for outstanding debts. By this stage the grounds appear to be bare with a high wood fence installed on the western side of the building about this time. It then was used during WWI for an artillery training range and this fenced area also appears in photos along with smaller buildings on the grounds nearby. It was resumed in 1919 by the New South Wales government was finally demolished in around 1922 - the land subdivided to build a housing estate for returned soldiers. Sir John Sulman was engaged to build this. Not much remains of the once imposing castle-like building except for two stone turrets from the building indicating what was once on the general spot (this was recently vandalised and the commemorative plaque stolen; noted 2010. Originally piers from the back entrance of the building, which had been stored by the council for many years - they were placed on the headland with a memorial fountain in 1967 at Richardson's Lookout in Holt Street. Other remains are garden paths with flags and liners, one or two of the original stone blocks from the walls, and the base of what was probably a garden feature such as an urn or fountain. An area with a few cobblestones in the grass, remains under some native fig trees, and was probably a drive that led to the back of the stables. Also on the bank of the river below are the crypts that Thomas Holt built into a sandstone overhang for his family. No bodies were subsequently laid to rest except for the Mother Superior of the Carmelite order who was interred for a short time. "Ferndale" in Kent Lane, Newtown, is the earliest of his four houses and the last surviving residence connected with Thomas Holt. It is heritage-listed. Marrickville became a municipality on 6 November 1861. In 1948, it merged with neighboring municipalities of St Peters and Petersham to form Marrickville Municipal Council. The first school opened in August 1864 and the post office opened in 1865. The railway line to Bankstown opened in 1895. The station was known as Illawarra Road during construction. Later, when it was decided that Marrickville was a more appropriate name, the original Marrickville station was renamed Sydenham. In the first half of the twentieth century, Marrickville was a centre of Catholic-dominated Labor politics and the political base of Joseph Cahill, who continued to