Penola (Petticoat Lane/Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse) State Heritage Area

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Location

Penola, a gateway to the famous Coonawarra wine region, is approximately 400 kilometres from Adelaide and 50 kilometres north of Mount Gambier. It is the oldest town in the south east of South Australia, and is recognised as a small country town with well-preserved nineteenth century architecture.

The Petticoat Lane/Woods MacKillop State Heritage Area is located on the south-eastern side of Penola, between the town centre and its rural surroundings. The area is bounded by Portland Street and Roden Lane, and includes land on either side of Petticoat Lane. It includes the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse, sited on the corner of Petticoat Lane and Portland Street, as well as St Joseph's Church and a former Convent, 'Bawcoodalyn'.

View Public Notice (350Kb PDF).

Significance

Wilson's Cottage, Petticoat Lane

The Penola (Petticoat Lane/Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse) State Heritage Area, authorised on 11 December 1997, links two separate, but adjacent, heritage precincts. Petticoat Lane is a significant example of a 'turn of the century' country lane and authentically depicts the self-sufficiency of early South Australian town life. The Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse is one of the most significant sites associated with Blessed Mary MacKillop and is linked to the founding of the Josephite Order and the Catholic education system.

Petticoat Lane's semi-rural character contributes to its heritage significance. This country lane demonstrates the early practice of providing fresh produce from residential blocks and is possibly South Australia's best-preserved example of a country lifestyle based on self-sufficiency. The area comprises a number of structures and vacant allotments dating from 1850 to the First World War. These buildings exhibit a range of early South Australian construction materials and techniques, and reflect the typical growth of small country towns.

Front of schoolhouse from Portland Street Petticoat Lane corner

The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a religious teaching order that established schools for poor, needy and isolated students across Australia and New Zealand, was co-founded in Penola by Father Julian Tenison Woods and Sister Mary MacKillop in 1866. As the first of these schools, specifically built for the Josephite Order, the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse (as it is now known) is a highly valued site. It is particularly significant to the Catholic Community because of its association with Mary MacKillop, anticipated to be Australia's first saint.

Early History of Penola

Penola was founded by Alexander Cameron, a pastoralist pioneer who had been in the area since the mid-1840s. His Limestone Ridge Station had grown in size, as had other stations in the district, and there was a need for tradespeople to provide services for the workers and their families.

In April 1850 'King' Cameron, as he became known, purchased 80 acres of land from the South Australian Government to develop the private town of Panoola - later named Penola. He allotted several blocks for community use, including a market square and land for churches at a later stage.

First house built in Penola and residence of the Sharam family 1870 Photo B 26749: State Library of SA

Early in 1850 Cameron invited Christopher Sharam to build a house and to establish a bootmaking business in the proposed town. The Sharam family (Christopher, Ellen and baby John Thomas) were Penola's first residents, and their cottage (in what is now Petticoat Lane) was the first residence constructed in the new township. Ellen later gave birth to their second son, William, in this cottage - the first European child born in Penola.

Although a long way from Adelaide, Penola soon had most of the facilities of any town of the time. The first shop, the 'South Australian Store', opened in the early 1850s. Further shopping facilities became available in 1856 with the opening of Balnaves store in Riddoch Street, and other shops followed.

Saint Joseph's Church, Penola : First building erected for church purposes; earlier services conducted in a converted shop. This building was demolished in 1924. (Vide Rev. R.A. Morrison) 1870 Photo B 11609: State Library of SA

By the 1860s Rounsevell Coaches left Penola twice a week for Naracoorte, Mount Gambier and Adelaide, and Cobb & Co coaches departed three times a week for Melbourne. The town now had a population of over 600 people, who were served by a local court, police station, two churches, an Institute, telegraph, school and several resident magistrates. As early as 1863, Penola boasted the second largest library outside Adelaide.

In Penola's early days, religious services were held in the local courtroom. The Presbyterians were the first to use this facility, and Reverend Dixon was the first Minister to reside in Penola (1856-1864). The Catholic Community began a wooden church in 1858, when Father Julian Tenison Woods laid the foundation stone of St Joseph's Church. A new stone church was completed in 1865. St Mary's Church of England was completed in 1873.

In 1855 Michael O'Grady opened a school for 40 students - the first official school education in the South East. The best known school though, was that opened by Mary MacKillop and her sisters in 1866. A government school was completed in 1879, with a capacity for 160 students.

Character of Petticoat Lane

Front view from small lane which runs off P Lane

Petticoat Lane was originally named Christies Row, after Christopher Sharam, the street's earliest inhabitant. Later it was renamed Wilson's Lane, after William Wilson, another resident. In the 1980s the street became officially known as Petticoat Lane, a local name by which it had long been recognised, apparently because of its dubious reputation as a place where 'petticoats were lifted'.

The Petticoat Lane section of the State Heritage Area contains an assortment of buildings reflecting the growth of Penola, from its origins in 1850 to the First World War. These buildings demonstrate some of the earliest remaining uses of timber and stone construction techniques in South Australia.

Penola's first residents were the Sharam family (Christopher, Ellen and John Thomas), who arrived in 1850 to set up a bootmaking business in the newly-proposed town. They settled in what is now Petticoat Lane and constructed a slab cottage - the first residence in the area.

