Experiment Farm Cottage, in Harris Park, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, is one of Australia’s oldest standing residences. It is located at the site of Experiment Farm, Australia's first European farmstead, which was itself created by Australia's first land grant.
In 1789, James Ruse was chosen by Governor Arthur Phillip to run an experiment to see how long it would take a man to support himself. Ruse was granted one and a half cleared acres (6,000 m²) of land, as well as assistance for clearing an additional five acres (20,000 m²). He was also provided with two sows and six hens. He was fed and clothed from the public store for 15 months, after which time he had become successfully self-sufficient and was granted an additional 30 acres (120,000 m²).
In October 1793, Ruse sold his farm to surgeon John Harris, builder of the substantial colonial cottage which exists today. Doctor Harris was a prominent citizen in the rapidly emerging colony, and was also friends with John and Elizabeth MacArthur of Elizabeth Farm, another celebrated early agricultural venture only a short walk away.
Experiment Farm Cottage was purchased in 1961 by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and was the first NSW National Trust–owned property.
Famous quotes containing the words experiment, farm and/or cottage:
“The man who invented Eskimo Pie made a million dollars, so one is told, but E.E. Cummings, whose verse has been appearing off and on for three years now, and whose experiments should not be more appalling to those interested in poetry than the experiment of surrounding ice-cream with a layer of chocolate was to those interested in soda fountains, has hardly made a dent in the doughy minds of our so-called poetry lovers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)