Built in the 1820s, Freshwater Point is one of Australia's oldest houses and an important part of Tasmania’s heritage. It sits beside a sweeping bend in the Tamar river named ‘Freshwater Point’ by the explorer Matthew Flinders.

The original main entrance to the homestead faces the river as this was the main method of transport for the first hundred years in the life of the property.

Freshwater Point homestead was built by Jonathan Griffiths who had, at seventeen years of age, arrived in New South Wales as a convict with the Second Fleet. Later, his son inherited and expanded the estate. It was then bought by Carl Nobelius, a nurseryman who developed the property as an orchard which became the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

The building which now comprises the two cottages 'Hayloft' and 'Stables', was built in the 1920s as stables for the family’s private horses and carriages. Transport to town continued to be by horse and carriage until the late 1920s. ‘Elm Cottage’ stands on the foundation of the large original stables, which housed the team of dray horses and blacksmith’s shop.

The large elm trees on the property are more than a century old. The beautiful weeping elm, on the eastern side of the Homestead, has been listed by the National Trust, and is considered one of the finest specimens in Tasmania.

READ MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF FRESHWATER POINT