Cleveland - Historic buildings

Cleveland homestead

Address: Cleveland Road, Cleveland

The historic building after which the suburb is named, Cleveland homestead, is located in the extreme SW corner of Cleveland. It is on the northern bank of Mullet Creek which represents the southern boundary of Cleveland, in the shadow of the pylons of the transmission line delineating the western boundary. It is now described as a “ruin” (NSW Heritage Office, 2006).

Formal recognition as a building of historical significance by relevant national, state and local authorities was accorded the site in the 1980’s (Illawarra Mercury, 16 December 1987, p. 7).

Not to be confused with the more modern homestead which sits atop a nearby hill on the same property, the building represented “an original homestead in the early settled district of Dapto … and is also a fine example of Australian Colonial architecture” (Australian Heritage Commission, 2000).

What remains of the homestead “stands on the grant of 600 acres (Portion 59, Parish of Kembla) made in 1833 to George William Paul, a Sydney merchant, who had disposed of his land even before the grant was issued (Ali, 1980; McDonald, 1976, p. 77).

A series of subdivisions and conveyances then followed. In February 1841 Maurice Fitzgerald bought 300 acres for 150 pounds and in May sold 145 acres for 800 pounds which suggests the house could have been built in the interval.(Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin, 1 February 1995, p. 5)].

“Little is known about Cleveland because the owners changed often and  many were absentees. The owners after Fitzgerald were Hercules Watt, Cornelius Wholohan, Thomas Jessett, Thomas Wholohan, William Speer, William Howe, King Barton, Madden family, W.D. Dunster. Dunster sold Cleveland to the [Dapto Pastoral Company] but resided there until his death [in 1976]. Since then the house has been empty” (Ali, 1980).