Rouse Hill Estate

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

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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?  

Projector and slides.

1960s psychedelia at Rouse Hill House

In a short experimental period of music making, the talented young John Terry combined radical musical ideas with abstract imagery and the soundscape of Rouse Hill House

Students sitting on the hillside, creating a watercolour painting of the view towards the Blue Mountains.
Onsite

A Colonial Eye

Students investigate the role of artists during the early colonial period and consider how they contributed to the development of the colony

A Gothic Angel

In the drawing room at Rouse Hill your eye is instantly drawn to a small painting on the far wall; a figure of an angel in a shining gilt frame, acquired in the 1870s.

Ramshackle wooden building with tin roof and wire enclosed coop at one end.
Conservation

A herculean task: clearing the woolshed

The first stage of a major conservation project at Rouse Hill Estate involved removing thousands of objects accumulated over 150 years of the property’s occupation

Colourful roses on the cover of a sheet music book.

A paper jukebox: exploring our sheet music collections

Musicologist Dr Graeme Skinner reflects on the historical and cultural significance of the sheet music collections belonging to three of Sydney Living Museums’ historic properties

Internal view of the timber shed at Rouse Hill Estate
Conservation

A strong and simple structure: conserving the woolshed

The second phase of a major conservation project on the woolshed at Rouse Hill Estate has seen the rustic 160-year-old structure strengthened and stabilised

A wayward prince

Investigating a possible imposter seen in a striking photo at Rouse Hill House, Dr Scott Hill uncovered a story of scandal