Hambledon Cottage is a heritage-listed former residence and now house museum at 47 Hassall Street, Harris Park, City of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Evidence of their occupation can be found in the form of rock shelters with deposits, open campsites, middens, axe grinding groove sites, scarred trees, hand stencils and drawings.

Aboriginal people living in this location would have had access to freshwater and saltwater food resources such as: ducks, eels, shellfish, crayfish, fish and turtles.

The grassy woodlands would also have provided access to smaller animals and insects and to native fruits, berries, seeds, yams and roots.

[1] Parramatta CBD, at the time of European settlement, is thought to have been the territorial lands of the Boromedegal (also spelt Burramattagal, Burramattugal, Boora me di-gal, Booramedegal and Burramedigal).

[1] European settlers, attracted to Parramatta for its fertile soils and its suitability for water transport, began arriving in the region in the late 18th century.

[1] Hambledon Cottage was built between 1821 and 1824 on the north western corner of the 100 acre grant made to John Macarthur, soldier, entrepreneur and pastoralist, in 1793.

Under Edward a new entry was constructed on the northern facade, the house was re-roofed and a substantial plantation of trees was established.. By 1854 the cottage garden was enclosed with a low timber picket fence and double gates had been erected on the eastern side where there were also now dense shrubs.

[8] The 1895 Detail Plan of the area[9] shows the building isolated on the large block, with a rectangular structure adjacent to the southeast boundary of 45 Hassall Street.

They still contain some of the original or early layout (drive alignments, paths) and plantings put in by John Macarthur when it was part of the Elizabeth Farm Estate.

French doors open onto a front verandah with diagonal stone flagging, unusual vaulted ceiling and slender timber Doric columns on sandstone plinths.

The garden's distinctiveearly tree plantings show the application of European influences to the local scene and the living style of colonial society at the time.

This is a once-common spiny hedge species imported from Mid-West United States of America used in colonial Australia before the widespread introduction of fencing wire, that is now rare, particularly so east of the Great Dividing Range and in the Sydney basin.

[1] The physical archaeological evidence within this area may include built landforms, structural features, intact subfloor deposits, open deposits and scatters, ecological samples and individual artefacts which have potential to yield information relating to major historic themes including Agriculture, Housing, Land Tenure, Persons, Pastoralism and Cultural Sites.

It also has strong associations with a number of individuals and families important in the development of Parramatta, New South Wales and Australia, including Thomas Hobbes Scott and Henry Kitchen.

[1] Hambledon Cottage also has significance for its role in illustrating the development of the status of Parramatta, and holds great value for contemporary society for these reasons.

The archaeological resource will be able to contribute to more accurately documenting the development, use and life style associated with the cottage, Parramatta and early colonial society.

[1] Hambledon Cottage, Grounds and Archaeology was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 September 2012 having satisfied the following criteria.

Hambledon Cottage has State historical significance for its close association with the Macarthurs, one of the most prominent and influential families in Australian History.

It also has associations with significant such figures such as Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott, Penelope Lucas, Dr Matthew Anderson and local settlers such as Francis John Wickham.

It includes some of the oldest exotic tree plantings in Australia whose layout demonstrates the application of European influences to the local scene and the living style of colonial society at the time.

[1] The design of the wooded landscape associated with Hambledon Cottage achieves a unity of scale and balance of form that complement the architecture of the house.

Landscape works carried out around Hambledon in the later 20th century are less significant but nonetheless demonstrate more recent approaches to amenity planting associated with local government conservation action.

The cottage is an important educational resource because of the place it occupies in the development of Australian colonial architecture, its early fabric demonstrating construction and joinery techniques from the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The physical archaeological evidence within this area may include built landforms, structural features, intact subfloors deposits, open deposits and scatters, ecological samples and individual artefacts which have potential to yield information relating to major historic themes including Agriculture, Housing, Land Tenure, Persons, Pastoralism and Cultural Sites.

The section of sand body location on the site of Hambledon Cottage and Garden may have the potential to provide insight into the diet and lifestyle of Aboriginal People living in Parramatta and more broadly the Cumberland Plain.

The Osage orange tree (Maclura pomifera) is a very rare surviving specimen in Sydney, of a species once common on rural estate hedgerows.

Hambledon Cottage has representative value at a State level for its ability to demonstrate a class of early nineteenth century domestic building.

The garden at Hambledon also has State significance at a representative level for its ability to demonstrate colonial cultural landscapes developed by the wealthy early European settlers, particularly in the use of European horticultural practices and the planting of exotic tree species such as English oak (Quercus robur), cork oak (Q.suber) and indigenous species such as hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamiana), Bunya pine (A.bidwillii) and Port Jackson figs (Ficus rubiginosa).

The mixed planting of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, together with the vistas and views have produced a landscape with considerable character, which is now in stark contrast with the garden's more developed urban surroundings.