Collections

Owner bound volume of assorted songs, in the collection of Rouse Hill House & Farm, 1850-1864. [music]

‘Home! Sweet Home!’

It may come as a surprise that the expression ‘home, sweet home’ originates from a song title

Elizabeth Farm house - front verandah and carriageway

'A most excellent brick house' Elizabeth Farm

Curator Dr Scott Hill explores some of the enduring mysteries buried in the architecture of Australia’s oldest surviving homestead

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'Australian Flowers'

Given that much of the music played in Australia in the 19th century had been imported, one might ask what constituted an ‘Australian’ piece of music?  

Ellen Marshall’s kitchen dresser

(Re)making a home

An evocative collection of household items belonging to the last tenants of Susannah Place

Boys in nautical uniforms sit a long benches on the top deck of a ship and a man at a blackboard stands in the centre near the mast
On This Day

20 May 1867 - Vernon nautical school admissions

On 20 May 1867 applications for admission to the nautical school-ship, the Vernon, commenced. The Vernon was purchased by the Colonial Secretary in January 1867 & moored in Sydney Harbour

On This Day

6 Nov 1935 - Charles Kingsford Smith flight

On 6 November 1935 Charles Kingsford Smith took off in his plane, the Lady Southern Cross, from Britain in a record breaking attempt to fly to Australia. Kingsford Smith, his co-pilot J.T. Pethybridge and the plane were never seen again

Barry Little in white suit leading a group from the Society of Interior Designers of Australia on a visit to the Philippines

A Little archive that tells a big story

Ahead of his time, interior designer Barry Little had a significant influence on Australian interiors in the 1960s and 70s

A locket found in an intestate file

A rare find in the archives is this small locket, found among the intestate case papers of Charles Thompson Dunbar