When the first British Settlers arrived in Australia, there was no architecture to speak of. Their first glorious accommodations were tents and sheds or huts which were erected quickly and with little thought of design or aesthetic appeal. The need was for pure functionality. However as time progressed and there were limited funds, labour supply (albeit convict labour) and locations aplenty for more permanent and aesthetically pleasing buildings, our first style was greatly influenced, of course, by what was happening in the ‘mother land’ of England. And keen to reflect English life in all its forms, despite the Australian climate and locale, local architects, including famous emancipated convict Francis Greenway, designed many of our famous buildings according to the Colonial Georgian style of the time.

This Old Colonial Style encompassed the Colonial Georgian, the Colonial Regency, the Colonial Grecian and Gothic Picturesque periods occurring in the same time-frame. But while in England there was the opportunity for more detail, expression of fancy and the provision of greater funds, in Australia, the expression of architectural style had to be somewhat more restrained. So, the Australian representation of Georgian architecture was less stylised and somewhat more tempered. And this is where the typical Australian ‘homestead’ found its origins, with its hipped roof and verandah. It was so ideally suited to the Australian weather and lifestyle that it became very popular in Australia throughout the 19^th century.

In the colony of Tasmania, renowned for being the home of the harsher prisons such as Port Arthur, Maria Island and Sarah Island as well as being the source of the whaling and timber industries, the 1820’s-1830’s saw much prosperity, building and expansion of settlements. It was at this time that many buildings became a little more ornate and reminiscent of the Colonial Regency style. It was towards the end of the 1830’s that some of the classical lines of Grecian architecture also emerged.