Elizabeth Farm facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Elizabeth Farm |
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Façade of Elizabeth Farm cottage
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| Etymology | Elizabeth Macarthur |
| General information | |
| Status | House museum, public park |
| Type | Rural estate |
| Architectural style | Australian Old Colonial |
| Location | 70 Alice Street, Rosehill, New South Wales |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 33°49′17″S 151°01′04″E / 33.821281°S 151.017907°E |
| Completed | 1793 |
| Client | John Macarthur and his wife Elizabeth |
| Owner | Sydney Living Museums |
| Landlord | Office of Environment and Heritage, Government of New South Wales |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect |
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| Official name: Elizabeth Farm | |
| Type: | Private residence, farm, gardens |
| Criteria: | a., c., d., e., f. |
| Designated: | 2 April 1999 |
| Reference #: | 00001 |
Elizabeth Farm is a very old and important historic home located in Rosehill, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It was the family home of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, who were famous for starting the wool industry in Australia.
The estate began in 1793 on a small hill near the Parramatta River. This area was originally home to the Burramattagal clan of the Dharug people. The name Parramatta comes from their language.
The first building was a small, brick cottage with three rooms. Over time, it grew into a large country house with beautiful gardens and a huge farm. The original cottage is still inside the later additions, making Elizabeth Farm Australia's oldest surviving European house. Today, it is a museum run by Sydney Living Museums. You can visit it for a small fee.
Elizabeth Farm is so important that it was the very first property listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999.
Contents
History of Elizabeth Farm
Who were the Macarthurs?
Elizabeth and John Macarthur arrived in Australia in 1790 with the Second Fleet. They brought with them new ideas for building homes and creating gardens. In 1793, Governor Grose gave John Macarthur 100 acres of land near Parramatta. This land grew to almost 1,100 acres by 1881 through more grants and purchases.
Building the First Home
Building Elizabeth Farm started in 1793. The first house was a single-story brick building with four rooms, a hall, and a cellar. It also had a kitchen and rooms for servants. This house remained the Macarthur family home, and Elizabeth lived there until she passed away in 1850.
As their family grew to nine children and their wealth increased, the Macarthurs kept adding to the house. Around 1805, they added a bedroom and verandahs (covered porches). A second kitchen was built in 1830.
Farming and Social Life
From 1794, John Macarthur became very interested in raising sheep. He carefully bred his sheep at Elizabeth Farm to create better wool. The house was a busy place, hosting many important visitors, including governors and their wives. While John was away in England, Elizabeth bravely managed the farm and their other properties.
In his later years, John Macarthur worked with architects like Henry Cooper and James Smith to plan more changes to the house.
The Story of Olive Trees
John Macarthur brought olive trees to Sydney in 1805 and again in 1817. While another person, George Suttor, had brought olives earlier, Macarthur's trees were the ones that survived and grew well. He studied how to grow olives and make olive oil during a trip to France and Switzerland.
He hoped these plants would help him return to Australia after some political issues. When he came back in 1817, he brought more "useful plants," including two olive trees from France.
An important official, John Bigge, visited Elizabeth Farm in the 1820s. He saw that Macarthur's olive trees were doing well and thought olive oil could be a good export for Australia. However, the growing wool industry became more popular, so olive farming didn't take off right away.
Today, two olive trees still stand on the front lawn of Elizabeth Farm. They are thought to be the oldest surviving olive trees in Australia. John Macarthur is often given credit for successfully bringing and establishing olives in Australia, which later led to a growing olive industry.
Later Changes and Owners
In the 1820s, Macarthur added a two-story section at the back of the house and built stables. These new parts had French doors that opened onto the verandahs and gardens. More changes were made in 1826 and 1827, designed by Henry Cooper. The servants' quarters were updated around 1833. John Macarthur moved to another property in 1833 and died there in 1834.
After the Macarthur family, Elizabeth Farm was owned by different people and used for various purposes, including a boarding house and even a glue factory. In 1904, the Swann family bought the house. It was in bad condition, but they cleaned and repaired it. The Swann family lived there until 1968, running activities like music lessons and a secretarial school from the house.
Saving Elizabeth Farm
In 1973, the State Planning Authority took control of Elizabeth Farm. From 1978 to 1983, government departments worked to restore the buildings. They wanted to preserve the house because it showed some of the oldest building techniques used by European settlers in Australia.
