Ewelme Cottage was built by Vicesimus Lush in 1863. He was a vicar and Ewelme was built to house his sons who went to a nearby Anglican school, while he, his wife, and his daughters were largely based at Howick Pioneer Village. The family all moved in 1871 when Vicesimus Lush took a position as vicar at Tauranga. The Lush family continued to own the property until it was sold to Auckland City Council in 1969.
In a striking connection to MOTAT, one of very few descendants of Vicesimus Lush, was Ian Lush. Ian and his wife Joyce were members of The Historic Auckland Society who were instrumental in setting up the Victorian village at MOTAT. They were stalwarts of the Victorian Village for the rest of their lives. This is also the namesake of the MOTAT Society Lush Award.
The visit to Ewelme Cottage was the third in the series of MOTAT Society excursions. The next is a visit to Kinder House on DATE. Each of these visits includes personalised tours with the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga historians.
The Heritage homes series will culminate with a visit to the Sir George Grey Collections at the Auckland Public Library to view scrapbooks and maps relating to the four heritage houses we have visited. An exciting trip to the archive, even if you haven’t been to the houses yet.
Commentaires