Miss Porter's House - National Trust of Australia NSW

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Miss Porter's House - National Trust of Australia NSW Freestanding Edwardian Terrace House
Entry fee:
Adult $12; Concession $10; Family $34

When newlyweds Herbert Porter and his bride Florence Jolly moved into their new home in 1910, their thoughts were focused on the here and now; the need to furnish and care for the house, and the need to cultivate their general store and carrier business in nearby Blaine (now Hunter) Street. They pondered too the prospect of starting a family, Ella was born in 1911 and Hazel in 1914. Sadly, Herbert (and his mother) fell victim to the influenza epidemic in 1919, and Florence was left to raise the two girls. Herbert and Florence could not have imagined that Ella and Hazel, who remained single and lived in the house all of their lives, would one day bequeath the house to the National Trust, an ambition realised after the death of Hazel in 1997.

Open Day at Miss Porter’s House - Sunday, 11th October 2026Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at ...
10/10/2026

Open Day at Miss Porter’s House -
Sunday, 11th October 2026

Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at the desk.

THE 1920s LIFE OF THE PORTER CHILDREN, ELLA and HAZEL

Discover what life was like for the children, Ella and Hazel, particularly during the 1920s.

Experience a world of non-plastic toys. Tin-plate mechanical toys were a favourite and probably date from before 1914.

See early dolls made from wood and cloth and recall the changes from cloth to pre-plastics, early celluloid and the more modern soft plastics.

The girls went to Cooks Hill Primary School and the museum’s school magazines, photographs, reports, certificates and prizes paint a fascinating picture of their school life at this time. Visitors are able to turn the pages of the replicas of many of these and learn about how they were taught, learnt to draw and write suitable poems.

Young visitors can compare their own school times with those of Ella and Hazel and check how their classrooms and reports differ.

Come and have fun with the Porter children - with not a Barbie in sight!

Miss Porter’s House Museum, 434 King Street, Newcastle West
Sunday 11th October 2026 from 1pm – 4pm
Adults $12, Concessions $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au
Facebook missportershouse

Open Day at Miss Porter’s House - Sunday, 11th October 2026Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at ...
26/09/2026

Open Day at Miss Porter’s House -
Sunday, 11th October 2026

Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at the desk.

THE 1920s LIFE OF THE PORTER CHILDREN, ELLA and HAZEL

Discover what life was like for the children, Ella and Hazel, particularly during the 1920s.

Experience a world of non-plastic toys. Tin-plate mechanical toys were a favourite and probably date from before 1914.

See early dolls made from wood and cloth and recall the changes from cloth to pre-plastics, early celluloid and the more modern soft plastics.

The girls went to Cooks Hill Primary School and the museum’s school magazines, photographs, reports, certificates and prizes paint a fascinating picture of their school life at this time. Visitors are able to turn the pages of the replicas of many of these and learn about how they were taught, learnt to draw and write suitable poems.

Young visitors can compare their own school times with those of Ella and Hazel and check how their classrooms and reports differ.

Come and have fun with the Porter children - with not a Barbie in sight!

Miss Porter’s House Museum, 434 King Street, Newcastle West
Sunday 11th October 2026 from 1pm – 4pm
Adults $12, Concessions $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au
Facebook missportershous

Then and now - our young volunteer
28/08/2026

Then and now - our young volunteer

Open Day - Sunday, 13 September 2026SPRINGTIME AT MISS PORTER’S HOUSEBook your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d ...
27/08/2026

Open Day - Sunday, 13 September 2026

SPRINGTIME AT MISS PORTER’S HOUSE

Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at the desk.

See spring in the colourful urban garden and historic bush house (fernery), a covered outdoor area between the dining room and kitchen, at Miss Porter's House Museum.

The garden is a rare example of a modest Edwardian town garden of which few examples survive. The near century long residence of one family with limited means and cautious habits, means that visitors can continue to enjoy both the house and its small garden. Both are relatively untouched and retain many of their key elements.

Bush houses were popular during the first half of the twentieth century providing sheltered sitting areas and a location for fashionable ferns, hanging baskets and potted plant collections. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the Porter women used the bush-house for social and leisure activities. Most bush houses, like outside toilets and tanks, have disappeared. Fortunately, the Porters cherished and renovated the bush-house rather than have it removed.

See a special display of everything floral and leaf through a replica of the women's gardening scrapbook containing articles about individual plants, new varieties, techniques, problems and gain an insight into the family's typical mid-century tastes. They loved azaleas, begonias and camellias as well as ferns and the new fashion for Australian natives. Tea tree and bottle brush caught their interest, and they are reported to have had grevillea planted at the side of the house.

So come and enjoy the house, garden, household objects, homemade clothing and exquisite craft work and take home a memento from Miss Porter's plant stall and let the younger visitors play the Clever Detective Game.

Miss Porter’s House Museum - 434 King Street, Newcastle West

Sunday 13 September, 2026 1pm – 4pm
Adults $12, Concessions $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au
Facebook missportershouse

Miss Porter's House volunteers recently toured Newcastle Museum's current exhibition, 'Mr Squiggle and Friends' which i...
13/08/2026

Miss Porter's House volunteers recently toured Newcastle Museum's current exhibition, 'Mr Squiggle and Friends' which is touring from the National Museum. Most of us are aged enough to have delighted in Mr Squiggle when we were kids so it was great fun to meet him 'in the flesh'. Kids will love watching the videos, drawing their own squiggles and playing with shadow puppets, and adults will enjoy the history of the designer, makers and the program. Also on display are some marionettes made by local man, Murray Raine.

https://newcastlemuseum.com.au/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/mr-squiggle-and-friends

Our new clever detectives !
09/08/2026

Our new clever detectives !

