The day marked not just the Trust's 75^th anniversary but also the opening of the exhibition, 'The Old Town: Goulburn and Riversdale 1820 and Beyond.'

The latter was part of Goulburn's 2020 activities, commemorating 200 years since NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his exploration party came through the area. Their travels led to establishment of the first Goulburn township in 1829 near Riversdale.

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Hume MP Angus Taylor opened the exhibition, saying the property, more than many others, played a significant role in the area's history.

Riversdale was originally established as a coaching inn in about 1840. Its 1832 stone barn built by Matt Healey is the only surviving building of the Goulburn Plains' first settlement.

The property was also used as a school and then a home to NSW Surveyor General Edward Twynam for more than 90 years.

National Trust deputy CEO Richard Silink made a special trip for the exhibition's opening and welcomed Twynam family descendant, Stephen Horn and his wife, Rosanna.

Mr Horn loaned several surveying items retained by the family to the display.

Mr Silink said a writing slope carried by Lachlan Macquarie was specially loaned by Old Government House at Parramatta for the exhibition. The slope was sent to Sergeant Charles Whalan by Lachlan Macquarie junior after his father's death in England in 1824.

"It's a very significant item," he said.

Goulburn 2020 coordinator Jennifer Lamb has studied Macquarie's journals and has posted his accounts of his explorations of this area on social media as part of the commemorations.

National Trust volunteer Claire Baddeley said the display also included a jail warden's button possibly related to the earliest prison. It was discovered in the 1980s along with 1825 to 1829 coins depicting King George IV.

There were also handmade nails from the earliest building, the stables and plans of the first Goulburn township near Riversdale in 1829. Darling Square was its central feature.

The township was transferred to the now centre of Goulburn in the early 1830s after NSW surveyor general Major Thomas Mitchell expressed concerns over flooding.

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An 1849 sketch of Goulburn detailed land lots and their owners, including William Bradley, William Hovell and William Lithgow. There's also Baker's map of the County of Argyle, 1843 to 1846.

But it's not all European history. The display recognises the Gandangara and Ngunawal population and their interaction with the explorers.

"The exhibition looks at how Riversdale fits into the broader scheme of Gouburn's establishment," Ms Baddeley said.

Mr Horn took the opportunity to recall his great aunt, Alice Twynam who trained as a bush nurse and famously cared for soldiers from the Gallipoli landings at a Cairo hospital. She later went to France and Flanders and treated the Anzacs at almost every battle.

After the war she was awarded the Royal Red Cross (First Class) by the Prince of Wales at Government House, Sydney.

Alice was the daughter of Edward and Emily Twynam.

"She was mistress here at Riversdale and was very much a person to be admired," Mr Horn said.

"She ran the place on her own and she wasn't particularly well off. She and her two sisters took in boarders and she really looked after her sisters."

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He described Alice as a very private person who led an adventurous life. She also gave away most of her possessions. After she died in 1967, Mr Horn discovered letters written to her from soldiers thanking her for her care. She had spent five years abroad.

Mr Horn said her service had inspired other family members to pursue nursing.

"She was a very special person and I have fond memories of coming to visit her at Riversdale, which had an old-fashioned English style," he said.

Alice died in Goulburn in 1967.

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