Description of the attraction
The Narryna Museum is undoubtedly one of the finest museums in Hobart. This beautiful Georgian sandstone and brick building with a walled cobbled courtyard and barn is a popular tourist attraction. The museum is located in the middle of an ancient garden in the heart of Battary Point, the historic heart of Hobart.
Long ago, in the 1830s, sea captain Andrew Hague bought this land from the first priest of the Tasmanian colony, Robert Knopwood, and in three years built a house here. Over the next hundred years, many eminent Tasmanians lived in this house. Interestingly, the floors in the house are made of two types of wood. The part in which the owner lived was packed with New Zealand agathis from one of Hag's ships. And the servants' quarters are lined with Tasmanian pine, which cost less.
In 1955, Narryna was transformed into Australia's first folk museum, which today houses a unique collection of 19th century Australian objects of great national importance. Here are collected pieces of furniture, porcelain, silver, drawings and works of art. Unfortunately, the very furnishings of Andrew Hague's house have not survived, but the furniture displayed in the museum belongs to the same time period and characterizes the life of the inhabitants of Tasmania in the mid-19th century. An interesting exhibit of the museum is a small rosewood tea table. Such tables were made for storing and sorting especially valuable types of tea, which in the 19th century was a drink of the elite. Most of the time, the tea was kept under lock and key so that the servants could not steal it.
The barn, built by Hag, today hosts small exhibitions and contains some of the exhibits. The garden, in the middle of which there is a museum, deserves special attention - it was laid out by Andrew Hag and, although it has decreased in size, it still attracts visitors.
