The First Fleet introduced the concept of furniture to Australia in 1788. Furniture was bought to the new colony to furnish the government and military residency and public buildings.

Obviously this furniture was in the contemporary style of the period, which was a time of elegant, restrained design in British furniture.

The First Fleet and subsequent military personnel bought fairly limited functional pieces. As the colony grew and free settlers arrived, interiors became more decorated as family homes. The settlers bought their own family heirlooms and contemporary designs. Furniture needed to be of high quality to survive the sea journey. It is doubtful that much mass produced furniture today could survive the 9-month sea journey in the hull of a sailing ship with the salt air and damp.

However the Georgian furniture was well crafted from correctly aged woods like ash, beech, cherry, oak, mahogany and walnut.

It forms the basis of antique furniture collections in Australia today, valued and respected as family heirlooms and designer pieces. Great design and quality craftsmanship lasts for centuries and never goes out of style.

When Governor Phillip arrived the fashionable furniture of the time was designed and crafted by such names as George Hepplewhite, Robert Adam, Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale.

At this time there was a lot of interest in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt as archeologists and collectors discovered the remains of those civilizations. They took elements of furniture styles and motifs from the periods.

Winged griffins, lion heads, animal legs and sphinx heads were used by designers like Thomas Hope and Henry Holland.

Features of Regency Furniture

• The addition of brass to wood. Brass inlays were longer lasting than marquetry and this lead to the revival of French Boulle decorations.
• Sofa Tables
• Sabre Legs
• Cable Twists
• Metal Grilles
• The commode was replaced by the chiffionier – a straight front low cupboard
• Cheaper pieces were sometimes painted with black lacquer – called japanning
• The current fashion was for decorating walls with paintings which led to lower pieces. Tallboys disappeared and bookcases and cabinets became smaller.
• Wide use of metal mounts, lion paw feet, fretted brass grilles cover glass doors, pierced galleries, supports for shelves, and Ormolu or imitation gold.
• Chest with front pilasters of classic forms, sphinx head on animal legs or caryatid female figures
• Scrolled end couches with the frame often gilded.
• Circular tables, some with marble tops, stood on plinth bases with animal feet
• Sabre shape legs decorated with reeding or brass inlay.
• Novelties - Canterbury to carry music or plates, whatnot to display small pieces, Davenport small writing desks.
• Twin quadruple tables
• Sofa Tables - long narrow table with a drop leaf at each end and two drawers.
• Sideboards in the Adam style with solid pedestals and urns grew quite massive.
• Lyre shape used for table ends

In Australia, one of the earliest believed pieces of furniture was a chest made by convict craftsmen in Tasmania in 1816. 

In 1820 two convicts, Webster and Temple made and presented a set of chairs to Governor Macquarie. 

By the 1830’s in Sydney convict cabinet and furniture makers were producing Australian pieces in the current Georgian designs.