Lake Innes Ruins
Port Macquarie, Australia has many attractions and venues for visitors to the area. If you are a history buff, you’ll definitely want to add a trip to the Lake Innes Ruins to your list of activities to visit. The Lake Innes house was the home of entrepreneur Major Archibald Clunes Innes, who was an influential settler in this area. Innes spent some time stationed at the Port Macquarie penal settlement, and had also purchased quite a lot of land in the area as well as a few businesses. He felt that he was really a part of the community. Since he liked the Port Macquarie area, in 1880 he decided to use the 1039 hectares of land that he had received in a land grant, and have himself a lovely home built on part of it.
But, Innes’ decision to settle here was not without some crafty business sense. Innes had given some thought to what Port Macquarie would be like in the future, and thought that it would be in his best interests to live prominently in the area. He was sure that Port Macquarie would become an important connection to the coastal regions nearby, particularly the Hastings River and New England areas. Obviously, Major Innes wanted to be close to the action, and to be a part of it, too.
The house was built over a period of time that ranged from 1831 to 1843. Innes decided to use convict labor to build his house, and at one point in 1837 during the construction, there were 85 convicts working to complete his home for him. With 22 rooms in all, the Lake Innes house was a very imposing structure, as befit a man of Major Innes’ importance. However, Innes and his wife did not get to enjoy their new and expansive home for very long at all.
When the Depression hit Australia back in the 1840’s, Major Innes lost his businesses, his land, and the beautiful home he had built. When he finally left the Lake Innes house, he was nearly penniless.
Over the years, an assortment of people lived in the house, but eventually, it was left standing vacant. At this point, derelicts began to creep in and used the house as a place to live. These people were very destructive to both the inside and the outside of the house. As the years passed, the Lake Innes house began to show signs of this destruction, along with vandalism and the usual decay that a house suffers when it is left open and unoccupied for some time. Eventually, the house collapsed in ruins, looking much like it does today.
This expanse of jumbled bricks and boards is one of the oldest structures that is made of brick in northern New South Wales. It represents an important chapter in Australia’s history, as it gives evidence of how things were in colonial times. The National Parks and Wildlife Service conducts tours of the Lake Innes Ruins, and you can find out when they are scheduled by contacting the Greater Port Macquarie Visitor Information Centre.
