Hartley Historic Site

Item details


Name of item:	Hartley Historic Site
Other name/s:	Hartley Township
Type of item:	Landscape
Group/Collection:	Landscape - Cultural
Category:	Village
Location:	Lat: -33.5448126740 Long: 150.1750373560
Primary address:	Great Western Highway, Hartley, NSW 2790
Parish:	Hartley
County:	Cook
Local govt. area:	Lithgow
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Bathurst

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
LOT	7302		DP	1165392
LOT	100		DP	1185278
LOT	101		DP	1185278
LOT	102		DP	1185278
LOT	103		DP	1185278
LOT	1000		DP	1185293
LOT	11		DP	1185533
LOT	142		DP	1186102
LOT	143		DP	1186102
LOT	13		DP	1186105
LOT	14		DP	1186105
LOT	15		DP	1186105
LOT	16		DP	1186105
LOT	17		DP	1186105
LOT	18		DP	1186105
LOT	59		DP	1186129
LOT	1617		DP	1186130
LOT	45		DP	1186137
LOT	46		DP	1186137
PART LOT	13		DP	1186138
PART LOT	100		DP	1186140
LOT	6		DP	247477
LOT	7		DP	247477
LOT	1		DP	259495
LOT	2		DP	259495
LOT	1		DP	513933
CROWN LAND	10	15	DP	513933
LOT	2		DP	513933
LOT	6	15	DP	513933
LOT	7	15	DP	513933
LOT	8	15	DP	513933
LOT	9	15	DP	513933
LOT	1		DP	566148
LOT	204		DP	751644
LOT	1	2	DP	758503
LOT	1	10	DP	758503
LOT	10	2	DP	758503
LOT	10	9	DP	758503
LOT	11	9	DP	758503
LOT	11	2	DP	758503
LOT	11	3	DP	758503
LOT	12	3	DP	758503
LOT	12	2	DP	758503
LOT	13	2	DP	758503
LOT	13	3	DP	758503
LOT	14	3	DP	758503
LOT	14	2	DP	758503
LOT	16	10	DP	758503
LOT	17	10	DP	758503
LOT	2	10	DP	758503
LOT	3	10	DP	758503
LOT	4	10	DP	758503
LOT	4	9	DP	758503
LOT	5	9	DP	758503
LOT	5	10	DP	758503
LOT	5	3	DP	758503
LOT	5	15	DP	758503
LOT	6	3	DP	758503
LOT	6	9	DP	758503
LOT	6	15	DP	758503
LOT	7	15	DP	758503
LOT	7	3	DP	758503
LOT	8	3	DP	758503
LOT	8	14	DP	758503
LOT	8	9	DP	758503
LOT	8	15	DP	758503
LOT	8	9	DP	758503
LOT	9	15	DP	758503
LOT	9	9	DP	758503
LOT	9	3	DP	758503
LOT	9	2	DP	758503

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
Great Western Highway	Hartley	Lithgow	Hartley	Cook	Primary Address
Old Bathurst Road	Hartley	Lithgow			Alternate Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
	Private

Statement of significance:


