Macarthur House is a heritage-listed former residence and school building and now offices at 8 Melville Street, Parramatta, City of Parramatta, Sydney New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James Houison (1850s house), Arthur William McKenzie Mowle (1923 wings) and David Sheedy (1981-2 works) and built from 1855 to 1856 by James Houison. It has also known as Morton House and Pemberton Grange. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History
Aboriginal and early colonial use
The northern shore of the Parramatta River was originally inhabited by the Indigenous people of the Wallumedegal tribe, who spoke a dialect of the Darug language.
From the initial years of colonisation the region of Parramatta was a much sought-after area due to the rich soil in the area and its promising potential for farming and growing crops.
On 22 February 1791 Robert Webb, a seaman who arrived in Sydney on the "Sirius" with the First Fleet in 1788, was granted 60 acres on the north side of the Parramatta River by Governor Phillip, which included the location of the current Macarthur House. This was the first land grant on the river's north side and only the second land grant issued in Australia, the other being James Ruse's "Experiment Farm" grant on the opposite side of the river, which Phillip made on the same day. The extent of Webb's grant is traced today by the river frontage, Isabella Street, Webb/Morton Streets and approximately Macarthur Street. Webb had used much of his Parramatta land for farming before conveying his grant to Captain Thomas Melville for 100 pounds in 1794. Melville was master of the "Brittania", a convict transport of the Third Fleet that arrived in Sydney in 1791, and later of the "Speedy". His daughter, Jennett, married the surveyor George Evans (1780-1852) in 1798 in London, and Webb's grant was the bride's dowry. The couple arrived in Sydney in October 1802. Evans was initially given the position of store-keeper in charge of receipt and issue of grain at Parramatta, but in August 1803 was appointed acting surveyor-general in the absence of Charles Grimes who was on leave in England. Between 1804-9 Evans farmed another grant at the Hawkesbury settlement. From 1809 he was again engaged by the government on surveying tasks and travelled widely and frequently. In September 1812 he was sent to Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) and a sale notice in The Sydney Gazette 26 December 1812, 2 published about that time describing the Parramatta property as "garden, orchards" and "stabling".
In July 1815 Evans was required to return to Hobart and he remained there until 1817. In the interim, in November 1816, emancipist landholder Simeon Lord (who held a mortgage over Evans' property since 2/1804 and who had placed the 1812 sale notice, conveyed Webb's 60 acres, and the neighbouring grant of 30 acres originally made to John Irving, to George Thomas Palmer. Palmer (1784-1854) was son of the colony's Commissariat, John Palmer. He (George) joined the army in 1800, married Catherine Irene Pemberton in 1805 at Malta. The couple came to Sydney in 1806, with Palmer then a Lieutenant in the 61st Regiment with permission to settle as a free immigrant. Between 1813-14 he was superintendent of government stock, and then developed (his Parramatta farm) "Pemberton Grange" from 1816. At Parramatta Palmer was a magistrate for many years, and was a member of the managing committee of the Female Factory in the late 1820s. The household at Pemberton Grange was above the bank of the river and south of Thomas Street. The farm's name honoured his wife's family. GT Palmer's father, John resided at Waddon Cottage on Irving's 30 acres immediately to Pemberton Grange's east. Waddon seems to have been developed about 1820 and was John's place of residence until his death in 1833. G. T. Palmer and family returned to England in January 1838 on the "Everetta". The household contents of Pemberton Grange were sold in January 1838 and the house put up for letting, together with Waddon Cottage. A detailed description of the hose and outbuildings was provided in the published letting notice. It stated the 90 acres had been divided into six paddocks, and "most of which have been under cultivation" and "being well-supplied with water it is admirably adapted for a homestead for the reception of cattle, previously to their being driven to the Sydney Market".