The History of Jarvisfield

The name and location of Jarvisfield has historic connections to the first white settlement of the area.

The Village known today as Picton was originally called "Jarvisfield", by Captain Henry Colden Antill when first granted the land in 1822 by Governor Brisbane.

Captain Henry Colden Antill came to Australia with the 73rd Regiment . In 1822 the Captain was given a grant of land in Picton which he built a small cottage on. Later his eldest son John Maquarie Antill built a larger home. This home still stands today and is Heritage listed.

Here's a copy of the historic grant of land made to Henry Colden Antill in 1822.

This building now houses the club house for Antill Park Country Golf Club.

Born in New York in 1779, Henry Colden Antill (Australian Pioneer) was the second son of John Antill and Margaret Colden.

John was a Major of the Second Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists). Margaret was the granddaughter of Cadwallader Colden.

Henry Antill enlisted with the British Army as an ensign in 1796 and served with the 73rd Regiment. He was promoted to Captain in 1809 and received a medal for bravery following the storming of Seringaptam in India, where he had been badly wounded. Along with Governor and Mrs Macquarie he arrived in Sydney aboard the HMS Dromedary in December 1809 with his regiment, and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Governor Lachlan Macquarie on January 1, 1810.

In 1821 Henry Colden Antill retired from the Army and in 1822 was the first to receive a grant of 2000 acres of land in the area we now know as Picton, which he called 'Jarvisfield'. The name Jarvis Field was taken from a property owned by Macquarie on the Isle of Mull in Scotland.

For the period 1821-1823 Henry Colden Antill was a director of the Bank of New South Wales and later became Police Magistrate for the county of Camden from October 2, 1829 until his death in 1852.