Historic Riversdale on the Banks of the Wollondilly River

17 July 1984 The Canberra Times 

Riversdale is an outstanding example of a 19th-century Australian inn and house.

Set among pines on the banks of the Wollondilly River', it was probably built by John Richards, a convict and cabinet-maker, before 1838.

The apparently confused lettering above the cedar-panelled door to the main entrance refers to the names of two licensees of the, inn: Lewis Levy, who held the licence from 1843, and Benjamin Gould, who held it from 1849.

The building changed hands a number of times before it was bought by Edward Twynam in 1875.

Twynam was later to be appointed Surveyor-General, hold ing that position from 1888 to 1900.

The house remained in the Twynam family until 1967, when, with the family's assistance, it was bought and restored by the National Trust.

The restoration has made much more apparent the house's earlier role as an inn. 

The travellers' rooms and the taproom or bar are on the side of the house facing what used to be the Great South Road, and are quite separate from the resident family's quarters.

These family rooms are distinctive, not least because many of their furnishings and decorations belonged to the Twynam family. 

Other items, representative of a colonial home or inn of the last century, were donated.