Merrigal and New Merrigal – Pastoral Stations near Collie, NSW – McGregor, Jones, Wentworth, Pye, Perry and Peel – 1845 to 2026

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this page contains the names of people who have died.

I've been poking around the back country between Warren and Gilgandra for a while now, and two names keep turning up in the old stories and the modern property pages alike: Merrigal and New Merrigal. They sit side by side on the black and red soil plains north of the little village of Collie, and between them they carry close to 180 years of pastoral history: a Scottish squatter, an assigned convict who married the boss's daughter, W.C. Wentworth himself, the Pye family's string of woolsheds, a Bomber Command pilot who came home to run sheep, a homestead fire, and in 2026 a $20-million-plus sale. Here's what I've been able to piece together.

The Oxley Highway running through the County of Ewenmar between Collie and Gilgandra. This is the sort of flat, open country the Merrigal runs sit in. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where Exactly Is Merrigal?

First things first, because there's more than one Merrigal in New South Wales. The one I'm writing about is in the Collie district. Grain Central and the selling agents, Peter Milling & Co, put the homestead block of Merrigal at 531 Merrigal Road, about 11 kilometres north of Collie, "midway between Warren and Gilgandra" and roughly 90 kilometres north of Dubbo. New Merrigal is its neighbour. The Land in 2018 placed it about 10 kilometres north of Collie and 80 kilometres north of Dubbo, and the Australian Financial Review said it lies on the Collie–Bourbah Road.

Collie itself is a small village and parish in Warren Shire on the Oxley Highway. Wikipedia gives it as 522 kilometres north-west of Sydney, 100 kilometres north of Dubbo and 36 kilometres west of Gilgandra, with 194 people at the 2016 census. It notes that the name may come from an Aboriginal word meaning "water". There's also a cadastral Parish of Merrigal in the County of Ewenmar, Warren Shire, which takes its name from the same old run. Ewenmar County sits between the Macquarie River on the west and the Castlereagh on the east, between Warren and Gilgandra.

Don't mix this Merrigal up with the Merrigal down on the Lachlan near Hillston. That's a quite different station. Charles Sturt University's Regional Archives hold papers on a bridge over the Lachlan there from 1895–96, and John Oxley reached the Lachlan "near Merrigal Bridge" on 23 June during his 1817 expedition, according to Wikipedia.

The Collie Hotel, the social centre of the little village that both Merrigals look to. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The church at Collie, New South Wales. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An old house in Collie village. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Aboriginal Country

Long before anyone pegged out a sheep run, this was Aboriginal country, and the sources describe it in slightly different ways. Warren Shire Council's own economic development strategy says the shire "sits at the convergence of two Aboriginal Nation groups": the Wongaibon to the south-east, around Narromine, Trangie and Nyngan, and the Weilwan (also written Wayilwan, or Ngemba Weilwan) to the north and north-west. It says the Weilwan Nation takes in Warren, Gulargambone, Gilgandra and parts of Coonamble and Quambone, and runs out into the Macquarie Marshes. The council puts Aboriginal people at about 20 per cent of the shire's population.

Wikipedia's article on the Wayilwan calls them a group of the Ngiyambaa nation who spoke the "Ngiyambaa Wayilwan" dialect, and says the name comes from their word for "no", wayil. It describes their country as covering about 5000 square miles along the Barwon from Brewarrina to Walgett and along Marra Creek and the Castlereagh, Marthaguy and Macquarie rivers. For the Gilgandra district more broadly, Wikipedia's Gilgandra article says three language groups lived there before the squatters came: the Gamilaraay, the Wiradjuri and the Wayilwan. Wikipedia's Warren article says the Warren area "is said to have been occupied by the Ngiyambaa". I haven't found a source that names the people of the Merrigal country itself, so I'm leaving it at the district picture.

Warren's Aboriginal community tells its own story through Warraan Widji Arts. They write that in the 1800s the Wayilwan ancestors of Warren, facing severe discrimination, moved from the banks of the Wambuul (Macquarie) River to the Ewenmar Creek and made a home at what is now the Beemunnel Reserve Aboriginal Place. They say Ewenmar is a Wayilwan word meaning "respected place", the same word that names the county Merrigal sits in. They also note that "most of our ancestors who lived at the Beemunnel worked on the surrounding properties as stockmen and domestic servants". It's a good reminder of who did much of the work on the western stations.

Country between Marthaguy Creek and the Oxley Highway in Beemunnel Parish, east of Warren on the road to Collie. The creek is spelt "Manthaguy" in the file title. D A R C 12345, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Oxley Highway bridge over Marthaguy Creek, east of Warren on the way to Collie. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Macquarie Marshes, north of Warren. Warren Shire Council describes Weilwan country as running out into the marshes. Cameron Muir, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Squatters Arrive on the Castlereagh

Wikipedia's history of the Corduroy Road Ruin near Curban gives a good run-down of how the Castlereagh country was taken up. In 1836 Governor Bourke's regulations legalised squatting beyond the Nineteen Counties, and by 1836–37 licences were being issued for stations along the river near present-day Gilgandra, Curban, Armatree and Gulargambone. Names like Richard Rouse at Mundooran, Thomas Perrie at Breelong, James Bennett at Bearbong and Curban, and John Hall at Calingoingong appear among the early settlers. Over on the Macquarie, Wikipedia says Warren station was set up in 1845 by Thomas Readford and William Lawson junior, son of the Blue Mountains explorer.

