The historic Burnie Inn is preserved as the only Burnie building from the pre-1870 period depicting the style of construction used in the town in those days.

It was established in Marine Terrace, opposite the port facilities, in 1847 as Burnie's first licensed premises.

In 1973 it was transferred to Burnie Park and opened to the public the following year, as a tea rooms.

The Burnie Inn is now the headquarters of the Friends of Burnie Park.

BERNIE TAVERN/BURNIE INN

Due to the Van Diemens Land Company's policy of prohibiting the sale of alcohol at any of its establishments it was not until after the VDL Company began to lease its land and encourage private investment that two hotels were licensed late in 1847 - 20 years after the town had been established.

The hotels were the Burnie Inn, on Marine Terrace and the Emu Inn, on the outskirts of town near the present Australian Paper offices.

The Burnie Inn was built by Joseph Law. However,  Law or the Licensing Board were either not familiar with the town or made a mistake when granting the license. The notice in the Hobart Town Gazette of 25 September 1847 named the premises the "Bernie Tavern".

Law renamed the building Burnie Inn in 1851 and was licensee until 1855 when Henry Redgate and William Parker conducted the inn for a year. Thomas and Harriet "Granny" Wiseman took over the licence in 1856. "Granny" Wiseman remained licensee until 1901 when she was 83 years of age. In 1901 the Burnie Inn's licence was transferred to the new Burnie Hotel and the Burnie Inn became a coffee palace and later part of a shop. It remained in the Wiseman family until 1946 when it was bought by the new licensee of the Burnie Hotel, Wilf Campbell.

The Burnie Inn was due for demolition when a group of citizens received assistance from the Burnie Municipal Council and National Estate to move the building in 1973 to its present site at the Burnie Park.

The Australian Heritage Commission, the Australian Government's policy advisory body on the National Estate, entered Burnie Inn in the Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978.

The National Estate is defined in the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975 as "those places, being components of the natural environment of Australia, or the cultural environment of Australia, that have aesthetic, historic, scientific or social significance or other special value for future generations, as well as for the present community".