Entally & Its Buildings & Grounds

Entally House was built in 1819 as a simple single-storey cottage in the vernacular style, with no architect or designer employed in the planning process. It was built to house Thomas Reibey II and his growing young family, as they started the Estate, using a Government Loan Gang of one hundred convicts in its construction. These convicts were locked in an underground cellar overnight to prevent them escaping - this cellar still exists, under the double-storey Governor’s Wing on the northern side of the main House.

Over the next 200 years, additions were added when needed, outbuildings were built, alterations were made, and the small cottage tuned into the grand, sprawling brick house we know today.

The House is styled to exemplify the lifestyle of a wealthy gentleman in the 19th century, with a large range of antique furniture & effects from the period. Entally is more than just another gracious house - it is a home, with its little homely touches that seem to reach out to welcome visitors.

The two-storey main House is set within several acres of parkland, with views towards the distant hills, overlooking the well-tended gardens & cricket pitch, and surrounded by various double- and single-storey brick outbuildings.

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The first home of the Reibey family to be called Entally, was a large house of grey stone blocks, built for Thomas Reibey I in 1807, near Macquarie Place in Sydney. The sign above the door read ‘Entally House - Raby’s Warehouse’. This house features on the Australian $20 note. Thomas I named his house after a suburb of Calcutta (now called Kolkata, where he was shipwrecked at Entally at age thirteen, and nursed back to health by the locals. The name Entally is derived from the Hintally tree, a palm native to India.

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Only three generations of the Reibey Family have lived at Entally House:

Thomas Haydock Reibey II (1796-1842)

Thomas Haydock Reibey III (1821-1912)

Thomas Reibey Arthur (1845-1919)

1819 Building commences of Entally House for Thomas Reibey II & family.

1842 Thomas Reibey II passes away. His son, Thomas Reibey III inherits the Estate.

1912 Thomas Reibey III passes away. His nephew, Thomas Reibey Arthur, inherits the Estate.

1919 Thomas Reibey Arthur passes away, and Entally Estate is sold to the Arthurs (no relation to the Reibey family).

1927 Harry Harman purchases the Estate. He lived at Entally with his two adult daughters.

1929 Harry Harman sold the Estate and moved to King Island. The property was bought by Colonel & Mrs George Arthur. George Arthur’s mother was Mary Allen Reibey, sister to Thomas Reibey III. In 1929, Entally Estate consisted of 93 acres of land.

1948 The Tasmanian Government purchased the Entally Estate for £7,500 from Mrs George Arthur. The house was unfurnished. The Tasmanian Government sent two antique dealers to England to purchase suitable furniture for the house.

1950 Entally House was opened to the public as the first house museum in Australia. It was managed by the Scenic Preservation Board.

1970 The Scenic Preservation Board became the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service (part of the Tasmanian Government).

1982 The National Trust leased the Estate for 99 years lease.

2002-2004 The National Trust tried to sell the remaining part of their lease.

2005 Gunns Pty Ltd took over the lease on the Estate and added a five acre vineyard.

2010 Gunns Pty Ltd ended their lease, and the Estate was once again managed by Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service.

2013 The Tasmanian Government advertised to find a private operator for the Estate. There was some criticism by locals who believed the Tasmanian Government should continue to manage the property.

2014 The Entally Estate lease is taken over by VDLE Group for 99 years. VDLE Group bought the property across the road from the Estate in 2013, and renamed it Entally Lodge (formerly known as the Rutherglen Holiday Village).

The House is set within several acres of parkland, with its well-tended gardens reaching their peak in November each year. The Estate is entered by a long driveway, featuring well-established oak trees that were planted by Thomas II. A neatly trimmed box hedge defines the road from the garden. Behind the House there is a formal walled garden, reminiscent of a traditional English Garden.

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Although the grounds and surrounding parkland were established by Thomas II from 1819, including the now-huge English trees, the gardens reached their peak in the second half of the nineteenth century under Thomas III. Two and a half acres of garden surrounded the house. During Thomas III’s time the gardens were lovingly maintained by their gardener, George Thorpe, and the nurseryman Charles Glenn. An article in the Tasmanian from 1883 describes the gardens as ‘well-kept grounds, planted with English and other trees - shrubs and flowers lend additional beauty to the scene’. Other gardeners known to have worked for Thomas III were William Stewart from 1857 and Richard John Cheese Tole from 1854.

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In 1860 Thomas III added a new gravel driveway with a round turning circle in front of the House. The driveway was flanked on both sides with oaks, with an under-planting of shrubs and herbaceous plants, and a white thorn hedge enclosed the ornamental ground to the river. The circular loop part of the driveway was removed in 1949 and a car park and over flow car park were created by the Scenic Preservation Board. A white flowering wisteria was planted either side of the stairs leading to the front door, which now trails across the front verandah.