The monument in Macquarie Park, Warren, marking the site of a hut on William Lawson's Warren run. That run was taken up in 1845, the same year as Merrigal. Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Castlereagh River at Gulargambone. Wikipedia says Alexander McGregor took up Merrigal on the western side of the Castlereagh. Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alexander McGregor Takes Up Merrigal – 1845

Every source I found agrees on the founder. Wikipedia's Corduroy Road article says simply: "Alexander McGregor had taken up Merrigal on the western side of the Castlereagh in 1845. His grandsons 'held large tracts of land from Armatree to Collie'." Grain Central's 2026 sale story says the same: Merrigal was "originally settled by Alexander McGregor in 1845".

Peter Austin of The Land filled in the family side in a 2020 story about Glenmuir, a block cut from the old run. He wrote that the Scottish-born McGregor took up the run "situated near present-day Armatree" with his wife Catherine and their two daughters in 1845. So the original Merrigal Run was a big, sprawling holding. It stretched from the Armatree side across towards Collie, and only later got cut down to the properties we know today.

John Jones – From Assigned Convict to Owner of Merrigal

This is the part I love. According to The Land, one of McGregor's daughters, Ann, married John Jones, "a former convict who had been assigned to McGregor and who in due course took over Merrigal". John and Ann raised five sons and five daughters there.

Jones turns up again in the souvenir booklet printed for Back to Gilgandra Week in 1937. In a paragraph about old pioneers, it says James Madgwick's father "in association with John Jones" took up a station in 1844 for Robert Martin. The station's name is smudged in the scan. The booklet adds a line that matters for this story: "John Jones later owned 'Merrigal' Station, Collie." So by 1937, local memory already linked Jones's name with Merrigal and with Collie.

The Land says the Merrigal country was later divided between the Jones sons. A portion called Back Merrigal went to Albert Edward Jones, who married Grace Bell from Scotland in 1894 and had eight children. Their son Ronald Bell Jones kept a piece of Back Merrigal called Glenmuir when the rest was sold off in 1964. Ronald was a bachelor and died in 1981. A neighbour, Ron Herbig, who owned another slice of Back Merrigal, managed Glenmuir and later bought it. Michael O'Brien bought it from Herbig's son Gary in 2007. When The Land wrote its story in 2020, Glenmuir was a 1525-hectare cropping block 37 kilometres south-west of Gulargambone, and only three families had ever owned it.

A bullock team hauling wool at Walcha about 1918. In the early days, Castlereagh wool went to the coast by dray along the river roads. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

New Merrigal – Christie and Wentworth, 1855

New Merrigal has its own beginning, a decade after McGregor. Peter Austin wrote in The Land in 2018 that it was "taken up in 1855 by John Christie of Narromine Station in partnership with colonial politician and land baron W.C. Wentworth". That's the same Wentworth who crossed the Blue Mountains in 1813 and later built Vaucluse House. Austin says New Merrigal "underwent just three ownership changes before being bought by David Pye in 1933".

John asked me to cover "the subdivision that created New Merrigal". I have to be honest here: I couldn't find a fetched source that says New Merrigal was cut out of Merrigal. The only account of its origins I could read says it was taken up as a fresh run in 1855. The "New" may simply mean it was the newer holding next door. When Trove is back online, the old newspapers should settle it.

William Charles Wentworth. The Land says he was John Christie's partner in taking up New Merrigal in 1855. James Anderson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wool, Shearing and the Big Sheds

For most of its life Merrigal was a wool place. The selling agents describe it as having "evolved from a traditional wool-growing enterprise" into mixed farming, and the old woolshed is still standing. It's a 12-stand timber-framed shed. Peter Milling & Co and The Land both say it was the first woolshed in the Collie district to be electrified. Grain Central goes further and calls it "one of the first in NSW to be powered by electricity". These days it's used for shedding sheep and for storage, and a modern five-stand raised-board shed does the shearing.

New Merrigal was a wool name too. In a 2018 piece about the Pye family's old Burragorang Valley station, Jooriland, The Land listed New Merrigal in the run of Pye sheds worked by their regular shearing contractor, Ray Cleaver. The others were Gingie, Morendah, Calga West, Ghoolendaadi and Branga Plains, and between them they shore "some 100,000 sheep". New Merrigal also carried a stud Merino flock in the Pye years, which Len Peel bought along with the property in 1973.

