Inside Tea Gardens Homestead: an original Canberra home built in 1865

Nestled in a nondescript street in Ngunnawal lies a hidden, historical treasure of Canberra.

Unrecognisable from its humble beginnings in 1865, Tea Gardens Homestead is one of the original homes built by the first European settlers of Ngunnawal country, decades before the city of Canberra came into existence.

The settlers were the Rolfe family who emigrated from Norfolk, England to Australia in the mid-1800s.

Today, 158 years later, the historical structure is owned by Jessika Ahlgren and Tim Hubbard and their ‘Brady Bunch’ family.

The couple bought the home in 2020 and have spent the past three years completing extensive renovations while salvaging as much of the original structure as possible.

Tea Gardens’ previous owner extended and refurbished the home in the 1950s and remnants from mid-century Canberra also remain.

The primary home from 1865 miraculously remains standing with the original flooring and roofing still intact.

Both Tim and Jess are “pretty wrapped” to be the proud owners of Tea Gardens and say they “pinch themselves all the time”.

“It’s actually the oldest home in Canberra that’s a residential house. I think Blundells Cottage is around the same age,” Jess smiles.

Walking across the threshold into Tea Gardens is an enchanting experience, almost as if you’ve been transported into a late 1800s home with modern, rustic interior design.

“When we bought it, the previous owner – some of the neighbours said he took a 20-year renovation process,” Tim laughs.

“Thankfully, he’d done a great job on rendering all the walls, so the walls are really sound, the floors are all sound, so we just came in and repolished all the floors, repainted everything, replaced every single door in the house, and opened it up a bit.”

The now contemporary kitchen was redone, including skylights to flood the space with daylight. But Tim and Jess say the garden has been the most time-consuming project, which uncovered an extraordinary surprise.

“There’s a stone retaining wall. We don’t know what time or when it was done,” Tim says.

“When the excavator was redoing out the back here, he’s digging away and he’s discovered this brick edging, which is a gutter. So, that [the backyard] was the driveway.”

A descendant of the Rolfe family, Sally Bond (nee Rolfe) completed an extensive history on her family history and Tea Gardens and, as it turns out, the family were very successful at hosting a party or two.

“Back in the day, like in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, this property here was central,” Tim says.

“They used to hold parties – we call them raves or whatever – but they had all-night dances here.”

Considering the age of the homestead, it’s fair to assume someone has passed away within its walls and Jess confirmed the suspicions. But fear not – she’s sure it isn’t haunted.

“When we moved in I was a little bit worried,” Jess smiles.

“I was like ‘you’re going to have to be home and if you’re not home you’ve got to let me know so I can plan friends to be here with me’.

“It is a little bit scary because there’s a lot of doors and it’s fairly big when you’re here by yourself, but not like an eerie kind of scary.”

Surrounded by modern homes in a typical Canberra street, passersby would most likely be unaware of the rich history of Tea Gardens Homestead.

“It’s a bit like going to a concert – it’s about the atmosphere, not just the performer.”