WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.700 So, imagine returning to your immaculate, multi 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:07.200 -million dollar summer mansion. Right, the absolute 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.339 dream house. Yeah, but only to find that the 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:12.740 government has literally welded a giant concrete 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:16.059 public bathroom directly to the base of your 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.920 exquisite historic architectural tower. Oh, I 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:20.579 mean, it really is the ultimate nightmare for 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:22.699 high society, isn't it? It sounds like a bad 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.920 architectural joke, but in 1944, that is exactly 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:27.940 what happened to one of Australia's wealthiest 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:30.879 families. It's wild, but it perfectly illustrates 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:34.439 how fragile the concept of private ownership 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:36.960 can be when history just decides to intervene. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:39.899 Exactly. And I am so glad you're joining us for 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:41.600 this deep dive today, because we are looking 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.140 at a truly fascinating Wikipedia article. It 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:46.799 really is a great source. It is. It details the 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:49.640 history of a sp - Adelaide Mansion, known as 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.859 Beerily, Bel Air, and also its beachfront sister 00:00:52.859 --> 00:00:55.780 property, Beerily, Glen Elg. And for you listening, 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.079 our mission today is to explore how this single 00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:02.039 piece of architecture acts as a perfect, and 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:04.780 honestly, sometimes incredibly messy, mirror 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:08.200 for an entire century of changing societal, military, 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:11.900 and medical needs. We often just walk past these 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:13.400 old houses without realizing there are actually 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:15.439 time capsules. We really do. And it is quite 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.340 a setting for a story. We are talking about the 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:20.459 Adelaide Plains in South Australia, which is 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:22.859 a region that underwent massive transformations 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:24.959 from the late 19th century all the way through 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:26.659 the 20s. We saw a lot of change. A ton of change. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:28.900 And I want to set a calm, analytical tone here 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:31.000 because this isn't just a timeline of who bought 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.069 what. Right. It is a story about how global events, 00:01:35.870 --> 00:01:38.810 economic boom and bust cycles, existential world 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:41.930 wars, public health crises, how they force our 00:01:41.930 --> 00:01:44.510 physical spaces to constantly reinvent themselves. 00:01:44.750 --> 00:01:46.829 OK, let's unpack this. We have to start at the 00:01:46.829 --> 00:01:49.230 very beginning back in 1887. Let's go there. 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:51.790 So the mansion at Bel Air is originally built 00:01:51.790 --> 00:01:53.989 by a man named Thomas Kinley Hamilton. He was 00:01:53.989 --> 00:01:57.450 an Irish doctor, an ENT surgeon, who had been 00:01:57.450 --> 00:01:59.849 practicing up in the South Australian mid -north 00:01:59.849 --> 00:02:03.790 before moving down. And he builds this vast sweeping 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:06.969 estate and names it Willa Willa. And you know, 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:09.590 vast is really the operative word here. Oh, yeah. 00:02:09.789 --> 00:02:12.009 Yeah. This wasn't just a large house. It was 00:02:12.009 --> 00:02:15.210 a sprawling domain. The estate extended all the 00:02:15.210 --> 00:02:17.969 way to Brown Hill Creek, reaching west to James 00:02:17.969 --> 00:02:20.949 Road and Old Bel Air Road. Oh, wow. That is huge. 00:02:21.150 --> 00:02:23.990 It is. Hamilton was a man of significant status. 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:26.189 I mean, he was even on the governing board of 00:02:26.189 --> 00:02:28.729 the adjacent National Park. He had the resources 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:31.289 to essentially carve out a personal kingdom. 00:02:31.629 --> 00:02:33.889 Right. He even had his brother build a smaller 00:02:33.889 --> 00:02:36.469 house on the corner of the estate. And he donated 00:02:36.469 --> 00:02:38.590 land nearby for the Church of the Holy Innocents. 