Woolsorting at Burrawong station, NSW, around 1900. A big western shed like Merrigal's would have looked much like this in the busy weeks. Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wool classing at the Burrawong sheds, New South Wales, about 1900. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first trial of machine shearing at Piallaway woolshed near Quirindi, with blade shearers in the foreground. Machines and then electric power changed the big sheds, and Merrigal led the way in the Collie district. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Shearing by machinery, around 1900. Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A shearing board in a big New South Wales shed. Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

"Australian sheep shearing – new style", around 1900. Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

A shearing shed, about 1900. Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

An old timber shearing shed at Kyeamba in the Riverina, the same style of building as Merrigal's 12-stand shed. Virtual Steve, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Champion Merino rams, around 1900. Studs like the one at New Merrigal bred this kind of sheep. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Pyes at New Merrigal – 1933 to 1973

David Pye bought New Merrigal in 1933 and held it for 40 years, according to The Land. He belonged to a big pastoral family with stations right across the north-west. In 1973 came a double blow. The Land says Pye died "tragically" early that year, and that the "former two-storey station homestead was destroyed by fire in 1973". The sources I read don't say how either happened, and I won't guess.

Len Peel bought New Merrigal at auction later in 1973, along with the stud Merino flock. He was a dairyman from Hambledon Park at North Richmond on the Hawkesbury, and New Merrigal was the start of what The Land called his "western pastoral push". The family company was Peel New Merrigal Pty Ltd.

The Perrys at Merrigal – A Bomber Pilot Comes Home

Next door on Merrigal, the Perry family arrived in the 1930s. Jeff Perry's obituary in The Land in 2018, written by Phillip Perry, says his father, the pastoralist George Jeffries Perry, bought Merrigal in 1937. Before that the family was at Gunningbar, west of Warren.

Jeffries Earle "Jeff" Perry was born on 31 May 1915. In 1934 his uncle Tom talked the aviator Nancy Bird into flying her Gipsy Moth the 60 kilometres from Narromine to Gunningbar, and the 19-year-old Jeff was hooked. He learned to fly at Narromine, joined the RAAF when war came and was sent to Britain. On the way, his troopship rode up onto an iceberg. In Bomber Command he flew Wellingtons with No. 115 Squadron out of Marham in Norfolk. He did a long tour of 37 operations, mostly over the Ruhr, and came home with shrapnel still in his leg. The obituary also tells the story of him trying a loop in a Wellington over Scotland, as he told it to the author Michael Veitch.

He came back to Australia in 1944, married Sybil Coward in April 1945, and "remained on 'Merrigal' raising three children". The obituary says he got the place through "drought, flood, bushfire and wildly fluctuating wool and stock prices". His logbook was lost in a bushfire in the 1950s. Jeff and Sybil moved to Dubbo in 1996, Sybil died in 1999, and Jeff died on 21 April 2018, aged 102.

Nancy Bird in a Gipsy Moth in 1933. A year later she flew out to the Perry property and sparked young Jeff Perry's love of flying. State Library of New South Wales, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Wellington of No. 115 Squadron RAF at Marham, Norfolk, June 1942. That was Jeff Perry's squadron and base. Royal Air Force official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Wool to Wheat

Like most of the district, both Merrigals moved from mostly wool to mixed farming. Wheat had a long history around here. A 1921 photograph shows 320,000 bags of wheat from the 1920–21 harvest stacked at Gilgandra. By 2018, The Land said New Merrigal had about 4320 hectares of "arable, prime hard" wheat country, of which 2600–2800 hectares were usually cropped, yielding about 3 tonnes a hectare. It also ran 4500 Merino breeding ewes and 150 Santa/Angus cows. On Merrigal, the 2026 agents counted 3242 hectares of dryland cropping country, with soils running from soft grey self-mulching clays to red loams.

The 1920–21 harvest at Gilgandra: 320,000 bags of wheat, from The Bush Brother, July 1921. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sheep grazing near Gilgandra. Undated photograph from State Records NSW. State Records NSW, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Sheep in a paddock in the Gilgandra district, 2007. Sheba_Also, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

More Gilgandra-district sheep, 2007. Sheba_Also, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Open farming country in Bundobering Parish, between Collie and Gilgandra. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Another view of the Ewenmar plains between Collie and Gilgandra. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sales – New Merrigal 2018

In July 2018 the Peel family put New Merrigal up for sale through Colliers International, as part of winding up the family company's farming assets. Len Peel had died in 2016, aged 86. The Land gave it as 6669 hectares (16,554 acres), while Queensland Country Life printed 6699 hectares for the same acreage. It had seven equipped bores, 39 dams and a brand-new seven-stand Eco Enterac woolshed, and the main house was a modern four-bedroom home built in 2016 to replace the one lost in 1973. In October 2018 the AFR reported it had sold to "a local producer working in the cotton industry". No price was given.

The Sales – Merrigal 2026

Merrigal had its turn this year. In June 2026 the Lean family, who'd bought it in 2007, listed the 5075-hectare (12,539-acre) property through Peter Milling & Co of Dubbo with a guide of around $20–22 million. Expressions of interest closed on 30 July. The Land reported on 4 September 2026 that it had sold to "local interests" "in-line with expectations". The price wasn't disclosed. At sale it had 22 main paddocks, five bores, 13 dams, frontage to both Merrigal and Wemabung creeks, and timber of belar, rosewood, wilga, grey box, cypress pine and coolabah along the creeks. There were three houses, including a double-brick manager's residence, and that historic 12-stand shed.

