Neotsfield

Dangar was rewarded for his service when Governor Macquarie granted him 700 acres in the Hunter Valley between Morpeth and Raymond Terrace on 6 September 1821.

[1] When Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane began preparations early in 1822 for the free settlement of the Hunter River districts, Dangar was transferred to Newcastle to make a detailed and immediate survey of the valley, which was believed to extend only about 25 miles (40 km) to the north.

Early in 1824 Colonel James Morisset, commandant at Newcastle, complained that Dangar was paying too much attention to his own 700-acre (283 ha) grant and too little to his official duties, whereupon Surveyor-General John Oxley ordered his transfer to another district.

[4][1] The order was withdrawn and for the next year Dangar toiled almost unceasingly, marking the road from Newcastle to Wallis Plains (Maitland), measuring reserves and grants and working steadily northwards until he reached the hitherto unsettled upper districts of the Hunter River.

[4][1] Cornish place names, scattered through the Hunter Valley, mark Henry Dangar's surveys and record his deep affection for his birthplace.

From the headwaters of the Manning, Dangar crossed the Great Dividing Range to the Liverpool Plains, a feat of extreme endurance and skill which he performed for a second time afterwards, and selected for Parry's personal examination an extensive area of attractive land.

As a magistrate and member of the District Council his experience and judgement were in frequent demand, and he gave time and energy to the agricultural and political advancement of the Hunter Valley.

[4][1] The magnitude and complexity of his pastoral and business interests, combined with the incessant demands of public office and private affairs, at length exhausted even Henry Dangar's vitality.

Their surviving children were William John of Neotsfield, Henry Cary Dangar MLA, Frederick Holkham, Albert Augustus, Francis Richard, Margaret and Florence.

William's pastoral interests became so extensive that Turanville was managed by his brother-in-law, Samuel Wellington Cook, whose son established a stud farm there.

The property was well-watered by the Hunter River, and tanks and reservoirs filled by windmill pumps meant that there was no shortage of water for the valuable stock.

Henry Dangar quickly extended his interest, purchasing additional grazing properties and leasing extensive runs which by 1850 amounted to more than 300,000 acres (121, 407 ha).

Later it offered this description: The house and offices are brick built and complete, and fit for the residence of a genteel family; they have been erected under the proprietor's own superintendence and combine elegance with comfort.

The house contains entrance hall, dining and drawing rooms, six bedrooms, pantry, stores and servants' apartments, and having in front a spacious and elegant verandah.

However, possibly due to the ill health of his wife Marian at the time, he did not proceed with the implementation of these plans and consequently sold them to a neighbour, Duncan Forbes Mackay.

Marian Dangar died on the 22 July 1881 aged 51 some 4 years following the completion of Minimbah homestead and during which time having a constant view in the distance of what could have been her new home.

(ref Gregoy Knodler "Henry Dangar's Neotsfield 1825-2015") Many of the fine Victorian additions to the homestead at this time, together with the construction of the wooden stables.

The first set of stables that stood on the left of the entry road and north of the homestead's west wing was dismantled and reconstructed on Neots Park (and remains standing).

Considering the very poor condition of the homestead they faced a huge challenge, including clearing the billiard room where food for goats had been stored.

[1] On 15 March 1994 Neotsfield was surveyed by surveyor Robert George to subdivide the property into two lots and provide an access road from the homestead to Racecourse Lane.

Retrieved 29 October 2018. The main buildings, in (Victorian) Regency (Revival) style were originally designed around a three-sided courtyard, with the homestead itself being built after the two wings.

These were used as a kitchen, servants' rooms, store, dairy, scullery, convict cellar and temporary family quarters while the residence itself was constructed.

This rhythmic device provided sufficient visual interest to overcome what would perhaps have been an overpowering planar quality to the wall, unsympathetic to the remainder of the forms.

[1] Italian vases of Carrara marble (8) that once graced the front of the house (*4, 8) were taken by Richard Dangar when he left Neotsfield in 1924 and installed at his new property in Cassilis.

The Dangar family built up strong commercial interests in the Upper Hunter and the name can be linked with neighbouring properties such as "Baroona" and "Minimbah".

Deamer (1971) considers that these later additions were commissioned by Henry's son William in an endeavour to match "the pile created by his brother Albert at "Baroona" ".

With the present influx of industrial development in the Hunter Valley, and particularly in the Singleton district, properties of this type can perhaps be a timely reminder of our past to both old and new generations.