Elizabeth Farm

About

Elizabeth Farm is a historic estate located at 70 Alice Street, Rosehill, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Elizabeth Farm was the family home of wool pioneers John and Elizabeth Macarthur. The estate was commenced in 1793 on a slight hill overlooking the upper reaches of Parramatta River, 23 kilometres (14 mi) west of Sydney Cove. The Burramattagal clan of the Dharug people are the traditional custodians of the area; their presence is recalled in the name Parramatta.

The small, solid three-roomed brick cottage in the Australian Old Colonial style was transformed, by the late 1820s, into a smart country house, surrounded by "pleasure grounds", orchards and almost 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of semi-cleared land. Enveloped within later extensions, the early cottage remains intact, making it Australia's oldest surviving European dwelling. The estate is managed by Museums of History NSW as a museum that is open to the public for a modest fee.