Collie Public School, photographed by a teacher as evidence that he couldn't get back to Collie in time to open the school. From State Records NSW. State Records NSW, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

A homestead in the Gilgandra district, 2007. This isn't Merrigal, but it's typical of the country houses of the area. Sheba_Also, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Towns Around Merrigal

Merrigal people did their business in Collie, Gilgandra, Warren and, further afield, Dubbo. The 1937 Back to Gilgandra booklet mentions a "Ball at Collie" in that year's programme, and its memories of the old dances name a violinist from Collie among the musicians.

The main street of Gilgandra. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Macquarie Park in Warren, beside the river. Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An old river red gum stump in Macquarie Park, Warren. Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The main street of Coonamble, further up the Castlereagh. Cgoodwin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Oxley Highway in Berida Parish, near Gilgandra. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The road to Collie through Urobulla Parish. D A R C 12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• 1836: Governor Bourke legalises squatting beyond the Nineteen Counties, and Castlereagh runs follow in 1836–37 (Wikipedia, Corduroy Road)
• 1844: John Jones and Madgwick take up a station for Robert Martin (Back to Gilgandra, 1937)
• 1845: Alexander McGregor takes up the Merrigal run west of the Castlereagh (Wikipedia; Grain Central; The Land)
• 1845: Warren station established by Readford and Lawson (Wikipedia)
• 1855: John Christie of Narromine and W.C. Wentworth take up New Merrigal (The Land)
• Later 1800s: John Jones, McGregor's son-in-law and a former assigned convict, takes over Merrigal (The Land)
• 1894: Albert Edward Jones of Back Merrigal marries Grace Bell (The Land)
• 1933: David Pye buys New Merrigal (The Land)
• 1934: Nancy Bird flies to Gunningbar and inspires Jeff Perry (The Land)
• 1937: George Perry buys Merrigal (Perry obituary). Grain Central's "75 years" would point to about 1932
• 1945: Jeff Perry, back from Bomber Command, marries and settles at Merrigal
• 1964: Most of Back Merrigal sold. Ronald Jones keeps Glenmuir (The Land)
• 1973: David Pye dies. New Merrigal homestead burns. Len Peel buys the property at auction
• 1996: Jeff and Sybil Perry move to Dubbo
• 2007: The Lean family buys Merrigal
• 2016: New homestead built at New Merrigal. Len Peel dies
• 2018: New Merrigal listed in July and sold to a cotton grower in October. Jeff Perry dies, aged 102
• June 2026: Merrigal listed at about $20–22 million
• 4 Sep 2026: Merrigal sale to local interests reported

Where the Sources Disagree

• When the Perrys bought Merrigal. Jeff Perry's obituary in The Land says his father bought it in 1937. Grain Central (2026) says the Perrys held it "for three generations, or 75 years" until the Leans bought it in 2007, which would mean about 1932. I'd lean towards the family's own date of 1937.
• Where the original run lay. The Land (2020) places McGregor's run "near present-day Armatree". Grain Central and the agents put today's Merrigal 11 kilometres north of Collie. Both can be right: Wikipedia quotes that McGregor's grandsons held land "from Armatree to Collie".
• The size of New Merrigal. The Land gives 6669 hectares and Queensland Country Life 6699 hectares, both alongside 16,554 acres. That acreage works out to about 6699 hectares.
• Distances. New Merrigal is 10 kilometres north of Collie and 80 kilometres north of Dubbo (The Land). Merrigal is 11 kilometres and 90 kilometres (Grain Central, The Land 2026). They're neighbouring places, so the gaps may be real. Wikipedia puts Collie itself 100 kilometres north of Dubbo.
• The electric woolshed. Peter Milling & Co and The Land say it was the first electrified woolshed in the Collie district. Grain Central says "one of the first in NSW".
• Rainfall. 560 mm a year at New Merrigal (The Land, 2018) against 480–500 mm at Merrigal (agents, 2026).
• Whose country. Warren Shire Council says Weilwan in the north and Wongaibon in the south-east. Wikipedia's Gilgandra article lists Gamilaraay, Wiradjuri and Wayilwan for the district, and its Warren article says Ngiyambaa.

