By Pam Wilson

The historic Box Hill Inn on Windsor Road, opposite the Rouse Hill House Estate, has a rich history dating back to the early colonial period.

The land was originally granted by Governor Macquarie on 8 May 1810 as a wedding gift to Lieutenant Maurice O’Connell and Mary Putland, daughter of Governor Bligh. The property was later sold to John Terry in 1839. In 1841, the Box Hill Inn was built and leased to Joseph and Mary Suffolk shortly before Terry’s accidental death in 1842.

The two-storey brick inn officially opened on 30 June 1842, with Joseph Suffolk as the first licensee. The building likely combined a family residence with an area dedicated to serving food and liquor to travellers along Windsor Road and local farmers. Over the following years, the licence changed hands several times before the inn closed by the end of 1845.

Richard and Eleanor Rumery arrived in Sydney from London in 1839 as free settlers and initially settled at Dural. Richard worked as a labourer and later in an orchard at Box Hill owned by Samuel Henry Terry, often walking long distances between the two locations. On 25 November 1856, Richard purchased the former inn property, consisting of just over eight acres, for 230 pounds. By 1862, the old inn had become home to Richard, Eleanor and their 11 children.

Over time, Richard Rumery became a successful landholder. Parliamentary records from 1880–81 show he owned 356 acres, six horses and 29 cattle. He also helped each of his children purchase land when they married. Although later described as a fruitgrower, newspaper reports from the time praised the quality of his potato crops. Richard died in 1899 at the age of 82, while Eleanor had passed away 16 years earlier. Both were buried at the Church of England Cemetery at Rouse Hill.

The Rumery family referred to the homestead as “Brightly” in Richard’s will, although descendants believe the intended name was “Brightling”, after Eleanor’s birthplace in England near Hastings.

Mary Ann Rumery inherited the property in 1899 and lived there with her brothers Alfred, Thomas and William. The family were devoted supporters of the Church of England at Rouse Hill and several brothers worked as carriers, using the property as a stopover point before crossing the Blue Mountains. Originally they used bullock teams before later switching to draught horses. Mary Ann became known for her beautiful flower gardens filled with carnations, roses and ferns.

Former maid Dorothy Stevens, who worked at the house in 1912, later described the layout of the building. She recalled a separate kitchen and dining area connected by a covered corridor, along with a bathroom and meat salting room. The main house contained three downstairs bedrooms and two upstairs rooms accessed by an ironbark ladder rather than a staircase.

By the 1920s, only Mary Ann, Alfred, their nephew Les and housekeeper Rennie Walsh remained at the property. In 1926, Mary Ann sold the house and land to Percy William Andrews for 950 pounds. The Rumery family relocated to Harris Park, naming their new home “Carmel” after Alfred Rumery’s large Mt Carmel orchard near the old inn. Mary Ann died in 1933 aged 90.

Over the decades, the former inn suffered significant damage. Descendant Rosemary Phillis visited the property in 1985 after lightning struck the vacant house, badly damaging the roof and brickwork. A later fire in 1990 caused further destruction, although historically significant items including an 1850s department store token, a 1914 halfpenny and original hand-cut roof timbers were recovered from the ruins. Restoration work began but was interrupted, resulting in further deterioration and theft of bricks before repairs eventually resumed under heritage supervision.

The Heritage Council Register in 1991 described the former Box Hill Inn as featuring a front veranda, separate rear kitchen and two attic rooms reached by a narrow staircase. The building included stuccoed brickwork designed to resemble Flemish bond brickwork, along with 12-pane windows and solid shutters.

Despite its historical importance, the house has remained vacant since 1991. A 1999 sale advertisement attracted no buyers, while the widening of Windsor Road in 2006 brought the busy roadway even closer to the property boundary.

Today, the Box Hill Inn remains heritage listed and sits beside “The Hills of Carmel” housing development. The development, launched by the Scheinberg family in 2016, was named after Alfred Rumery’s former Mt Carmel orchard property. Plans for the estate included more than 2,000 housing lots, sporting fields, schools, shopping facilities and open space. The former inn itself sits within a Heritage Conservation area and may eventually be adapted for commercial or community use.