Elizabeth Farm
![Elizabeth Farm house - front verandah and carriageway](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/11/e59d8550dc104cbc95719530c4ef4d0e.jpg)
'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
![Portrait of John Macarthur](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/zl9du87e/staging/22601f2ddf58a64b5f1902100ae94788890df435-1920x2409.jpg?fit=max&auto=format)
On This Day
12 Feb 1793 - John Macarthur granted land at Parramatta
On 12 February 1793 John Macarthur was granted 100 acres of land at Parramatta by Acting Governor Francis Grose. Macarthur was the first man to clear and cultivate 50 acres
![Candle light tour, Elizabeth Farm](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/07/10ad35c272594ddc8cc7b0d5012acce4.jpg)
10 August, 6pm
Tour
A Winter's Night at Elizabeth Farm
Join us on a unique, informative, behind-the-scenes insight into life in the Macarthur home, at night-time
Saturday 10 August 6pm–8pm
![Hand painted, resin cast reproduction of early 19th century wooden toy Indian antelope, 1984](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/05/0c984d64ce0d441a8a58ec2a2f686c6c.jpg)
A spotted deer from India
This enigmatic animal is a resin-cast replica of an early 19th century wooden (cedar) carved and painted toy that belonged to John & Elizabeth Macarthur's children at Elizabeth Farm or, perhaps, to their grandchild at Camden Park
![Matching wool colours using a late 19th-century pattern and unfinished Berlin wool work sample from the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/08/35b2f46ac5f0403ab67b07438b99db8d.jpg)
A stitch in time
Tatting, knotting, knitting, pin-tucking, crocheting, pinking, stitching, stuffing, embroidering … needles fly at Elizabeth Bay House
![Watercolour of trellised verandah and house from garden.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/27da4941f884422ea035a521e68841b0.jpg)
A taste for the ornate
Traces of long-lost decorative features at Elizabeth Farm provide insights into changing fashions in 19th‑century architecture and design
![Joseph Lycett, 'The residence of John McArthur Esq. near Parramatta, New South Wales'. Aquatint. Published London, John Souter, 1825. Elizabeth Farm collection, Museums of History New South Wales.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/11/5732bac361cb48c6806caf3a2837422e.jpg)
Museum stories
A turbulent past
With its deep, shady verandahs and elegant symmetry, Elizabeth Farm is an iconic early colonial bungalow
![View of lowslung colonial era house across gravel and lawn, house framed by trees.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/37f38862027349c39833ce6170ad383d.jpg)
Museum stories
Abundance & curiosity at Elizabeth Farm
One of the great pleasures of visiting Elizabeth Farm is strolling from the drawing room onto the winding paths of the pleasure garden, just as the original occupants, the Macarthur family, did two centuries ago
![](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/09/883dce1de5ba43dcb7abd4b161e74778.jpg)
Plant your history
Aloe arborescens ‘candelabra aloe’
Tours at Elizabeth Farm often start alongside a large bed of succulents, dominated by towering cactus