My Earlier Posts

• History Of Dubbo – New South Wales
• Jimmy Governor and Gilgandra – The Breelong Murders and the Manhunt of 1900
• The Wentworth Family of Vaucluse
• Names Of Railway Stations In New South Wales – Including Aboriginal Names & Meanings
• Clancy Of The Overflow – Banjo Paterson

Sources

1. Grain Central, "Collie, Walgett farms, Delungra storage list in NSW", Linda Rowley, 25 June 2026: https://www.graincentral.com/property/collie-walgett-farms-delungra-storage-list-in-nsw/
2. The Land, "Standout central west broadacre farming, livestock operation sold" (Merrigal), Mark Phelps, 4 September 2026: https://www.theland.com.au/story/9344102/merrigal-property-5075-hectares-sells-to-local-interests/
3. Farm Online, "Merrigal a standout broadacre farming and livestock opportunity", Mark Phelps, 22 June 2026: https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/9295287/merrigal-lean-family-lists-iconic-5075-hectare-nsw-property/
4. Peter Milling & Co, 531 Merrigal Road, Collie NSW 2827 (sale listing): https://petermilling.com.au/rural/531-merrigal-road-collie-nsw-2827/
5. The Land, "'New Merrigal' comes with new woolshed", Peter Austin, 28 July 2018: https://www.theland.com.au/story/5544958/new-merrigal-comes-with-new-woolshed/
6. Queensland Country Life, "Collie property New Merrigal delivers versatility, scale, reliability", 10 July 2018: https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5517557/new-merrigal-offers-versatility-scale-reliability/
7. Australian Financial Review, "Peel family sell historic New Merrigal holding to cotton farmer", Larry Schlesinger, 26 October 2018: https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/peel-family-sell-historic-new-merrigal-holding-to-cotton-farmer-20181026-h175dx
8. The Land, "How 'Jooriland' joined pastoral Pyes' stable", Peter Austin, 21 October 2018: https://www.theland.com.au/story/5702106/how-jooriland-joined-pastoral-pyes-stable/
9. The Land, "Moisture aplenty at Gular" (Glenmuir), Peter Austin, 29 February 2020: https://www.theland.com.au/story/6648518/moisture-aplenty-at-gular/
10. The Land, "Farmer and wartime pilot attempted aerobatics in Wellington bomber" (Jeff Perry obituary), Phillip Perry, June 2018: https://www.theland.com.au/story/5440091/farmer-and-wartime-pilot-attempted-aerobatics-in-wellington-bomber/
11. Back to Gilgandra Week souvenir booklet, 1937 (PDF scan): https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/f1f62acf-9b28-418c-8c0f-de967d7ec204/Back%20to%20Gil%20new%20merged%20ff.pdf
12. Wikipedia, Corduroy Road Ruin Historic Site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corduroy_Road_Ruin_Historic_Site
13. Wikipedia, Collie, New South Wales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collie,_New_South_Wales
14. Wikipedia, Ewenmar County: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewenmar_County
15. Wikipedia, Wayilwan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wailwan
16. Wikipedia, Gilgandra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgandra
17. Wikipedia, Warren, New South Wales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren,_New_South_Wales
18. Warren Shire Council, Economic Development Strategy & Action Plan 2023–2025: https://www.warren.nsw.gov.au/__media_downloads/Policies/Warren%20Economic%20Development%20Strategy%20and%20Action%20Plan%20v8_ADOPTED%202023.pdf
19. Warraan Widji Arts, "River Place Arts – learning through art": https://www.warraanwidjiarts.org.au/river-place-arts-learning-through-art
20. Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, Collection 0132, Merrigal Station, Hillston (the other Merrigal): https://archives.csu.edu.au/index.php/0132
21. Wikimedia Commons, for all images (credited under each picture): https://commons.wikimedia.org/
22. Wikipedia, John Oxley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oxley

The Wentworth Family of Vaucluse – Vaucluse House, the Wentworth Mausoleum and a Full Family Tree

If you've ever wandered the lawns at Vaucluse House or walked up Chapel Road to the little stone chapel behind the iron palisade, you've been standing in the middle of the Wentworth family story. It starts with an Irish surgeon who was tried for highway robbery at the Old Bailey and a Staffordshire girl transported for stealing clothes. It runs through their son William Charles Wentworth, explorer, barrister, newspaperman and the man who chaired the committee that drafted New South Wales's constitution. And it ends, more or less, in a vault cut into a sandstone outcrop above Parsley Bay, where William was laid to rest in 1873 in front of a crowd that took up half of Sydney. This page covers the house, the mausoleum, and the family, with a full family tree of who married whom.

Vaucluse House, the Wentworth family home on the harbour at Vaucluse. Cismok, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

D'Arcy Wentworth – The Surgeon with a Past

The Australian Wentworths start with D'Arcy Wentworth, born near Portadown in County Armagh, Ireland. Wikipedia gives his birthday as 14 February 1762, while the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) puts a question mark after the year. He was the son of an innkeeper, but the family was very proud of its roots. The ADB says the Irish Wentworths could trace their line back twenty generations to Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire, and they claimed kinship with the great Earl Fitzwilliam. That connection mattered. D'Arcy could lean on Fitzwilliam's influence, and borrow his money, for the rest of his life.

He trained in medicine in Ireland, went to London hoping for a post with the East India Company and then landed in serious trouble. At the Old Bailey sessions starting on 12 December 1787 he was charged three times with highway robbery. He was found not guilty twice and acquitted for lack of evidence the third time. He was back in the dock in December 1789, and again found not guilty. At the end of that case the prosecutor told the judge that Mr Wentworth had taken a passage with the fleet to Botany Bay as an assistant surgeon and wanted to be discharged straight away.

