Elizabeth Farm is an historic estate in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Elizabeth Farm was the family home of wool pioneer, John and his wife Elizabeth Macarthur. It was commenced in 1793 on a slight hill overlooking the upper reaches of Parramatta River, 23 kilometres west of Sydney Cove. This area belonged to the Burramattagal clan of the Dharug people, whose presence is recalled in the name Parramatta.
The small, solid three-roomed brick cottage was transformed, by the late 1820s, into a smart country house, surrounded by ‘pleasure grounds’, orchards and almost 1,000 acres (4 km²) of semi-cleared land. Enveloped within later extensions, the early cottage remains intact, making it Australia’s oldest surviving European dwelling.
It is managed by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales as a museum that is open to the public for a modest fee.
Famous quotes containing the word farm:
“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
—Lewis Thomas (b. 1913)