Our other visitors guides
Level 1, Deerubbin Centre, 300 George Street, Windsor
02 4560 4441
Through to 4 February
I can Sing Paint A Rainbow
9 February – April 1
Clay Intersections
6 April – 20 May
Nostalgia: It's Not What It Used To Be
25 May – 15 July
Art Express
25 July – 2 September
Wild: Flora and Fauna in Australian Art
7 September – 28 October
Contemporising The Modern
2 November – 2 December
Hawkesbury Art Fair
7 December – 3 February 2019
EAT ART!
Ferry Artists Gallery
2018 Exhibitions – March, July, November. Sculpture, art, textiles – the best of river art.
Rose Street, Ebenezer
0438 751 775
Unless otherwise indicated hours are 10 am - 4pm
17 March St. Patrick's Day
1 April - Easter Sunday
2 April - Easter Monday
17 /18 April - School Holidays - Colonial Days
24/25 April - School Holidays - Colonial Days
13 May - Mother's Day
27 May - Village Country Fair
10 June - Queens Birthday and Long Weekend
11 June - All Things British
10/11 June - School Holidays - Nature
17/18 June - School Holidays - Nature
24 June - Scale, Skin, Fur & Feathers
22 July - Teddy Bears Picnic
5 August - Horses Birthday
2 September - Father's Day
30 September - Labour Day Weekend
1 October - Labour Day
2/3 October - School Holidays - Fairies & Pirates
9/10 October - School Holidays - Fairies & Pirates
11 November - Remembrance Day
7 December - Twilight Markets - 5-9 pm
16 December - Sunday the last day for 2018
JANUARY
Summer Series
January through to March
A long hot summer of exciting events, concerts and attractions brought to you by The Hills Shire Council
Convict Footprints
Bella Vista Farm
Convict Footprints is back!
And with more bawdy sauce than you can poke a sheep at.
13,15 and 20 January 2–3.30pm
APRIL
Hawkesbury Show
20–22 April
Hawkesbury Showground, Clarendon Showjumping, polocrosse, precision driving. Horse and Pony Riders. Cooking exhibitions, food vendors. 02 4577 3591
(free parking on site)
St. Albans Folk Festival
27–29 April
No dogs allowed but music, music, music
MAY
Bridge to Bridge Powerboat Race
The course is 68 kilometres from bridge to bridge. Book your accommodation now! Every resort, motel and B&B aound Windsor, Vineyard and Richmond will sell out.
AUGUST
Hawkesbury Artist & Artisan Open Studio
25-26 August 10am – 4pm
The Hawkesbury and Macdonald Valley artists and artisans open their galleries and studios for two days.
SEPTEMBER
St Albans Writers' Festival
21–22 September, St Albans
Festival hosts award-winning national and international authors.
02 4568 2074
OCTOBER
Hawkesbury Canoe Classic
21–28 October
Windsor
A fantastic event – the race pushes o at Windsor and it is an overnighter – 111 kilometres down the Hawkesbury.
Sydney Blues & Roots Festival
In October this popular musical event celebrates its 10th anniversary. Check website for dates.
NOVEMBER
Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic
Classic begins at Dangar Island and ends at Governor Phillip Park in Windsor.
Arcadian Artists Trail
10–11 November
Connected by a beautiful meandering country drive, eight working studios exhibit the work of more than 50 artists and artisans. Art, wine tasting and food vendors make for a great day out in a rural setting.
Markets
Richmond Good Food Markets
Sat 8am–1pm Richmond Park
Windsor Mall Sunday Markets
Sun 9am – 3pm Windsor Mall
WHAT'S ON IN THE HAWKESBURY AND THE HILLS
HAWKESBURY & HILLS BULLETIN BOARD
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTRALIANA PIONEER VILLAGE -- 48 YEARS, 25 NOVEMBER! 10am - 4pm. Party games, birthday cake, rides and COSTA'S advice on Gardening, perfect for this time of year! Come celebrate! Rose Street, Ebenezer For More Details
HAWKESBURY REGIONAL GALLERY, ART FAIR ARTIST TALKS SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 1.30PM. Hear the narrative of these local artists: what motivates them, their routines and how they maintain momentum in a solitary practice.
ALERT RIVER ROAD (LOWER PORTLAND) CLOSURE BEGINNING 11 NOVEMBER. An 11-week embankment revitalisation is undertway. The road is open -- a single lane only controlled by signal lights near 1505 River Road, Lower Portland. For alternate routes, us Old Northern Road, Clifton Road and Wisemans Ferry Road. Give yourself plenty of time, particularly on Sundays. For further details: more on River Road road closure.
