Emu Hall is a historic house in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Emu Plains ...

in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the

City of Penrith A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and is part of the

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

region. The house is on the western side of the

Nepean River The Nepean River (Darug language, Darug: Yandhai), is a Perennial stream, major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River, and, continuing by its downstream name, the Hawkesbury ...

, located at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

The builder

Emu Hall was erected for

James Tobias Ryan James Tobias Ryan (4 January 1818 – 17 October 1899) was an Australian politician. Life He was born at South Creek, New South Wales, South Creek near Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith to ex-convict printer John Michael Tobin Ryan and Mar ...

(1818–1899) between 1851 and 1854. Ryan was a butcher, pastoralist, politician, author and sportsman who was born near

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

. From 1860 until 1872 he was the member for Nepean in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

. He was a jovial and popular parliamentarian but didn't aspire to a ministerial appointment. Ryan was well known as a sportsman and as a good boxer and crack pigeon shooter. He was also a race-horse owner and breeder as well as a gambling man. This led to his decline and on his death he was penniless.

Other owners

By 1881, the house was the last home of a wealthy grazier, John Brown, formerly of

Canonba Canonba is a locality in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. There was also a village of the same name (sometimes spelt Canonbar or Cannonbar), which is now a ghost town. It lay on Duck Creek, a tributary of the Bogan River, approxima ...

, who died there in 1888.

The house

The siting of the house in riverside grounds is indicative of a new wealthy class of family in the district during the mid-nineteenth century. As an historic house in a garden setting, it has landmark status on both the highway and river. It has a hipped corrugated steel roof and verandahs to the southern and eastern elevations with

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s, decorative lace friezes and

balustrading A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

Fenestration Fenestration or fenestrate may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), relating to openings in a building * Fenestra, in anatomy, medicine, and biology, any small opening in an anatomical structure * Leaf window, or fenestration, a translucent or ...

consists of large sashed

window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...

s and

french doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

. Newer

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s have been added to the roof. The house has an enclosed service yard and a free-standing service wing. Within the property there are brick

stables A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

and a derelict timber slab

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

. In the garden, remnant plantings remain, including clusters of

Jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas while cultivated around the world. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ' ...

Camphor Laurel ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree indigenous to warm temperate to subtropical regions of East Asia, including countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. It is known by various names, most notably the camph ...

s and

Bunya Pine ''Araucaria bidwillii'', commonly known as the bunya pine (), banya or bunya-bunya, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae which is Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its natural range is southeast Queensland with two ver ...

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1854 Houses in Sydney Victorian architectural styles 1854 establishments in Australia

The builder

Other owners

The house

See also

References