Emu Hall is a historic house in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of Emu Plains in the state of New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. 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 c ...

, 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 State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of the City of Penrith 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, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...

region. The house is on the western side of the Nepean River, 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. He was born at South Creek near Penrith to ex-convict printer John Michael Tobin Ryan and Mary Rope. After a brief education he worked as a timber getter, ...

(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. 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, 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

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. Fenestration consists of large sashed windows and french doors. Newer dormer windows 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 and a derelict timber slab barn. In the garden, remnant plantings remain, including clusters of Jacarandas,

Camphor Laurel ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree that is commonly known under the names camphor tree, camphorwood or camphor laurel. Description ''Camphora officinarum'' is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern ...

s and Bunya Pines.

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