The History of Mount Booralee Estate
During the mid-late 1880’s the Blue Mountains were a popular destination for wealthy Sydney residents to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and enjoy the exceptional views, fresh clean air and the peace and quiet offered by the mountains. The area was particularly popular for bushwalkers and nature lovers who delighted in the abundance of unusual and exotic fauna and flora, unlike anything they had seen in Europe or North America.
In 1881 a successful Sydney draughtsman, Douglas Stewart McMinn, an avid bushwalker in and around the Blackheath area, climbed to the top of a rocky hill some four kilometres from the Blackheath village and gazed out on one of the most expansive panoramas to be found anywhere in the Blue Mountains. He was so impressed by the majesty of this expansive vista that he decided that he must have it for his very own. After some negotiations with the Crown, he acquired twenty acres (eight hectares) on Torrens Title for the sum of £100.
McMinn retained the mountain retreat until 1917, when it was sold to one of Sydney’s most prominent musicians, William Reginald Gooud, who lived at Lindfield. By this time a comfortable, commodious residence had been erected on the site and Reginald Gooud extend his hospitality to many of the most distinguished international concert artists and musicians to visit Australia. There were numerous stories about the music-making, and the glorious sounds that echoed across the mountain sides and valleys in those days, as artists practiced and entertained each other in the evenings. This all came to an abrupt halt in the winter of 1929.
One cold Sunday morning while the Gooud family, except for one daughter, were at church, a log rolled from the large open fireplace and beyond the hearth in the living room, setting fire to the flooring boards and thus creating a conflagration which completely destroyed the house and all that it contained.
Reginal Gooud was reluctant to rebuild and, in 1931, sold the property to Miss Elizabeth Boutcher, a woman of “charm and culture”, but at the same time an eccentric recluse who was quite elderly. Miss Boutcher, the youngest daughter of Captain Phillip Boutcher, was born in Ireland and had come to Australia after spending some time in South Africa. She engaged one of Sydney’s leading builders, Maxwell Porter, to erect a substantial dwelling upon the land using the finest mahogany, teak and northern-river timbers. She named the property “Toward” because, she said, it pointed towards heaven and looked toward every direction.
Hitherto there had been no attempt to establish a garden. Miss Boutcher now planted a minimal garden around the house. She retained eucalypts, Scribbly Gum as specimen trees that framed the view of the house from the drive and planted conifers throughout the garden. Ancient Old Man Banksias to the west of the house were also retained.
