[1] 'Vineyard Haven' was selected by Frenchman Phillipe Palis, who entered into a Conditional Purchase agreement (CP82/650) on 26 October 1882, and the property was surveyed on 14 March 1883.

Palis and his brother built a wattle & daub hut, and a blacksmith shop in which he made tools for his own use and for sale to the Italian settlers.

Believed to be highly educated, it is most likely that this was an unofficial role prior to construction of a formal local school and appointment of a teacher.

Palis' friend, Frenchman Monsieur Jean Le Cheminant was appointed the first school teacher at New Italy in 1885.

[1] The Conditional Purchase was never completed, and on the 17 August 1904 the property was transferred to an Italian settler named Giovanni Guarischi (spelt as Guariski on the plan for Parish Portion 36).

The block was then frequently resold to local people who occasionally used it for grazing cattle, but much forest regrowth also occurred.

In 1999 the Vayos entered into a Voluntary Conservation Agreement with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to allow as much as possible of the property to return to its forested state.

[1] There were about 50 adult men initially amongst the first settlers and although they undertook much of the hard physical work of clearing the land, ring barking (see photo 11) and felling trees, grubbing out roots, axing and adzing the straight timbers for building purposes, the women of the settlement also took part in the hard work of land clearing.

Water reticulation and retention would have been important then, and this site of the original Palis Brothers block (now 'Vineyard Haven') was then described as well trenched.

They used these trenches to direct rain water to the Grave Vines, Garden, Holding Tank and the Dam in the creek bed.

An open log trough structure, partially intact, lies close by the mud hut mound .

A shallow depression, where the Vayos have a display of some vintage weather recording devices and Stevenson's Screen, was associated with the original hut site adjacent, most likely as a storage and wine making area.

[1] 'Vineyard Haven' occupies the property originally taken up by the French Palis Brothers, and then the Italian Giovanni Guarischi, and contributes to the state significant New Italy Settlement Landscape.

The whole landscape is of state significance as evidence of a settlement built through the tenacity, forbearance and technical skills of a unique group of Australian settlers.

The present owners, the Vayo family, have owned the site for over 30 years and have conserved this significant evidence of 19th century settlement.

[2][1] Vineyard Haven, New Italy Settlement was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 December 2004 having satisfied the following criteria.

Vineyard Haven is significant for its associations with the French Palis Brothers who acted as teachers and interpreters for the New Italy settlers, with the Italian Guarischi family who owned and occupied the land from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, a then with various owners who used the site for grazing until purchased by Arnold and Mary Vayo who have conserved the site for present and future generations.

[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

Vineyard Haven is significant for the aesthetic qualities of its old growth and regrowth schlerophyll forest in a gently undulating landscape providing a setting for the homestead area and clearings used for vine cultivation along the routes that have connected New Italy to the outside world at Swan Bay; and for the technical innovation of the Italian settlers in constructing dams and watering systems for their vines that may reflect similar practises in northern Italy.

[1] The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.