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:41.210 He was very busy. He was. But reading through 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:45.219 the sources. Hamilton sounds a bit like a modern 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:48.819 day HGTV enthusiast who is trying to fund a dream 00:02:48.819 --> 00:02:51.060 house through some very whiskey side hustles. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.120 That's a great way to put it. Because he made 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.539 his money from his medical practice, sure, but 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.819 also from aggressive land speculation. And apparently 00:02:58.819 --> 00:03:02.000 he lost massive sums of money later on speculating 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.300 on York Peninsula land. Right, he took a big 00:03:04.300 --> 00:03:07.099 hit there. So before we get into the house itself, 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:10.129 how did that mechanism actually work? Like, why 00:03:10.129 --> 00:03:12.949 was a prominent surgeon gambling on random land 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:15.330 tracks? Well, what's fascinating here is that 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:17.990 this behavior was practically a defining characteristic 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:21.189 of the era's colonial ambition. Really? Just 00:03:21.189 --> 00:03:24.289 everyone was doing it? Pretty much. In the 1880s, 00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:26.949 South Australia was riding high on copper booms 00:03:26.949 --> 00:03:29.509 and agricultural expansion. Oh, okay. There was 00:03:29.509 --> 00:03:32.469 this prevailing frontier mindset that land was 00:03:32.469 --> 00:03:35.409 an endless guaranteed escalator for wealth generation. 00:03:36.289 --> 00:03:38.530 Professionals like doctors or lawyers, they often 00:03:38.530 --> 00:03:40.509 didn't just want to be wealthy in a bank ledger. 00:03:40.610 --> 00:03:42.629 They wanted to play the lord of the manor. Exactly. 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:45.210 They wanted to be landed gentry. You would borrow 00:03:45.210 --> 00:03:48.189 heavily to buy vast tracts of agricultural land, 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:50.349 assuming the value would only ever go up, just 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:52.590 to fund your immediate aristocratic lifestyle. 00:03:52.789 --> 00:03:56.030 Wow. The house, willa willa, was the physical 00:03:56.030 --> 00:03:59.050 manifestation of that exact ambition. But the 00:03:59.050 --> 00:04:01.969 bubble bursts. Right. I mean, he loses a fortune 00:04:01.969 --> 00:04:05.289 because agricultural land values plummet when 00:04:05.289 --> 00:04:07.389 the climate or the markets just don't cooperate. 00:04:07.569 --> 00:04:09.710 Precisely. It was built on a highly volatile 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:12.289 foundation. And like a lot of grand visions, 00:04:12.870 --> 00:04:15.509 the physical estate fractures almost the moment 00:04:15.509 --> 00:04:18.910 the visionary is gone. Hamilton dies in 1917 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:23.089 and the grand estate just sits vacant. It's simply 00:04:23.089 --> 00:04:26.709 too big, too unwieldy to maintain. Exactly. So 00:04:26.709 --> 00:04:29.750 an architect named Gil Cully steps in, buys the 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:32.370 land and starts carving it up. Which is really 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:34.870 the inevitable fate of many of these massive 00:04:34.870 --> 00:04:36.889 estates. The maintenance, the staff required, 00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:39.310 the sheer scale. It's just too much. Right. It 00:04:39.310 --> 00:04:42.170 becomes entirely impractical for the next generation, 00:04:42.610 --> 00:04:44.829 especially as domestic labor became more expensive 00:04:44.829 --> 00:04:47.610 in the early 20th century. But Cully's subdivision 00:04:47.610 --> 00:04:50.370 is quite clever. architecturally speaking. He 00:04:50.370 --> 00:04:52.029 really is. I mean, he converts the old stables 00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:55.689 into this asymmetric Tudor bungalow. I'd look 00:04:55.689 --> 00:04:58.269 that up. It essentially means he took the rectangular 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:01.310 utilitarian footprint of a horse stable and slapped 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:04.610 a steeply pitched cross gabled roof on it. Yeah, 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:07.269 deliberately making the front facade uneven to 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:10.069 hide its original purpose, which is so sneaky. 00:05:10.250 --> 00:05:13.110 And in a wonderfully confusing twist of history, 00:05:13.410 --> 00:05:15.930 he takes the original name of the Grand Mansion, 00:05:16.209 --> 00:05:19.889 Willa. Willa, and attaches it to this new converted 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:22.990 stable house. He does. He also converts the coach 00:05:22.990 --> 00:05:26.230 house into a home. The sources note you can actually 00:05:26.230 --> 00:05:28.529 still see the infills in the brickwork where 00:05:28.529 --> 00:05:30.629 the massive old coach stall doors used to be. 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:33.089 That is so cool. And you can even see traces 00:05:33.089 --> 00:05:35.769 of the old internal dirt roads that used to connect 00:05:35.769 --> 00:05:37.910 all these ancillary buildings across the estate. 