Bouddi Farm, 1965-1983

 
Component identifier:
Series 6
Content Summary:

In 1964 Maisie and Russell Drysdale acquired six hectares of land at Kilcare Heights near Gosford on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Melbourne architect, Guilford Bell, designed a house to their specifications and in 1966 they took up residence. They christened the property Bouddi Farm, and the house was designed to take advantage of stunning views and the surrounding natural landscape. One large room combined the kitchen, lounge and dining areas and became the setting for numerous informal gatherings. A Visitors' Book, which forms part of this series, is testament to the large number of well known figures in the art and literary fields who were part of these gatherings. The first two signatures in the book are Charmian and George Johnston and other names include Donald Friend, Stan Rapotec, John Brack, Clifton Pugh, Graham Greene, Spike Milligan, Joyce Grenfell, Margaret Olley, Judith Wright, Vincent Serventy, Faith Bandler, Geoffrey Dutton, Peter Sculthorpe and John Gorton.

Other papers in this series include correspondence, specifications, plans and a large address book in Russell Drysdale's hand. There is also a copy of Gosford Wyong rural lands study (1975) and plans for alterations to the house (1983).

See also photographs in Series 16, files 10-17.

1 file and two volumes

Immediate source of acquisition:
The papers of Maisie Drysdale were donated to the Library in 2001 by Russell Drysdale's daughter, Lynne Clarke, under the Cultural Gifts Program.

Access and use

Parent Restrictions:
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1125623).
Parent Terms of Access:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: