Historic Places To Visit Around Sydney

Rouse Hill House and Farm

Rouse Hill House, NSW, built from 1813–1818

Rouse Hill area was on the lands of the Darug people.

Rouse Hill is a suburb of Sydney.

Rouse Hill House and farm, was the family home of Richard Rouse, the Colonial Superintendent of Public Works and Convicts at Parramatta.

Built from 1813, in Australian Georgian style, the Rouse Hill homestead is now managed by Sydney Living Museums as a museum that is open to the public.

Richard Rouse arrived in the colony in 1801 and was given a grant of 450 acres, at an area known as Vinegar Hill.

Vinegar Hill was named after a place in County Wexford, Ireland, where Irish and English forces clashed in 1798.

This first rebellion in Australian history occurred on 4 March 1804 in Rouse Hill. The battle was between escaped Irish convicts who wanted to overthrow British rule in New South Wales and return to Ireland.

The New South Wales Governor Philip Gidley King declared martial law and Major George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps along with troops and civilian volunteers tried to get the rebels to surrender.

The Irishmen responded with "death or liberty, and a ship to take us home".

Government forces fired on the convicts, killing 15. The remaining convicts ran into the bush, where the troops pursued them, killing about 15 more. Most of the convicts surrendered or were recaptured.

The Battle of Rouse Hill, Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950)

The area became known as Vinegar Hill.

In 1805, New Windsor Road was built as an extension from Baulkham Hills to Windsor. The Hawkesbury Road then became known as "Old Windsor Road".

In 1810, James Harper began to build a public turnpike road from Cheer's Corner in Town of Sydney to the toll bridge at Hawkesbury. Toll gates were added at Windsor, Rouse Hill and Parramatta.

Governor Macquarie changed the name of the locality to Rouse Hill.

Rouse Hill House and Farm, NSW, Farmer and Settler (Sydney, NSW : 1906 - 1955),

When a daily mail coach service began between Windsor and Sydney in 1831, horses were changed at the Rouse Hill Hotel. The publican at the time, John Booth, was known as "Crockery Bill".

Rouse died in 1852 and left the property to his son Edwin Rouse. Edwin's son Edwin Stephen Rouse, inherited the property when he died in 1862. In fact, six generations of this family have lived at Rouse Hill house and farm.

Rouse family and others, Rouse Hill House, NSW, 1859, SLNSW

Also part of the surrounding estate are the restored 1888 schoolhouse and the site of the 1804 "Vinegar Hill" convict rebellion.

Visit the estate and see memorabilia, artefacts, furnishings, buildings and gardens the Rouse family.

Also at Rouse Hill

The Royal Oak

The Royal Oak, a heritage-listed hotel on Windsor Road in Rouse Hill, was built 1826 -29. The hotel has been known as the Mean Fiddler Hotel, White Hart Inn and Queens Arms Inn.

The Royal Oak, a heritage-listed hotel on Windsor Road in Rouse Hill, NSW, was built 1826 -29

Aberdoon House

Aberdoon House located in Clower Avenue, Rouse Hill, NSW

Aberdoon House, located in Clower Avenue, Rouse Hill, is an intact example of an old Colonial Georgian Cottage.

The land was granted to former convict Thomas Clower on 13 January 1818.

Hugh Kelly, who later owned the property, was a well known early settler and landowner whose name is remembered in the township of Kellyville.

Kelly bought the property in 1826. He also owned the nearby "Bird in the Hand" tavern, a heritage-listed inn at 87 Eldon Street, Pitt Town.

Kelly named the farm "Vinegar Hill Farm".

Later, after 1841, Vinegar Hill Farm was sold to brothers William and Dr. Alexander Gamack, who subdivided the land, and called it Aberdour, after the village of their birth near Edinburgh, Scotland.

The date 1887, which appears above the lintel of the front door, is believed to be the date of a major renovation and not the original date of construction.

The Hunting Lodge

The Hunting Lodge at 58 The Water Lane in Rouse Hill, NSW, is on land granted by Governor King to Governor Bligh in 1806.