00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:40.709 Oh, wow. It is a perfect example of architectural 00:05:40.709 --> 00:05:43.410 ghosting. The original skeleton of Hamilton's 00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:45.629 ambition is still there. It's just repurposed. 00:05:45.870 --> 00:05:48.269 But because Cully chopped up the land and stole 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:50.730 the name for the bungalow, the grand main house 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:53.120 is left sitting there. completely stripped of 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.680 its original identity. It's a blank slate. Right. 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.360 Which creates the perfect vacuum for a soap magnate 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:02.000 looking for a summer retreat. Enter William Burford. 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:05.699 Yes. William Burford, who runs WH Burford and 00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:08.860 Sons. It's a massive soap and candle manufacturing 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:11.180 business that eventually becomes part of the 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:13.860 liver and kitchen empire. A very successful business. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.860 Oh, massively. So he buys the remaining estate 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.560 around 1919. And here's where it gets really 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:23.639 interesting. He renames the Bel Air House, Beerily. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.800 And that name carries a lot of weight. It does, 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:29.339 but I have to push back on this a bit. Oh. Yeah, 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.259 because Burford's primary residence was a beachfront 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:35.220 mansion in Glenelg, and the name of that house 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:37.800 was also Beerily. That's right. Plus the name 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:40.899 was heavily tied to his soap brand. If you are 00:06:40.899 --> 00:06:43.480 that incredibly wealthy, why are you essentially 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:45.800 just copy pasting your brand name onto your summer 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.269 house? You think it's lazy. I mean, was this 00:06:48.269 --> 00:06:51.069 early corporate synergy, or did the man just 00:06:51.069 --> 00:06:52.949 lack imagination when it came to naming things? 00:06:53.110 --> 00:06:55.430 It honestly sounds like a massive ego trip. Well, 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:57.430 it absolutely has elements of an ego trip. But 00:06:57.430 --> 00:07:00.310 in the context of the early 20th century industrialist 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:03.089 class, it is actually a profound statement of 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:05.449 legacy and ownership. OK, has so? You have to 00:07:05.449 --> 00:07:08.970 remember, Burford was new money built on industrial 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:11.670 soap and candles, not old aristocratic wealth. 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:15.480 Renaming a great house is how you establish a 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.300 new dynasty. Ah, I see. By applying the name 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.779 Birrily, which is a name synonymous with his 00:07:20.779 --> 00:07:23.360 commercial success and his primary seat of power 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.740 in Glenelg, He was effectively stamping his family 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:29.680 crest on the Bel Air property. That makes sense. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.639 Right. It wasn't just a summer house. It was 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:34.519 an extension of the Burford corporate and familial 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:37.259 empire. OK, I can see that. He's marking his 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:39.079 territory, turning his brand into a physical 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:41.959 dynasty. And the Glenelg Burleigh was no joke 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.560 either. Not at all. It was a massive hub for 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.180 the family, heavily used by his wife and daughters 00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:50.079 until he sold it in 1921 after his wife passed 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:53.069 away. But the Bel Air Burley really becomes the 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:55.089 fortress of the family after Burford himself 00:07:55.089 --> 00:07:58.629 dies in 1925. That is when we see the house transition 00:07:58.629 --> 00:08:01.470 from a summer retreat into a full -fledged mechanism 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:03.870 of elite leisure. Elite leisure, I like that. 00:08:03.949 --> 00:08:05.949 Yeah, the descendants, the Parks, the Beals, 00:08:06.069 --> 00:08:08.430 the Robertsons, they take over. And they use 00:08:08.430 --> 00:08:10.709 the house exactly as it was designed to be used 00:08:10.709 --> 00:08:13.949 by high society. And the sources paint such a 00:08:13.949 --> 00:08:16.829 vivid picture of