Harrison House | Hotel and B&B

Harrison House

Phone: +61 417 951 127

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23.01.2022 What a magnificent sunny day for Sprit of the Wild to get back out on Macquarie Harbour. Rest of the week is looking just as good!

22.01.2022 After a few weeks of hard work the front lawn has finally been reseeded. Just hoping the fertilizer is enough to stop the many birds from eating all the seed. Looking forward to a gorgeous green lawn this summer

21.01.2022 Just as it has for everyone things have changed for us at Harrison House. We will be using the time to complete a few jobs and looking at some further renovations. Will keep you updated and in the meantime wanted to share some of the most recent pictures of the garden. We hope you enjoy them. Stay safe and healthy... Ken and Jo

20.01.2022 Not long after we bought Harrison House one of the local residents and Strahan legend, Tut Ludbey told us the story of who built the house over a beer in Hamers Hotel. Tut thought the house was commissioned by Fredrick Ormiston Henry, the owner of historic Ormiston House. The story went FO Henry owned the general store and would supply provisions to miners who would repay once they found gold. A carpenter was not so lucky and to pay his debt he provided the labour to buil...d the house. So in 1899 the house was built on Harrison Street for the repayment of a 100 pound debt. Since then we have visited Ormiston House and saw similarities in corbeled arches and fretwork. Certainly sounded plausible so we started looking through old records and chatting to locals to find out a bit more. What we have found we think is interesting and hoping others will think so too. Each week we will add to the story and if anyone knows anything about the house please share in return. Stay safe Ken and Jo

20.01.2022 As with the beginning of this story one evening over a beer in Hamers a local Strahan resident, with long family ties to the town and surrounds, told us about a photo of our house in a history book and that the book stated C.W.Risby lived in the house. Given the importance of the Risby Bros to the history of Strahan and Tasmania in general we were incredibly excited and managed to locate a copy of the book in the local library - Against The Odds : Risbys - Tasmanian timber p...ioneers 1826-1995 by Alex Gaeme-Evans. There was very grainy picture taken from across the harbour with the house in the background sitting atop the hill looking back at the township of Strahan. with not a tree in sight... The book also confirmed C.W Risby came to Strahan 1889 to start West coast branch of Risby Bro's timber company and appointed John Ware as the agent in Strahan. Then 9 years later C.W returned to Strahan to reside and oversee operations on the West Coast. As we know J.B Liptrot had purchased the land and was building the House at this time. He most likely had commissioned the house to be built using Risby frames In searching through old records we found a copy of the Original Grant of Purchase of the land by J.B.Liptrot, which also shows the transfer of the property to the 3 Risby Brothers on 2nd August 1900. The most interesting part is the note on the bottom which states it cleared the debt of 400 from Liptrot to the Risbys. So Tut was right all along - the house was used as payment for a debt. And we know for sure the first resident of Harrison House was Charles Wallace Risby.

20.01.2022 Out for the evening celebrating our first anniversary being open for guests at Harrison House. It has been a wonderful experience with lots of learning and more to do. Huge thank you to all our guests for making this a great year! And thanks to our near neighbours at Risby Cove for an outstanding meal as always. Ken and Jo

17.01.2022 We are thrilled to be open once again even if limited at the moment. While we were closed we got busy with some maintenance including starting to paint the outside of the house. So glad we got the scaffolding and no doubt will be used a lot over the next few months

17.01.2022 Harrison House is pretty excited to be teaming up with 8 other Traditional Tasmanian Bed and Breakfast operators to create the Bed and Breakfast Trail around our beautiful state. Check out our ad from Saturday’s Mercury! ... So whether you are Exploring Your Own Backyard or Coming Down for Air, you can count on luxurious accommodation and good old fashioned Tasmanian hospitality. And to help with our Road to Recovery please call or visit our website to book direct.

16.01.2022 We could not believe how many birds can take a bath all at the same time! Priceless and happy the bird bath is so well used

13.01.2022 The next part of the story we have been able to put together is the brief though important interlude John Bailey Liptrot had with Strahan and Harrison House. One of the photographs included in this post is a copy of his marriage certificate from January 1889 when he married Emma Sarah Reynolds at St.Matthews in Rokeby Hobart. Two months after the marriage Mrs Liptrot took out an advertisement for housekeeping help at their home in Mt Stuart, Hobart and approximately 3 weeks... after that she gave birth to their daughter. In August of the same year J.B.Liptrot paid duty on the land in Harrison Street and in November 1899 he wrote to the Strahan Town Board requesting Harrison St be completed as he is desirous to build a house. Whilst it seems Liptrot commissioned the house to be built we do not know the exact circumstances and would never discount the validity of Tut’s recollection and would like to think somehow the two are entwined. In early 1900 John Liptrot took out an advert to sell his furniture from his house in Lynch St Strahan which he had running for some time. From this we can only ascertain he never lived in Harrison St. Then in May 1900 he places another advert for the sale of the house in East Strahan listing John Ware as the contact for the sale. He moved back to Hobart where we believe he added to his family with a son. Many Tasmanians would know of John Ware who was a man of significant standing on the West Coast and in particular Strahan. Among other things he worked for the Risby Bros Timber Merchants. He was passionate about the township and in 1905 wrote the book: Tasmania’s Eldorado: Strahan, Macquarie Harbour. We will pick up the story with John and C.W.Risby next week.

11.01.2022 Last summer the most talked about plants in the garden were the Hydrangeas. We had pruned them hard over winter after years of wild growth and were rewarded with magnificent blooms. We have done the same this year as you can see in the before and after, and look forward to another beautiful display this year

10.01.2022 Thank you to all our guests for their very kind reviews and ratings We are so pleased you have enjoyed your stay with us and have noted Ken’s breakfast gets many mentions! Not surprised!! We really do love our House and the gardens and are truly delighted when others enjoy it too. It has been a pleasure meeting so many great people and we look forward to welcoming many more.

10.01.2022 Planning your next holiday? Take at look at just a snippet of all Tasmania has to offer. And if you do head this way we we would love to make you feel at home at Harrison House

09.01.2022 Cannot wait to welcome Harbour Master II to Strahan. Fair sail and safe passage

07.01.2022 We often find ourselves just gazing out the windows at Harrison House especially when it’s Camellia time

04.01.2022 Great to see the Ship that Never Was back again

02.01.2022 Continuing on with the history of Harrison House when we were looking for the original owners of the land Ken found this copy of the town plan. The version found was interesting in many ways. Firstly it told us John Baily Liptrot purchased 2 lots of land on 6th august 1889. It also showed the other 2 lots owned by E.M.Banfield on 8th July 83, however discovered this was 1983, almost 100 years later. This version of the town plan had been updated over the years prior to d...igital records however Liptrot’s ownership of lots 4&5 was never altered to show subsequent owners. Interesting to note Liptrott’s records have land measurement in imperial and Banfield is in metric. Liptrot also purchased lots 1, 17 and 18 at the auction though took ownership at a different time. Since then we have started researching J.B.Liptrot and next week will start to share the little about his life we have been able to find. Take care Ken and Jo