The claim
A convict-built sandstone and brick Georgian inn in the preserved village of Berrima, licensed in 1835 where the Surveyor General's southern road crossed the Wingecarribee River. It is named for Major Thomas Mitchell. Bushranger tales cling to its walls, and today it has a front bar with trivia, a big bistro, a beer garden and a dog-friendly verandah.
What the records show
The inn says it was built in 1834 for James Harper and licensed a year later, of local sandstone and rendered sand stock brick under a shingle roof, raised with convict labour in the new village of Berrima where Thomas Mitchell's new southern road crossed the Wingecarribee. The licence went to Harper on 29 June 1835. Its claim to be Australia's oldest continuously licensed inn is technically broken: the trade press found the licence lapsed from 30 June to 17 October 1895, over a family dispute and ceilings too low for the rules of the day, though the house has traded from the same building throughout. The inn is not on the New South Wales State Heritage Register, though four other Berrima inns are — but Heritage NSW does describe it, inside the inventory record for one of those four. The entry for the former Berrima Inn on Jellore Street, register item 00103, whose statement of significance was last revised on 15 September 2026, sets out the village's licensed houses from the local history it works from: the first inn licence in Berrima went to the emancipist Bryan McMahon on 29 July 1834 under the sign of the Berrima Inn, eleven months before Harper's; the Surveyor General was among the first houses to trade here, with the Berrima Inn and the Mail Coach; there were four licensed premises by the 1840s, the Crown being the fourth; and of the seven early hotels still standing in the village, the record names the Surveyor General as the oldest. McMahon's house is why the wording of the claim needs watching: Berrima's first licence is the older by a year, and it ran only until 1848, when the inn became the family's home. The front bar runs trivia on Tuesdays from April to October and a Monday song circle from five, with a bistro through the old stone corridors.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1835 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| c.1834 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1835 | First record of a drinking house here | NSW State Heritage Register |
What to look for inside
- Named after Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell
- Licence lapsed for 3.5 months in 1895
- Associated with the story of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt
Visiting
Surveyor General Inn is in Berrima, Australia, at 26 Old Hume Highway, Berrima NSW 2577. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- surveyorgeneralinn.com.au/
- timegents.com/2023/12/24/berrimas-surveyor-general-license-lapsed-in-1895-title-to-australias-oldest-continuously-licensed-pub-challenged/
- www.gdaypubs.com.au/NSW/berrima/51580/surveyor-general-inn.html
- airial.travel/attractions/australia/berrima/surveyor-general-inn-IEPBzTnn
- apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045487
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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