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| The location for Berrima Courthouse was first chosen in 1834, taking another 3 years to complete construction. Built of hand-hewn sandstone in Regency style, Berrima, NSW |
Berrima is an historic town located 125 kilometres southwest of Sydney.
The area around Berrima was part of the traditional Dharawal lands, which encompass some 450 square miles (1,200 km2).
This well-preserved Australian Georgian colonial town has many
charming buildings, shops and cafes to explore.
The name "Berrima" is believed to derive from an Aboriginal word meaning either "southward" or "black swan".
Harper's Mansion, overlooking the town, was built from 1829 to 1830.
New South Wales surveyor-general Thomas Mitchell chose Berrima townsite on the road from Sydney to Goulburn. It was surveyed in 1830 with the intention that it would become an administrative centre.
The courthouse was built between 1833 and 1838.
A convict stockade was established here in 1830 for road building.
The Surveyor General Inn was built in 1834.
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| Australia's oldest licensed inn - built 1834, Berrima, NSW (Aussie Mobs) |
The gaol was built from 1835 by convict labour and opened in 1839.
There were fourteen hotels in or near the town in the 1840s.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church, designed by Edmund Blacket, was built in 1849.
St Francis Xavier Catholic Church was built 1849–51.
In 1915, Berrima
Gaol was reopened as an internment camp for German prisoners. By 1917, the internees had establishment vegetable gardens outside the gaol.
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| In 1915, Berrima Gaol was reopened as an internment camp for German prisoners, serving as a satellite camp of the large Holsworthy Internment Camp at Liverpool, along with Trial Bay Gaol and a number of other facilities in the State. With the declaration of War in 1914, people of German origin and German property immediately became the "enemy". Berrima, NSW, Aussie~mobs |
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| Sentry on Duty at the BerrimaConcentration Camp, NSW, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 15 December 1916 |
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| OLD DRINKING TROUGH BERRIMA, situated 84 miles from Sydney —a short distance from the main southern highway near Moss Vale —possesses in its Courthouse the oldest building in Australia, next to the Church of England at Windsor (N.S.W.). Of local stone, the Courthouse was erected in 1839, and the Berrima Gaol, opposite the Courthouse, followed some years later. The gaol was first used in 1859 and closed in 1909, but gained further history as a German Concentration Camp during the Great War. The accompanying illustration shows the drinking trough, built in the wall of the gaol. A broad arrow and the date, 1877, are cut into the stone under the ox’s head and its surround, which are of worked iron. In the early days of the settlement, much business was transacted at the Berrima Courthouse, and for the many who came on horseback or in horse-drawn vehicles, the trough provided a watering-place for the horses, as well as for passing stock, the water being pumped from a well inside the gaol grounds. Walkabout. Vol. 4 No. 10 (1 August 1938) Berrima was bypassed by a new section of the Hume Highway in March 1989. Berrima, NSW, Walkabout Vol. 4 No. 10 (1 August 1938) |
Heritage Listings
- Argyle Street: Berrima Correctional Centre (from 1839)
- Argyle Street: Berrima Internment Camp Huts Area (from 1915 to 1918)
- Argyle Street: Berrima Post Office (1886)
- Argyle Street: Holy Trinity Anglican Church (1849)
- Hume Highway: St Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church (1849-51)
- Jellore Street: Berrima Inn (by 1834)
- Jellore Street: Victoria Inn ( first licensed in 1840)
- 12 Jellore Street: CBC Bank Building (completed by 1836)
- 16 Jellore Street: Jellore Cottage (1860s)
- 19 Jellore Street: Berrima House (1835)
- 24 Jellore Street: Mail Coach Inn (built from 1833 to 1841)
- 5–7 Market Place: Magistrate's House (1830s to early 1840s)
- Market Street: White Horse Inn (from 1834-1850s)
- 5 Market Street: Nurses Cottage (1890)
- Stockade Street: Makin Cottage
- Wilkinson Street: Harper's Mansion (1829 to 1830)
Around Berrima
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| The Surveyor General Inn was built in 1834, Berrima, NSW |
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| Berrima heritage cottage, NSW |
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| The old Berrima Gaol was built in 1835–39 of local sandstone, NSW |
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| Berrima, NSW |
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| The Governor's Residence at Berrima Correctional Centre, NSW |
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| CBC Bank Building is a heritage-listed bank building at 12 Jellore Street, Berrima, NSW |
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| Taylor's Crown Inn, hand-built by convicts in 1844, Berrima, NSW |
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| Commerical hotel built in 1858, Berrima, NSW. Now restaurant |
Things To Do
Berrima Historic Walk
