Hillview is a heritage-listed former residence and now boutique hotel at Old Illawarra Highway, Sutton Forest, Wingecarribee Shire, New South Wales, Australia.

Their grants of neighbouring lands at Sutton Forest were later to become the property of the Queen and the site of the Governor of New South Wales' country residence.

He joined Mort & Co., the prominent firm of auctioneers and wool brokers in Sydney, where he soon became a valued employee and was promoted in 1855 to land manager.

His work brought him to the Sutton Forest district where he met and married Violet Alston of "Woodside", from a prosperous Moss Vale family.

At the end of 1857 he resigned from Mort & Co. and set up his own firm, soon building quite a reputation both for his integrity and the sound and efficient manner in which he handled his clients' affairs.

[4][1] Richardson sold Prospect (143 acres) to the Government of New South Wales in 1881, returned to active business undertakings and built himself another country residence.

[4][1] From the earliest days of the colony, the Governors had felt the need for a residence outside Sydney to which they could move for a change of air and relief from summer heat.

[1] The Earl of Belmore was quick to realise the advantage that the just-opened railway line to Moss Vale provided in terms of access to the Southern Highlands area.

[1] As a result of this and previous agitation, the government purchased "Prospect" at Sutton Forest on 1 February 1882 out of a 100,000 pound Treasurer's advance account for expenses of an unforeseen nature.

The alterations cost the government 10,000 pounds - a mighty sum in those days, which caused furious debate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

[1] A huge boost had come to the district when the NSW Governor, the Earl of Belmore decided in 1865 to lease Throsby Park, Moss Vale, as a summer residence, which he did until 1872.

Wealthy landowners sought to outdo one another by including every possible urn, fountain or folly, so that by the end of the 1870s garden layouts were starting to display signs of the eclectic fashion of High Victorian taste, made possible by the horticultural and literary boom.

The Treseder Brothers of Ashfield, Sydney and W. Adamson in Melbourne, however, continued the work of Thomas Shepherd and appealed for simplicity: "It is the common fault in designing of gardens to attempt too much, to introduce too many flower beds and walks and ornaments, to plant too largely and of kinds attaining too great a size - simplicity of garden design should always be kept in view, and it should be combined with a sufficient amount of intricacy to avoid plainness".

Picturesque simplicity was associated with the English gentry; the Governor, whose country residence it was, was not compelled to display a lavish and pretentious garden, for his social standing was well recognised.

Previous to this the carriage way was treeless, defined only by a white post and rail fence shown in an etching in an 1882 edition of the Illustrated Sydney News.

He was a well-read and largely self taught scholar and philosopher who thought that man's greatest assets were knowledge and wisdom but that intellectual/spiritual development of mankind had not kept pace with the scientific or technological advancement resulting in human discord.

It is believed that his obsession with these ideas and concept of "cultural minds wisely balanced in thought and action" was the principal reason for his creative endeavours in the garden at Hillview.

He hardly altered the existing vice-regal garden, although he did remove 160 trees and shrubs which he considered to be insignificant, including a beautiful cypress hedge on the north-west side of the house.

The design and imagery used in the garden is based on this philosophy, to create spaces and symbols for shelter, repose and to nourish the mind, epitomised by his building of the circular "Treasury of Wisdom" and "The Haven".

[1] Hillview is a late Victorian complex of buildings constructed predominantly of timber and corrugated iron with elements of brick and stone.

[1] The incremental construction of the main house, built around a smaller brick and stone L-shaped building, has resulted in a structure with a maze of corridors linking rooms and staircases.

[14][1] The boundaries and curtilage remain in their 1872 form, with cycles of embellishment and neglect reflecting the changing tides of governmental attitude to spending and to the role of the governors.

[1] New Zealand plants include lemonwood/tarata (Pittosporum eugenioides), flax/harakeke (Phormium tenax) and green and purple forms of cabbage tree/ti kouka (Cordyline australis).

Hillview through the buildings, furnishings, gardens and archaeological potential has the ability to reveal new information about the broader history and development of NSW due to the intact form of most parts of the assemblage from its Government occupation.

[1] Hillview is a landmark site within the Southern Highlands, not only for its association with the Governors but also for the buildings and the other major plantings that crown the hilltop and which are viewed from all directions in the district.

[1] The furniture contents demonstrate high levels of technical and creative achievement, particularly seen in the dining room suite by Verdich and a number of other fine pieces in the collection.

[3][1] This occupation makes Hillview important as a social document which has the ability to interpret the changing role of Governor from Colonial times to the Post WW2 period.

The building fabric is capable of a high level of interpretation and understanding that can provide insights into planning, construction and ways of life.

[1] Despite the sale of the property in 1957 to Edwin Klein and its subsequent 40 years of non-intervention, the place has retained its appearance and general fitout from the period of the Governors occupation.

[1] Apart from its connection with the Governors, Hillview is an excellent and intact example of a country house in the Southern Highlands area that has not undergone extensive upgrading or refitting.