this era. You have Octavius 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:19.639 Cyril Beal. the son of a wealthy Irish -born 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.519 Australian piano manufacturer marrying into the 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.459 family. Right. Imagine the specific opulence 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:28.259 of industrial soap money merging with luxury 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:31.819 piano money in the roaring 1920s. You have these 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.480 grand wedding receptions on the lawns. It sounds 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.179 incredibly lavish. It really does. In 1932, there's 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:40.980 a note about a cheery party hosted by Miss Gwyneth 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:43.309 Burford. They are playing bridge in the lounge 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:45.129 another group is playing bridge in the study 00:08:45.129 --> 00:08:47.590 and supper is being served in the formal dining 00:08:47.590 --> 00:08:50.409 room Classic high society. Yeah, and they also 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:53.389 hosted at -home days, which is a crucial detail 00:08:53.389 --> 00:08:56.610 really Why? Well, for those unfamiliar, an at 00:08:56.610 --> 00:08:58.870 -home day wasn't just inviting friends over to 00:08:58.870 --> 00:09:02.330 hang out. It was a highly choreographed social 00:09:02.330 --> 00:09:05.289 ritual. Oh, OK. Women of high society would designate 00:09:05.289 --> 00:09:07.490 a specific day of the week or month where they 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:10.149 would formally receive callers. You would leave 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:12.190 calling cards. There were strict rules about 00:09:12.190 --> 00:09:14.649 how long you stayed and what was discussed. Honestly, 00:09:14.669 --> 00:09:17.289 it sounds exhausting. It was. It was a full -time 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:20.210 job of social stratification. And the architecture 00:09:20.210 --> 00:09:23.220 of Bureau Lee dictated that social flow. Right, 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.299 specific rooms for specific leisure activities. 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:29.539 Exactly. The wealth generated by factories had 00:09:29.539 --> 00:09:31.779 been converted into this highly insulated world 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.159 of domestic tranquility. The house functioned 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.480 as a physical barrier against the working class 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.620 reality that actually generated their wealth. 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:42.559 Wow. But of course, the fatal flaw of a fortress 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.639 of leisure is that when a real war starts, the 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.360 military tends to want it. They do. You can't 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.299 play bridge in the study forever when the rest 00:09:50.299 --> 00:09:53.320 of the world is catching fire. Precisely. That 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.100 bubble of high society was about to be violently 00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:58.899 popped by the reality of a global conflict. Which 00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:02.179 brings us to 1942. World War II is raging in 00:10:02.179 --> 00:10:04.759 the Pacific, and it suddenly arrives on Adelaide's 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.519 doorstep. Things escalated very quickly. They 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.730 really did. In April 1942, the US Army urgently 00:10:10.730 --> 00:10:13.669 needs a location for a military hospital. They 00:10:13.669 --> 00:10:16.049 look at Scotch College, which is a boys' school 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:18.590 located at Torrens Park, and decide it's perfect. 00:10:18.990 --> 00:10:21.889 Yep. But how does that even work? Does the government 00:10:21.889 --> 00:10:23.450 just walk in and say, hey, we're taking your 00:10:23.450 --> 00:10:25.889 school? Under wartime emergency powers, yes. 00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:28.830 Really? Just like that. Just like that. The National 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:31.309 Security Act gave the government sweeping powers 00:10:31.309 --> 00:10:34.009 to requisition property for the war effort. They 00:10:34.009 --> 00:10:36.090 didn't ask politely, they issued a directive. 00:10:36.570 --> 00:10:38.830 The military needed infrastructure immediately, 00:10:39.289 --> 00:10:41.669 and large institutional buildings like schools 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:45.049 were prime targets. So the school is forced to 00:10:45.049 --> 00:10:47.590 frantically pack up and relocate entirely to 00:10:47.590 --> 00:10:49.970 Bel Air. And they don't just move into Beverly. 00:10:50.429 --> 00:10:52.669 They take over a neighboring Bradley Lodge, too. 00:10:52.870 --> 00:10:54.570 Which is quite a story in itself. Oh, totally. 