Page 140 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

138  SY DNEY AREA B Y AREA

the unusual peace that
descends on many harbour
beaches on an endless sunny
day. It is also an ideal vantage
point from which to enjoy a
spectacular summer sunset or
simply to observe the coming
and going of ferries and the
meandering harbour traffic.
In the midst of this tranquil
setting, enhancing its charm,
stands Greycliffe House with
its decorative gables and
ornate chimney stacks.
Façade of Vaucluse House, with its garden and fountain This Victorian Gothic mansion
was completed in 1852 for
r Vaucluse House have been restored to 1840s W C Wentworth’s daughter.
style and the house contains
Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse. Tel 9388
7922. @ 325. Open 10am–4pm Wed– furniture that belonged to the y Watsons Bay
Sun (daily in Jan, NSW school hols & Wentworth family. A popular
public hols). Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec. tea house is in the grounds. @ 324, 325. g Watsons Bay. See Four
& 7 limited. 8 ∑ sydneyliving Guided Walks: pp150–51.
museums.com.au/vaucluse-house
As the base for the boats that
Tradition has it that the most take the pilots out to arriving
riotous party colonial Sydney ships, this pretty bay has been
ever saw took place on the a vital part of the working
Vaucluse House lawns in 1831. harbour for many years. It is
W C Wentworth and 4,000 of also the home of Doyle’s famous
his political cronies gathered waterfront seafood restaurant,
there to celebrate the recall long a magnet for Sydneysiders
to England of Governor Ralph and visitors alike.
Darling, the arch-enemy. Just up the hill and almost
W C Wentworth was a major opposite the bay on the ocean
figure in the colony, being one side is The Gap, a spectacular
of the first three Europeans to Greycliffe House, in the tranquil grounds of cliff with tragic associations.
cross the Blue Mountains (see Nielsen Park Many troubled people have
pp162–3). He was the son of a taken a suicidal leap from
female convict and a physi cian t Nielsen Park this rugged cliff on to the
forced to “volunteer” his services @ 325. Open Sunrise–10pm daily. wave-lashed rocks below.
to the new colony in order to It was here that the ill-fated
avoid conviction on a highway Part of the Sydney Harbour ship Dunbar was wrecked in
robbery charge. National Park, Nielsen Park, with 1857, with the loss of all but one
The younger Wentworth its grassy expanses, sandy beach of its 122 passengers and crew.
became an author, barrister and and netted swimming pool, Treacherous conditions had led
statesman who stood for the is the perfect spot for a family to miscalculation of the ship’s
Australian-born “currency” lads picnic. Here visitors can savour distance from the Heads. All
and lasses against the “sterling”
English-born. He lived here with
his family from 1829 to 1853,
during which time he drafted
the Constitution Bill, giving self-
government to the state.
Vaucluse House was begun in
1803 by Sir Henry Browne Hayes,
a knight of the realm transported
for kidnapping a Quaker heiress.
Sitting in 11 ha (27 acres) of
parkland, natural bush and
cultivated gardens, this Gothic
Revival house, with its many
idiosyncratic additions, resem-
bles a West Indian plantation
house. The interior and grounds View over Watsons Bay, looking southwest towards the city

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