Uncle Tom's Cabin, Willunga
Background to the Research
In June 1996 Dr. Susan Lawerence of the Department of Archaeology, Flinders
University of South Australia, with the assistance of Dr. Margaret O’Hea
of the Department of Classics, Adelaide University, undertook an excavation
of Uncle Tom’s Cabin at the request of the District Council of Willunga.
The Council was interested in interpreting and managing the site. Graduate Diploma
of Archaeology students and archaeology students from Flinders University provided
the willing workers. Dr. Mark Staniforth, now a senior lecturer at Flinders
University, undertook to organise tours of the site with a team of student volunteers
(local newspaper article).
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is located a short distance from the beach at Port Willunga,
south of the city of Adelaide, and is protected from the sea by sand dunes and
cliffs. The ruins of the house offers some protection from the elements for
surfers using the beach today. Located in a linear park, the site is easily
accessable, with a broadwalk allowing access over the tidal pools of the beach.
A Brief History of the Site
The Port Willunga Linear Park was once part of a farm owned by the Martin family.
Section 386, Hundred of Willunga, was purchased by Thomas Martin Sr. in 1848.
Thomas and Mary Martin and their five eldest children arrived in South Australia
in 1840. Thomas Sr. was active in developing the local area and by 1850 had subdivided
part of Section 386 as the township of Port Willunga; later extensions to the
town were laid out on South Australia Company land to the south. After Thomas
died in 1862 the land continued to be farmed by his widow, and then by his son,
Thomas Jr. and his grandsons Stan and Clad. The land remained in the Martin family
until the 1970s.
The farm included at least two houses and numerous stone and timber outbuildings.
The largest of the two houses was known as Uncle Tom's Cabin and served as the
principal dwelling for the family. It was built in the early 1850s and was licensed
as the Pier Hotel between 1852 and 1862. Historical photographs show a two-storey
stone structure with a slate roof and a wide verandah on three sides (plan
of Uncle Tom's Cabin). It had 15 rooms, including an upstairs ballroom, and
three brick fireplaces, and was a focal point for social activities in the community
that grew around the jetty.
The house known as the Harbourmaster's Cottage was built next to Uncle Tom's Cabin
some time before 1887. The name reflects the association of the house with Thomas
Jr. who was harbourmaster at Port Willunga between December 1883 and September
1885. At that time the colonial government did not provide an official residence
for the harbourmaster, so the family continued to live in the farmhouse. The harbourmaster
was an important government officer in the settlement, and his cottage was a focal
point for economic and bureaucratic activities. Thomas Jr. was also widely remembered
locally for his role in the rescue of the survivors of the wreck of the Star of
Greece which sank off Port Willunga in 1888. Some of the other farm buildings
were built with material from another shipwreck, the Ida.
The standing walls of the Harbourmaster's Cottage continues to be a notable
landmark in the park, while the foundations of Uncle Tom's Cabin are only faintly
visible. It was vacant for many years before it burnt down in the 1960s, and
the walls are now covered with rubble and drifting sand. All that remains of
the outbuildings today are concrete floors, but they were painted many times
by the artist Horace Trenerry. The ruined buildings of the Martin farm are an
important part of the history of the park. The two homes, the surviving stone
outbuilding and the various sheds, wells, privies, and tracks, are all evidence
of the functioning family farm that was the first European settlement there.
(History provided by Dr. Susan Lawerence and Dr. Mark Staniforth with photographs
by Dr Susan Piddock, Researcher, Department of Archaeology)
Site Images
Further Reading :
Susan Lawerence and Greg Jackman, 1995, Historical Archaeological Survey
of Port Willunga, Linear ParkReport to the District Council of Willunga,
November 1995. [Copies are held by the Flinders University of South Australia
Library and the City of Onkaparinga Library]
R. Linn, 1991 Cradle Of Adversity. A History of the Willunga District.
Historical consultants Pty. Ltd., Cherry Gardens
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