So D'Arcy didn't come out as a convict, despite the rumours that followed him (and his son) for decades. He arrived at Port Jackson in the Second Fleet transport Neptune on 28 June 1790 and sailed on 1 August in the Surprize for Norfolk Island.

Catherine Crowley

Also on the Neptune was a young convict woman named Catherine Crowley. The ADB says she was convicted at the Staffordshire Assizes in July 1788 of stealing "wearing apparell" and sentenced to seven years' transportation. She and D'Arcy began a relationship on board, and their son William Charles was born around the time they reached Norfolk Island. Wikipedia says he was born at sea on the Surprize, standing off the island in a violent storm, on 13 August 1790. The ADB says Catherine arrived at Norfolk Island "with the infant William" on 7 August. Those two dates can't both be right.

Wikipedia says a daughter, Martha, died at four months old, and two more sons followed: Dorset in 1793 and Matthew in 1795. The family returned to Sydney in 1796 and settled at Parramatta, where Catherine died in January 1800. After her death D'Arcy renamed the boys. Dorset became D'Arcy and Matthew became John.

Making His Fortune

D'Arcy did very well in the colony. He was superintendent of convicts on Norfolk Island, then an assistant surgeon, and in time principal surgeon. Under Governor Macquarie he ran the Sydney police as chief police magistrate and was treasurer of the Police Fund. With Alexander Riley and Garnham Blaxcell he built the "Rum Hospital" in Macquarie Street in exchange for a rum import monopoly. He was one of the founders of the Bank of New South Wales in 1817. The ADB says that when he died he was "probably the wealthiest man in the colony", leaving at least 22,000 acres.

His private life was colourful. After Catherine died, Maria Ainslie, an emancipist widow, kept house for him and mothered his three boys. Later he lived with Ann Lawes, a free woman who'd come out as a nanny with the Gore family. The two of them had eight children. D'Arcy died at Homebush on 7 July 1827 (per Wikipedia) and was buried at St John's Cemetery, Parramatta. His tomb reads "an honest man, the noblest work of God".

William Charles Wentworth – Explorer, Barrister, Newspaperman, Politician

William Charles Wentworth, painted by James Anderson in 1872. James Anderson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William was sent to school in England with his brother D'Arcy in 1803, according to the ADB. He came back to Sydney in 1810 without much direction, and was soon riding his father's grey gelding, Gig, to victory in the Hyde Park races. In October 1811 Macquarie made him acting provost-marshal and he was granted 1750 acres on the Nepean.

Over the Blue Mountains – 1813

In May 1813 William set off with Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, four servants, four horses and five dogs to find a way over the Blue Mountains. After twenty-one days, not quite sure they'd crossed the range, he wrote in his journal: "we have at all events proved that they are traversable, and that, too, by cattle". He got another 1000 acres for his trouble.

A page from Wentworth's journal of the 1813 Blue Mountains expedition, 11 May to 6 June 1813. Wentworth, W. C. (William Charles), 1790-1872, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Law, the Book and the Newspaper

Back in England, William entered the Middle Temple in February 1817 to prepare himself to be "the instrument of procuring a free constitution for my country". He wrote A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales, arguing for trial by jury, free immigration and an elected assembly. The ADB dates it to 1819, while the Vaucluse House heritage history on Wikipedia says 1818. He was called to the Bar in February 1822.

Along the way he learned something that stung. In 1819 the MP H. G. Bennet claimed in print that D'Arcy had been sent out as a convict. William's own digging showed that wasn't true, but that his father had indeed been tried for highway robbery. The ADB says this is when he threw in his lot for good with the Australian-born, the currency lads and lasses.

He came home in 1824 with another lawyer, Dr Robert Wardell, and a printing press. On 14 October 1824 the first issue of The Australian came out, without asking anyone's permission. Governor Brisbane decided to let it run. Under Governor Darling the paper and its owners were at war with Government House, and Wentworth was in the Supreme Court defending the press against seditious libel charges in 1828 and 1829.

When Darling sailed home in 1831, Wentworth threw a party at Vaucluse. The Australian reported that more than 4,000 people turned up. A bullock was roasted whole, along with twelve sheep and 4,000 loaves, and casks of gin and beer were laid on. Bonfires were lit on the highest hill, and the party went on until morning.

Politics and the Constitution

Wentworth entered the Legislative Council in 1843 at the head of the poll for Sydney. He helped set up the first proper system of state primary schools in 1848–49 and led the push for the University of Sydney in 1849–50, sitting on its first senate. In 1853 he chaired the select committee that drafted the new constitution. It proposed an upper house drawn from a hereditary colonial peerage. Sydney's press and public speakers howled the idea down, so the peerage was dropped, but the rest of the constitution went through. Wentworth sailed to England in 1854, and in July 1855 he saw the new Constitution become law.

