Some History

Have a look at George Town's history also.

The Davies family, who purchased 'The Grove' in 1889 report that they were told that the house was built as a home for the military commandant, and completed about 1827. Remembering that it is situated in Cimitiere St., and that Colonel Cimitiere was the military commandant, may give that story some credibility. However, recent research suggests that the house was very likely built by Lieutenant Matthew Curling Friend, ship's captain, who was appointed to the post of Port Officer in 1832. He administered the whole of the river port of the Tamar river, called Port Dalrymple, because in those days of course the ships were much smaller, and used to go right to Launceston. He moved from Launceston to George Town late in 1835 apparently on completion of construction.

Grove maids at work

The house has had many owners, as people came to the town to do a job, and left again. Matthew Curling Friend owned the house til about 1852 when he retired to England though it was owned briefly by Revd Fereday and his family from 1846-49. Then William Lushington Goodwin (former ships Captain whose ship sunk in the Tamar, after which he started the Cornwall Chronicle, a Launceston newspaper that he used to lambast all and sundry) lived here til his death in 1862 and his wife for about 7 years longer. Dr James Richardson, former surgeon for the Van Diemens Land Company, owned the house for 20 years til 1889 when Joseph Davies (who had come to the area to manage a gold mine at Lefroy, and then the newly opened Beaconsfield gold mine) bought it, apparently in run-down condition. He carried out some restoration including replacing the wooden shingles with iron. The Davies family continued here until 1942 when Joseph's son, Thomas, died and the family departed. In 1968, The Grove was in a terrible condition, and the local council considered restoring it, then considered putting a demolition order on it. After a lot of local concern and agitation, this became a closure order, and many avenues of saving the house were explored. By 1969, when nothing had been achieved, Chlo and Peter Martin decided to look into what would be involved in restoring the house. After extensive investigation they adventurously purchased it and plunged into what was to be two years of constant hard work to bring The Grove back to life as a museum from 1971 to 2007. Through the years, the gardens have gradually been developed around the format that was already there, and our licensed restaurant built in the gardens.

Grove pages ...

• Some more of The Grove - layout and photos . . . .
• Our George Town history page
   
  

  Other links ...

• George Town - details for visitors - much more information on the George Town Council site, including a better photo of The Grove
• The Tamar Valley
• Tam O Shanter Beach - fabulous beachside and golf course development on Bass Strait
• Travelways - the definitive guide to Tasmanian Tourism resources, the commercial bits anyway, covering basically all accommodation among other things.
• George Town and District Historical Society
• National Trust in Tasmania - the inadequately funded Tasmanian branch of the National Trust has all sorts of interesting places to visit.
• Tasonline - Tasmania search engine and directory - Heaps of information on Tasmania, now on Tasmanian government site.
• Thrifty Car rental, Tas Vacations