BELLA VISTA FARM, 11 NOVEMBER: While the rememborance is over, we will continue with a post-memorial story. As part of the Combined RSL Centenary of ANZAC Pipes and Drums Band, members from the Castle Hill RSL Pipe Band toured sites of famous battles and paid musical tribute to local Hills brothers -- World War One soldiers -- Arthur and William Russell. As part of the tour, the band performed a Last Post Service at the Menin Gate in Ypres (leper, Belgium and held services at Tyne Cot Cemetery, also in Belgium, and High Tree Cemetery, in France. Next week, the diary of a member of the touring musicians will be featured in our blog. For now: Read our Blog Memorialising WWI and the brave Bagpipers
BELLA VISTA FARM OPEN DAY And Free Spirit Markets: Sunday, December 2, 9am - 2pm. Tour the Bella Vista Farm homestead and the historical surrounds, visit the markets and enjoy Devonshire tea or quality coffee. Details: thehills.nsw.gov.au and search ‘Bella Vista Farm Open Day’
THE BEANIES@THE :PIONEER THEATRE: This Children’s entertainment group, The Beanies are bringing their egg-static Christmas show to the Pioneer Theatre on Tuesday, November 20. Tickets cost: $23pp or $80 for a family (two adults and two children). Details: www.pioneertheatre.com.au.
FERRY ARTISTS GALLERY, WISEMANS FERRY NEW EXHIBITION OPENS in August: Gallery hours Thursday - Monday 10-4pm. 02 4566 4385. New Exhibition open
HAWKESBURY VISITOR CENTRE, CLARENDON (02 4560 4620) Staff are a wealth of knowledge. Drop by for all Hawkesbury information. Books, maps, brochures and guides. 9-5pm Monday - Friday; Saturday & Sunday 9 - 4pm
ON-GOING ACTIVITIES
HAWKESBURY REGIONAL GALLERY: ART AND DEMENTIA TOURS ON THIRD THUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 11AM. Bookings are essential. These workshops are designed for those living with Dementia and for their carers. Facilitated by gallery staff (specially trained by Alzheimer's Australia) the experience offers an enriching program. Bookings 02 4560 4418.
get up, get out & go...
From the editor
Get away from rush hour traffic, from suburban living, from life online, life lived through Facebook or Twitter...
A sudden downpour on the Gallery's metal roof. Pummeled by rain, a staccato beat of falling gum nuts. Tea served in fine china. A sandstone verandah with a view to a clever garden ... bronze and sandstone sculpture ... welded steel poppies standing tall and metal agapanthus mistakenly flowering in a large cycad (palm). A spring afternoon in bucolic Freemans Reach (Hawkesbury) where deception, or perhaps magic, hoodwink the eye – low hanging grey clouds attach to lush green hills.
Pitt Town, Maroota and Catti, isolated. Remaining colonial farmstead and houses stand tall: Rouse Hill House & Farm, Bella Vista Farm, and Dural's Roughley House – The Pines. Commercial and residential growth encroach upon this countryside, yet rich black soil and softly undulating hills endure. Produce stands along country roads are evidence of the land's bounty. And a river runs through it.
Big boats, little ferries and low bridges from Brooklyn to Windsor. Kayaks and canoes. Fish–big ones that 'do not get away'. Convict trails. Heritage houses. Distillers and vintners and charming art galleries in places with unusual names like Ebenezer, Kurrajong, Dural, Maroota, St Albans and Arcadia.
Backroads are leafy and often Mother Nature's dramatic scenes surprise us: sandstone cliffs jut over Wisemans. Diverse cool climate botanic gardens bloom at Mount Tomah — rhododendron of extreme height. Apple-loaded trees in Bilpin. Dark lagoons bloated with lily pads and surrounded by Ebenezer grapevines. Rivers — Hawkesbury, Grose and Colo — swollen and fierce after heavy rains. All within your reach.
To get away from it all, succumb to the charms of The Hawkesbury and The Hills.
- St Albans ... yes, the historic pub for lunch is high on most day-trippers' list, but the drive from Wisemans Ferry to St Albans is unusual with its forests of trees
- Yarramundi Reserve — kayaking and canoeing
- Bilpin Cellar Door — tasting and gourmet hampers for picnics on the shaded grounds
- Museums Discovery Centre (Powerhouse, Sydney Living Museum and Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences)
- Hawkesbury Regional Gallery & Hawkesbury Regional Museum
- Richmond Good Food Markets
- Windsor Sunday Markets
- National Parks — The Hawkesbury and The Hills are a doorway to bushwalks and trekking, to boating and skiing and to long winding leafy roads with stunning sandstone outlooks.