Sarah Cox – The Blacksmith's Daughter

Sarah Wentworth (née Cox), portrait by William Nicholas. William Nicholas, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sarah Cox was born in Sydney on 1 January 1805. Her parents were Francis Cox, a blacksmith, and Frances Morton, both ex-convicts who had finished their sentences. They never married, because Cox had a family back in England. Sarah was working as an apprentice milliner when, in 1825, she sued a ship's captain named Payne for breach of promise. It was the first case of its kind in Australia, and she won. Her barrister was William Charles Wentworth.

By then the two were already together. Their first daughter, Thomasine, was named after Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane and born about six months after the court case. William and Sarah married at St Philip's Church, Sydney, on 26 October 1829. Three days earlier he had printed a love poem to her in his own paper, The Australian.

Society wasn't kind to Sarah. The heritage history of the mausoleum notes that she was shut out socially because two of her children had been born before the wedding. William's own illegitimacy, convict mother and his father's highway robbery trials were common knowledge too. And William didn't make it easy. In 1830 he fathered a son, Henry, with Jemima Eagar, the estranged wife of Edward Eagar. The ADB says, with some understatement, that his way of life became "spacious even to the point of lapses from his marriage vows".

A bust of Sarah Wentworth, on show at Vaucluse House. Will Thorpe, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vaucluse House – Building on Sir Henry's Cottage

The Vaucluse estate began as land grants to Thomas Laycock (1793), Robert Cardell (1795) and Francis MacGlynn. In August 1803 the Irish convict knight Sir Henry Browne Hayes bought Laycock's and Cardell's grants and built a stone cottage. It was L-shaped, with a terrace on its east side, and the house itself actually stood on part of MacGlynn's land. He named the place Vaucluse, probably after Fontaine-de-Vaucluse in the south of France, the spring made famous by the poet Petrarch. The remains of his cottage are still at the heart of Vaucluse House today. There's some support for the old story that he ringed the place with Irish turf to keep the snakes out.

The spring at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse in France, the place Hayes is thought to have named his estate after. Joel Takv, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Hayes was pardoned and left in 1812. Captain John Piper rented the place for a year in 1814 and acquired it in 1822. Then William Charles Wentworth bought it from Piper. The Vaucluse House heritage history (as given on Wikipedia) puts the purchase on 27 August 1827, and the ADB's Wentworth entry also says 1827. The ADB's entry on Hayes, though, says the estate passed to Wentworth in 1829. With an extra grant of 370 acres, the estate grew to 515 acres (208 hectares).

The family moved in during 1828, and Wentworth spent the next twenty-five years building. George Cookney designed the sandstone stables in 1829. Extensions of about 1834–42 are attributed to James Hume, and a drawing room of 1844–47 to Mortimer Lewis. Wentworth went for the Gothic Revival style of Government House, with turrets and battlements facing the harbour. The heritage history suggests the old-world Gothic look was meant to hint at his ancient family line. There was a big kitchen wing and convict barracks too. In 1830 someone reported that "in this garden there grows the most delicious fruit in the colony".

Vaucluse House, with the Gothic Revival battlements Wentworth chose to face the harbour. Edgars Pudans, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Inside, the drawing room was meant as a place for suitors to meet the Wentworth daughters, since Sarah was so cut off socially. By 1853 it held Brazilian rosewood furniture upholstered in crimson damask. Upstairs, the big upper hall was partitioned off with cupboards to make a bedroom for the second son, Fitzwilliam. The house was never really finished in the 1840s.

Daughters' Houses on the Estate

Two of the daughters got a slice of the estate. Wentworth gave part of it to Thomasine and her husband, Thomas Fisher. They never built on it and went back to England, and the land later became the site of Carrara, now Strickland House. In 1850 Fanny's husband, John Reeve, bought 14 acres fronting Shark Bay from his father-in-law. There he built Greycliffe, a Rustic Gothic villa by John Frederick Hilly, finished in 1851. It still stands in Nielsen Park.

Greycliffe House in Nielsen Park, built for Fanny Wentworth and her husband John Reeve in 1851. Sardaka at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Years in England

In March 1853 the family sold most of the contents of Vaucluse House at auction and headed for Europe. In December the house and 163 acres inside the fences were leased to John Hosking for three years. The family was overseas by 1854. Fanny and John Reeve sailed with Wentworth when he left Sydney that year.

William Charles Wentworth leaving Sydney in 1854 with his daughter Fanny and her husband John Reeve (published 1857). Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Apart from a short trip home in 1861–62, when he agreed to be President of the Legislative Council during a crisis, Wentworth spent the rest of his life in England. The family's return in 1861–62 brought the cast-iron Gothic Revival verandah you see today, a fountain in the pleasure garden and a first-floor bathroom. In England he lived at Merly House near Wimborne in Dorset, and he died there on 20 March 1872. He left his wife Sarah, five of their seven daughters and two of their three sons. His probate was sworn at £96,000 in Sydney and £70,000 in London.