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In the 1850’s, the formal walled garden of convict made bricks gave a Renaissance feel to the garden. Well-established espalier fruit trees covered the eastern wall, and on the western wall, climbing roses. The interior geometric shaped beds were lined with low clipped box hedges and filled with flowering plants. A fruit orchard was established on the eastern side of the walled garden. The modern walled garden has now been restored to much of its former glory.

The original orchard behind the walled garden, has been replaced with a vegetable garden that is maintained by the local TasTafe college, which runs horticultural courses in the Entally grounds.

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On the western lawn, between the main House & the Caretaker’s Cottage, are three well established trees. These were all planted as seeds over 180 years ago by Thomas II - an Indian Cedar, Atlas Cedar, and Canadian Redwood. The Atlas Cedar stands in the middle of the lawn shading the House, has magnificent grey-green needles and is used as a backdrop for many weddings on the Estate today.

The Entally Conservatory is the oldest surviving, Victorian-styled conservatory in Australia and one of the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere. Having seen great conservatories at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and, on their return from England, Thomas III & Catherine had a conservatory erected in 1855. This was pre-fabricated in England, shipped in multiple boxes to the site, and built carefully from a set of instructions - similar to a modern-day flat pack design. The building is approximately twenty five metres long, with a Baltic timber frame on a brick base.

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The Conservatory was divided into two sections with mostly flowers in the front section, and grapes & camellias in the rear. Photos taken in the rear section in 1859 show well established plants & grape vines. A later photo taken in the 1900’s show the grape vines climbing through the walls. A special notch was created in the brick base of the walls allowing the vines to be planted in the external soil then, as it grows, climbs inside through bricks. This allowed the grapes to ripen inside the Conservatory, protecting the precious fruit from the cooler frosts of the area. Also to combat this, the Conservatory had hot air flues running all through it with heated air supplied from a furnace outside the building. Grape vines growing in this heated climate produced grapes six weeks in advance of those grown in an outside garden.

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In 1887, ‘a profusion of camellias and other hothouse flowers’ from the Entally Conservatory were used to decorate the refreshment room at parliament buildings where the Speaker of the House of Assembly hosted a dinner party. Those original camellias, believed to be about 150 years old, are still growing in the Conservatory today and the trees have recently been reinforced with supports.

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Opposite the Conservatory, across the Walled Garden, lies another glasshouse of similar design. Known as the Potting Shed, this was built some years later and is used today to house all the baby plants destined for the House & Conservatory.

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Today the Conservatory hosts an array of plants all year rounds, starting with a Spring Display curated by the local TasTafe Horticulture students. This display lasts through September to December, and consists of greenery and spring flowers. From January to May, the shelves are bursting with flowering begonias, from one of the Friends of Entally volunteers, Peter Bugg.

The chapel was designed by Tasmania’s first architect, John Lee Archer in 1835, but not built until many years later in the 1850’s. Regular services were conducted by Thomas III or by one of the clergy from the neighbourhood. It continued to be used as a place of worship by the Hadspen congregation until 1918, even after Thomas III’s death in 1912. A Mrs Davis described the Chapel, prior to the death of Thomas III, as being covered in ivy. A Mrs Button recalled that the Chapel was no longer in use in 1927. The organ was just inside the door - this was brought back from England in 1868 where Thomas III had purchased it for £500, as it had formerly been in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Upon the death of Thomas Reibey Arthur this organ went to St Andrews Church at Carrick, where it still resides today.

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A gold cup with the inscription ‘Manufactured in 1842’ was used for Communion Services. It was a copy of a cup found in the stone tomb of Hilary, Bishop of Chichester in 1848. Thomas III bought the cup back from England in 1854, and after using it in the Chapel at Entally, presented it to St Andrew’s Church at Carrick.

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When the Scenic Preservation Board took over Entally in 1948, the Chapel was in a bad state of repair due to it’s poor foundations. The rebuilding of the Chapel was done by A. H. Buchanan of Hadspen and a belfry was built on the roof with a bell, that had no historic precedence. The belfry was removed in the 1990’s when the roof was re-shingled.

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Over the years of Thomas III residing in the Entally Chapel there have been four marriages:

The first marriage was James Moncrieff to Esther Elizabeth Davis, by the Reverend Charles Arthur on 25 March 1886.

On 27 March 1902, May Bellinger was married to James Eastoe by the Reverend Canon Howell. May’s father was a coachman at Entally to Thomas III.

Mr Bellinger’s other daughter, Ethel Ida Bellinger was married to C. Preddy of Longford by Canon Wilmer.

On 3 April 1906, Mabel Cobbett was married to Chester Allwright by the Reverend R. K. Collisson. Thomas III proposed the health of the bride and groom.

