The house and chapel are situated on the southern bank of the Parramatta River and are now enclosed by the Silverwater Correctional Centre.

[4] Newington is a substantial and intact example of a rural colonial villa, and demonstrates the quality of life of prominent citizens and families from early settlements.

Its use since the occupation of the Blaxland family has reflected a number of social changes as the founding site of Newington College,[5] and as an asylum, hospital, and prison administration building.

[6] The Newington estate was established on Aboriginal lands of the Wann-gal which encompassed the southern side of the Parramatta River from Cockle Bay to Rose Hill.

In 1807, John Blaxland acquired 520 hectares (1,300 acres) of land, reserving the original grants of Waterhouse, Shortland, Archer and Haslam.

It was hoped that the location of the subdivision in proximity to the developing State Abattoir and Brickworks would attract people to the area in association with the employment opportunities offered by these establishments.

In September 1897 the Crown Solicitor confirmed that 5000 pounds would be paid to John Wetherill to acquire about 19 hectares of land, which included Newington House.

In 1968, after a series of drawn out negotiations, the Government of the day decided to close the hospital and transfer the property to the then NSW Department of Prisons.

Newington House was one of the subjects of architect and writer William Hardy Wilson's romanticised drawings of colonial architecture in NSW published in the 1920s.

[10] The Blaxland family chapel, named St Augustine's, was built in 1838 and a marble plaque, above the main door, attests to this fact.

The pointed arch fenestration with simple tracery, coloured glass and quatrefoil vents are Gothic Revival in style.

Tree plantings lining the former carriage loop north of the house include Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis), southern nettle trees (Celtis australis) and cotton palms (Washingtonia robusta) with their tall, clean trunks to 20m high.

Walkway planting dates to the 1860s–1900, the main period of popularisation and fashionability of these species, and their promotion by such public figures as then Directors of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Charles Moore and Joseph Maiden.

[11] At the Methodist Conference of 1862, the Rev John Manton proposed that a collegiate institute, "decidedly Wesleyan in character", be founded in Sydney.

A bequest, by John Jones, of land at Stanmore, saw the College move to the newly fashionable inner-city suburbs in 1880.

The RAN started to vacate the site in 1996, with ownership transferred to the Government of New South Wales to be developed as the Sydney 2000 Olympics Athlete's Village and the suburb of Newington.