Our heritage is about our future as well as our past. It is an on-going story that tells us how we have shaped our landscapes, our cities and towns - a story that tells the world who we are.
Some of our most precious heritage is in private hands and it needs our support to ensure a viable future.
The Historic Houses Association of Australia Ltd. (HHA) is a registered charity and volunteer organisation that supports owners and promotes public interest in historic houses and properties throughout Australia.
HHA Members enjoy special access to an ever-increasing number of HHA network properties. They also have the opportunity to attend events and tours, engage with historians and heritage architects, and to meet private owners where they can discover the rich history of these properties and their collections.
Join us and help preserve our unique built heritage for future generations to enjoy.
We seek to shape the future of the built heritage of Australia by acting as a ‘collective voice’ for owners, to ensure their concerns are heard and that their properties are valued for the contributions they make to our society’s ‘sense of place’.
In April 2018 we held our inaugural conference 'Home Heaven Hell' which was sold out with 250 people attending from around Australia.
Launching a new style of event with historical storytelling, music and performance in a hidden heritage courtyard bar (Since I Left You) at 338 Kent Street serving freshly shaken cocktails, local wines, craft beers and bar food.
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Throughout 2021, on the third Tuesday of the month, join us to hear historical tales associated with the Kent Street storehouses and the Western Corridor of the CBD including the underbelly and alternative histories. Hear from architectural scholars, raconteurs and, during the winter months, see lost photographs from Sydney’s busiest trading spot in the 1880s projected onto the material fabric of the buildings.
Historical gastronomy will be featured on the menu along with musical interludes inspired by the era and the courtyard ambience.
Talk: Domestic Defensive Architecture in Early Colonial NSW
15 Apr 2021, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Free for HHA/HCNSW Members.
$10 for Non-Members
Online via Zoom
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The inclusion of defensive elements in early colonial buildings and structures in NSW has had little attention from historians and the heritage field. Often dismissed as decorative features, slit windows, stone walls and strong rooms are surprisingly common features in remote homesteads constructed at the time of Frontier Wars conflict or bushranging in the early 19th century. In this conversational talk, Dr Stephen Gapps asks us to revisit some of our well-known historic houses and to rethink the way we look at the context of their construction.
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A collaboration with the History Council of NSW.
Stay Tour : The Forgotten Valley of the Hawkesbury
Explore Wisemans Ferry and St Albans – the river communities of inns and pioneer homes. There are many fascinating sites on the itinerary providing bespoke experiences especially for the HHA. Hear from private owners and local historians as they take us on exclusive tours of historic properties and landscapes and tell the story of this remarkable hidden valley.
Highlights include Price Morris Cottage (1835 wattle and daub timber cottage), the Industrious Settler (former inn with 1820s slab cottage, outbuildings & Walters family settler graves); the delightful Settler’s Arms Inn (1840s two storey stone Georgian Inn) and St Joseph’s Church (restored 1839 sandstone Gothic Catholic church & cemetery and winner of the NSW National Trust 2013 Best Heritage Restoration Award). We will also have time on this two-day tour to visit Cobham Hall, the original home of Solomon Wiseman and other significant historic bridges, churches, houses and graveyards along the way.
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