Elizabeth Macarthur
![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
![painting of the factories or hongs south-west of the city walls of Canton (Guangzhou) which were a means by which the Chinese imperial government sought to regulate contact with the western nations eager to trade to China](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/5e3983261ea143809af54b33d6a21d55.jpg)
Eastern influences on colonial dining
Two intricately painted and monogrammed china plates that were once part of a large dessert service made for the table of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, are testimony to an adventurous spirit in early colonial Sydney
![Elizabeth Farm house - front verandah](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/03/cea32b7cb2364e04820a1e1a9fd236aa.jpg)
Elizabeth Farm: the old and the new
This short film, titled ‘Elizabeth Farm: the old and the new’, is a valuable record of the ‘no-barriers’ museum as it was first experienced and enjoyed by visitors
![View of lowslung colonial era house across gravel and lawn, house framed by trees.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/10/9c3297ee40b440c28ee2a114ebc795f1.jpg)
Growing up on Elizabeth Farm
The Macarthur children of Elizabeth Farm had fields, gardens and muddy riverbanks to explore
![LON10_EFGB_001_0.jpg](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/92018e41d7664a978fd6038552884597.jpg)
Convict Sydney
John Macarthur - Ambitious, volatile, self-confident
John Macarthur is well remembered as an ambitious and ruthless soldier who forged a powerful colonial farming dynasty
![a set of brass bell mounted to a long narrow horizontal board attached to a yellow limewashed wall.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/c3f6219715c14eebbfb63736423a4923.jpg)
Mr Butler: the Macarthurs' butler
If you’re a fan of the crime-fighting character ‘Miss Fisher’ you’ll know that one of the characters is named with his profession – ‘Mr Butler’. But did you know that at Elizabeth Farm there actually was a butler named Butler?
![](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/09/03210a8036dd440fa494c1575c143485.jpg)
Sarah Pettit, the Macarthurs’ first servant?
Elizabeth Farm lists hundreds of employees, from assigned and emancipated convicts to those ‘born free’ in the colony. One significant name remained elusive – the very first. Until now ...