Narryna Heritage Museum
Visit Narryna, a heritage house museum located within 20 minutes walk from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and experience the lifestyle of early 19th century merchant, Captain Andrew Haig, and his family.
Opening hours and admission
Monday – Saturday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 12:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Last entry at 4:30pm
Closed: Good Friday, ANZAC Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day and for the whole of July
Please note Narryna also closes briefly for lunch on weekdays from 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Admission: adults $10, children $4, concession $8
Special booking rates are available for groups, education programs and special events, and a joint ticket with the nearby Markree House Museum and Garden is also available.
Narryna, an elegant Georgian town house built in 1835-40, contains a rich colonial collection reflecting the maritime and trade associations of Salamanca Place and Battery Point.
Today Narryna contains one of Australia's most diverse house museum collections including stunning colonial paintings and furniture. Narryna was voted the best small museum in 2010 in the Museum Australia and ABC Radio National Regional Museum Awards.
Narryna is a place filled with the mercantile and maritime histories of Salamanca Place and Battery Point. This fine Greek revival town house was built by merchant Captain Andrew Haig in 1837-40. Haig was formerly a British East India Company-licenced 'country trader' between Calcutta and Canton, trafficking opium to China and obtaining in return rich cargoes of porcelain, silks, tea, lacquer and zinc. Trade with China required supplies of silver currency, generally obtained from South America. On a trans-Pacific voyage in 1824 Haig called into Hobart and purchased the land on which Narryna stands from a subdivision of the Rev Knopwood's estate.
The name Narryna is Indian in origin, denoting the resting place of the god of the sea. Unfortunately, while Haig may have dreamed of making his fortune and retiring to Narryna, in truth he was continually under-capitalised. He was forced to sell up after an economic downturn hit the Australian colonies in 1842.
From 1842 Narryna was the residence to a rich array of Hobart businessmen and businesswomen, politicians and bankers.
Narryna’s fortunes fell in the 1920s when it became a boarding house. In the 1940s the property was purchased by the State Government and turned into a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. With an improvement in public health, its fate was uncertain and at one stage it was threatened with demolition to make way for a petrol station. Instead, a group of forward-looking Battery Point residents made Narryna Australia’s first folk museum in 1955.
Narryna conducts an annual course entitled ‘Managing Small Museums and Heritage Places’ in conjunction with the Australian National University. It has strong connections with the University of Tasmania and other tertiary institutions through postgraduate students making specialist studies of its rich collections.
Getting there
Narryna Heritage Museum
103 Hampden Road
Battery Point 7004
Phone: (03) 6211 2791
Email: narryna@tmag.tas.gov.au
Access: The ground floor of Narryna has complete wheelchair and mobility access. Due to the age of the building there is limited mobility access to the first floor.
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