HIGHFIELD HISTORIC SITE

Welcome to Highfield Historic Site

Take a journey back in time and discover the extravagance of life lived high on the social ladder at Highfield Historic Site.

This remarkably well-preserved property, complete with a stately Regency-style homestead, convict quarters and outbuildings, and ornamental gardens, conveys a real sense of what life was like here in the 1830s. Occupying a commanding position befitting the original owner’s social status, the elegant property is situated high on a grassy headland, surrounded by impossibly green rolling fields and vistas of the sparkling deep-blue waters of Bass Strait stretching towards the horizon.

On this wildly remote estate at the edge of the known world at the time, a prosperous English gentleman and his family carved out their story in the fledgling colony of Van Diemen’s Land.

Highfield House yields rich and fascinating insights into life back in the earliest days of European settlement – as well as the high ambitions that drove the newly arrived British colonists to this remote and rugged corner of north-west Tasmania. They came hoping to establish a thriving commercial empire in what they perceived as a hostile, isolated and alien environment, where the palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal people) had lived for millennia.

Uncover stories of human triumph and tribulation as you explore the rooms of this stately house, its neatly manicured gardens and timber and bluestone outbuildings.

Highfield Historic Site offers a compelling insight into tales of human enterprise, courage, tenacity, hardship, folly and failure.

The history

Highfield House started life as the headquarters of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, and the home of the company’s manager, Edward Curr, his wife and their 15 children.

Completed in 1835, convicts laboured for three long years in harsh conditions to recreate a little piece of England in this remote wilderness.

Highfield House was the living centrepiece of the Van Diemen's Land Company, whose fortunes and history are inextricably woven throughout this corner of north-west Tasmania. The company was so influential in its day that, for a time, Highfield House became a virtual ‘Government House’.

Formed in 1824 by a group of London businessmen, the Van Diemen's Land Company was set up as a money-making enterprise. It was established with the ambitions of spinning a fortune off the back of merino sheep, growing fine wool to supply the needs of the British textile industry.

With deep pockets and high connections, in 1826 the Van Diemen's Land Company was granted royal permission to select 350,000 acres in Tasmania’s far north-west. This decision was made with no regard for the palawa, who suffered a cruel fate at the hands of Company shepherds. Acts of violence initiated by Company personnel – including the horrific Cape Grim massacre in 1828 – led to the deaths of more than 30 Tasmanian Aborigines in the region.

From the outset, Van Diemen’s Land Company was beset with difficulties. The land was unsuitable for wool growing. The enterprise failed, and its English shareholders lost heavily. The company’s chief agent, Edward Curr – for whom Highfield House was built – was sent packing in 1842, and the company sold or leased out large parts of the once vast estate.

By 1982, when the Tasmanian Government took over Highfield House, the property had dwindled to about nine acres. Thanks to the efforts of conservators, its solitary magnificence remains.

The place

Highfield House is a rare example of early colonial domestic architecture. A visit to this remarkable property invites you to step back in time to the 1830s and experience life on a gentleman’s country estate.

Perched on a wide grassy promontory, the setting is spectacular, with sweeping coastal views across a scallop-shaped bay to the charming fishing village of Stanley, huddled at the base of the Nut – a flat-topped lump of dark volcanic rock that rises like a monolith out of the sea.

Exposed to the elements, the estate has endured the ravages of time surprisingly well. Patient conservation work has endeavoured to retain the gritty textures and layers of history, to keep the immediacy of the experience intact.

Enter the French doors of the homestead to find yourself surrounded by beautiful original features, including a spiral timber staircase, fireplaces and vintage furnishings that convey the estate’s elegant past. Large bay windows offered the original proprietor a prime vantage point to survey his manicured gardens and the grand domain beyond.

A hand-drawn map of the local area hangs in the book-filled study. A butter churn in the kitchen tells of a time when milk was laboriously cranked by hand, while in the musty underground cellar you’ll find a huge list of provisions needed to supply the estate. The dining room table is decorated with snippets of conversations that may have been had before the ladies withdrew to the drawing room with its piano and marble fireplace, and the gentlemen retired to the gallery to talk business, sip port and puff on cigars.

Outside, run your hands over the crumbling stone ruins of the barracks built to house convicts, and explore the convict-built chapel, school room and stables.

Highfield House is a perfect place to pause and reflect on the passage of time.

Accessibility

Highfield Historic Site is open from 9.30am to 4.30pm seven days a week, but is closed on Christmas Day. Entrance fees apply, and companion cards are accepted, offering free entry for carers assisting people with disabilities.

The ground floor of the homestead and the chapel are wheelchair accessible. The Highfield barn has a mobility lift providing upstairs access, but cobblestone flooring and steps prevent wheelchair access to other outbuildings. The Highfield Historic Site has one accessible toilet.

Dog guides are welcome on-site – contact the operator for more accessibility details.

Highfield Historic Site is located at 143 Greenhills Road, about 3 kilometres from the scenic village of Stanley. Please note there are no buses from Stanley to this property. There is no café at Highfield Historic Site, but you’ll find a few good eateries in nearby Stanley. Check out our Stanley Food and Drink listing for more details.

It’s a very pleasant and picturesque bus ride to Stanley from Launceston, with a break in Burnie. To do this, catch the X705 bus from Cornwall Square Transit Centre in Launceston and change to the X708 in Devonport. This will take you to Burnie, where the 768 bus leaves for Stanley. For detailed timetables and Redline Coaches ticketing information, visit transport.tas.gov.au.

The 225-kilometre drive from Launceston to Stanley is equally picturesque and takes about 2.5 hours. Alternatively, Stanley is a 78-kilometre drive north-west of Burnie and a 125-kilometre drive west of Devonport.

Stanley offers plenty of accommodation options, too, from hotel rooms to cute cottages, as well as a caravan park. Consider bedding down for a night or two, so you can explore the charms of Stanley, as well as other local attractions such as the historic precinct of Woolnorth, a 45-minute drive away on the far north-west tip of Tasmania.