The Hunting Lodge at 58 The Water Lane in Rouse Hill is on land granted by Governor King to Governor Bligh in 1806. The building may have been constructed by Governor Bligh or the Terry family of Box Hill. Or one of their tenants who was a stonemason.

Mungerie House

Mungerie house is situated on land that was granted to Edward Robinson on 18 October 1809. 16 Bellcast Rd, Rouse Hill NSW

Mungerie house is situated on land that was granted to Edward Robinson on 18 October 1809. When Robinson died in 1820, his 15 year old son, Edward, inherited the property. A survey map from 1827 does not show the house on the property. It is believed that the house may have been built between 1866 and 1895.

Around Rouse Hill House and Farm

Rouse Hill House, NSW, built from 1813–1818

Rouse Hill House and farm, NSW

The stables at the Rouse Hill property, built around 1876, NSW

Rouse Hill House and farm, NSW

The dining room at Rouse Hill House and farm, NSW

Places To Go

Visit Rouse Hill House and Farm

The Fiddler Rouse Hill Royal Oak Inn (former)

Mungerie House (now a cafe/Restaurant)

Aberdoon House

The Arms of Australia Inn Museum: Emu Plains

The Arms of Australia Inn Museum located on the Great Western Highway, Emu Plains, NSW

The Arms of Australia Inn Museum, located on the Great Western Highway, Emu Plains, was built it two sections, the first in 1826.

The inn was once a staging post for travellers from Sydney going over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst and the goldfields.

The original building was part of Governor Macquarie’s Experimental Prison Farm, possibly the tanner's hut. The inn was probably licensed as the Mountaineer Inn in 1837 before being licensed as The Arms of Australia in 1841.

Businesses along the Great Western Road collapsed after a rail line opened to Bathurst in 1869.

The Arms of Australia was a ruin for years until it was saved from demolition and restored and officially opened on 27th March 1976 as a museum of local history.

The Inn is also the Headquarters of the NSW Corps of Marines.

Headquarters of the NSW Corps of Marines.is the Arms of Australia Museum, Emu Plains, Sydney Australia.

Some Interesting Facts

The greater Blue Mountains area has six distinct Aboriginal peoples—Darug, Gundungurra, Wiradjuri, Wanaruah, Darkinjung, and Tharawal.

In 1789, Governor Arthur Phillip was leading a boat expedition when they came upon Aboriignal people on the Branches of the Hawkesbury River northwest of Sydney, whom they called "The Branch" natives. Phillip’s party camped with Aboriignal men, Gomebeere and Yellowmundy, and David Collins recorded some Aboriginal language.

In August 1790, on an expedition led by Watkin Tench, a British Marine officer, the area was named Emu Island after he saw emus and mistakenly believed the land across the Nepean River was an island.

A government farm with convict labour was established at Emu Plains in 1813, with 1326 convicts.

William Cox was tasked by Governor Macquarie on 18 July 1814, to construct a road across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst. It was completed in 1815. (less than 6 months)

Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), Thursday 24 July 1919,

The renown naturalist, Charles Darwin, stayed at Emu Plains on his visit to Australia in 1836. Darwin stayed at the inn at "Emu Ferry", and the next morning, he crossed Nepean River in a ferry boat and ascended the Blue Mountains.

CHARLES DARWIN IN 1854. Darwin made the most of Jiis opportunity of seeing the country. He hired two horses in Sydney and obtained the services of a man to accompany him on a journey over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst. Leaving Sydney on the morn- ing of January 16, and travelling in a leisurely fashion, with a day’s halt at Wallerawang, they reached the little City of the Plains, then almost seventeen years old, on the evening of the 20th. The first night was passed “at a very comfortable inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, and near the ascent of the Blue Mountains.” You may still see the old buildings of the inn, close to the railway line upon the eastern bank of the Nepean. It was a famous hostelry all through the coaching days, and was known as "Squires’,” after the most celebrated of its licensees. Early the next morning they were ferried across the river, and commenced the ascent of the Mountains.The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 1 No. 4 (2 March 1914)

