Harbourside retreat

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.

Stories from Vaucluse House

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

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

Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030. Phone +61 2 9388 7922

Vaucluse House

Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030. Phone +61 2 9388 7922
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Learning program

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Child placing skittles on a flat surface on lawn in garden setting.
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

2023 Annual Appeal

Help us preserve our past. All funds raised will allow us to accelerate our work to digitise the significant collections in our care.

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