Morley House is an exquisite historic home. I first went there in the late 1980s, when it was a home and antique shop. Oh my... the yellowwood woodwork, red baked floor tiles, crooked passages, low doorways. It was all just so perfect! There is an oldish rondavel in the backyard, which I am convinced might have been the original kitchen. Since there are no known plans, it is difficult to be sure. The bathrooms, would have been added, possibly in place of the old pantry.
Rondavel in the backyard of Morley House (Bev Young)
Morley House is one of the oldest buildings in Bathurst and dates from the time when the 1820s settlers arrived from England. The house was built in 1828 for the blacksmith Thomas Hartley from Mansfield, England by William Forward. Hartley had already built a smithy in Bathurst which he later turned into an ‘accommodation house’ he called ‘Hartley’s Hotel’, now the present day 'Pig and Whistle' pub. The stone cottage is one of the few buildings that survived the Sixth Frontier War in 1834-1835 which makes it a unique place to stay.
Old photo of Morley House...
