Sotherton in Brisbane Street houses 170 years of history and a swanky retro garden

At 15 Brisbane Street you will find Launceston’s oldest house, the 1824-era Sunnybank built by Englishman William Effingham Lawrence.

A little closer to the street is 15A - or Sotherton - a building which was erected a century later, yet nonetheless retains as much history.

Built from the bricks of the 1840s-era Launceston Club Hotel, which was demolished in 1929, Sotherton was first the home and practice of the legendary Dr Clifford Craig, later the Launceston Pathology and later still an office block. 

Nowadays, it is the restoration project of history enthusiast Robert Dusting.

After winning a City of Launceston Heritage Award for his work on the building’s interior in 2011, Mr Dusting has more recently taken to the property’s gardens, seeking to return the property’s outdoors to their 1930s glory days. 

The garden project saw Mr Dusting again recognised at the 2017 awards, making Sotherton one of few buildings to win multiple certificates.

“I entered the garden because I’d been working on it for so long and I’d won it for the house, so I thought it would be good for the house to have two awards,” Mr Dusting said.

“It’s only a small garden and a city garden but a lot of work has gone into it and I’ve been pretty faithful to the original plantings as well as uncovering the original design of it, so it’s virtually back.

“I don’t think too many places get two gongs so it was good to get it.”

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Now a well-ordered and picturesque scattering of flowers and greenery, the garden was a completely different commodity when Mr Dusting bought the house at auction in 2008.

Ivy which had been left to grow for years covered the garage, a pine oak tree stood 22 metres tall in the front yard and weeds grew half a metre high at the rear of the property.

But with the guidance of one of the home’s original inhabitants and more drive than a car factory, Mr Dusting set about clearing away years of undergrowth to plant new camellias, marigolds, maples and rhododendrons.

“When Dr Craig’s daughter Jane was alive she’d come here and tell me the stories about the place and where things were.

“Gradually I’ve uncovered the old paths and put in plants that were here before that she’d told me about and I found about three plants that survived from her era.

“She’s gone now but I was lucky to have here here for a short while to point me in the right direction.” 

With a heritage listing and multiple awards to Sotherton’s name, Mr Dusting is now confident that the property he regards as a significant slice of Launceston’s history will be secure long into the future.

Not that he plans to rest up anytime soon - there’s still plenty of work to do in the garden.  

“I need another couple of years to get the feel of being an old, established garden but it’s virtually there now. 

“I think it’s a very important property to the city and I think to have the garden as close to the original as possible and mature as quickly as possible - that’s important. 

“It’s a unique house, you’ll never see another one like it around.”