Peering inside its wooden slabs, he could see all manner of items - saddles, bellows, tools and half finished jobs for the constant stream of horsemen and wagon drivers that once traipsed those parts.

On that same 20-acre farm at the back of Rocky Hill, Peter and his sisters Corrine and Sheridan rode their horses as a happy offshoot of their father Ange’s lifelong interest.

Mr Zantis senior, the popular jeweller who gave generously to Goulburn before his death in 2005, bought the property in the 1960s.

The main rubblestone cottage on the holding, complete with original hardwood shingles, dated from 1839, according to Peter Zantis. He believed it was one of the first farmhouses in the area.

“I think the blacksmith’s shop was built not long after. There was also a dairy and the original owners grew corn,” he said.

The property had stayed in the Sinclair family since the 1830s and the Zantis’s bought it from a descendant. Peter Zantis believed a member of that family had the blacksmith’s shop.

The property’s interesting history is set for another chapter. After more than 40 years, the Zantis family is selling the holding.

As a gesture to the community, they are donating all the blacksmith shop’s contents to local National Trust property, Riversdale.

Real estate agent Carol James, who is marketing the property, said the gift was symptomatic of Mr Zantis’ generosity, for which he was so well known.

It is especially significant as Mr Zantis was also the first chairman of the Southern Tablelands National Trust branch and enjoyed a long association with Riversdale.

“We left the blacksmith’s shop exactly how we found it in the 1960s and I think it was operational up until that point,” Peter Zantis said.

The contents include stockhorse saddles, harnesses, bellows, forges, tools, a leg-vice and much more. The Trust’s Southern Tablelands deputy chair Tim Geyer said its importance lay in the collection as a whole, rather than any one item.

He has a keen appreciation of all things old through his other role, Southern Tablelands Vintage Farm Machinery secretary.

“What is significant is the story Riversdale will tell about the blacksmithing activities in that hut,” he said.

Aerial shots depicting the back of Rocky Hill in the early 1900s showed a thriving farming area of orchards, dairies and grain growing and he speculated the shop would have serviced these farmers.

Riversdale property manager Debbie Sibbick was thrilled with the acquisition.

“It’s lovely that the family has thought about donating these items and we’re very grateful that we can show their history,” she said.

“It’s also wonderful that we can make that link between the first National Trust committee and the current one.”

Volunteers will itemise and collate the collection for public display in Riversdale’s 1832 stone stables.