00:10:55.029 --> 00:10:57.509 Because, wonderfully, there is still debate among 00:10:57.509 --> 00:11:00.350 the old -school boys whether Bradley Lodge was 00:11:00.350 --> 00:11:03.490 the brother's house to the east or Cully's Tudor 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:06.009 bungalow to the west. History is funny like that. 00:11:06.149 --> 00:11:09.419 It is. Regardless, they requisitioned these pristine 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:12.259 luxury private properties. I just cannot get 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:15.440 over the logistics of this. Trying to fit 176 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:18.019 schoolboys into a single -family mansion is like 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:20.519 trying to run a commercial server farm out of 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:22.960 a studio apartment. That's a great analogy. The 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.159 infrastructure just melts down. It is a complete 00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:27.799 mismatch of form and function. Think about it 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:29.720 from the family's perspective for you listening. 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:33.309 Imagine you were a wealthy socialite. used to 00:11:33.309 --> 00:11:36.509 hosting elegant, quiet suppers. And you receive 00:11:36.509 --> 00:11:39.309 a government notice that you have to hand the 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:43.490 keys to your pristine home over to 176 teenagers 00:11:43.490 --> 00:11:46.309 and 14 resident staff. It would have been utterly 00:11:46.309 --> 00:11:49.529 jarring. They literally had to erect four massive 00:11:49.529 --> 00:11:52.350 marquees with wooden floors out on the grand 00:11:52.350 --> 00:11:55.070 drives and front lawns just to have classroom 00:11:55.070 --> 00:11:58.070 space. Wow. The boys are sleeping in makeshift 00:11:58.070 --> 00:12:00.629 dorms out on the open back balconies facing the 00:12:00.629 --> 00:12:03.750 city. And the best detail from the sources, the 00:12:03.750 --> 00:12:06.730 sudden influx of nearly 200 people put an enormous 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:08.889 comical strain on the water supply and the septic 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:12.039 tanks. The plumbing entirely failed. Why did 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.279 it fail so spectacularly? Well, you have to look 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:16.440 at the mechanics of the era. Bel Air is in the 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:18.799 hills, so water pressure is already a challenge. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.539 Right. Combine that with 19th century terracotta 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.879 clay pipes designed to handle the daily output 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:26.399 of maybe a dozen people. Oh, boy. Yes. Suddenly, 00:12:26.539 --> 00:12:29.240 you have 200 people showering, using the latrines, 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:32.480 and washing clothes every single day. The physical 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.139 pipes literally cannot handle the volume. It's 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:38.169 a literal and figurative overflow. It really 00:12:38.169 --> 00:12:40.990 is. And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:12:41.490 --> 00:12:44.110 the requisitioning of Beverly shows how the existential 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:47.889 threat of WWII completely erased the line between 00:12:47.889 --> 00:12:50.809 civilian luxury and military necessity. Nobody 00:12:50.809 --> 00:12:53.149 cared about the luxury anymore. Not at all. The 00:12:53.149 --> 00:12:54.990 government didn't care about bridge games or 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:57.629 high society pedigrees. They needed beds and 00:12:57.629 --> 00:12:59.929 they needed them immediately. And the irony is 00:12:59.929 --> 00:13:02.509 the Americans never even used the original Torrance 00:13:02.509 --> 00:13:05.929 Park School. Exactly. By May 1942, the Battle 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:08.590 of the Coral Sea turns the tide of the war in 00:13:08.590 --> 00:13:11.070 the Pacific. The threat of immediate invasion 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:13.690 drops and the American military hospital never 00:13:13.690 --> 00:13:16.049 eventuates. But the school can't go back. Nope. 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:18.360 because the Royal Australian Air Force swooped 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.820 in and takes over Torrance Park instead. So Scotch 00:13:21.820 --> 00:13:24.419 College is stuck at Beerly, dealing with overflowing 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:27.860 septic tanks until early 1944. And the physical 00:13:27.860 --> 00:13:29.740 toll on the house during those two years was 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.620 immense. Which brings us to the aftermath. When 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.460 the boys finally leave in 1944, the government 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:38.139 formally offers Beerly back to the Burford descendants. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.720 And the family flatly rejects it. They do. Which 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:44.620 is wild, but... Honestly, you can hardly blame 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:47.340 them. Not at all. The military and the school 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:50.820 had installed what the family considered severely 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:53.460 disfiguring features to make the property functional 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:56.080 as an institution. Right. The most offensive 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:59.460 addition apparently was a giant ablution block. 