Rouse Hill House and Farm - A True Heritage

Rouse Hill House

Rouse Hill House and Farm at Rouse Hill in western Sydney, is managed by Sydney Living Museums under the Historic Houses Trust of NSW

It is indeed a living museum taking us back to the early days of the colony of New South Wales, and telling us the story of six generations of the Rouse family who continuously lived there from its beginnings in 1813 to 1990s.

It is rich in both colonial and convict heritage.

The actual site is the traditional lands of the Darug aboriginal people. After the founding of the colony, it saw the passage of the Hawkesbury Road (1794-1813) and later Governor Macquarie's original Windsor turnpike road of 1813. It was also the scene of the 1804 Viengar Hill convict uprising.

View of Old Windsor (turnpike) Road looking west from
Second Ponds Creek, near the site of the 1813 tollhouse.

View of Old Windsor Road looking west towards
the school house near the site of the vinegar Hill
1804 convict uprising.

Richard Rouse was the Superintendent of Public Works and Convicts. Appointed in 1805, he moved with his family to a house opposite the gates of Government House at Parramatta. Due to his loyalty to Governor William Bligh he lost his position, but in January 1810 he was reinstated by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. He oversaw the construction of many buildings, tollhouses and turnpikes around Parramatta, Windsor and Liverpool.

In 1813, Rouse was contracted by Governor Macquarie to build a tollhouse at the foot of Vinegar Hill on the Windsor turnpike road. He received a 450 acre land grant in the vicinity which at the suggestion of Macquarie was named Rouse Hill.

Although the actual grant was not made official until 8 October 1816, it appears that Rouse had been clearing the land from 1813 and had begun construction of the construction of a Georgian style house.

Convict labour would have been used extensively in the construction of the house and the farm outbuildings, including the stables.   

The House

Front view of Rouse Hill House
Open Day 17 August 2013

Dining Room

Inside Stairs

Exposed area of floor of upper storey showing the work
of convict carpenters

Back Courtyard

View of the back of the House
showing entry to the courtyard area

View of the Summerhouse and pathway

The Farm Outbuildings

Bathhouse  1856

Shearing shed

Piggery

Dairy

Impressive Stables building

Stonework outside of Stables

Inside view of stalls

An interesting early "No smoking allowed " sign

The Convict Database of History Services NSW has records for 31 convicts that were specifically assigned to Richard Rouse at Rouse Hill, upon their arrival in the Colony. The list is as follows:

SURNAME	GIVEN NAME	TRANSPORT SHIP	DATE OF ARRIVAL
BOYLE	John	Bussorah Merchant	14/12/1831
BULLOCK	Benjamin	Waterloo	9/7/1829
COMPSON	James	Staffordshire	16/11/1832
DOOLAN	Patrick	Bussorah Merchant	14/12/1831
FARRELL	James	Sophia	17/1/1829
FARRELLY	Thomas	Calcutta	5/8/1837
FORDE	John	Borodino	12/7/1828
FRESHWATER	Thomas	Manlius	11/8/1827
HARROW	Michael	Larkins	22/11/1817
HEALY	Timothy	Borodino	12/7/1828
HEWITT	Patrick	Borodino	12/7/1828
HITCH	John	Norfolk	12/2/1837
HOLT	Samuel	Florentia	3/1/1828
M'GLINAHY
[M'GLINCHY]
[M'CLINCHY]	Daniel	Sophia	17/1/1829
M'GRATH	Owen	Ferguson	26/3/1829
M'NALLY	Daniel	Sophia	17/1/1829
NICHOLS	William	Sesostris	21/3/1826
ODGERS	Edward	Sophia	17/1/1829
ORPHAN
[OLIPHANT]	Edwin	Parmelia	16/11/1832
PAGE	Edmund	Surrey	26/11/1831
PEACHMAN	John	Florentia	15/12/1830
REEBUCK
[ROEBUCK]	William	Parmelia	16/11/1832
REED	Thomas	Surrey	26/11/1831
RINGROSE	George	Marquis of Huntley	21/8/1830
ROBERTSON	James	America	18/8/1829
ROBINSON	Benjamin	Manlius	11/8/1827
ROBINSON	William	Asia	13/2/1832
ROTHWELL	James	Florentia	15/12/1830
WARREN	William	Vittoria	17/1/1829
WOODISON	Thomas	Marquis of Hastings	31/7/1827

In his capacity as Superintendent of Convicts at Parramatta and the owner of a  a property at Bathurst, History Services NSW has some further 230 records of convicts who had come under the jurisdiction of Richard Rouse.

If you are interested in researching the convict history of the Rouse story, in particular that of Rouse Hill, you should go to the website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

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Prepared by Mary McGuinness

All photos taken on the Open Day at Rouse Hill House and Farm on 17 August 2013

Sources:
Richard Rouse (1774-1852) - Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2 (MUP) 1967 - article by Majorie Lenehan.

Convict Database  of History Services NSW