" Lisnagar"
“Remember me in the family tree, my name, my days, my strife; then I’ll ride upon the wings of time And live an endless life.” ~ Linda Goetsch.
Continuing with my recent theme of visiting old houses that hold some significance to me, I felt compelled to include a historic family homestead, situated just outside of Murwillumbah on the far northern New South Wales coast. This home is named “Lisnagar”.
To this day I can still remember the first time I spotted “Lisnagar” whilst driving past the home in the back seat of my parent’s station wagon. We had only just moved to Murwillumbah, having relocated from the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. I was thirteen years old and this beautiful old home immediately conjured up images in my young, impressionable minds-eye of women wearing lovely long white dresses, and bonnets with big ribbon ties under their chins.
Hiding among the greenery
My interest with “Lisnagar” was resurrected at the age of nineteen, when I met the man who was to become my husband. This beautiful old home had been built by his great-grandfather, Edward Twohill.
“Lisnagar” was built in the early 1900’s by Edward and his wife Ellen and is presently owned by Terry Twohill, a grandson of Edward and Ellen’s.
Upstairs, downstairs
The home has remained in the Twohill family throughout all the years of its existence, with two of Ellen and Edwards unmarried children, Emma and Kevin, being the last two occupants.
Looking upstairs
The eldest child of Edward and Ellen was Esther, my husband’s grandmother. Esther lived to the ripe old age of ninety years. (Esther’s eldest son just celebrated his 99th birthday!) Esther passed away in 1983 and during the six years that I knew her, barely a weekend went by that we didn’t spend some time with Gran and her best friend, a tiny female chihuahua named “Kelly”.
The Twohill family are an eccentric clan, to say the least! Dear old Gran, bless her soul, was certainly not the stereotypical warm and fuzzy grandmother! She remained opinionated and fiery by nature, right through to the day she died.
“Lisnagar” is an extremely beautiful homestead, with wrought iron lace work adorning all the verandas, as was the style of architecture during the Victorian era. I had the opportunity of photographing the detailed lace work close up recently when visiting the home with my husband and daughters during a family reunion.
An abundance of lace work
When I decided to add my photos of “Lisnagar” here today, I searched Google to see if I could find any links to websites to share, only to find some rather wishy-washy links available. So what I will offer is my story, my photos and my memories of the fiery daughter of Edward and Ellen, whom I was fortunate enough to know.
Gran spoke very fondly of her old family home. She had married in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank, the reception of the wedding being held at “Lisnagar”.
Detailed sketch by Gran
Gran and her female siblings were very artistic, with the walls within “Lisnagar” holding a number of old drawings and paintings done by the girls. Gran had been a very talented artist in her younger day, although her artistic ambitions had ended with the birth of the first of her twelve children.
One of Gran's paintings
The grounds of “Lisnagar” are another story within themselves, which I will continue with tomorrow….
The downstairs veranda
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What a beautiful place! And such an interesting tale to go with it.
Robin recently posted..Down the muskrat hole
Thank you Robin.
It was an enjoyable experience telling the tale also.
Hi Joanne We very much enjoyed your story about the grand old house and your GRAN. We did have the great pleasure of visiting the house about ten odd years ago . We were living on the Tweed at the time . We have been looking at our family tree and cannot come up with the Twohill name. So maybe just a coinsidence.
Sincerely
Paul & Sue Neylan
Hello Paul and Sue! I wonder did you know that the name Neylan was associated with Lisnagar when you visited the house. I’m sure there is a family connection somewhere, as it is not a very common name at all. It would be interesting to delve deeper into the family tree!
I’m looking into adding a contact form to this site, so I do hope you read this reply and perhaps we could work out if there is a connection.
Hi i am writting to let u know my husband is a descendant of Lisnagar his grandmother was a Twohill(i asked my husband what her name is and he can only remember her as nan i will have to ask his mum typical male ha ha) and married a loughman and i think she was a great neice .And also if you watch the sisters of war (based on a true story about world war 2 in paupa new guinea)there is a nun called Sr. M. Berenice Twohill she is related also i think she maybe still alive but very frail.I dont think any one live at Lisnagar now but Terry lives close by i think it is national heritage now.
Hello Teresa, it’s lovely to meet you.
I love that… Nan Loughman! Yes, typical male!
The story you mentioned with Sr. Berenice rings a bell, but I can’t remember details. My mother-in-law will be visiting tomorrow for Mother’s Day, so I will show her your comment and see if she can add any details. She is the grand-daughter of Edward Twohill, and first cousin to Terry Twohill. As far as I know, Terry is living at Lisnagar now.
I’ll add more to this comment after I speak to my mother-in-law.
Teresa, I spoke to my in-laws today, who know Sr. Berenice and have a copy of the movie you mentioned, which they will lend to me to watch. Sister Berenices father, Alex Twohill, and my mother-in-law’s mother, Esther Twohill, were first cousins.
Sr. Berenice is now in her mid 90′s and is living in Sydney.
Both of my in-laws recognised your sir name immediately! Did your husbands grandmother have a brother, John Twohill, who married Marie Murnane?
It’s interesting to hear from the extended family of Edward Twohill. There are still quite a few about!