	Hartley is historically highly significant for its close association with early settlement west of the Blue Mountains, for its role as an early government administrative centre and for its having been a wayside service centre over a lengthy period. The village has an extremely high level of intactness and it contains a rich range of building forms, materials and architectural styles. Having been recognised for many years as a place of historical importance, Hartley has significant social associations among the travelling public. Hartley contains good examples of the work of important colonial era architects, Mortimer Lewis and Edmund Blacket. Owing to the form, materials, styles and alignments of its various buildings and its rural setting above the River Lett, Hartley with its pervasive mid nineteenth century character has significant aesthetic qualities.
	Date significance updated: 07 Apr 15
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Construction years:	1837-1850
Physical description:	Hartley historic site is located on a steep slope above the River Lett. The immediate surrounding country is cleared though the higher country above is timbered. A range of exotic trees are found in the town. The village with its pervasive nineteenth century character has strong aesthetic qualities. Today Hartley remains as a highly intact nineteenth century village. Hartley consists of a fine array of government, church, hotel and residential buildings, displaying a range of forms, materials and styles (several of the following are registered individually). The Courthouse (1837): Built in sandstone and a very good example of Old Colonial Greek architectural style, designed by Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis. Its facade is dominated by its pedimented entrance porch with pilasters and columns. St John's Anglican Church (c.1858-9): Built in Victorian Gothic style. A modest yet harmonious church, St John's is built of sandstone and the roof, originally shingle (as were most in the village), is clad with corrugated iron. (privately owned) St Bernard's Catholic Church (c.1842): Built c. 1842 (NPWS post-card, undated) is Gothic in style and built of sandstone. Windows are paired lancets with stone mullions. The presbytery is built of sandstone and granite and is single storey on an above ground basement, with a steeply pitched hipped roof. Fluted timber posts support the verandah roof and carved stone pilasters flank the French doors and main front door. St. Bernard's Presbytery (c.1845): Built of sandstone in the Georgian style. The Royal Hotel (1846: NPWS post-card, undated): Built as a single storey, Victorian Georgian hotel of sandstone and the attic floor has several dormers. Fluted timber posts (paired either side of the main door) support the verandah. Farmers Inn (c.1843): Built c.1843 is a single storey, roughcast rendered brick building with a gable and skillion roof, and a verandah with end rooms (which were fairly typical of early inns). The Shamrock Inn (c.1842)(An undated NPWS post card says early 1850s): Built in three stages, the former inn reflects several vernacular building techniques. External walls are brick and there is a slab skillion at the rear. Internal walls are slab and some have lathe and plaster or hessian lining. Original shingles remain under the corrugated iron on both the verandah and main gabled roofs. The verandah also features some pitsawn timber. Hartley's former post office (1846): Consists of a central gabled rendered brick section with skillion wings at either end. Old Tralee: (1846-54): Built has brick walls, a hipped iron roof (with shingles beneath) and various pit sawn timbers. Ivy Cottage (c.late 1850s-70s): Dates from some time between the late 1850s and the early 1870s. Standing on a granite rubble footing, the cottage has brick walls, sandstone front steps, a verandah and a shallow pitched roof which is gabled at the front. Brick toilet (c.1850s): Built of brick in vernacular style. Woolshed (c.1870s): Built of galvanised iron and timber in vernacular style Corney/Morgan garage (c.1945): Built with modern asbestos cement and galanised iron. Timber cottage (c1930s): Built of rustic timber. Concrete block cottage (c.1930s): Built of rustic concrete block construction Garage residence (1920s): Built in timber vernacular style.


Current use:	Historic site (village)
Former use:	Aboriginal land, Government administrative centre, village

History

Historical notes:

The Hartley Valley was first crossed by Europeans during Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson's famous expedition of 1813. Settlement of the region extended during the 1820s and in 1832 Major Mitchell's new line of western road down Victoria Pass took the Bathurst Road through the Hartley area. Soon a town was proposed and, with large numbers of convicts working in the area, the need for a government detention and judicial centre was recognised (at that time no such place existed in all the country between the Nepean River and Bathurst). Consequently in 1837 a courthouse was erected at Hartley and the following year the town plan was gazetted. Hartley grew as both a government administrative centre and also as a wayside service centre, it being an important stopping point on the western road to Bathurst and further inland.

The railway arrived in the region late in the 1860s and while it led to the growth of places like Lithgow, Hartley declined owing to the reduction in road traffic. Late in the nineteenth century Hartley began to be recognised as a place of historic attraction and the village began to prosper also as a result of the passing tourist traffic to Jenolan Caves. During the interwar period motor car tourism played a particularly significant part in Hartley's history. After the World War Two, however, improvements in vehicles and the highway saw a decline as increasing numbers of tourists travelled through town without stopping. During the 1960s and 1970s Blaxland Shire Council acquired many Hartley buildings. In 1972 the Hartley Historic Site was declared under the administration of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The courthouse was designed by Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis in 1837.

St John's Anglican Church, built in 1858-59, was designed by leading Colonial Ecclesiastical Architect, Edmund Blacket,

St Bernard's Catholic Church (c 1842: a NPWS post-card gives the date of 1842) and the adjacent presbytery (c 1858-61) reflect Hartley's substantial Irish population in the nineteenth century. The church, Gothic in style, was designed by Alexander Binning. The first mass celebrated in Hartley was by the Rev.Michael Cavanagh, who decided in 1838 that a church should be built to serve the large population of Irish Catholic settlers in the area. Its first priest was Father Dunphy, appointed in 1843.

The Royal Hotel dates from the late 1840s and at one time functioned as the Anglican Rectory and as a school. An NPWS post-card states it was built in 1846 and first licensed as the 'Hartley' Hotel by James Nairn. In the 1850s-70s it served as a Cobb & Co. staging post for coaches en route between Sydney, Bathurst and Mudgee (NPWS, undated).

