Old Government House is Australia's oldest publicly-owned building. The original was built for
Arthur Phillip in 1790. While it was being built, Governor Phillip lived with Henry Dodd, the
farmer who planted the first crops in Parramatta. (Henry died in 1792 and is buried in St Johns
Cemetery, in the oldest remaining marked grave in Australia). Phillip's building collapsed and in
1799 Governor Hunter replaced it with the Georgian structure present today. Governor Macquarie
added significantly to it, to complete in 1818, the buildings that are seen today.