Decline
By the late 1820s, this small, solid 3-roomed brick cottage was transformed into a smart country house, surrounded by 'pleasure grounds', orchards and almost 1,000 acres (4 km²) of semi-cleared lands. Elizabeth Farm remained in Macarthur family ownership for another six decades. Following Elizabeth’s death in 1850, the homestead garden grew wild, while paddocks, fields and fences were neglected. Tenants, forever complaining, occupied cottages on the estate under various arrangements. Finally, debts and complications in winding up the 40 year lease of a woollen mill led to the sale of Elizabeth Farm in 1881. From 1904 to 1968, Elizabeth Farm, on less than 5 acres (20,000 m2), was owned by the Swanns - a large, progressive and well known local family of Quakers, whose appreciation of the old farmhouse led to its preservation. The property was acquired by the State Government in 1979 and, after several years of restoration, was transferred to the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales in 1983. The Macarthur’s early cottage has survived intact, enveloped within later extensions, making it Australia’s oldest European dwelling. The current museum was launched in 1984. '
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Farm, History
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)