A rich history
When the evacuation of the Norfolk Island colony began in 1807, the former convicts farming on the island were granted land along the banks of the Derwent River as compensation. One of these farmers was James Bryan Cullen, an ex-convict ‘first fleeter’ who left Norfolk Island in the Second Embarkation on the ‘Porpoise’ on 26 December 1807. Cullen received a grant of land of 65 acres, probably in 1808, part of which Glen Derwent now occupies.
The oldest structure at Glen Derwent is the sandstone building that houses the stables and hay loft. This building is thought to have been the original cottage occupied by Cullen and his wife, Elizabeth Bartlett, and their three children Sophia, Catherine and Elizabeth, until the larger house was built. The National Trust have advised that this building may date from as early as 1808, just 4 years after the settlement of Hobart, making it one of the oldest surviving buildings in the Derwent Valley. As the Cullens’ farming expanded, they built the large sandstone barn, coach house and carpenters loft and the main house by around 1818.
Our Accommodation
The Tank Cottage was built in the mid to late 1800s. The eastern half of the cottage was, as the name suggests, a water tank. It stored water for domestic use, pumped up from the river with a steam-driven pump. Evidence of this use remains in the very thick walls, forged iron bracing straps and buttresses to hold in the walls against the water pressure, and a large bronze tap at the bottom of the wall facing the house. The northwestern corner contained the laundry and the southwestern quarter was the ostler’s quarters.
Some time after the arrival of town water, the thick internal walls were cut through, along with a couple of windows, and the tank became the Tank Cottage.
Tank Cottage
Master's Stable
Servants' Quarters
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