A little bit about us...
Hi there, its Dee and Glenn, the proud custodians/owners of Tanilba House :)
We bought Tanilba in March 2018 and we still cant quite believe that we live in such a beautiful, historic house in this amazing, unspoilt paradise overlooking Port Stephens. A lot of people said we were mad to take on such a huge job (as Tanilba had certainly seen better days when we bought her) but we could not resist this incredible grand old lady just waiting for someone to love her and make her shine! To us, Tanilba just oozed an irresistable special soul and character and was stunningly, achingly beautiful.
We decided to jump in boots and all and since then have been dedicated to her restoration, maintenance and beautification. We do live here (people are sometimes surprised at that!) and we get so much satisfaction from seeing her blossom under our care.
We thoroughly enjoy sharing our beautiful, grand girl with others and love being an important part of peoples weddings and other special events. It is just so satisfying seeing happy couples and happy people!
We give all our events our personal focus and attention to make sure they are as perfect as possible.
To ensure we protect Tanilba, we limit the number of weddings and other events each year. So a wedding or event at Tanilba is rather exclusive...;)
As we love the intriguing history of the house, we give history talks at some of the events. We also enjoy giving our community insights into our colonial and more recent history. We are always happy to have a chat about it (careful though, if you get Glenn started he may be still be talking about her hours later...) Quite simply, we love her to bits!
Justifyably, grand old ladies are very demanding and need significant attention and nurturing. We always have restoration projects on the go and we dont see that this will ever change. Our priority is to ensure Tanilba is passed on in good repair to the next generation. We strive to contribute to the ongoing preservation of our convict and colonial past. Our current projects are: building a shed for all Glenn's tools and machinery (so we dont have to keep using bedrooms!), restumping the whole front verandah, plus the ongoing and very time consuming job of painting everything, especially all our external wood. This is on top of all the other general maintenance (things break all the time!) plus three acres of gardens to beautify and maintain, so lots to do!
To help us fund these projects, the broad majority of money raised by our events are reinvested into the property. We are fully committed to her, and we do everything we can to look after her.
When we aren't working on Tanilba, we enjoy travelling and exploring, lots of hiking, boating, live music, dancing (ok the dancing is actually just me ;)) and spending time with our wonderful family and friends. We also, unsurprisingly, love history and antiques so can rarely go past an antique shop without stopping in.....
If you are thinking of having an event, we would be honoured to be considered.
Please note that EVERYONE is welcome at Tanilba. We are huge supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community and love meeting people from all backgrounds and cultures.
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We look forward to meeting you!
Best wishes,
Dee & Glenn :)
Our Custodian Mission Statement
As Tanilba's current custodians, we strive to conserve, protect and share Tanilba in order to pass her onto the next generation well loved and in good repair.
To achieve this we will:
1. Invest effort and necessary funds into restoring, maintaining and nuturing the many historical elements of the house and grounds
2. Make Tanilba available to the community to be enjoyed and provide truly unique functions and events
3. Educate others and bring to life Tilligerry Penininsula's unique local history
Best wishes
Glenn & Dee
Tanilba House (1831) Proudly the oldest home in Port Stephens
A Little about our 190 year history...
Tanilba House c1831 is the oldest original home in Port Stephens. State heritage listed, she sits proudly on a peninsula surrounded by the bay on 3 acres of manicured gardens on the Tilligerry Peninsula.
Tanilba is an indigenous word and means "Place of white flowers", presumably due to the many flannel flowers that originally covered the peninsula.
Tanilba House was built by convicts for Lieutenant William Caswell who retired from the English navy and sought his fortune in the colony of NSW. Arriving with his young wife Susan in 1829, he took possession of a 50 acre land grant in 1831 and romantically set out to build his wife, and many children, a comfortable and impressive home. Tanilba is unique for many reasons, but her position overlooking the bay is unusual for the early 1800's when most of the focus and funds were invested in wool and food producing country farms away from the sandy coast. Tanilba still retains many of her original colonial features and offers scenic vistas of the surrounding bay from many parts of the property. The garden contains various heritage listed items including arguably the oldest olive tree in Australia, a wisteria covered pergola, an ancient Bunya pine and two c160 year old fig trees.
Tanilba House was designed to be a family home and farmstead. The half-metre-thick stone walls, extensive verandahs and high ceilings are all part of its colonial charm.
In addition to the land at Tanilba Bay, the Caswells also had 920 acres on the Williams River granted to them - this became known as Balickera.
Lieutenant Caswell was known to leave Tanilba at 3am each day on horseback to ride to supervise his other farm.
In the early 1840s the Caswells returned to the Balickera farm and Tanilba House was leased intermittently until 1897.
In 1882 a visitor described the house as a "deserted residence fast moulding into decay".
Lieutenant Caswell died in 1859 and Mrs Caswell in 1886 at the age of 81.
It was after Mrs Caswell's death that the home was sold to Elizabeth Holmes in 1897 who started restoring the old residence. She originally wanted to demolish it to make way for a grand victorian home but her architect recommended she retore Tanilba instead.