Farmers Inn was built by John Finn around 1845-46. The Finn family was significant in Hartley's history, for the family also built the post office (which family members ran for fifty eight years), Ivy Cottage and Old Tralee. Farmers Inn was licensed from about the 1860s until 1895.

The Shamrock Inn was built in the mid 1840s (an undated NPWS post card says 1850s) and occupied as a residence by the Phillips family for a lengthy period. It catered for the needs of the men and women en route to and from the gold fields of Hill End, Sofala and the Turon workings (NPWS post card, undated).

Hartley's former post office was constructed between 1845 and 1852. When the building closed in 1982 it was said to be the longest operating post office in Australia.

Old Tralee, named after the Finns' family home in Ireland, was erected between 1846 and 1854. In 1839 John and Mary Finn and their eight children arrived in Australia from Ireland. They set out straight away for Hartley, where they built Old Tralee. Their home town rector had no doubt encouraged their migration with news of his son's progress as Magistrate in Hartley (NPWS postcard, undated).

In 2016 St. Bernard's Presbytery, after major internal restoration now hosts overnight stay guests, along with nearby Old Tralee, for the first time (Lithgow Mercury, 24/6/16, 4).

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent	Convict-Activities relating to incarceration, transport, reform, accommodation and working during the convict period in NSW (1788-1850) - does not include activities associated with the conviction of persons in NSW that are unrelated to the imperial 'convict system': use the theme of Law & Order for such activities	Administering the convict system-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Commerce-Activities relating to buying, selling and exchanging goods and services	Developing discrete retail and commercial areas-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	Building and maintaining public roads-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Fencing boundaries - iron estate fencing-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Planning relationships between key structures and town plans-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Developing towns in response to topography-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Urban landscapes inspiring creative responses-
7. Governing-Governing	Law and order-Activities associated with maintaining, promoting and implementing criminal and civil law and legal processes	Dispensing justice-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with Mortimer Lewis, Colonial Architect, 1796-1879-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with Edmund Blacket, Government Architect-

Recommended management:

Recommendations

Management Category	Description	Date Updated
Recommended Management	Review a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Recommended Management	Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Recommended Management	Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Hartley Historic Site Conservation Management Plan, by Otto Cserhalmi and Associates, for NSW NPWS, 2003.	CMP endorsed by Heritage Council 11 September 2003 for a period of five years, expires 11 September 2008.	Sep 11 2003
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) OF THE HERITAGE ACT 1977 Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977. I, the Hon James Griffin MP, Minister for Environment and Heritage, pursuant to subsection 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales do by this Order, effective at the time of publication in the New South Wales Government Gazette: 1. revoke the order made on 9 November 2020 and published in the Government Gazette Number 318 of 13 November 2020; and 2. grant the exemptions from subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977 that are described in the attached Schedule. The Hon James Griffin MP Minister for Environment and Heritage Signed this 2nd day of June 2022. To view the standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977 click on the link below.	Jun 17 2022

Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register		00992	02 Apr 99	27	1546

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
National Parks & Wildlife Service Section 170 Register			National Parks & Wildlife Service		No

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Tourism	Attraction Homepage	2007	Hartley Historic Site	View detail
Written	David Beaver, Landscape Architect	2006	Hartley Landscape Conservation Plan
Written	Geoff Dawson	1989	Hartley, New South Wales: A Conservation Study
Written	Lithgow Mercury		'Yesteryear experience at Hartley'
Written	NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service	1983	Hartley Historic Site: development control plan. Edition: "Draft one" Title: Hartley Historic Site : development control plan. Edition: "Draft one"
Written	NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service	1982	Hartley Historic Site : plan of management. Preliminary draft no. 2 for discussion Edition: Preliminary draft no. 2 for discussion
Written	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service	1994	Hartley Historic Site Plan of Management
Written	Otto Cserhalmi & Partners. Final draft edition Edition:Final Report. February 2002	2002	Hartley Historic Site: Conservation Management Plan
Written	Roland Breckwoldt (Ed)		A Heritage Study of Hartley
Management Plan	Steven Ring, MA, University of Sydney	1990	Draft Site Conservation Plan Hartley Historic Site
Tourism	Tourism NSW	2007	Hartley Historic Site	View detail
Written	W.C. Foster, W.L. Havard, and B.T. Dowd	1937	The Story of Hartley and its historic court-house, NSW

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage NSW
Database number:	5014092
File number:	EF14/4881; H00/41; 00837

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