The Oast House was been built during the second convict period in either 1844 or 1845, making it one of the oldest oast houses in Australia. Oast houses are hop kilns used for the drying of hops. The surrounding area was first developed into hop fields during the first convict period (1825-1832) and subsequently expanded. The original building has two large brick drying-towers with floors of ventilating bricks which can still be seen among the ruins. The building was later modified, and has been used for crushing grapes and, later, as an abattoir.