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Many items that were once part of the Entally Chapel are now held in the Church of the Good Shepherd. They include: a rood screen and cross with an unusual type of brass book desk attached to the screen, the altar and coverings, a pair of brass candlesticks, gilded and coloured reredos, with a wooden cross and symbolic paintings, a carved lectern and pews, and a Bible inscribed with Reibey’s name.

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The pews in the Entally Chapel are copies of the originals. The new pews were made by Toledo Furniture in Launceston from local blackwood, at a cost of $12,000. The Friends of Entally Volunteer Group raised this money to purchase the pews, paint the interior, and install a new carpet. The roof was re-shingled in April 2019.

The Entally Coach House is a large, double-storey, whitewashed brick building to the south of the main House. Originally it had doors attached to protect the carriages from the elements but these were removed in the 1980’s. There were also exterior steps leading to a storage area, but these have since been removed. A stone mask is featured above the middle door of the Coach House, supposedly an angel to watch over the carriages to ensure no tampering can occur.

On the lower floor of the Coach House is a Livery Room with stairs going upstairs to the storage rooms. The coach horses were housed in the stables adjoining the Coach House with the original stalls and cobblestones still present today.

Little remains of Thomas III’s Racing Stables. During his long life, he owned over ninety race horses and was a prominent figure of the turf circle. He is known for once owning a famous race horse Malua - a bay stallion, winner of the 1884 Melbourne Cup and known as the most versatile racehorse in Australia history. Thomas III enjoyed the sport of horse racing and competing against his friends and neighbours, whom he described as ‘true and fair sportsmen...there was no chance of asking any of those men to pull a horse’. The first race horse that he owned and raced was called The Drone.

Thomas III held firm views on how his race horses should be kept. His stables had to be light, kept clean and well ventilated. Racing stables of this era were often poorly lit and, over a period of time, could cause a horse to go blind. The horses’ stalls were made of cedar with each horse’s name proudly displayed above its stall. Racing under the rose colours Thomas III never allowed his jockeys to use either a whip or spur, and it is believed that this practice cost him many wins. Nor would he bet on his race horses - Thomas Midwood drew a cartoon caricature of Thomas at the Elwick Races in 1882, with the sketch titled ‘Ten To One I Lay’. Thomas III enjoyed the joke and bought the cartoon, where he proudly displayed it in the Entally Library. This sketch is still there today.

Thomas III together with the Fields family, founded the Carrick Racecourse in 1849. This is where the Carrick Plate, the oldest horse race in Australia, was held annually without a break until 1913. During his lifetime, Thomas III was president of three racing clubs - Carrick, Rosevale & Newnham, maintaining his presidency of the Carrick Club until his death in 1912.

For many years, Thomas III believed that a Tasmanian horse could win a Melbourne Cup. He entered Stockwell in the 1882 Melbourne Cup, but it was pipped at the post by Assyrian. On the same day, Thomas III entered his other horse, Bagot, in the Yan Yean Stakes. Bagot easily won that race, and his prize winnings for that race meeting amounted to £420. Angry at being so close to victory with Stockwell, Thomas III sold both horses.

Thomas III had originally bought Bagot as a yearling at the Calstocks Annual Sales in 1881 for 32 guineas. He named the yearling after his friend, Robert Bagot (the first secretary of the Victorian Racing Club of 1864). Thomas III sold Bagot to John Ord Inglis for 500 guineas, who re-named him to Malua - a Fijian word meaning ‘to linger’. Malua won the Melbourne Cup in 1884, and his progeny Malvolis won the Melbourne Cup in 1891. A statue of Malua stands outside the Deloraine Visitors Centre.

Cricket was first introduced into Tasmania with the early settlers, with the earliest mention of the game by a Reverend Knotwood in a entry to his diary in 1814. By the 1820’s, cricket was entrenched in the social culture of Hobart and Launceston. The Entally Cricket Pitch is one of the first Australian grounds to hold games, as Thomas II originally had the pitch constructed for his workers’ recreation in 1834 (about the time of the settlement of Melbourne), and cricket was played from 1838. During the 1860’s, the pitch was remade, with the turf was laid down with a horse-drawn water cart.

The Entally Cricket Pitch was once described as ‘the prettiest ground in Australasia’. An earlier description of the Entally Cricket Pitch said that it was ‘smooth as a bowling- green, and of such dimensions as to please the greatest lion hitters’. The article goes on to add ‘A booth has been erected on the ground for the convenience of the players. From the hill the spectators can have a splendid view of the play, whilst they would be shaded from the rays of Old Sol by the thick foliaged trees’.

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His son, Thomas III, was a keen lover of all sporting activities from an early age, that continued throughout his long life. Whilst attending Longford Hall in 1836, Thomas III received a first prize for fencing. And when studying at Oxford University, he was more noted for ‘his great interest in outdoor sports, particularly hunting and rowing’, rather than any academic expertise. It was said that if you wanted to gain employment at Entally, whether male or female, in the time of Thomas III, it helped if you played cricket. Thomas III gathered a team of local players whom he coached and encouraged.

