When the Victoria Pass road was completed, the doorway to the west was open and Hartley settlement began in earnest. The next 50 years saw Hartley grow into a bustling township surrounded by churches, a post office, stage couch facilities, and inns. (Ring, 1998)
As the farming community grew the village needed a police centre, which led to the building of the Hartley Court House in 1837. Further settlement in Hartley Township saw the first land sales in 1840 with prices set by the Governor at 8 pounds an acre. Six years later white settlement was firmly in place and very few of the local aboriginal inhabitants remained. (Ring, 1998)
By the mid 1850's travellers were greeted by public houses, blacksmiths and about half a dozen substantial dwellings at Little Hartley. In the 1860's, all the inns were booking offices for coach lines and mining for kerosene shale in the valley had begun. The years after gold was discovered in the mid west saw Hartley truly flourish, but by 1887, with the Great Western Railway bypassing the town, Hartley as a township began to decline.
(Foster et al, 1983)
Apart from Hartley Historic Village, the few remaining buildings of historic interest were all mostly inns or stores serving travellers west of the Blue Mountains. On the Great Western Highway these are the now private residences of 'Nioka', 'Rosedale' and 'Billesdene Grange', the adjoining buildings of 'Harp of Erin', now a gallery and ' Williams
Store', now Hartley Realty, directly opposite is 'Ambermere', soon to become a restaurant, and further up the road is 'Kerosene Cottage', now a private residence, beside it is the 'Tallisman Gallery' and 'Meads Farm', now a bed & breakfast. Hartley Vale's remaining historic buildings are the 'Comet Inn' and 'Collits Inn', both of which are now
bed & breakfast & restaurant establishments.
Today Hartley is a rural residential area known for its apples, grown in past times, and its peaceful country atmosphere. With its beautiful serene landscape and stunning backdrop of the Blue Mountains escarpment
Hartley is, not only an area of historic interest but a much sought after rural escape.'
Provided by Inara Hawley
Bibliography:
Foster et al. (1983), The Story of Hartley and its Historic Court House, N.S.W. National Parks and Wildlife Service
Ring, S., (1998) Hartley Historic Site Leaflet, N.S.W. National Parks and Wildlife Service
Hartley, Blue Mountains NSW Australia, is 132 km from Sydney - (when travelling along the Bells Line of Road)
'Hartley' encompasses Little Hartley, Hartley Vale, Kanimbla Valley, Cox's River, Glenroy, Lowther & Hampton.
Hartley, Hartley Vale, Little Hartley
Hartley, Hartley Vale, Little Hartley
Blue Mountains NSW
