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.
History High Tales
THROUGHOUT 2021
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.
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.
Tour & Dine: Daceyville — Best Kept Secrets
11December 2021, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM covid restrictions permitting
One of Sydney’s best kept secrets, Daceyville is NSW’s first, and arguably best, public housing experiments. It is our first government-planned garden suburb, first stirrings of the Californian bungalow, and even our first planned cul-de-sac. Regenerated in the 1980s, it is a tiny suburb no-one wants to leave. Join Graham Spindler to explore this often overlooked suburb and hear about the changing attitudes to town planning, public housing and heritage.
Round off your tour with lunch at a local eatery and talk more with your guide and fellow attendees about these fascinating firsts.
Walk: Yaralla – An Edwardian Estate and Parklands
31 October 2021, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Visit Yaralla (the Dame Eadith Walker Estate) one of the last of the large nineteenth century estates in metropolitan Sydney. Hear about the history of the Italianate style Yaralla Mansion designed for the Walker family by Edmund Blackett in the 1860s with later additions added by John Sulman in the 1890s. Enjoy a guided tour of the Yaralla grounds and outbuildings including the squash courts, stables, parkland gardens along with a display of archival photographs.
NB. The meeting point for this walk is a café in Concord West (approx 20 min walk from Yaralla). Further details provided on booking.
*Rescheduled event at 2020 prices!*