Mrs Holmes sold Tanilba House to W.J. Ebbeck in 1905, who converted it into a holiday house for fishing parties from Newcastle and Maitland.
It changed hands again in 1913 and became the residence of Walter W. Clift who in turn sold it in 1920 to property developer Henry F. Halloran.
Mr H.F. Halloran was a real estate agent, developer and landscape architect in Sydney and other parts of NSW.
Many say he envisaged a flourishing town surrounding Tanilba House and it was under his guidance that the old house was updated, the conservatory added, ornate gates and fences built and the adjoining "temple" constructed.
Mr Halloran died in 1953 and the house began to go downhill.
For almost 20 years Tanilba House was used as a holiday destination before being leased to religious group "The Gospel Fisherman".
Helena Oberland, took over the lease in the mid-1950s, using it as a guest house and riding school.
In 1980 the state government finally realising its importance, placed a permanent conservation order on the property.
Helen Taylor lived at Tanilba House from the mid-1980s. She staged exhibitions, plays, poetry readings and concerts in the historic home. In 2017 The current owners, Glenn Short and Deirdre Hall purchased the property and have been tirelessly restoring the home and further enhancing the extensive grounds. While Tanilba's ongoing restoration will be a long journey, she sits well loved and proud atop the hill on her whale tail shaped peninsula, ready to greet a new generation of visitors.
Tanilba House was built by convicts for Lieutenant William Caswell who retired from the English navy and sought his fortune in the colony of NSW. Arriving with his young wife Susan in 1829, he took possession of a 50 acre land grant in 1831 and romantically set out to build his wife, and many children, a comfortable and impressive home. Tanilba is unique for many reasons, but her position overlooking the bay is unusual for the early 1800's when most of the focus and funds were invested in wool and food producing country farms away from the sandy coast. Tanilba still retains many of her original colonial features and offers scenic vistas of the surrounding bay from many parts of the property. The garden contains various heritage listed items including arguably the oldest olive tree in Australia, a wisteria covered pergola, an ancient Bunya pine and two c160 year old fig trees.
Tanilba House was designed to be a family home and farmstead. The half-metre-thick stone walls, extensive verandahs and high ceilings are all part of its colonial charm.
In addition to the land at Tanilba Bay, the Caswells also had 920 acres on the Williams River granted to them - this became known as Balickera.
Lieutenant Caswell was known to leave Tanilba at 3am each day on horseback to ride to supervise his other farm.
In the early 1840s the Caswells returned to the Balickera farm and Tanilba House was leased intermittently until 1897.
In 1882 a visitor described the house as a "deserted residence fast moulding into decay".
Lieutenant Caswell died in 1859 and Mrs Caswell in 1886 at the age of 81.
It was after Mrs Caswell's death that the home was sold to Elizabeth Holmes in 1897 who started restoring the old residence. She originally wanted to demolish it to make way for a grand victorian home but her architect recommended she retore Tanilba instead.
Mrs Holmes sold Tanilba House to W.J. Ebbeck in 1905, who converted it into a holiday house for fishing parties from Newcastle and Maitland.
It changed hands again in 1913 and became the residence of Walter W. Clift who in turn sold it in 1920 to property developer Henry F. Halloran.
Mr H.F. Halloran was a real estate agent, developer and landscape architect in Sydney and other parts of NSW.
Many say he envisaged a flourishing town surrounding Tanilba House and it was under his guidance that the old house was updated, the conservatory added, ornate gates and fences built and the adjoining "temple" constructed.
Mr Halloran died in 1953 and the house began to go downhill.
For almost 20 years Tanilba House was used as a holiday destination before being leased to religious group "The Gospel Fisherman".
Helena Oberland, took over the lease in the mid-1950s, using it as a guest house and riding school.
In 1980 the state government finally realising its importance, placed a permanent conservation order on the property.
Helen Taylor lived at Tanilba House from the mid-1980s. She staged exhibitions, plays, poetry readings and concerts in the historic home. In 2017 The current owners, Glenn Short and Deirdre Hall purchased the property and have been tirelessly restoring the home and further enhancing the extensive grounds. While Tanilba's ongoing restoration will be a long journey, she sits well loved and proud atop the hill on her whale tail shaped peninsula, ready to greet a new generation of visitors.
Where is Tanilba House?
Tanilba House is located halfway between Newcastle and Nelson Bay on the Tilligerry Peninsula in Tanilba Bay, Port Stephens. A little known and undeveloped paradise, Tanilba Bay is known for its magnificent bay views, teeming bird life and local koalas. With grand stone entrance gates built in the 1920's, it is surrounded by an abundance of recreational and national parkland.
Why not make your event a memorable break away? The area has a range of accommodation options that cater for up to c200 people and can easily cater for a 100 person wedding .
Why not make your event a memorable break away? The area has a range of accommodation options that cater for up to c200 people and can easily cater for a 100 person wedding .