This self guided walk around Tinonee highlights a number of built and natural items of significance to the history of the village.
The walk is approximately 2.2 kms. Allow about 1.5 hours to visit all the items of interest. Please take drinking water and wear comfortable shoes.
You may also like to allow time to stop along the river for a picnic lunch.
Tinonee Heritage
Tinonee was the second Government town established in the Lower Manning to service the farming communities on the west bank. The village was approved in 1854.
Development was relatively slow although by the 1870’s rural services had developed and shipbuilding had emerged.
The town includes typical examples of vernacular housing and commercial buildings of the late 19th century in a coherent group.
Most of the Victorian style buildings in Tinonee are timber. The evolution of construction techniques is demonstrated from single slab construction through to milled an framed construction.
Items of Interest
| Ref No | Item of Interest | Image | Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tinonee Historical Museum |  | The building was construction in 1942 at 32 Manchester Street to be used as a broom factory for Mr Montague Williams and was later used as a private residence. It was purchased in 2003 by Mrs Carolyn Fazio to operate as a museum run by the Tinonee Historical Society Inc. |
| 2 | Gaol Cell |  | The gaol cell was originally located behind the police station and used by the local police. It was moved to a Sydney Police Museum then later brought back to Tinonee and eventually located in the museum grounds in 2007 |
| 3 | Uniting Church | This church is located opposite the John Knox Free Presbyterian Church in Manchester Street. Built as a Catholic Church at Oxley Island, the church was sold and moved to Tinonee in 1977-78 to replace the previous church building. It has since been brick veneered and is now a private residence. | |
| 4 | Ellis Cottage |  | Number 16 Manchester Street is over 100 years old and is the former home of the Ellis family. |
| 5 | The Manor |  | The Manor at 12 Manchester Street, was originally one of a nest of cottages at Peg Leg Creek, where it provided accommodation for a sawmill worker. The first owner was Mr Thomas Avery |
| 6 | The Cottage |  | The cottage at 10 Manchester Street was used as a saddler's shop and was owned by Elija Basham. During the mid 1880's the shop was used as a general store by E J Chapman, who also lived in the cottage. It was later used by a boot maker. |
| 7 | Former Tinonee Post Office |  | Tinonee's post office was on the NW corner of Manchester and Winter Streets. It was a brick building built in 1887 and was destroyed by fire in 1938. The site at 8 Manchester Street was used since the late 1950's as a post office / general store. From 1980 it was used as a post office until its closure in . The General store then became an Australia Post agency before its transfer to another private owner. |
| 8 | Myrtledale |  | The building at 4 - 6 Manchester Street was used as a bank, police station, and then as a residence. In 1988 an old building of the same age was added to this building where a craft. florist and coffee shop was established. |
| 9 | Tinonee Public School |  | Tinonee Public School was one of the earliest schools in the Manning. Mrs Eliza Jane Baxter was appointed as the first school teacher and the school was opened on 1 October 1859. Many children used to come to school by punt from across the river. |
| 10 | Maternity Hospital |  | The building is situated at the corner of Hutchison and Mill Streets. It was originally owned by Mr Henry Gore, father of Mrs Alice Sawyer. Later known as the Alice Sawyer Maternity Hospital, it was more recently used as a unique picture theatre. |
| 11 | Tinonee Broom Factories | Tinonee had 4 broom factories . No 1 ( section 1 lot 3) overlooked the river on the Startin's farm and No 2 (Lots 3-4) fronted River Street. No 3 was built on the site of the old wharf; and No 4 the last in the area was build at 32 Manchester Street. | |
| 12 | Chapman's Emporium |  | Mr J E Chapman purchased the property in the mid 1880's. He enlarged the store in the mid 1890's. At this time the store sold anything from a needle to an anchor. The enlarged premises catered for boat repairs, a saddlers shop, ladies and gents footwear, crockery room and a general store. In the 1960's this building ceased to house Tinonee's general store. The business was then moved to a site in Beecher St by Des and Val Dennes. |
| 13 | The Ferry Inn | On lot 6 fronting the ferry stood "The Ferry Inn", owned and operated by David Scott Targett. John Murray replaced Mr Targett as owner / operator during the early 1860's. The Ferry Inn became a general store in the early 1870's and then later a branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney. | |
| 14 | Horace Dean Memorial Park |  | This park houses a bicentennial marker where Mr Horace Dean produced the first newspaper in the Manning called the Manning River News. The park overlooks the Old Punt approach to Taree Estate. |
| 15 | The Old Punt Approach | The Old Punt approach is below Horace Dean Memorial Park. The punt went across to Taree estate. This was the main traffic route north before the Martin bridge was built in Taree. | |
| 16 | Fallowfield | As 1 Cotton Street, this is the former home of Horace Dean and Sid Fallowfield. Neither the 1929 or 1978 flood entered this dwelling. | |
| 17 | Tinonee Memorial School of Arts Hall | The former site of the Windsor Castle Hotel which was pulled down in the late 1860's. A hall was built on the site and named the "Temperance Hall". This operation went into liquidation. The property was sold to Captain Hector Gollan in 1911. In 1912 the present hall was built using the old hall as scaffolding. This was a present for his wife Margaret. The hall was held by the Gollan family for some years and then sold to the Tinonee School of Arts Committe in 1943. | |
| 18 | Waterman Home | Number 17 Manchester Street is the home of John Martin Waterman, who wrote the columns of the Tinonee Happenings in the Manning River Times, Northern Champion and the Wingham Chronicle. | |
| 19 | St Luke's Anglican Church |  | St Luke's Anglican Church was built in 1905, replacing an earlier church dating from the 1860's. Originally a site was set aside on the river flats for an Anglican Church to allow people to come to church by boat, but the site was later deemed unsuitable because of flooding. |
| 20 | John Knox Free Presbyterian Church |  | Built in 1880, this church is home to the congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia, and part of the Parish of the Manning. Before the turn of the 20th century services were held in Gaelic. |
| 21 | Old Police Station / Court House |  | Tinonee's first police station was built of pit sawn planks and had a shingle roof. It had 4 rooms and a verandah with a gaol attached at the rear and stables behind the building. The current building was constructed in 1898 with a court room and two internal gaol cells. The station closed in 1936 and was used as a police residence until the 1990's. It is now a private dwelling. |
