The former Court House

Greta (including Lochinvar)
Small Hunter Valley township on the New England Highway
Greta is a very small townships of the Cessnock shire situated on the New England Highway between Maitland and Singleton. Greta, though very small, appears almost suburban - an extension of Maitland. However it has several older buildings which reflect the fact it they emerged (albeit slowly and undramatically) in the early to mid-19th century as the Hunter Valley was opened up beyond Maitland.

The district is thought to have been occupied by the Wanaruah people prior to white settlement.

Greta, 23 km north-west of Maitland, 172 km north of Sydney via Cessnock and 55 m above sea-level, appears to have started as a small community around Anvil Creek in the 1830s. The township was surveyed and named, presumably after a small river in Cumberland, England, in 1842. Coal mining commenced at Anvil Creek in 1862, the year the railway arrived, and kerosene shale was discovered in 1864. However, it was the establishment of the Anvil Creek Coal Mine in 1874 that prompted the first substantial development. Four hotels, four churches, a school and school of arts soon appeared. The substantial Greta coal seam was discovered in 1886 by Edgeworth David. Ten collieries were in operation in the district by 1907.

During World War II an army camp was set up outside the town. Used as a staging camp for migrants after the war it was later pulled down and rebuilt at the Tahlee Bible College.

The presence of the Greta Workers Club indicates the industrial history of the town which is still occupied by miners, although they must now travel further afield as the coalface recedes northwards. The mines and power stations of Singleton are major employees.

Things to see:  

Historic Buildings
Entering Greta from the east the town's historic buildings are virtually all situated on the left-hand side of the highway within one block of Wyndham Street. Tattersall's Hotel has been recently renovated. Two doors down is the post office with a modest gallery display, then the old council chambers (1912) - also renovated. The latter is open on public holidays and town market days as a local history museum, tel: (02) 4938 7158. It contains local historical records, a 19th-century photographic display, coalmining material and items pertaining to the postwar immigrant staging camp.

Next door is the gracious if somewhat dilapidated brick courthouse (c.1890) with arched windows and slate gambrel roof. There is an arcaded verandah on three sides with a pediment over the entry. It is now used as a community hall. Adjacent, in the centre aisle of the main road, are a memorial and band rotunda.

At 67 High St is Greta Garage Sale which sells antiques, collectables and bric-a-brac, open 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Near the end of Wyndham St is Greta Public School (est 1878). There are also a number of old mining cottages in the area.

Wyndham Estate
North-east of Greta is Wyndham Estate Winery, open daily from 10.00 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. with picnic-barbecue areas by the riverside, a restaurant, wine and food tastings, cellar-door sales and a museum. They arrange historic tours, wine education and riverside barbecues and cater for coach group packages, weddings, functions and Christmas parties, tel: (02) 4938 3444. Opera in the Vineyard is held annually in October.

The estate is celebrating its 180th anniversary in 2008. George Wyndham, the father of Wyndham Estate Wines, settled on the estate in 1828 (granted to David Maziere in 1823) where he built Dalwood House of sandstone transported from a quarry at Raymond Terrace by barge and bullock dray. Wyndham planted his first vines around 1830. When they failed he replaced them with vines given to him by James Busby. Subsequently Wyndham's wines became internationally successful and the vineyard was the second-largest in NSW.

For a roadside look at the old home drive through the car park of the main complex and follow the road around. If you wish to see the interior there are open days on the first Sunday of the month from 1.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m. There are two departure roads for the winery. Take the right opposite the Greta Workers' Club, just past the Shell Roadhouse. Turn right at the T-intersection into Dalwood Rd and it is another 3.8 km. Alternatively head along the highway to Branxton and on the eastern outskirts is an unmistakably signposted turnoff to the right. Take the first right again into Dalwood Rd and it is 7 km.

St Patricks Catholic Church, Lochinvar

Lochinvar
About 8 km south-east of Greta, along the highway, is Lochinvar. The land here was granted in 1823 to Leslie Duguid, a founding director of the Commercial Bank of Sydney. A village was laid out in 1840 when Duguid sold up and a bridge over the Hunter built in 1874.

An roadside stop to the left on the outskirts of Lochinvar offers a fine prospect over the valley. Lovedale Rd runs off to the right to the Pokolbin Winery area. A couple of hundred metres further east along the highway a sign to the left indicates the access road to Lochinvar House, built in 1825 by Duguid. Set on 88 acres overlooking the river it has spacious rooms with high ceilings, an elaborate marble bathroom and a fine art collection on the walls. Wine grapes were grown here from 1843 and the ruins of the old cellar remain. Beside the house are the carved sandstone and kilned bricks produced by convict labour. It is now a bed-and-breakfast, tel: (02) 4930 7873.

1.2 km further along the highway, to the right, is St Helena Close. It leads to St Helena House which was built in 1869 by French wine-maker Philbert Terrier who was invited to Australia in 1857 to teach viticulture and viniculture. He made wine nearby at Kaludah. Terrier set up his own vineyard and winery in 1869 and built the home. A consultant to the Tyrrells, whose wines achieved international success, he sold the home and returned to France after his wife's death in 1883. The house is now a restaurant.

Continue eastwards along the highway for 450 m. Windermere Rd runs off to the left. It leads past the NSW Equestrian Centre to Windermere homestead (about 3 km). The original house was built of hand-made sandstock bricks by convicts in the 1820s for wealthy and successful pastoralist and businessman, Thomas Winder, who first took up 4000 acres near Lochinvar in the mid-1820s.

Windermere was also the favourite residence of William Charles Wentworth who became Winder's business partner and who extended the house. The building burned down in 1884 and was rebuilt atop the original cellars. It now houses a museum in the dungeons where the convicts were kept. The building can be inspected by appointment only, tel: (02) 4930 7024.

Return to and continue eastwards along the highway. 500 m along to the left is the Lochinvar Hotel and a further 500 m brings you to Station Lane on the right. 2.4 km along this road is the two-storey home known as Clifton (the first house on the left past the railway line), built prior to 1855 by Samuel Clift for his son Joseph.

Tours
Jump Up Creek Vineyard Tours offer daily mini coach tours of the Pokolbin Vineyards and local historic towns (Wollombi, Cessnock, Maitland, Morpeth, Singleton), tel: (02) 6574 7252 or 019 453 674.

	Hotels
	Greta Tattersalls Hotel 88 High St Greta NSW 2334 Telephone: (02) 4938 7302
	Restaurants
	Nice Rice Restaurant 2 West St Greta NSW 2334 Telephone: (02) 4938 7116