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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Students wearing dress up costumes and laughing in the nursery.
Onsite

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

Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030

Vaucluse House

Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country

Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030
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Jacaranda tree at Vaucluse House
Latest News

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

Stories

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image of painting showing a dramatic panoramic view of harbour surrounded by natural bushland with Vaucluse estate in the foreground.
Museum stories

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

Black and white photograph of Vaucluse House with large fig tree and vine covered verandah

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

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

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

Vaucluse Bay, Port Jackson, NSW
Convict Sydney

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

Dairy, Vaucluse House

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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Plant your history

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

Plant your history

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

Plant your history

In good hands

A week with the Gardens team shows historic garden conservation at its most hands-on

Plant your history

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

Vaucluse Bay. Unknown photographer, c1880.

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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