Tuggeranong Homestead

 

A tour group visiting Tuggeranong Homestead with its out buildings and stables (below right).

How to get there

From the Visitors Centre continue south over Commonwealth Bridge. Take Capital Circle around Parliament house taking the first exit onto Canberra Ave. Continue through Manuka and Forrest towards Fyshwick, turning right onto the Monaro Highway. Take the fourth exit right onto Johnston Drive, then second right into Tuggeranong Homestead.

Why is this interesting?

Tuggeranong Homestead dates from an 1827 land grant, and has an 1830s convict-built barn. One of the earliest written records of local Aboriginal life was recorded at Tuggeranong Homestead in 1831. William Edward Riley visited Tuggeranong in that year and recorded in great detail a ‘Corobberie at Tuggranon’ [sic]. His account evocatively records sounds, smells and sights. At this stop you can read his account and place yourself in a time long ago.

Many changes were made to the property over the past 170 years. An 1830s convict built barn stands next to a 1940s petrol bowser. The house now reflects mixed era architecture as a result of a 1908 Federation rebuild and 1950s alterations.

CEW Bean wrote the first volumes of the official World War 1 history at the homestead from 1919 to 1925. Bean recorded feats of heroism on the battlefields of Europe and articulated the ANZAC spirit that forged Australia’s unique identity. Bean also urged the creation of a war museum, now the Australian War Memorial.