In 1983, the site was given to the Historic Houses Trust of NSW (now Sydney Living Museums). It opened to the public as a house museum in 1984. Since then, groups like the Friends of the Historic Houses Trust have helped raise money for improvements, like new displays and lighting.
What Does Elizabeth Farm Look Like?
Elizabeth Farm House is a single-story cottage built in the late 1700s. It has a simple design with windows on either side of the front door and four main rooms. Over time, more rooms were added. The walls are made of hand-pressed clay bricks, covered to look like stone. Inside, you'll find strong ironbark floors and beautiful cedar wood details.
The original roof was made of wooden shingles, but it's now covered with corrugated iron. The front verandah has cast iron columns. The garden still has many trees planted by Elizabeth Macarthur herself. These include araucarias, kurrajongs, a Chinese elm, and the two famous olive trees.
Elizabeth Farm has three connected buildings: the main house, a kitchen wing, and a two-story servants' quarters with a dairy and laundry. It sits on almost one hectare of land. There are also a timber shed and modern tearooms for visitors.
The house is in good condition and still has many of its original features from before 1834. This makes it a very special place to learn about early Australian history.
Changes Over Time
- 1807: A kitchen cellar was built.
- 1810: A stone kitchen and cellars were added underneath.
- 1820s: The house was remodeled, and some walls were rebuilt.
- 1826: A new verandah with Doric columns was added to the north side.
- 1827: The dining room and pantries were changed.
- 1832: Walls were painted, and new fireplaces were put in the dining room and bedroom.
- Around 1833: Walls and ceilings were refinished.
- 1860s: The verandah posts were changed from timber to iron.
- 1883-1884: The land around the house was divided into smaller blocks.
- 1904: The house was cleaned, disinfected, and repaired by the Swann family.
- 1978–1983: The house was carefully restored, and most changes made after the Macarthurs left were removed.
- October 2010: A large Bunya pine tree, planted in the 1870s, fell on the tea rooms.
- October 2011: The rebuilt café reopened.
Visiting the Museum
Elizabeth Farm is now a house museum. It is filled with furniture and objects that look like what the Macarthurs would have owned. The beautiful cedar wood details have been restored. The paint colors, fabrics, and floor coverings have been carefully recreated to show what a home from the early 1800s looked like.
The Macarthurs' garden has also been brought back to life. It has native and exotic plants, fruit trees, and vegetables, just as it would have been in the early 19th century.
Unlike some museums, Elizabeth Farm lets you get "hands-on." You can sit in the chairs, look through copies of old letters, play the piano, or relax by an open fireplace. This helps you really feel what life was like back then. Elizabeth Farm is open to everyone.
Why Elizabeth Farm is Important
Elizabeth Farm is very important for many reasons:
- It is connected to key people like John and Elizabeth Macarthur, who helped shape the early colony.
- It was a center for early farming experiments, especially in developing Australia's wool industry.
- The house itself is part of the oldest surviving European construction in Australia.
- The garden has some of the earliest European plants in Australia, including the Chinese elm and the 1805 olive trees. It also has old native trees like kurrajong, Bunya pine, and hoop pine.
- It shows how early colonial buildings were designed and how they adapted to the Australian climate.
- It was the first property in New South Wales to be saved by the government and the second to get a permanent conservation order.
Elizabeth Farm was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999, because it meets several important criteria:
- It shows the history of New South Wales: It's linked to important figures and early farming, especially the wool industry. It also shows how Parramatta grew as a settlement.
- It has great design and creativity: It's considered one of the most beautiful and interesting colonial bungalows from Australia's earliest European history.
- It has strong ties to the community: The farm has a special connection with the people of Parramatta.
- It can teach us about history: The garden has very old European and native plants. There are also many original documents and furniture that tell us about the house and its past residents. It shows how Australian building methods developed.
- It is rare and unique: Elizabeth Farm House is part of the oldest surviving construction in Australia. It is a rare example of early colonial architecture.
Images for kids
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A romantic painting of Elizabeth Farm from the Parramatta River. Joseph Lycett painted this from his memories after returning to England.
See also
In Spanish: Elizabeth Farm para niños
