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History of the Arms of Australia Inn Museum
The Arms of Australia Inn, was one of 23 roadside inns in the Nepean District and the last stop before starting up the mountain road and the trail west. It is believed that the building was built in two sections, the first around 1826 and was purchased on 1st May 1833 by Joseph Barrow Montefiore. He later split the land in two in 1840 and sold half to John Mortimer, who commenced trading as an inn on the main road to Bathurst, Orange and the gold diggings.
Cobb and Co Coaches
The Cobb and Co coaches that plied the road day and night also used to stop at the inn as did many bullock team drivers taking stock and provisions over the mountains. As the inn only had two main rooms, most overnight travellers had to sleep in the barn, on the veranda or under their wagons.
A year later the laws were changed and Inns had to have separate rooms for ‘Ladies and Children’. Mortimer added four additional rooms for bedrooms.
Bushrangers
As bushrangers were a great problem in the area, the Arms and a second inn at the top of the hill at Glenbrook had a system to warn travellers if bushrangers were about. This was accomplished by hanging a lantern on the northern end of the building which was visible to Glenbrook Inn. If the lantern was burning, the road was clear, but if it was not, the stagecoach drivers and other travellers would spend the night at the Arms and continue on in daylight.
The Inn continued to prosper till the 1860s, when the rail line came through. People began to use the train instead of going by road and trade died off.
The inn was sold in 1865 and became a private house for the next hundred years, when it was sold to Lucas & Tait for subdivision.
Restoration
In 1971 the building, now owned by Penrith City Council, was derelict after years of neglect and was to be demolished, when the Historical Society, with the help of Mr Ivan Casson, stepped in and saved it. The society took control of the building and began the slow work of restoration until it was officially opened on 27th March 1976 as a museum of local history for the Nepean district.
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