Hawkesbury People & Places
Reibycroft
Property name
Located at 141 Blacktown Road, Freemans Reach, New South Wales, the property may be viewed on the hillside, eastern side of Gorricks Lane adjacent to the grain silo.
Reibycroft from the southern lawn. Cathy McHardy 1996.
The house from the entrance driveway on the northern side. Cathy McHardy 1996.
Reference: 13 April 2005, 28 & 29.
The home ‘Reibycroft’ was constructed in the 1820s by Mary Reiby for her daughter Penelope and son-in-law John Atkinson. The original grant was of 200 acres to Thomas Reiby and the property now comprises 100 acres including part of Bushell’s Lagoon. Other owners of the property have included the Greentree family who operated a dairy farm on the site for 90 years and the Marshall family who purchased the farm in 1946. The property has been restored by Carolyn and Sid Kelly.
Source: NSW State Heritage Inventory
Reference: https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=1740151
Reibycroft has important historical associations with the Reiby family being built in 1825 by John Atkinson on land granted to his father-in-law Thomas Reiby. It remained the family home of Atkinson until 1835. The property is an important surviving example of an Old Colonial Georgian farmhouse, a style for which extant examples are generally considered to be rare. The house is well sited on a gentle rise to take in views of the Freemans Reach floodplain.
This simple colonial Georgian farmhouse was built by emancipated convict, Mary Reiby (the woman on the $20note) as a wedding present for her daughter, Penelope. Mary prospered in the Macquarie years, taking control of diverse family businesses after the death of her husband Thomas in 1811. In 1817 she became one of the founders of the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac). The cottage has a central hall and four rooms downstairs, an attic with two bedrooms and three dormer windows on each side. An original barn with huge, bush timber uprights andcross beams, a dairy and a well are also on the site.
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