day and Burne, according to notes on the website of the New South Wales State Archives Collection, were the forerunners of the Department of Child Welfare and of the Baby Health Centre System. The infantile statistics that Day and Burne collected in 1913 and 1914 on the feeding, sex, age, legitimacy, housing and general care of babies were summarised in the reports of the Director General of Health which were tabled in New South Wales Parliament at the time the NSW Public Health Department was established in 1913.

July 1915, almost one year into World War 1, brought the opening of the first of a series of Sydney metropolitan area Centres for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers. The organisation’s founder was Mary Booth, a physician, welfare officer and feminist who lectured on issues to improve the lot of women. The South Sydney Centre for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers was opened at Waterloo with Blanche Day as its president on 3 April 1916. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph on 8 April of that year reported that this centre had been opened with the object of bringing together the wives and children, mothers and sisters of the men who have enlisted from Alexandria, Botany, Mascot, Redfern, and Waterloo.

From these districts more than 1900 men have enlisted, and the centre forms a happy meeting place for those they have left behind. Not only is wholesome recreation provided for them, but needlework, cooking, and hygiene classes are being held, thus helping the women to help themselves. It is felt by doing this the standard of the homes will be improved, and in this way the soldiers themselves will benefit on their return.

In 1917-1918, Blanche Day was the driving force behind the establishment of Furlough House at Ocean Street, Narrabeen, which comprised a series of cottages “to give a holiday to the wives or widows and the children of our soldiers and sailors where allowances are not sufficient to provide for a rest and change” (Sunday Times [Sydney], 8 September 1918).

Women and children vacationing at Furlough House, Narrabeen, 1947. 

Furlough House received its first guests in December 1918, and it was officially opened by Governor-General Sir Roland Munro Ferguson in June 1919. The buildings at Furlough House were designed by Mark Cooper Day and his business partner Henry Wilshire and were across the road from Narrabeen Beach. Among the Christmas donations received by Furlough House in December 1920 was a cheque from the South Sydney Centre for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers. The Sydney Morning Herald on 1 January 1921 related that it was the South Sydney Centre which did such yeoman service at Waterloo throughout the war, and showing [sic], as it did, the seeds of the soldiers’ dependents, was the actual forerunner of Furlough House.

In 1921 the Centre for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers commissioned a memorial fountain, designed by leading architect Henry Budden, to commemorate (to quote the memorial’s inscription) “the place of farewell to the soldiers who passed through the gates opposite for the Great War 1914 1919”. Originally situated in a recessed section of the sandstone cliff across the road from the gates of Woolloomooloo’s No. 1 Wharf, the memorial was moved thirty metres during the construction of the Sydney Fleet Base East (Royal Australian Navy) in 1988. It still exists on the wharf side of Cowper Wharf Roadway, Woolloomooloo, near the intersection with Wylde Street.

Soldiers' Wives and Mothers WWI memorial fountain, Woolloomooloo.

Mark and Blanche Day’s son, Harry Cooper Day, born at Carlingford on 31 March 1889, , was to have an celebrated but tragically short life. He gained his first architectural experience by working for his father’s and Henry Wilshire’s business from 1904 to 1909. In 1910 he started an architectural practice under his own name, and in 1913 formed a business alliance with Wilshire. Following Wilshire's death in 1923, Harry Day and architect Sir Charles Rosenthal formed a further partnership.

Harry’s athletic skills included boxing, football, and surfing, and in March 1912 he rescued a woman from drowning in a rip at Thirroul Beach, an act of bravery for which he was awarded a bronze medal from the Royal Shipwreck Relief Society (now Royal Humane Society of NSW). In 1915 Harry married Emilie Reichenbach and they were to have three children. On 2 August 1925, Harry and Emilie were crossing New South Head Road, Vaucluse, when Harry was hit by a truck and heavily thrown against an electric light pole. He was admitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, where he died an hour later. He was 37 years of age. The Construction and Local Government Journal, Sydney, paid tribute to Harry on 5 August 1925 with the following comment:

He was one of Sydney's brilliant young architects ... and was ever ready to give his services for the improvement of the architectural profession and was for some time Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Architects, as well as being an alderman of the Vaucluse Council.

Despite the praise M.C. (Mark Cooper) Day had received for his own architectural achievements of the 1880s and 1890s, his own passing on 10 May 1933 attracted no press attention apart from a 12 May Sydney Morning Herald death notice. The notice stated that Mark had died at Sydney Hospital, was “late of Bond-street, Sydney, formerly of Croydon, Surrey” and had been privately cremated.

