Vaucluse House
Grand 19th-century harbourside estate
When an Irish knight was caught kidnapping a local heiress, his punishment was swift: exile to a single-storey cottage in NSW. Over five decades, new owners transformed the cottage into a large and picturesque estate. By the 1830s, the gardens and grounds covered most of the present-day suburb of Vaucluse but the main house of the family’s dreams was still unfinished. In 1915 Vaucluse House became Australia’s first official house museum, and continues today to delight and intrigue visitors with its stories and still-secluded grounds.
Learning program
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Child's Play
Students learn about what it was like to live at Vaucluse House for the wealthy family of William Charles and Sarah Wentworth, with their ten children and many servants
Vaucluse House
Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country
Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030- Restaurant
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Saying goodbye to spring: the jacarandas at Vaucluse House
For those who visit Vaucluse House, the annually blossoming jacarandas are a friendly and gentle reminder that spring is coming to a close for another year
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Stories
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Not a lovelier site
‘There is not a lovelier site in the known world’, wrote the Sydney-born barrister and novelist John Lang about the Wentworth family’s estate of Vaucluse
The leprechaun in the garden
Most of us have some childhood memory – or something half-imagined, half-remembered – of a garden of seemingly infinite adventure, far from the reasonable world of grown-up things
Conservation in action: Vaucluse House waterfall, ponds and rill
The Vaucluse House Waterfall, Ponds and Rill Conservation Project will preserve the integrity and heritage significance of these important features of the estate. It was made possible by the generous support of the F&K De Angeli Foundation
Conservation in action: Vaucluse House ancillary buildings remediation
Museums of History NSW (MHNSW) is currently undertaking essential conservation works on the 1830s former store, laundry and water tank at Vaucluse House
Harbourside Gothic: The convict origins of Vaucluse House
Its architectural style is not all that is gothic about Vaucluse House. Discover the dark history of the house’s first owner, Henry Browne Hayes
The coolest room in the house
What practical techniques can we learn from historical building design to minimise heat and energy consumption in our homes today?
Plant your history
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Beautiful bountiful bamboo
One of the most recognisable plants growing at Museums of History NSW today is bamboo. This colourful plant has a long history in colonial gardens
Sumptuous cape bulbs light up late summer gardens
Belladonna Lilies and Crinum Lilies are tough bulbs that never say die and can survive years of neglect
In good hands
A week with the Gardens team shows historic garden conservation at its most hands-on
Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia arborea) at Vaucluse House
Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia arborea) is a beautiful perennial shrub native to South America. It was introduced to the colony from Rio de Janeiro for its attractive trumpet flowers
Related
Dinghy and kayak registration at Vaucluse Bay
The historic 10-hectare Vaucluse House estate includes the beach paddock where dinghy racks and kayak spaces are located. We manage the registration of these areas through annual permits
Annual Giving: Sharing our stories
Your support will help us to preserve and share the stories of NSW through our places, collections, archives and programs
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