Roto House was built in 1890 (for the sum of 667 pounds) by James Condon for John Edmund Flynn. The very generously proportioned house of 10 rooms is built of Red Mahogany (Eucalypus resinifera) a local hardwood, and is roofed with corrugated iron. Most of the internal walls and ceilings are clad with beaded lining boards of the same timber, and the joinery work is of Californian Redwood. The two front rooms, originally a drawing room and front bedroom, were originally lined with laths and fine plaster, with characteristic cornice and ceiling roses. This was replaced in the 1920s with battened asbestos cement sheets, and a rendered timber dado, the latter and the battens being stained and varnished. The movement of supporting stumps had no doubt caused considerable cracking of the plaster work. The front door is flanked by sidelights of ruby glass, and vestiges of patterned transfers remained on the clear glass transom lights until 1980, when repairs were begun. The entrance hall and corridor lead directly through to the rear kitchen verandah, The dining room and sitting room are interconnected by five large folding doors. The last room on the north side was Flynn's library and office. Besides three other bedrooms, there were also a kitchen, larder and maid's room, all part of the house, and connected by verandahs which almost surround the buildings. The chimney pieces on all six fireplaces are of redwood, with the carved consoles in Australian cedar and were always painted. The establishment in its prime was described quite fully by Nora, the eldest of the six children, in the 1960s. She had four brothers and in her writings gives a detailed account of their earlier life, including dances held in the double room. The property contained an orchard, grape vines, vegetable and flower gardens, a sulky shed, stables, cowsheds and so on, all mandatory for country living even up until the second World War. The family lived on in the house until 1976. The property was purchased by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and gazetted in1970, as an addition to the Macquarie Nature Reserve proclaimed in 1966, which had been donated by Port Macquarie Council as a Koala Reserve. Although the family retained permissive occupancy of the property until 1979, considerable damage was done to the house by vandals, despite several periods of "squatting". When conservation work began in 1980 the building was basically sound, but the verandahs were in a serious state of decay. It was planned to restore the main seven rooms to their original condition, but to renovate the three back rooms for use as staff accommodation. Work proceeded intermittently but carefully until late in 1982, when the building was opened to the public as a NPWS District Office and Information Centre. Certain rooms are replete with furnishings appropriate to the period, and books and posters are on sale in the office. Home
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