Emu Ferry Inn, NSW, The two-storey convict built Inn was one of the earliest and best known in the district. It had a carved staircase, made by convict labour. There were wide over-hanging eaves and the many windows had small panes of glass. There were sixteen rooms in the building. A huge pepper tree grew out the front with a camping ground nearby for the teamsters who made up a large proportion of the travellers in the early days.It began life in 1827 as the Emu Ferry Inn or Wilson’s Hotel. The reason being that Wilson ran the inn and the ferry at that spot. He was the step-son of Josephson who built the inn. There was no bridge across the river. It was quite profitable for Wilson to run the ferry across the river as well as run an inn because he could decide if the river was too high, low or muddy to run the ferry and in consequence he probably did a good trade.

Until the 1850s, the Nepean River was crossed at Emu Ford, often using the punt service.

Emu Ferry Post Office opened on 1 April 1863.

The Victoria Bridge was designed by Engineer in Chief of Railways John Whitton from 1862-7 as part of the Penrith to Weatherboard (Wentworth Falls) railway line.

First passenger train crosses Victoria Bridge in 1867.

By 1867, there were seven hotels at Emu Plains, according to the government gazette of that year.

The Emu Plains Railway Station opened on 18 August 1868.

The township of Emu was renamed Emu Plains in 1882.

View of Emu Plains from Lapstone deviation, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 27 October 1926

Also in Emu Plains

Also located on Great Western Hwy, near The Arms of Australia Museum, is Mortimer's House, built in 1830. The house, was first owned by Joseph Barrow Montefiore, (after whom Montefiore's village, Wellington, is named) from 1830-1833. However, the building is named after its most famous resident, John Mortimer, who was the innkeeper of the nearby Arms of Australia Inn.

"Emu Hall", Emu Plains, was built in 1852 for race horse owner and MP James Ryan. The building was renovated in 2018, and is now a restaurant.

"Emu Hall", Emu Plains, NSW,was built in 1852 for race horse owner and MP, James Ryan. The building was renovated in 2018, and is now a restaurant

St Paul's Anglican Church was built in 1848.

O'Donaghue's Irish House was originally built by William George Clark in 1886 and called the Emu Inn (known as “The Emu”). In 1937, it reopened as the Orient Hotel. In 1937, the Orient became the Nepean. In 1998, it became an Irish pub.

Artists Gerald Lewers (1905–1962) and Margo Lewers (1908–1978) donated their house (c1900) to the local community, and it is now Penrith Regional Art Gallery.

Around Emu Plains

On the corner of Russell Street and Great Western HWY, Emu Plains, NSW. The original Emu Plains Post Office

Arms of Australia Inn Museum: Corner of Great Western Highway and Gardenia Avenue, Emu Plains, NSW

Plaque commemorating the Bicentenary of The Crossing of the Blue Mountains, by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in May 1813

The original, Emu Plains Public School was officially opened by Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, in August 1877. Emu Plains, NSW

The pedestrian and cyclist bridge spanning the Nepean River between Penrith and Emu Plains, NSW

St Paul's Anglican Church was built in 1848, Emu Plains, NSW

Historic cemetery, Emu Plains, NSW

Places To Go

Arms of Australia Inn Museum: Corner of Great Western Highway and Gardenia Avenue, Emu Plains, 2750. Ph: (02) 4735 4394. Open Sundays 1pm-5pm.

Penrith Regional Gallery and The Lewers Bequest, 86 River Road Emu Plains. (02) 4735 1100

Emu Plains Anglican Church, 26 Short St, Emu Plains

Emu Hall, 2-26 Great Western Hwy, Emu Plains NSW

O'donoghues Irish Pub, 99 Great Western Highway Emu Plains NSW

Read More about Emu Plains

Waverley Cemetery: Overlooks The Pacific Ocean between Bronte and Clovelly

Cadigal people of the Eora nation lived a hunter gatherer life along the coastal areas of today's Sydney basin.

