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| The former Court House
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Greta (including Lochinvar)
Small Hunter Valley township on the New England Highway
Greta is a very small townships of the Cessnock shire
situated on the New England Highway between Maitland and
Singleton. Greta, though very small, appears almost suburban
- an extension of Maitland. However it has several older
buildings which reflect the fact it they emerged (albeit
slowly and undramatically) in the early to mid-19th century
as the Hunter Valley was opened up beyond Maitland.
The district is thought to have been occupied by the
Wanaruah people prior to white settlement.
Greta, 23 km north-west of Maitland, 172 km north of
Sydney via Cessnock and 55 m above sea-level, appears to
have started as a small community around Anvil Creek in the
1830s. The township was surveyed and named, presumably after
a small river in Cumberland, England, in 1842. Coal mining
commenced at Anvil Creek in 1862, the year the railway
arrived, and kerosene shale was discovered in 1864. However,
it was the establishment of the Anvil Creek Coal Mine in
1874 that prompted the first substantial development. Four
hotels, four churches, a school and school of arts soon
appeared. The substantial Greta coal seam was discovered in
1886 by Edgeworth David. Ten collieries were in operation in
the district by 1907.
During World War II an army camp was set up outside the
town. Used as a staging camp for migrants after the war it
was later pulled down and rebuilt at the Tahlee Bible
College.
The presence of the Greta Workers Club indicates the
industrial history of the town which is still occupied by
miners, although they must now travel further afield as the
coalface recedes northwards. The mines and power stations of
Singleton are major employees.
Things to see:
Historic Buildings
Entering Greta from the east the town's historic buildings
are virtually all situated on the left-hand side of the
highway within one block of Wyndham Street. Tattersall's
Hotel has been recently renovated. Two doors down is the
post office with a modest gallery display, then the old
council chambers (1912) - also renovated. The latter is open
on public holidays and town market days as a local history
museum, tel: (02) 4938 7158. It contains local historical
records, a 19th-century photographic display, coalmining
material and items pertaining to the postwar immigrant
staging camp.
Next door is the gracious if somewhat dilapidated brick
courthouse (c.1890) with arched windows and slate gambrel
roof. There is an arcaded verandah on three sides with a
pediment over the entry. It is now used as a community hall.
Adjacent, in the centre aisle of the main road, are a
memorial and band rotunda.
At 67 High St is Greta Garage Sale which sells antiques,
collectables and bric-a-brac, open 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
Friday to Sunday. Near the end of Wyndham St is Greta Public
School (est 1878). There are also a number of old mining
cottages in the area.
Wyndham Estate
North-east of Greta is Wyndham Estate Winery, open daily
from 10.00 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. with picnic-barbecue areas by
the riverside, a restaurant, wine and food tastings,
cellar-door sales and a museum. They arrange historic tours,
wine education and riverside barbecues and cater for coach
group packages, weddings, functions and Christmas parties,
tel: (02) 4938 3444. Opera in the Vineyard is held annually
in October.
The estate is celebrating its 170th anniversary in 1998.
George Wyndham, the father of Wyndham Estate Wines, settled
on the estate in 1828 (granted to David Maziere in 1823)
where he built Dalwood House of sandstone transported from a
quarry at Raymond Terrace by barge and bullock dray. Wyndham
planted his first vines around 1830. When they failed he
replaced them with vines given to him by James Busby.
Subsequently Wyndham's wines became internationally
successful and the vineyard was the second-largest in NSW.
For a roadside look at the old home drive through the car
park of the main complex and follow the road around. If you
wish to see the interior there are open days on the first
Sunday of the month from 1.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m. There are two
departure roads for the winery. Take the right opposite the
Greta Workers' Club, just past the Shell Roadhouse. Turn
right at the T-intersection into Dalwood Rd and it is
another 3.8 km. Alternatively head along the highway to
Branxton and on the eastern outskirts is an unmistakably
signposted turnoff to the right. Take the first right again
into Dalwood Rd and it is 7 km.
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| St Patricks Catholic
Church, Lochinvar |
Lochinvar
About 8 km south-east of Greta, along the highway, is
Lochinvar. The land here was granted in 1823 to Leslie
Duguid, a founding director of the Commercial Bank of
Sydney. A village was laid out in 1840 when Duguid sold up
and a bridge over the Hunter built in 1874.
An roadside stop to the left on the outskirts of
Lochinvar offers a fine prospect over the valley. Lovedale
Rd runs off to the right to the Pokolbin Winery area. A couple of hundred metres further
east along the highway a sign to the left indicates the
access road to Lochinvar House, built in 1825 by Duguid. Set
on 88 acres overlooking the river it has spacious rooms with
high ceilings, an elaborate marble bathroom and a fine art
collection on the walls. Wine grapes were grown here from
1843 and the ruins of the old cellar remain. Beside the
house are the carved sandstone and kilned bricks produced by
convict labour. It is now a bed-and-breakfast, tel: (02)
4930 7873.
1.2 km further along the highway, to the right, is St
Helena Close. It leads to St Helena House which was built in
1869 by French wine-maker Philbert Terrier who was invited
to Australia in 1857 to teach viticulture and viniculture.
He made wine nearby at Kaludah. Terrier set up his own
vineyard and winery in 1869 and built the home. A consultant
to the Tyrrells, whose wines achieved international success,
he sold the home and returned to France after his wife's
death in 1883. The house is now a restaurant.
Continue eastwards along the highway for 450 m.
Windermere Rd runs off to the left. It leads past the NSW
Equestrian Centre to Windermere homestead (about 3 km). The
original house was built of hand-made sandstock bricks by
convicts in the 1820s for wealthy and successful pastoralist
and businessman, Thomas Winder, who first took up 4000 acres
near Lochinvar in the mid-1820s.
Windermere was also the favourite residence of William
Charles Wentworth who became Winder's business partner and
who extended the house. The building burned down in 1884 and
was rebuilt atop the original cellars. It now houses a
museum in the dungeons where the convicts were kept. The
building can be inspected by appointment only, tel: (02)
4930 7024.
Return to and continue eastwards along the highway. 500 m
along to the left is the Lochinvar Hotel and a further 500 m
brings you to Station Lane on the right. 2.4 km along this
road is the two-storey home known as Clifton (the first
house on the left past the railway line), built prior to
1855 by Samuel Clift for his son Joseph.
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Greta
