Southern Highlands Branch: Self-drive tour to Brownlow Hill and Denbigh

Bookings are now open for this fantastic event.

Located in the rolling hills of the Camden area, Brownlow Hill is a rare, substantially intact colonial farming estate, set amongst an idyllic country landscape where many of the early colonial structures and features still survive. One of the most prominent colonial estates in Australia, the majority of the estate is now heritage listed, including most of the homestead gardens and farmland.

Denbigh is located north-west of Camden at Cobbity, and is also one of the oldest English-style colonial farm complexes in Australia. Its current owners have preserved the property’s integrity.

We will be visiting Brownlow Hill in the morning followed by Denbigh in the afternoon.

Lunch is BYO Picnic at Denbigh. Coffee and tea will be provided.

Itinerary:
10:00am – 11:30am – Brownlow Hill
12.00 pm  – 2:30pm – Denbigh Cobbitty: location for picnic lunch, tea & coffee available (plus toilets).

Cost: $10 pp.

Book: at Humanitix.

Brownlow Hill 
Brownlow Hill is one of the most prominent colonial estates in Australia. It is a rare, substantially intact colonial farming estate, set amongst an idyllic country landscape where many of the early colonial structures and features still survive.  The majority of the estate is now heritage listed, including most of the homestead.

The colonial history of the property starts in 1788 and by 1812 Governor Macquarie granted large tracts of land in the district to farmers, one of which was Brownlow Hill. Alexander Macleay obtained a grant-by-purchase of 1,663 acres in 1827 when he began building Brownlow Hill house.

Macleay was a horticulturalist and established the gardens at both Brownlow Hill and Elizabeth Bay House. The garden at Elizabeth Bay House has long gone, but a great deal of his design and plantings survive at Brownlow Hill. Jeremiah Downes immigrated to Australia in 1852 and leased Brownlow Hill in 1859 when George Macleay returned to England. In 1862 Jeremiah planned to leave the farm when Macleay sold the property to Severin Salting. At Downes’ big farewell lunch, he decided he would stay living on and managing the property for Salting. In 1875 Downes bought Brownlow Hill from Salting and since then the Downes family have lived at  Brownlow Hill for six generations.

Denbigh Cobbitty
Denbigh is a rare historical remnant of the nineteenth century Cowpastures. For tens of thousands of years prior to colonial settlement the Dhurug and Gundungarra People were custodians of the land. They held ceremonial corroborees on Denbigh right up until the 1850’s, referring to the land as ‘The Valley of Peace’. The current custodians of Denbigh are Ian and Susie McIntosh. The McIntosh family have been living and farming the property since the 1860s. The bungalow was built in 1817 by Charles Hook with wattle and daub walls and weatherboard cladding. Having spent time in India he adopted their wide verandahs providing shade from the hot summer sun. The cottage garden is planted with old roses, lavenders, salvias and iris and in spring the wisteria creeps its way along the verandah.

The two-storey section of the house was added in the 1820s by Reverend Thomas Hassall. It was where he conducted divine services and Sunday School until St Paul’s church was built on his land in Cobbitty in 1842. During the 1830s Denbigh was transformed from an isolated farm into a bustling, self contained village.

A number of old trees are scattered throughout the garden and a grove of olive trees was planted on the western side of the house for shade and shelter.