This was published 9 years ago
Pitt Town, New South Wales: Travel guide and things to do
Pitt Town, NSW
Located approximately 60 km north west of Sydney, Pitt Town is one of the five 'Macquarie Towns' established by Governor Macquarie in 1810.
The Cattai Road near Pitt Town offers splendid views over the rich alluvial Hawkesbury river flats across to Windsor. In the distance, on a clear day, it is possible to see the smoky green-blue of the Blue Mountains.
In some ways Pitt Town is the most impressive of all the Macquarie Towns. Like Wilberforce, Windsor, and Richmond, it was planned in 1810 and named after William Pitt the Elder (the famous eighteenth century British statesman and prime minister). A site for a village was laid out in 1811 but it was never as good, in terms of its land, as the other sites. Macquarie observed that 'the ground is not so good or so conveniently situated for the settlers in general as might be wished, it being not less than 3 1/2 miles from some of the few of the front farms; but no better is to be had and therefore there is no alternative left but to place the town on these heights...the great square, burying ground, and the principal streets being all marked by strong posts...and the post, with the name of the town nailed to it, has been erected in the centre of the great square.'
The problem was that the village was located too far from the rich river flats and consequently the farmers had no desire to make the long daily trek from the town to their holdings. The result was that by 1841 there were only 36 houses in the town.
The importance of Pitt Town is that it evolved slowly. Today it is true that there is much modern development but once you get into the back streets there are excellent old buildings standing as they did over 100 years ago.
Things to see
Walking through Pitt Town
Strolling throughout this delightful village may take as long as it does in Windsor because its buildings are quite widely distributed, but the visitor will soon discover why A Country Practice used this village for so many shots.
Of particular interest are the former Maid of Australia Inn, a typical street corner inn located at 87 Bathurst Street which operated between the 1850s and 1890s. At 104 Bathurst Street are the remnants of the Blighton Arms which dates from the earliest years of the town. The original owner, Henry Fleming, lost his license in 1819 but re-opened in 1830 calling the building the Macquarie Arms.
Adjacent is Mulgrave Place, a house built in 1823 with a more modern verandah (about 1860) and north wing (1913).
Further along the street are the towns two churches, St James' Anglican Church (behind which is a flood marker) and the Scots Presbyterian Church. St James was designed by Edmund Blacket and built by Thomas Collison for £1050 in 1857-58. Blacket also designed the 24 pews, pulpit, reading desk and communion rail. It is a typical Early English stone church which, at the time, Blacket seemed to be designing at a furious rate. Scots Church, a much simpler building than St James, was built and dedicated in 1862.
Further along Bathurst Street there are a number of late nineteenth century weatherboard houses (120, 126, 132) and, at 132 Bathurst Street there are some very old slab cottages and outbuildings.
One of the town's most impressive buildings is Bona Vista in Johnston Street which was built in 1888. The long entrance drive with its Norfolk Island pines and camphor laurels give the dwelling a prestige which does not exist in the other dwellings.
Beyond Bathurst Street turn into Pitt Town Bottoms Road. This was the location of the first settlement in the district. It was here, in 1794, that Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose granted fifteen 30 acre farms to a number of free settlers and it was from here that much of the fresh produce for the infant colony was shipped down the Hawkesbury to Sydney town.
A curious reminder of the importance of the Hawkesbury River and the fertile river flats for life in Pitt Town lies at the bottom of Bathurst Street overlooking the Pitt Town Bottoms. The Old Manse at Pitt Town belongs in fact to the oldest Presbyterian Church in Australia situated down river at Ebenezer showing that the early communities were not then divided by the river - rather they were united by it.
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