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:03.120 The famous Ablution Block. Yes, that massive, 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.580 utilitarian public bathroom facility I mentioned 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:09.080 earlier. The military had slapped it right onto 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.039 the base of the mansion's beautiful historic 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:14.340 tower. It was an eyesore. Huge eyesore. The family 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:17.200 looks at this ugly concrete bathroom block, looks 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.419 at the ruined lawns, and basically says, no thanks, 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.019 keep it. So what does this all mean? The family 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:24.820 just walks away, and the soap dynasty's hold 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:27.590 on the hills is over. It means the house is unmoored 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:30.330 once again, but its brief stint as an institution 00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.710 during the war permanently altered its trajectory. 00:14:32.929 --> 00:14:34.769 Because it wasn't a private home anymore. Right. 00:14:35.169 --> 00:14:37.029 Because the family declines to take it back, 00:14:37.210 --> 00:14:39.929 a man named Major Milhouse steps in and urges 00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:42.409 the minister for repatriation to acquire the 00:14:42.409 --> 00:14:45.250 property. Wait, before we move on, who exactly 00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:47.629 is Major Milhouse? And why does the major have 00:14:47.629 --> 00:14:49.769 the power to step in and dictate real estate 00:14:49.769 --> 00:14:53.710 to a government minister? Uh, that is a great 00:14:53.710 --> 00:14:56.909 point of clarification. Major Milhouse was the 00:14:56.909 --> 00:15:00.759 president of the RSA. The RSA. Yes, which at 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:03.399 the time stood for the Returned Sailors and Soldiers 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:06.620 Imperial League of Australia. It's the precursor 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:09.639 to today's RSL. OK, got it. He was a massive 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:12.919 advocate for veterans welfare. He had enormous 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:15.360 political clout because Australia was suddenly 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.559 dealing with thousands of returning servicemen 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:19.679 who needed long term medical care. That makes 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.940 total sense. So he sees this massive vacant estate 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.600 sitting in the hills and realizes it's the perfect 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.720 medical facility. And the minister is impressed 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:31.070 by the site. June 1945, Beerly officially opens 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:34.110 as the Bel Air TB Sanatorium. Right. It completely 00:15:34.110 --> 00:15:36.370 transforms into a place of public healing. But 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:39.929 why this specific house for tuberculosis? It 00:15:39.929 --> 00:15:42.250 comes down to the medical protocols of the 1940s. 00:15:42.409 --> 00:15:44.610 Before antibiotics were widely available, the 00:15:44.610 --> 00:15:47.269 primary treatment for TB was heliotherapy and 00:15:47.269 --> 00:15:49.870 fresh air. Just sunlight and air. Sunlight and 00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:53.289 CRISPR. Beerly is situated high up in the Adelaide 00:15:53.289 --> 00:15:56.529 Hills above the smog of the city. More importantly, 00:15:56.649 --> 00:15:58.590 it had those massive sweeping balconies where 00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:01.230 the schoolboys used to sleep. Oh, perfect. Exactly. 00:16:01.769 --> 00:16:04.409 The medical staff could literally wheel the patient's 00:16:04.409 --> 00:16:06.570 beds out onto the balconies so they could breathe 00:16:06.570 --> 00:16:09.789 the crisp hill's air all day. The architecture 00:16:09.789 --> 00:16:12.009 of the house perfectly matched the medical needs 00:16:12.009 --> 00:16:14.950 of the era. That is brilliant. And it stays in 00:16:14.950 --> 00:16:17.169 the medical field for decades. It really does. 00:16:17.370 --> 00:16:21.610 From 1952 to 1976, it operates as the repatriation 00:16:21.610 --> 00:16:25.610 hospital beerily. Then in the 1980s, it morphs 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:28.590 again into St. Anthony's Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation 00:16:28.590 --> 00:16:31.629 Center. There is an incredibly poetic arc to 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:33.850 this building's life. There is. Think about where 00:16:33.850 --> 00:16:35.990 we started. It was built by Thomas Kinley Hamilton, 00:16:36.169 --> 00:16:38.909 a doctor. Right. It began as a monument to a 00:16:38.909 --> 00:16:41.590 medical professional's wealth. Then it served 00:16:41.590 --> 00:16:43.870 as an elite social fortress designed to keep 00:16:43.870 --> 00:16:47.309 people out. Yeah, the at -home days. Right. Then 00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:49.549 the war traumatized the building, fundamentally 00:16:49.549 --> 00:16:53.539 altering its architecture. But that very trauma, 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.759 that ugly ablution block on the tower, prevented 00:16:56.759 --> 00:16:59.639 it from returning to a site of exclusionary wealth. 