1 7 Guest Houses

Guest Houses - Tyenna and Westerway

Five guest houses were operating on the southern approaches by 1910 - one at Russell (Westerway), the three at Tyenna c. 1900, and the last - Charles Marriotts being erected on the banks of the Russell at what became National Park Village, in late 1910. Of the three at Tyenna, the first guest house appears to have been Pitfields. Beattie's photograph of the "settlers-Cottage" is a misleading title for what was a home which served as an accommodation house built by-surveyor William Pitfield and known as "GlenRoss". The McCullum family ran “The Arcadian Home" built by Whitchurch, one of the first settlers in 1892 (n/p cutting ( n/d. c. 1918, PW & H).

Robert Marriott built his home at Tyenna at this time. A photo held by the family shows a single story weather-board cottage with a shingle roof (The house shown in Gowland's Trampled Wilderness as th base for many treks into the south-west is not the home of Robert Marriott, at Tyenna, but that of his brother Charles Marriott's enlarged "Park House" at National Park).

The brothers were grandsons of Elias Marriott, a carpenter from Suffolk, tried in 1838 and transported in 1844. Elias worked on the Customs House *(now Parliament House) and was sent down to Port Arthur (for absconding) before gaining his freedom. Matilda Fenton married Elias' only son Robert who worked on the Victorian gold-fields only to lose his wife there. By 1881, Elias had remarried and ran a store at Glenora. His son and grandsons Charles and Robert jnr moved further up the valley, opening up virgin country and acting as guides and labourers for survey parties.

In October 1911, a parliamentary visit to 'Russell Falls and the Neighbourhood" stayed at the guest houses when investigating the extension of the railway to Tyenna. The high profile party consisted of the premier Sir Elliott Lewis, and Messrs Bakhap, Belton, Hays, Hurst, (Joe) Lyons, future Premier, plus surveyor- general E.A. Counsel. The party were met by a delegation from the southern Tasmanian Railway League, and collected in vehicles driven by F Brown (discoverer of the Junee caves), P. Belcher, and G. Marriott. The locals emphasised the area potential for water power and timber.

The politicians were entertained by Mr. and Mrs. William Crooke (hon sec of the STRL), in his "country residence…… which is prettily situated alongside the river bank', (Mercury 24/10/1911, P5 C8. TSA). Crooke extolled the virtues of trout-fishing in the area.

The party were hosted at Charles Marriott's new house "at the Crossing place over the Russell River", before walking to Russell Falls with "Mr Crooke acting as guide, philosopher and friend", plus a number of local residents acting as guides also. Lady Baron Falls were also seen, using a track recently cut by Mr William Belcher. Some of the group also ventured onto the new track recently cut to the summit of Mt Field East by Belcher, 6 miles in length and at a cost of 18 pounds. After an al fresco lunch provided by ladies of the district, the officials moved to Tyenna.

Guest Houses at the Falls

Charles and Mabel Marriott opened their Guest House ('Russell Falls House") on the west bank of the Russell (now Tyenna) River in late 1910. The tourism potential for the area was foreseen by Charles, who purchased land on the Falls boundary from Louis Shoobridge. He intended planting hop fields, catering for fishermen and providing "lunch and afternoon tea for visitors who were adventurous enough to clamber across a swinging bridge and negotiate a homemade track to view the Falls" (Smith P. 2). After providing afternoon tea from their weatherboard home on the site where “Pamfield" now stands, the more extensive Guest House opened to the public in 1910. This development appears to have undermined the tourist businesses at Tyenna. The new house was built by a Mr Philpott, a carpenter with only one hand (Mercury 25/11/1910, p2 C6).

A road contractor, Charles Marriott also owned a horse-drawn brake holding eight passengers which he daily drove to meet the train at Russell (now Westerway) (op. cit., P. 3). Mabel provided lunch at the Guest House, after which the visitors walked to the Falls returning on the brake in time to catch the returning train to Hobart.

The six roomed house was too small and was expanded to thirty-six rooms re- named “Park House", the dining room seated eighty people. Charles Marriott retired from “Park House” in 1946, and his son then sold the property to a mainland developer, H. Cummings. The lodge continued to cater for Park visitors, particularity in the skiing season, until destroyed by fire in 1965 (possibly deliberately) (op. cit. P. 5). (The present trout farm is located on this site).

Mrs Nancy Salter (nee Marriott) remembers working with her uncle's family at "Park House", including waiting at tables in the dining room. She recalled the lay-out of the buildings-and paddocks around the guest house, helping to draft a sketch of these (see attached).

32

Updated 3/9/2015

Previous Russell Falls Next Management