Waverley Cemetery was built on the site of a former horse tram terminus in 1875. Today, Waverly Cemetery is a picturesque and tranquil place of reflection.

The cemetery showcases outstanding Victorian and Edwardian stonemasonry, set in the beautiful location on the cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The 41 acre site has over 50,000 graves, with many elaborate headstones and statues.

It was possible to travel to the cemetery by steam tramway in 1890, when the line between Waverley and Randwick opened.

Many famous and notable people are buried at the site. Such as: Henry Lawson (Australian poet), Jules Archibald, founder of The Bulletin and benefactor of the Archibald Prize, nineteenth century writer Louis Becke, nineteenth century Australian boxing champion Larry Foley, nineteenth century poet Henry Kendall, the American actor William E. Sheridan, poet and author Dorothea Mackellar, and author Ethel Pedley.

A State funeral was very fittingly accorded Henry Lawson, who died at Abbotsford on Saturday morning, aged 55. The body was interred in Henry Kendall'sgrave in the Waverley Cemetery.
Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938) Wed 6 Sep 1922

FUNERAL OF THE LATE CRITCHETT WALKER, MONDAY, JUNE 15,1903 (arrival at Waverley Cemetery).Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 24 June 1903

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Monday 19 March 1928,

Other significant figures include aeronautical pioneer Lawrence Hargrave, Olympic swimmer Fanny Durack, and New South Wales Premier Sir James Martin.

There are over 200 war graves and monuments from various conflicts, including World War I and World War II.

Surprisingly, there are various graves belonging to United States Civil War veterans at Waverley, including Phineas S. Thompson.

Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Saturday 21 July 1900

Michael Dwyer, an Irish revolutionary and political exile called the "Wicklow Chieftain", is buried at Waverley.

Dwyer was a captain in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, leading the United Irish forces in battles in Wexford and Wicklow, who was transported to New South Wales as an un-sentenced exile and free man in 1806.

When Dwyer died in 1825, he was interred at Liverpool, then reburied in the Devonshire Street Cemetery, Sydney, in 1878. In 1898, his remains were re-interred in Waverley Cemetery.

Michael Dwyer (1772–1825) was a Society of the United Irishmen leader in the 1798 rebellion. He later fought a guerilla campaign against the British Army in the Wicklow Mountains from 1798-1803. Dwyer was celebrated for his resourcefulness and courage, although he could also be ruthless. He survived huge ransoms and the thousands of British troops sent to Ireland to kill him. Gaeilge: Náisiúnaí Éireannach ab ea Michael Dwyer (1772 - 23 Lúnasa 1825). Ball de na hÉireannaigh Aontaithe ab ea e, agus bhí sé páirteach in Éirí Amach 1798. Nuair a theip ar an Éirí Amach chúlaigh sé le buíon fear go Gleann Imeáil, agus throid siad ar feadh cúig bliana eile i Sléibhte Chill Mhantáin go dtí mí na Nollag 1803, nuair a theip ar éirí amach Robert Emmet i mBaile Átha Cliath.

Robert Rice Howard ("Nosey Bob" Howard), who was employed as a hangman for the colony of New South Wales from 1875, is buried at Waverley Cemetery.

Nosey Bob's wife died, and he reared 5 children alone. He lost his nose when kicked in the face by a horse.

Portrait of 'Nosey Bob' Howard, New South Wales hangman; published in Truth (Sydney), 20 January 1901, page 5.

Around Waverley Cemetery

Waverley Cemetery, NSW

This memorial is the final resting place of Michael Dwyer, "The Wicklow Chief" a revolutionary leader of the 1798 Irish Rebellion who died in Sydney in 1825. Waverley Cemetery, NSW

Waverley Cemetery, NSW

Angel and boy Kate Fiaschi's Grave, Waverley Cemetery, NSW

Things To Do

Friends of Waverley Cemeteries, Walks

iCemetery is free to download and is available for Android and Apple devices via Google Play or iTunes

Waverley Walks

Berrima: Established in 1831

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.

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.

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

Sentry on Duty at the BerrimaConcentration Camp, NSW, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 15 December 1916

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