This initial building consisted of two rooms, and did not take long to complete. The lack of variety in building materials dictated its simplicity. Large timber cleared for the site formed the basis of the outside walls, while the ceiling beams and wall slabs were hewn from small tree trunks. Not one nail was used in the building.

A second, larger cottage, comprising a sitting room and three bedrooms, was built nearby in the 1860s, at which time the Sharam family apparently used the first cottage as a kitchen. Members of the Sharam family lived in these cottages from 1850 until their final sale in 1941, although the original grounds were sub-divided earlier.

Gammon Cottage and kitchen, Petticoat Lane

Other properties in Petticoat Lane include Wilson Cottage (showing early use of Mount Gambier stone in house construction), Gammon Cottage, the former Church of England Rectory and three weatherboard houses demonstrating architectural styles from the 1890s to the 1910s. A building opposite Wilson Cottage dates from the early 1950s and was purchased and erected, by the owners, as a kit home.

Petticoat Lane has a rural character, with red gum kerbing, cottage gardens, distinctive fences, hedges, grassed borders and underground power. It is a narrow thoroughfare characterised by small buildings on large allotments, with vacant allotments maintained as open space. The National Trust of South Australia has gone to considerable lengths to purchase and preserve the open spaces between buildings, which contribute to its character as a 'turn of the century' country lane.

Rear garden of Sharam's Cottage

These open spaces, once backyards and adjacent fields, were originally orchards, vegetable gardens and grazing areas. Before the days of freezers, fridges and supermarkets, the residents were self-supporting, producing their own fruit, vegetables, milk, meat and eggs. Most of the clutter and fences have gone, but a few old fruit trees and outbuildings remain as evidence of these earlier activities.

Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse

Blessed Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) was Penola's most famous resident. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and is anticipated to be Australia's first saint. With Father Julian Tenison Woods she set up a free school system and co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a charitable teaching order that spread throughout Australia and New Zealand.

In 1866, at the invitation of Father Woods, Mary MacKillop established in Penola the first school in Australia that catered for all children, irrespective of family income or social status. This was a new type of school - a church school where the education was free to all. Mary aimed to give all children a sound knowledge in the basics of reading, writing and simple arithmetic. Prayer and instruction in the catechism were a central focus. Hymns and prayer featured in the daily timetable to give students a sense of their Catholic identity and an understanding that religion was part of ordinary life not just reserved for Sundays.

Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse

The original schoolhouse was a renovated stable that catered for more than 50 students. It was replaced in 1867 by what is now known as the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse. This was the first school specifically built for the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Although Mary's direct association with the Schoolhouse was brief, the building is valued by the Catholic Community as symbolic of her earliest commitment to the ideals on which the Josephite Order was founded.

The Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse is now displayed as a schoolroom of the 1860s with living quarters at the rear. The adjacent Mary MacKillop Interpretive Centre was completed in 1998 and offers an intriguing insight into the life and times of Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods.

Features within the Penola State Heritage Area

The Penola (Petticoat Lane/Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse) State Heritage Area is realistically two separate, but adjacent historic precincts - Petticoat Lane and the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse. The area includes many individually important sites, including three significant places which are State Heritage Places entered in the South Australian Heritage Register (Sharam's First and Second Cottages and the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse).

Petticoat Lane

Front verandah of Sharam's (Second) Cottage

The Petticoat Lane heritage precinct is the oldest part of Penola, with timber and stone cottages dating from 1850 to the First World War. It is also an area with significant open allotments, reflecting important aspects of early life in the town.

The Penola Branch of the National Trust of South Australia has purchased many of these properties (both residences and open space) to preserve the heritage character of this street. These National Trust properties, which are now used for a variety of functions, include:

• Sharam's Cottage (First) (550Kb PDF), a small two-roomed cottage built in 1850, and recognised as the first residence in Penola. This slab cottage is a State Heritage Place entered in the South Australian Heritage Register.
• Sharam's Cottage (Second) (350Kb PDF), a larger three-bedroomed residence built in the 1860s, and also a State Heritage Place entered in the South Australian Heritage Register.
• Gammon Cottage, an 1850s stone cottage with a weatherboard lean-to and single room outbuilding.
• Wilson Cottage, also an 1850s structure, with a distinctive metal roof as well as original ornamental and orchard trees remaining on the allotment.
• The Old Rectory at No.9 Petticoat Lane, which was used for six years as the Anglican Rectory and has been restored and adapted to provide bed and breakfast tourist accommodation. The orientation of this cottage, which faces west onto a private laneway, may be evidence of the time when this was the end of Petticoat Lane, before its extension prior to 1869, and
• a shed framed of Australian Hardwood and roofed in recycled iron.

Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse

'Bawcoodalyn' former convent

The Schoolhouse heritage precinct includes three historic buildings and a modern Interpretive Centre, completed in 1998. The Schoolhouse (300Kb PDF), built by the Josephite Order in 1867, and associated with Blessed Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods, is situated on the corner of Petticoat Lane and Portland Street. It has been restored and, together with the Interpretive Centre, celebrates the lives and achievements of Mary MacKillop and J.T. Woods. The Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse is a State Heritage Place entered in the South Australian Heritage Register.

At the southern end of the State Heritage Area boundary, along Portland Street, is St Joseph's Church and the former convent 'Bawcoodalyn'. Behind these buildings, and an important contributor to the Petticoat Lane open streetscape, is the school oval, which is now used by students of the adjacent Mary MacKillop Memorial School.