Macquarie Arms Inn (former)

Item details


Name of item:	Macquarie Arms Inn (former)
Other name/s:	Blighton Arms, Flemings Public House, Macquarie Arms Inn: Mulgrave Place
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Commercial
Category:	Inn/Tavern
Location:	Lat: -33.5857684253 Long: 150.8569422330
Primary address:	104-106 Bathurst Street, Pitt Town, NSW 2756
Parish:	Pitt Town
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Hawkesbury
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Deerubbin

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
LOT	2		DP	515997

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
104-106 Bathurst Street	Pitt Town	Hawkesbury	Pitt Town	Cumberland	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
Paul & Elizabeth King	Private	21 Nov 06

Statement of significance:


	The site of the Blighton Arms / Macquarie Arms Inn and Mulgrave Place is of high historical significance as it contains one of the oldest cottages (c1815), the earliest surviving inn (c1816/7) and an early house (pre 1823), kitchen block and stables/barn - one of the earliest building complexes in Pitt Town. It has all the hallmarks of one of the earliest developments after the moving (due to flooding) of the Pitt Town village in 1815. First licenced in 1816, the inn was established in a converted end of a jerkin-head barn associated with the c1805 brick cottage. The inn operated as the Blighton Arms or Fleming's Public House (from c1816/7 until 1819, reopening as the Macquarie Arms from around 1830. The site has strong associations with Henry Fleming, a third fleet convict and an early settler in the town who built the complex and operated an inn from the site from 1816 until 1819. It is also asociated with his brother in law William Johnston, who operated the inn from around 1830 and whose family retained the property until the 1920s.
	Date significance updated: 28 Sep 21
	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


Builder/Maker:	Henry Fleming probably with his father-in-law's George Hall's help because he was a carpenter.
Physical description:	Site: On this site there are four buildings: the main house/inn; a separate kitchen; stables/barn; and an early (c1805) brick cottage. There are also toilets, a brick well with a domed roof and original sandstone key cut cover. The siting of the complex at the edge of the ridge overlooking Pitt Town Bottoms is also of importance, taking advantage of the views to the Blue Mountains and reinforcing the relationship between the township and the lower farming land. Some of the early plantings on the site are important in adding to the setting of the building. Building Group: The group comprises the main house, kitchen block, the barn/stables building and the early brick cottage. Each can be considered to be of individual importance as surviving and substantially intact colonial buildings; as a group, their significance is substantial. The combination of barn, stables /coach house and early brick cottage (and the fact that part of the barn was used early on as an inn) is an interetsing juxtaposition of functions. The Inn was a converted end of the jerkin-head roof barn associated with and beside a small brick cottage say c1815, still extant. Inn: The main building is an important substantial jerkin-head roofed building with much of its original joinery and fabric intact. The inn building is single-storeyed with a long attic probably used for accommodation, survives in a dangerously derelict condition.The walls show a very interesting type of brick nogging, which may be later brick infil between the principal posts of an original slab building - it ought centainly to be thoroughly recorded. The cedar woodwork in the bar-room was removed in the 1970s. Barn: The barn/stables is a unique structure with its brick-veneered slab walls amd jerkin-head roof. Homestead: The much grander "Mulgrave Place" jerkin-head house c? on the same property is adjacent to the earlier c1815 cottage but certainly in existence in by 1823. It is parallel to the street. It is a double-storey homestead with a free-standing cellared kitchen. The kitchen has partly collapsed into the cellar. The appearance of the house from Bathurst Street has been altered by the addition of a verandah in c.1870, but the original house is of great importance. The upper storey seems to be largely unchanged from an early colonial date. The five upstairs rooms, which have no artificial lighting, use cedar throughout, one has a superb cedar ceiling, two more have painted wooden ceilings and the remainder have lathe-and -plaster. There are chair rails throughout, three of the doors lack, and have always lacked, handles;the hinges are clearly blacksmith- made (Jack, University of Sydney,1981).
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	The whole impression given is one of remarkable preservation of a very early interior. The site was occupied in Macquarie's time and it is very possible that theBlighton Arms complex contains the only building remains of Governor Macquarie's period . The main building is an important substantial jerkin-head roofed building with much of its original joinery and fabric intact. As an early and intact colonial group on a site which appears to be relatively undisturbed, Mulgrave Place undoubtedly has high archaeological potential.
	Date condition updated:18 Nov 97
Modifications and dates:	The house or homestead has had 1920s, possibly later addition.The wooden shingled roof of the inn has been covered. A heritage grant was approved to help present owners with restoration.


Current use:	hotel complex
Former use:	inn, house, barn/stables, second house

History

Historical notes:

INDIGENOUS OCCUPATION
The lower Hawkesbury was home to the Dharug people. The proximity to the Nepean River and South Creek qualifies it as a key area for food resources for indigenous groups (Proudfoot, 1987).
The Dharug and Darkinjung people called the river Deerubbin and it was a vital source of food and transport (Nichols, 2010).