Mark's grandson – Harry's eldest child – was Maxwell (Max) Frank Cooper Day AO FAA (1915-2017). Among many scientific achievements, Max became an entomologist and an ecologist and was ultimately the oldest living Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Max Day’s memories of Mark and Blanche were included in the tribute, All in a Day’s Work, compiled by his family to celebrate his 100^th birthday, Although Max gave full credit to his grandfather’s professional achievements, he recalled that Mark Cooper Day:

..... was an obviously difficult person to get on with, and was separated from his wife, Blanche (nee Montagu), who was herself a formidable person who had gone to London and worked at the Overseas League. Clearly, Mark’s (later) work had fallen away and although he maintained an office, he was doing little work during the Depression, when he died.

Blanche had travelled to London in 1922 to become what the Sydney Morning Herald of 1 January 1948 called official hostess to the Overseas League. In that role, she became well known to many Australians and other Dominions people visiting England. The Overseas League had connections to child welfare, a field with which Blanche was familiar. To quote the Find & Connect website:

The Overseas League was founded in London in 1910 by Sir Evelyn Wrench with the aim of strengthening relationships and fostering good will within the British Empire. It was based in England, and had branches across Australia. The Overseas League was involved in the migration of children from Britain to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and believed this would help strengthen ties between Britain and the Commonwealths. In total the Overseas League was involved in the migration of 222 children to Australia between the end of World War Two and 1955. Most of these children lived with foster families, although 18 were sent to Dhurringile Rural Training Farm in Victoria. From the 1930s to the 1970s the League also provided assistance to the Fairbridge Society in bringing child migrants to Australia, through the parent-following scheme. For three decades after 1930, the League’s Australian fundraising received regular press coverage, but it is not known whether Blanche Day was involved in any of the League’s child migration activities. These days, the League is known as the Royal Over-Seas League, and its patron is King Charles III. By July 1940, Blanche had returned to live in Sydney and was involved in wartime fundraising for the Australian Red Cross. After her death on 31 December 1947. The Bulletin of 7 January 1948 published this tribute to her:

“Thousands of Australians visiting England in pre-war days met Mrs Blanche Evelyn Cooper Day, who died in Sydney on New Year’s Eve. She was official hostess for the Overseas League in London and her thoughtfulness, and her many kindnesses made all the difference to many visiting Australians.”

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7. References

Abousleiman, Charbel, Oatlands Rezoning: From Schoolhouse to Homes, Urban Planning Lawyer and Buyers Agent, 5 August 2024, 4p.

All in a Day’s work … Memoirs, stories, articles and images of Dr Max Day AO FAA compiled to celebrate Max’s 100th birthday, 21 December 2015.

Appointment of Blanche E. Day as Inspector under the State Children Relief Act of 1896, ,New South Government Gazette, Sydney, 8 January 1897.

Booth, Mary, Centre for Soldiers’ Wives & Mothers, in The Dictionary of Sydney.

City of Sydney Archives, Montagu Chambers, Archives and History Resources, City of Sydney Council, accessed 1 February 2026.

-----, Orient Chambers, Archives and History Resources, City of Sydney Council, accessed 1 February 2026.

Day, Mark Cooper 1856-1937 [sic – year of death was 1933], Art History Research Net, Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950 – From Gothic Revival to the New Brutalism [website], accessed 27 December 2025.

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation entry for Day, Maxwell Frank Cooper (1915-2017).

Facebook family tree entries for Mark Cooper Day, Blanche Evelyn Day, Harry Cooper Day, Alfred James Rabone.

First World War Soldiers Memorial Fountain (Wives and Mothers Memorial), Woolloomooloo Bay, New South Wales War Memorials Register, City of Sydney, accessed 1 February 2026.

Fountain Dedicated: Decking the Woolloomooloo Gates, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 1921.

John Hackett 1802–1879, Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of New South Wales [website], accessed 2 February 2026.

Mary Francis Troup Home [Booklet], Uniting Care, Burnside, circa 1930, 3p.

Memorial Fountain at Woolloomooloo Gates, Land, Sydney, 1 July 1921.

Mr. Harry Day’s Death – A Fine Personality, Labor Daily, Sydney, 4 August 1925.

Mr. H.C. Day – Death in Accident – Well-Known Architect, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 August 1925.

Our History, NextSense (formerly Royal Institution for Blind and Deaf Children) [website], n.d., accessed 25 July 2025. 

Public Service Gazette - Appointment of Blanche E. Day as Inspector under the State Children Relief Act of 1896, Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 9 January 1897.

Scroll of the Brave – Australian Heroes – Royal Shipwreck Relief Society’s Awards, Sun, Sydney, 19 August 1912.

Troup, Find & Connect - History about Australian orphanages, children's homes and other institutions [website], Department of Social Services, n.d., accessed 25 July 2025.

Uniting Burnside: Photos and Stories of the 20th Century - Buildings and Grounds, Uniting (NSW), n.d., accessed 1 August 2025.

Wikipedia, Max Day, Wikipedia, accessed 1 February 2026.

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Last updated: 2 February 2026

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