Thomas III believed that cricket was a ‘manly and noble game; it brings people together - the nobleman and the labourer, the rich and the poor, and places them on an equality. It is so thoroughly English that even the nobleman submits to be captained by the blacksmith of his village, and riches and birth are unacknowledged in opposition to skill…’.

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In 1868, a J. Featherstone was given a liquor licence to sell beverages on the cricket grounds at Entally. A specially designed cricket table was made available for beverages to be sat on; the finely shaped table has legs are designed to dig into the ground so the table will not topple over. This cricket table is now located in the Entally Library.

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Thomas III’s nephew Charles Arthur and Charles’ two sons, George and John Arthur, all played for the Entally Cricket Team. John Arthur was regarded as one of Australia’s best batsmen in the 1870’s and was selected to play in the Australian Eleven’s visit to England in 1878. When the Australian Eleven heard that John Arthur was unable to join the team, they sent him a cricket bat which they all signed.

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The Entally Cricket team provided numerous players to Launceston when representative teams were formed. During the 1876 season, the Entally Cricket team won every match, except one against the Bohemian cricketers. The Cricket Pitch was also used by various community groups at their picnics, and once a year by Grammar School boys. Ladies cricket teams also played on the pitch. In 1896, the Crescent Club of lady cricketers played against the Entally Ladies team, with the Entally team beaten by thirty-one runs.

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W. C. Grace, captain of the all English Eleven, is also reputed to have played on the Entally Cricket Pitch in 1874. W. C. Grace, an English amateur cricketer, is widely considered to be one of the greatest-ever cricket players. During his first class cricket career of forty-four seasons from 1865-1908, he scored 54,896 runs, registered 126 centuries (100 runs in a single innings) and as a bowler, took 2,809 wickets.

Both Governor T. Dennison and Governor du Cane enjoyed watching cricket played on the Entally Cricket Pitch. In 1852, Governor Dennison watched a match between The College and Launceston Cricket clubs with College winning by two runs. In 1869, when Governor du Cane was staying at Entally, he played in the Entally Eleven against the Launceston Club, scoring ten runs. Two hundred spectators watched the game, including a number of ladies. His Excellency, Governor du Cane was a ‘warm supporter of manly sports’, and on his estate in England, he had a cricket ground ‘equal to any private ground in the old country’. Governor du Cane believed that ‘to make a good cricketer would go far towards making a good citizen’.

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The last cricket match to be played on the Entally Cricket Pitch was on 14 February 1996, where the Constables, led by local police officer Wayne Fogarty, defeated the Bushrangers, captained by Tony Walker of Hadspen Newsagency. Tracy Nish, a current volunteer at Entally, had her son Mitchell and daughter Rebekah play in the junior team on that day.

On the Entally Estate grounds, stands two cottages - the Caretaker’s Cottage & Gatekeeper’s Cottage. The Cottages appear to have been built by 1860. They were originally constructed to house Estate workers, but they may also have been seen as a status symbol and an attempt by Thomas III to create an English-style gentleman’s estate. The Caretaker’s Cottage is located at the far end of the west lawn of the House, and the Gatekeeper’s Cottage is located next to the main gate of the Estate on Entally Road.

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In May 1851, the Tasmanian architect William Archer designed a ‘cottage and gateways’ for his friend the Reverend Thomas Reibey III. The cottage is in the barge-boarded ‘Rural Gothic’ style. The Rural Gothic style of architecture was developed in Northern America in the middle of the nineteenth century. This building style was confined to small domestic buildings and small churches. The style featured a steep pointed arched roof and wooden barge board trim with jig-saw details using a scroll saw.

The Caretaker’s Cottage may have been inspired by a design in J. C. Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Cottage Farm and Villa Architecture, first published in 1833.

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The Gatekeeper’s Cottage consisted of two medium size rooms (lounge room and bedroom) with open fireplaces. In 1883 Joe Cater, Thomas III’s horse trainer lived in the cottage, and then in the 1910’s the coachman lived in this cottage. One of his duties was to open the large wooden gates, and then in 1948 the cottage was leased to an employee. Considered derelict by 1959, it was again restored by 1985 with a modern kitchen, bathroom, and loft-style single bedroom added.

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In 1950, the Scenic Preservation Board was calling tenders for the ‘erection of additions to Lodge Cottage, Entally’ (otherwise known as the Caretaker’s Cottage). In 1951, the rear section was built, housing the bathroom, laundry, and kitchen extension. During the 1950’s, the Caretaker’s Cottage was lived in by the head gardener. In the 1960’s, the front section was pulled down and rebuilt on new foundations. Gardeners who worked in the Entally gardens continued to live in this cottage in the 1980’s.

Today, both cottages are privately rented.