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:02.340 It forced it into public service. Exactly. It 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:04.779 evolved into a place treating tuberculosis, a 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:08.160 physical respiratory plague. When that need faded, 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:10.960 it transitioned to St. Anthony's, healing the 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.440 psychological and addiction scars of modern life. 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.619 Wow. It spent nearly half a century serving the 00:17:16.619 --> 00:17:19.420 most vulnerable members of society, directly 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:22.380 because it was deemed too disfigured for high 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:24.460 society. That is just incredible. And you know, 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:26.900 the story has a happy ending, too. It does. In 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:28.740 recent years, after all that service, it has 00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:31.539 finally been meticulously restored. It is now 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:33.940 a private home again, owned by Hans Eamon and 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:36.349 Valmai Spicer. The grounds are maintained, the 00:17:36.349 --> 00:17:38.609 beautiful architecture is respected, and it's 00:17:38.609 --> 00:17:40.970 found peace. A very well earned piece. It has 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:43.589 come full circle, but with legacy of public service 00:17:43.589 --> 00:17:45.509 that Hamilton could never have envisioned when 00:17:45.509 --> 00:17:48.690 he first bought that land back in 1887. It really 00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:50.970 has been an incredible journey. If you look back 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:52.829 at everything we've talked about today, we started 00:17:52.829 --> 00:17:56.190 with Willa Willa, born from risky frontier land 00:17:56.190 --> 00:17:59.559 speculation by an ambitious surgeon. Right. We 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.160 watched it become burly, the soap dynasty's summer 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:05.500 fortress filled with choreographed at -home days. 00:18:06.180 --> 00:18:10.039 We saw it get completely overrun by 176 schoolboys 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:13.180 and their failing wartime septic tanks. The poor 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:15.980 plumbing. Yeah. And finally, we followed its 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.420 path from a tuberculosis sanatorium to a rehab 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:21.759 clinic, all the way back to being a serene, beautiful 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.539 family home. This raises an important question, 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:26.920 I think. Oh, what's that? We have spent this 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.680 entire deep dive looking at how a physical building 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.380 absorbs the history of the people who pass through 00:18:32.380 --> 00:18:34.700 it. But it makes you wonder about the future 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:37.140 of modern architecture. How do you mean? Well, 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:39.480 today we build homes with integrated smart tech, 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:43.359 customized wiring and personalized data ecosystems. 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:47.039 We are tying our houses so closely to our specific 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.920 digital identities that a blank slate historical 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.279 handover might be impossible in the future. Oh, 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.319 wow. 100 years from now, a house won't just hold 00:18:55.319 --> 00:18:57.759 the architectural ghosts of its previous owners. 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:01.000 It might literally still hold their data. That 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.759 is a completely entirely different kind of haunting 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:06.099 to think about. A digital ghost in the walls. 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:09.019 That is a brilliant thought to leave on. Thank 00:19:09.019 --> 00:19:10.960 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:13.079 And for you listening, next time you walk past 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.319 an old house, take a second look. Keep questioning 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:17.240 the history that is hiding right there in plain 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:17.500 sight.