There are 15 other buildings dating from 1880 up until 1910, including a cottage, a milking shed, stables, horse yards, a blacksmith's shop and a slaughterhouse, along with collections of farming equipment and other items.

[1] Colonel Henry Dumaresq came to NSW in 1825 as a private secretary to his brother-in-law Governor Darling and in 1833 was appointed Commissioner in charge of the Australian Agricultural Company based at Port Stephens and Stroud.

The Improvements on the Head Station are a six-room cottage, kitchen and store detached, 6 stall stable, Barn, Large Woolshed, Garden, well stocked with fruit trees, five men's huts recently built'.

[1] Thomas, his new wife and infant son took possession of the existing buildings on the land near Saumarez Creek, these included the store, a barn, a wool shed and a six-roomed slab cottage.

He was sympathetic to the selectors, encouraging closer settlement on land that had previously been occupied by the Saumarez sheep, as former gold diggers turned to farming on its fertile basalt soils.

[1] In 1874 Thomas sold Saumarez to Frank White of "Edinglassie", Muswellbrook and moved closer to Sydney to Wivenhoe near Cobbitty to enjoy a quieter, easier lifestyle as a gentleman farmer.

His father James had been employed 50 years earlier to bring a ship load of sheep to the colony and since that time Frank and his brothers had acquired a prosperous chain of properties extending out from the Hunter Valley.

White built up a valuable rural land holding which included Aberfoil and Bald Blair east of Guyra as well as Saumarez and shares in Queensland and Northern Territory properties.

He had close family and business links with his brothers based in the Hunter Valley at Edinglassie, Belltrees, Timor, Segenhoe and Martindale, his uncle F. R. White at Harben Vale, Blandford, Rockwood east of Uralla and at Booloominbah near Armidale.

White married Margaret (Maggie) Fletcher of Orundunby, Walcha and they lived in the Thomas-built (slab hut with brick additions) house where five of their children were born.

It was typical of a nineteenth century large landholders home; but its multiple bedrooms and nurseries and servant accommodation and the smallness of its public rooms stressed its purpose of family comfort rather than an entertainment center.

With the help of several domestic staff and eventually her daughters, she entertained freely and enjoyed comfort and leisure, whilst sometimes chafing under the duties and responsibilities of her role as mistress of Saumarez, until her death there in 1936.

After a notable career in World War I, Harold played a leading part in rural affairs, particularly in pastoral improvement in New England, and developed his stud of Angus cattle on his property Bald Blair near Guyra.

[1] The two remaining unmarried sisters, Mary and Elsie also lived on at Saumarez caring for their mother, who spent her final years enjoying the magnificent garden she had (mostly) created.

[1] The eldest daughter, Mary (born in 1882) lived unmarried at Saumarez until her death in 1948, fulfilling a useful role in setting up the first Armidale branch of the Country Women's Association, at several international conferences overseas, and was appointed to the first Council of the New England University College.

[1] Their busy, independent and productive lives as the ladies of Saumarez, and their presence ensured that it remained a focal point for the next generation of the family - Frank and Maggie's grandchildren.

[1] Suamarez Homestead at Armidale, set on 10 hectares (25 acres), including house and contents, garden and old farm buildings)[9] was donated to the National Trust in 1984 by descendants of F. J.

Property Manager Les Davis, supported by a committee and a small team of staff and volunteers have enhanced and increased visitor experiences and effective marketing to attract new levels and sources of visitation.

[13][1] The intriguing variety of rare garden heritage at Saumarez is complemented by its colourful bluebells, jonquils, Sparaxis and superb seasonal flowerings of herbaceous paeonies (Paeonia suffruticosa cv.s).

Volunteer training weekends over the last two years featured talks by author Anne Philp, a descendant of the White family, who focused on the people who planned the gardens.

[1][15] It won an Armidale Business Chamber Award 2015 for outstanding digital innovation for its development of an App for mobile phones to access history and interpretation data at various points around the property.

[1][16]: 5 Since its completion in 1905, the ground floor verandah valence ironwork moved up to 1st floor balcony, staircase formed in "night nursery", original "sitting room" was enlarged to for the present drawing room, Art Nouveau screen built in drawing room, "scullery" demolished and replaced by the existing one, exterior doorways formed to the staircase, office and cellar, window of room (5) enlarged, washroom (9) formed by construction of the present North Wall, staircase (13) in service wing formed in original "servants" hall, original pantry enlarged by construction of the wall between present pantry (12) and servants, stair, external door and window heads rendered with cement (except those in the service courtyard, Wunderlich ceilings introduced ( probably replacing lath and plaster ceilings), iron inserts and tiling in fireplaces added, gas fittings installed which were evidently supplied from a gasometer, plans of which were drawn up by Pender.

[1] The garden has a relatively high proportion of plant material which originated in the Mediterranean, such as: box honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida), winter/lenten roses (Helleborus niger), spurges (Euphorbia characias ssp.

), Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), rock roses (Cistus spp./cv.s), sweet alyssum (Lobluaria maritima), common ivy (Hedera helix), blue Atlas cedar from Morocco and Algeria (Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca'), Algerian oak (Quercus canariensis), Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum), daffodils (Narcissus spp./cv.s), grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum/botryoides), bluebell (Endymion non-scripta/Scilla campanulata), flag iris (I.germanica cv.s), lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina), holly (Ilex aquifolium), snowflake (Leucojum vernum), white poplar (Populus alba), small-leaved privet (Ligustrum vulgare), hawthorn (Crataegus oxycantha/monocarpa), "Irish" strawberry tree/madrone (Arbutus unedo), winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissimum) and the shrub Viburnum plicatum.

[8][1] Listed as a significant tree by the National Trust on 25 May 2015 and sited to the south-east of the homestead, the Ginkgo biloba is 18m high, 5.4m in circumference (multi-trunk) with a 17-metre (56 ft) canopy spread.

[1] The intriguing variety of rare garden heritage at Saumarez, complemented by its colourful bluebells, jonquils, Sparaxis and superb seasonal flowerings of herbaceous paeonies (Paeonia suffruticosa cv.s) make visits a delight.

They include a rich photographic collection, F.J.White's letter-books, Saumarez Station work diaries and oral history interviews with long-serving family employees, such as the Betts.

There is an artese sitting on the west balcony 28 and another stored in the shed loft (feature 89) The kitchen (15) has an aga slow combustion cooking stove installed in 1936 which is presently oil-fired.

Saumarez Homestead demonstrates the diverse cultural, social economic and occupational attitudes of rural community from the mid nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries.

Saumarez is a substantial country house, in a landscaped setting, together with a collection of furniture, furnishings and memorabilia which have evolved with the family's occupation of the place and which reflects their domestic and personal continuity and development.