NON-INDIGENOUS OCCUPATION
Governor Arthur Phillip explored the local area in search of suitable agricultural land in 1789 and discovered and named the Hawkesbury River after Baron Hawkesbury. This region played a significant role in the early development of the colony with European settlers established here by 1794. Situated on fertile floodplains and well known for its abundant agriculture, Green Hills (as it was originally called) supported the colony through desperate times. However, frequent flooding meant that the farmers along the riverbanks were often ruined.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie replaced Governor Bligh, taking up duty on 1/1/1810. Under his influence the colony propsered. His vision was for a free community, working in conjunction with the penal colony. He implemented an unrivalled public works program, completing 265 public buildings, establishing new public amenities and improving existing services such as roads. Under his leadership Hawkesbury district thrived. He visited the district on his first tour and recorded in his journal on 6/12/1810: 'After dinner I chrestened the new townships...I gave the name of Windsor to the town intended to be erected in the district of the Green Hills...the township in the Richmond district I have named Richmond...' the district reminded Macquarie of those towns in England, whilst Castlereagh, Pitt Town and Wilberforce were named after English statesmen. These are often referred to as Macquarie's Five Towns. Their localities, chiefly Windsor and Richmond, became more permanent with streets, town square and public buildings.

Macquarie also appointed local men in positions of authority. In 1810 a group of settlers sent a letter to him congratulating him on his leadership and improvements. It was published in the Sydney Gazette with his reply. He was 'much pleased with the sentiments' of the letter and assured them that the Haweksbury would 'always be an object of the greatest interest' to him (Nichols, 2010).

In marking out the towns of Windsor and Richmond in 1810, Macquarie was acting on instructions from London. All of the Governors who held office between 1789 and 1822, from Phillip to Brisbane, recieved the same Letter of Instruction regarding the disposal of the 'waste lands of the Crown' that Britain claimed as her own. This included directives for the formation of towns and thus the extension of British civilisation to its Antipodean outpost (Proudfoot 1987, 7-9).

Macquarie Arms Inn:
There is some confusion regarding this very early property, written up in Ian Jack's book "Exploring the Hawkesbury" as the Inn in 1819 lost its license because of 'wild and scurrilous behaviour', so it is potentially much earlier. The Inn was a convereted end of the jerkin-head roofed barn associated with the early brick cottage (c.1815 and still extant). The much grander Mulgrave Place, a jerkin-head house, c.? also on the same property adjacent to the earlier cottage but was certainly in existence by 1823. It has all the hallmarks of one of the earliest developments after the moving of Pitt Town village in 1815 (in response to various floods)(Edds, pers.comm., 23/12/2010).

The homestead and Inn (one of Australia's oldest) was originally owned and built by Henry Fleming in 1816. Fleming was a third fleet convict and an early settler in the town. During this period (1816-1819), the inn was known as the "Blighton Arms", or "Flemings Public House". His license was withdrawn in 1819 for keeping an "irregular and riotous house".
The house part of the complex was built by or before 1825 for Henry Fleming. There is also the inn, kitchen block and domed well (Elizabeth Roberts, pers.comm., 22/12/10). The group comprises the main house, kitchen block and the barn/stables building.

About 1830, a publican's license was granted to William Johnston (brother-in-law of Henry Fleming) for the "Macquarie Arms Inn". It reopened as the Macquarie Arms around 1830.

By the time that the Johnstons died in the 1870s, the premises were no longer used as a public house.

Additions were made to the main house and then it was called "Mulgrave Place". The Johnston family retained the property until the 1920s.

The Macquarie Arms today is the earliest surviving inn in Pitt Town.

The siting of the house at the edge of the ridge overlooking Pitt Town Bottoms is also of importance, taking advantage of the views to the Blue Mountains and reinforcing the relationship between the township and the lower farming land. Some of the early plantings on the site are important in adding to the setting of the building.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Cultural: Cliffs and escarpments influencing human settlement-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Cultural: Rivers and water bodies important to humans-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Cultural: Plains and plateaux supporting human activities-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Using natural features for human security-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Commerce-Activities relating to buying, selling and exchanging goods and services	Innkeeping-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and gardens of domestic accommodation-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Bungalows-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Boarding Houses-
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	Demonstrating Governor Macquarie's town and landscape planning-
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	Selecting land for pastoral or agricultural purposes-
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	Changing land uses - from rural to tourist-
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	Creating landmark structures and places in regional settings-
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	Vernacular hamlets and settlements-
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	Role of transport in settlement-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Architectural styles and periods - colonial homestead-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Vernacular structures and building techniques-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Building in response to climate - bushfires-

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	HERITAGE ACT 1977 ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) TO GRANT STANDARD EXEMPTIONS FROM APPROVAL I, Penny Sharpe, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales and under section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977: revoke the order made on 2 June 2022 and published in the Government Gazette Number 262 of 17 June 2022; and grant an exemption from section 57(1) of the Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out the class of activities described in clause 2 Schedule A in such circumstances specified by the relevant standards in clause 2 Schedule A and General Conditions in clause 3 Schedule A. This Order takes effect on the date it is published in the NSW Government Gazette. Dated this 29th day of October 2025 The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC Minister for Heritage For more information on standard exemptions click on the link below.	Nov 7 2025

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 Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register	00282	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - Permanent Conservation Order - former	00282	02 Dec 83	167	5449
Local Environmental Plan		18 Dec 89

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Ian Jack	1981	(not stated)
Written	Nichols, Michelle (Local Studies Librarian)	2010	Macquarie and the Hawkesbury District

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

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Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage NSW
Database number:	5045022
File number:	S90/05524,SGP90323,HC 32475

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