from the Conservation Report on Oldbury, Berrima
Written by Kim Johnston of Bennet Fox Designs, 2003
‘. . . In the centre bedroom, the name Atkinson is scratched in the softwood. Roughly done, its direction bumped by the late growth/ early growth ridges, the “o” clumsily like an “a”. Beneath it, there appears “James”. This room was probably the children’s bedroom. James’s son, also a James, with his three sisters, endured a childhood of a mad stepfather, corrupt or incompetent executors of his father’s estate, and repeated attempts to remove the children from the custody of their mother. It may not be carved by James but still the house bears the name of Atkinson . . .’