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AMBERMERE ROSE INN

Built  between 1830 and 1845 by Joseph Collitts originally as a home, then was used as an Inn.  The Rose Inn had a very  profitable period of trading before it was closed as an Cobb & Co staging  inn in 1873 once travel by  railways was introduced.

The Collits family came to the Hartley Valley in 1823 when Pierce Collits erected his Golden Fleece Inn in Hartley Vale at the base of the Mt York   Then Major Mitchel decided to build a new road down off the mountain and commenced  building the Victoria Pass and the Collits Inn at Hartley Vale was compensated for loss of trade with various grants of land in the area.

The Rose Inn was first recorded as having a license in 1846 to Joseph Collits and then several licensees operated the Inn.

Back in the 1870's the panorama shows a total of 9 buildings on the site with a silo for the flour mill which Joseph operated.  It was very prosperous to be able to supply both flour and ale, meat and lodgings to the travelers seeking their fortune on the goldfields and Joseph and the licensees all did very well from the boom in gold.

The original kitchen has been demolished early this century after serving as a private schoolhouse. All the other buildings have also been demolished as the clay bricks made from the local clay did not weather very well as can be seen in the remaining chimneys.  See images of the past

There were three main rooms, with 12 smaller accommodations under the main roof,  with a large detached kitchen, an servants quarters, a hay stable, a coaching stable, a meat room, a milking room, a woolshed, an a flour mill. The interior walls are 22inch thick sandstone faced with claybricks made on the property. Some of the original ceilings made from lather and plaster are still in place while others have been replaced with pressed metal early in the 1900's.  This is a fine example of early Georgian construction with its shorter doors, many fireplaces 12 paned windows and wide skirting boards.

It was sold to various owners and became quite run down till the Morrisons undertook major renovations in 1967 and won an award for the restorations.   (The award was a Certificate of Merit issued from the National Trust and John Fairfax Newspaper ) . Jim & Sandra Dicker bought the property in the 70's - (Joe and Carol Dicker still live across the road in the historic 1832 Harp of Erin Inn now operating as a unique gallery). Gary and Glenda Lane bought the property in 1999.

Currently daughter Fiona and husband Sean Richardson along with their three children are keen to see the fine old building take on a new lease of life as a restaurant.  

When one buys an old building it kindles an interest in the people and their lives in a era unknown and stimulates the imagination once you start walking down the halls filled with their memories.

The building will be open to the public to enjoy these fine old buildings and share  part of the grandeur and simple elegance that  was once enjoyed.

modified: 11/02/09

The History of Hartley..the story behind the Inn

COLLITS....

• Where did  Rose Inn -the  building begin?  Questions on its origins

• Joseph Collits

• Pierce Collits

• Pierce Collits brief summary and overview

• The Trial at the Old Bailey.. Pierce gets a trial and time in Newgate

• Pierce's  'Collits Inn'  .. the famous Inn at Mount York

• The Children of Pierce Collits .. how many children at Xmas time?

• Joseph Collits at Forbes

• Early Maps of the Collits Inns.. a look at 1830

• the last Innkeeper at Rose Inn- Edward Field  1870-1873

• Thomas Markwell Coach Operator and Innkeeper 1862 till 1870

      The intriguing story of Murder and Mayhem

• Collits and the Woodford Inn

• The Woodford Inn and Caroline Collits murder at Victoria Pass

• Francis & Thomas Pembroke Woodford Inn

• The Trial of Murder at Woodford Inn

• The Woodford Inn

• Murder on the Pass

HARTLEY

• Hartley History

• The Early Years of Hartley

• Hartley Court House

• Inns of Hartley

• Billesdene

• The Royal Garter

• Harp of Erin

• The Shamrock Inn

THE PEOPLE OF HARTLEY

• Register of Families living in Hartley in 1879

• The Inns and their Keepers

• Michael Flannagan

• Hugh Beattie & the Kerosene Inn

• Store Keepers

• The Neales of Hartley

• Store Ledger William Collitts

• The Meurants of Hartley

• Moyne Farm

• Dr William Redfern

• Jarvis Family

• John Anessley

• John Skeen - Overseer of the Pass and Innkeeper

ROADS & BRIDGES

• William Cox-Road Builder

• Original Route of Cox's Road through Hartley

• 1830 Map of Roads through Hartley by Surveyor McBrien

• Where was the Original River Lett Bridge?

• Roads of Hartley The Great Western Road

• A Mothers trip across the Mountains -1841

• Colonial Roads

• Building Mt Victoria Pass

• An extraordinary tale of crossing the Mountain

• Travel on the Pass roads

• Teamsters on the Mount York Roads

Legendary & Iconic

• Cobb & Co

• Henry Lawson

• The Convict Stockade

Life at Catlereagh

• Castlereagh Land Grants

MISC. RESEARCH MATERIAL/LINKS

•  Old colonial days of measurements

• Name of Ships arriving in SydneY

• Before Hartley - Kings property at South Creek

• Roads around Sydney

• National Library of Australia - Blue Mountains Material

• National Library of Austrlia - Hartley and Regional Material

• Aerial view of options
• The options for Ambermere
• RTA Overview  of Response to Submissions  
• Submissions  April 2009
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