Tasmania’s History House | Jolly Farmers Inn

BOOKINGS OPEN AT 12 PM ON THURSDAY, 8 FEBURARY 2024

Architect/s: Unknown 1826 (lower levels), 1939 (main house)

This house has links to so much of Tasmania’s early history!

Originally the Jolly Farmers Inn, this house is steeped in Tasmania’s early history. Built in stages, its basement brick structure dates to 1826, by Simon McCullough, an Irish convict pardoned for aiding in a murder apprehension in 1825. The cellar, with solid brick walls and a fireplace, showcases a narrow ’embrasure’ for protection against bush-rangers.

By 1839, the house had evolved into a Georgian-style two-story brick dwelling with original floors, NSW cedar doors, window casements, and mantelpieces. Some window-panes retain their 19th-century glass. While renovated for modern living, historical elements persist, including a well-worn stone step at the entrance marking visitors over the past 198 years and a trap door in the front room, a vestige of its original use as a bar.

The 1842 census records Simon McCullough, his wife Mary (O’Keefe), four children, and five convicts living in the house. Since Simon’s death in 1884, it has remained a private residence for 130 years. The Jolly Farmers Inn has also been known as the Union Hotel and Stratford House. In 1974 there was a prime ministerial visit when Gough and Margaret Whitlam stayed overnight while visiting then Federal Member for Franklin Ray Sherry and his family.

Tour Times: Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 February, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm and 1 pm

Duration: 30 minutes

Open House Richmond Experience: Complementing the opening of Tasmania’s History House, the owners, Henry and Margaret Reynolds will provide stories of significant  19th century identities who settled in the area north of the Richmond Bridge ,creating an area known as Irish Town.