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Southern Highlands branch: One-day coach tour to Elizabeth Bay House & Vaucluse House
13 October
Join us for a day in Sydney with visits to Elizabeth Bay House, Paddington Reservoir Gardens and Vaucluse House. We will be able to enjoy some time at Rushcutters Bay Park where you can either buy your lunch at the kiosk or consume your own picnic.
The coach will be collecting (and returning) passengers at 7.45am at Moss Vale Station and at 8.15am at the Mittagong RSL.
Cost: $60 per person.
Detailed itinerary.
Book: at Humanitix.
Contact: Sue Trudeau (tour organiser) – sue.trudeau@gmail.com.
Elizabeth Bay House
With harbour views, sweeping staircases and spectacular landscaped gardens, Elizabeth Bay House was Sydney’s ultimate trophy home. Built for colonial secretary Alexander Macleay, after the governor, the most important public official in Sydney, it was by all accounts the finest house in the colony. Yet it tells a familiar story: of ambition and passion, of riches to ruin.
Elizabeth Bay House is a superb example of colonial architecture in a magnificent setting overlooking Sydney Harbour. The house was restored and opened as a house museum in 1977. Elegantly furnished to the period of 1839 to 1845, the interiors reflect the lifestyle of the Macleays and present an evocative picture of 19th century life. The house was once surrounded by an extensive 54-acre garden and described as a ‘botanist’s paradise’. Alexander Macleay was a renowned gentleman scientist who established a significant library and entomology collection and had extensive interests in botany.
Vaucluse House
One of Sydney’s most treasured harbourside estates. Vaucluse House is one of Sydney’s few 19th-century mansions still surrounded by its original gardens and grounds, with the rambling estate stretching down to the harbour’s edge.
Surrounded by 10 hectares of picturesque gardens and grounds, Vaucluse House is one of Sydney’s only surviving 19th-century harbourside estates, dating back to 1803. The sandstone mansion built in the 1830s was the home of explorer, barrister and agitator for self-government William Charles Wentworth and his family. Stretching down to the harbour, the estate is a peaceful oasis away from the city bustle, and many of the Wentworth family’s possessions are displayed throughout the house.