Open Day - Sunday 9th August, 1pm – 4pmFAMILY HISTORY at Miss Porter’s House Museum - Newcastle’s only UNESCO recognised...
27/07/2026

Open Day - Sunday 9th August, 1pm – 4pm

FAMILY HISTORY at Miss Porter’s House Museum - Newcastle’s only UNESCO recognised collection

Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at the desk.

From colonial beginnings as farmers on Ash Island and in the Singleton area, to their key role in the commercial life of Newcastle's West End, the Porters made an important contribution to city life for well over one hundred years. Working women, carriers, grocers, businesspeople and active citizens were all part of this notable Newcastle West family. This legacy continues following Hazel Porter's bequest of the family home to the National Trust in 1997.

Fascinating audio stories reveal migration experiences and can be heard via QR signs in the house. All four of Ella and Hazel Porter's grandparents came from various parts of the United Kingdom.

Grandfather, James Porter, an immigrant labourer, transitioned into a worthy Newcastle citizen, storekeeper and property owner and was an active member of many community organisations and honoured at his funeral in 1912 by numerous public dignitaries.

Some of the most stunning photographs and memorabilia belong to Herbert, Florence and their two daughters. This was their family home, they kept their carrier's horses and cart behind the house, went to school at nearby Cooks Hill and, in Hazel's case, worked all her life for Newcastle businesses.

Photographs, school prizes, reports, work references and finally retirement presents and cards are all preserved and are to be seen during a visit.

All to be seen and more during a Family History at Miss Porter’s House visit.

Miss Porter’s House Museum,
434 King Street, Newcastle West

Adults $12, Concessions $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au

Our Clever Detectives
12/07/2026

Our Clever Detectives

Open Day 12 July 2026Hidden TreasuresBook your visit in advance here: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d. - Or at the houseThe Miss ...
28/06/2026

Open Day 12 July 2026

Hidden Treasures

Book your visit in advance here: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d. - Or at the house

The Miss Porter’s House collection contains documents giving often quirky insights into the domestic life of a household of ordinary women living in a regional town across most of the twentieth century. It reflects their working, domestic, family and community lives. The Miss Porter’s House Documentary Heritage Collection 1910-1997 is inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.
Visitors will be able to turn the pages of recently acquired replicas of priceless documents and perhaps relive the habits of their own forebears; see scrapbooks of 1930s radio programs, 1940s movie press clippings and the Porter family’s records of household expenses.
How much does a dog cost? Children will love discovering Cooee the dog. In an ordinary exercise book Ella and Hazel kept track of expenses related to their pet, from the original advertisement, through to food, vitamins and the vet’s bills. Each page is neatly tallied (the women were trained bookkeepers), and we can see that, until his death in March 1990, Cooee cost $1,078.63.
The household documents, wonderful greetings post cards, photographs, and books together with personal objects like a tiny stylish mother-of-pearl evening purse will all be on display during HIDDEN TREASURES at Miss Porter’s House.

Miss Porter’s House Museum, 434 King Street, Newcastle West
Sunday 12th July 1pm – 4pm
Adults $12, Concessionsu $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au
Facebook missportershouse

Open Day - Sunday 14th June 1pm – 4pmFASHION AT MISS PORTER’S HOUSE Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d o...
27/05/2026

Open Day - Sunday 14th June 1pm – 4pm

FASHION AT MISS PORTER’S HOUSE

Book your visit in advance: https://bit.ly/3dpti7d or pay at the desk.

See a century of stylish and changing fashions captured in photos, homemade clothing and charming accessories at Miss Porter’s House museum.

Contemporaries described the Porter women as ‘well dressed’. Florence, Ella and Hazel Porter were prolific producers of fabulous clothing and household textiles: everything from underwear to business suits to party gowns, everyday dresses and accessories.

Edwardian studio photographs reveal Florence Porter tightly corseted and clad from wrist to ankle in high-necked clothing and extravagantly large hats. Florence was a skilled craftswoman, probably sewed her own clothing and was well known for her handmade lace and crochet trimmings. One of her early purchases was a sewing machine, ordered from Anthony Hordern’s Palace Emporium while on the wedding trip in Sydney and well used during the rest of the twentieth century.

By the 1930s Florence’s daughters, Ella and Hazel, were at business college and in employment. Family snaps capture Hazel and her mother in calf length tailored coats, close fitting hats and sensible strapped, low-heeled shoes.

Both work and everyday wear was structured and accessorised with hats and gloves essential for the properly dressed woman. Hazel was described by a 1950s work colleague as wearing ‘a navy skirt and jacket with a white blouse and highly polished lace up shoes. Her hair was drawn back into a bun’. Hazel, like her mother and sister, took pride in her appearance and there are many coat or jacket-and-skirt ensembles in the collection.

Miss Porter’s House has an especially rich crimplene clothing collection. Crimplene was the wash-and-wear miracle fabric of the 1960s which seems to have been enthusiastically embraced by the Porter women. They made numerous work and leisure dresses, jackets, a suit and even a hat from the new material.

Miss Porter’s House Museum, 434 King Street, Newcastle West
Sunday 14th June 1pm – 4pm
Adults $12, Concessions $10, Family $34, NT members and children under 5 free
Enquiries 4927 0202
www.nationaltrust.org.au
Facebook missportershouse

Address

434 King Street
Newcastle, NSW
2302

Telephone

(02) 4927 0202

Website

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