The Funeral – Sydney Turns Out, 6 May 1873

Wentworth had long wanted to be buried at Vaucluse. As early as 1831, after Sarah's father Francis Cox died, he planned to consecrate land there for a family vault. He told the family he wanted to lie near a rocky outcrop on the hill above Parsley Bay, a spot you could see from the front verandah that looked over the harbour and the estate.

His body was brought home. Sarah accepted the government's offer of a public funeral, and the service was held at St Andrew's Cathedral on 6 May 1873. Two thousand people crowded in, and the only women allowed were the women of the family. The whole interior, floor included, was draped in black. On the cedar coffin lay "two wreaths of immortelles and other plants mostly indigenous to Vaucluse".

The day was declared a public holiday. The procession out to Vaucluse was so long that "when the first portion had reached ... Rushcutters Bay, the last of the carriages had not left George Street". The heritage history says 60,000 to 70,000 people lined the route. The ADB calls it a "state funeral", while the heritage listing and the Vaucluse House history call it a public funeral. Either way, the government paid the honours and Sydney turned out.

"The Funeral of the Late Mr. W. C. Wentworth at Sydney", a wood engraving published on 17 June 1873. Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At the vault, Bishop Frederic Barker consecrated the ground. Sir James Martin gave a long speech. He said there was "no Westminster Abbey in which to place the bones of our illustrious dead", but that here, "under the blue Australian sky, and by the shores of the broad and blue Pacific", they would lay Wentworth's remains.

The Wentworth Mausoleum, Chapel Road

The Wentworth Mausoleum at 5 Chapel Road, Vaucluse, inside its stone and iron palisade. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The mausoleum is Sarah's work as much as anyone's. After William died she sent her son-in-law Thomas Fisher a sketch of the spot and instructions that the vault be cut into a big single rock but "left in its natural state outside". She said she'd go to Brussels herself to order the marble and would bring iron gates and railings back with her.

The newspapers described the finished vault as cut out of the solid rock, built of brick and cemented inside, 28 feet long, 13 feet wide and 7 feet high, with slate shelves all round. The builder was Alexander Dean. Sarah then commissioned the architects Mansfield Brothers to design a Gothic Revival chapel over the vault, to match the house. It went up slowly. In November 1873 one letter complained that the "men are working, but as Miss W said they are drunk and away oftener than at work". The stone and iron palisade fence was finished by early March 1874.

The Gothic Revival chapel designed by Mansfield Brothers over the Wentworth vault. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

"Wentworth's Tomb, Vaucluse", an early 1900s postcard by William Henry Broadhurst. Broadhurst, William Henry, 1855-1927, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Who Lies There

• William Charles Wentworth (1790–1872), buried 6 May 1873.
• Three of his children, whose remains were brought back from Europe and reburied in the vault: William Charles (1827–1859), Sarah Eleanor (1835–1857) and Isabella Christiana (1840–1856).
• Fitzwilliam Wentworth, the second son, who died in Sydney on 8 August 1915. He was buried there after a service at St Michael's, Vaucluse, and the vault was then sealed for good.

The family had hoped for more. Their daughter Eliza wrote that "it was Papa's wish to have my grandfather, my Uncle & Willie & Bell & poor Nellie & we should all like to be there when our time comes". Sarah wanted them to "all rest together in our native place". But she died at Eastbourne in England on 14 July 1880 and was buried in Ocklynge Cemetery there. A brass plaque in the mausoleum to Sarah Eleanor seems to be behind the long-held belief that Sarah herself lies in the vault. She doesn't. On 15 December 2015 a plaque in her own memory was put up inside.

The plaque to Sarah Wentworth placed inside the mausoleum in December 2015. She is actually buried at Eastbourne in England. Trahelliven, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Another view of the mausoleum, now hemmed in by Vaucluse houses. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On 14 October 1927 the Church of England Property Trust took on the care of the mausoleum by deed. In 1997, with the family's approval, the Historic Houses Trust (now Museums of History NSW) leased it for 99 years. The bush and rocks on Parsley Hill that once framed it have long since given way to houses, so you can't see it from Vaucluse House any more, but the grounds are open to visitors. It was added to the State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

The mausoleum on Chapel Road. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Family Home to Museum

From the late 1870s the house was lived in by family, friends or caretakers. The unmarried daughter Eliza kept up a strong interest in the place until she died in 1898. In 1900 the contents were auctioned, and the house sat empty.

From the 1890s there was pressure to win back harbour foreshore for the public. On 6 July 1910 the government took control of 9.3 hectares of the Vaucluse estate, which became Nielsen Park. The Vaucluse House history on Wikipedia, drawn from the heritage listing, says the government's 1910 resumption of about 4 hectares secured the house. The same history also mentions some 11 hectares, house and garden included, being resumed after the house had stood empty until 1911. The ADB's Hayes entry says simply that the government bought it in 1910 as a memorial to Wentworth and to responsible government.

The Nielsen Park–Vaucluse Trust opened the house on weekends and holidays, though it was nearly empty. It also pulled down the ruins of the convict barracks and workers' cottages, and in 1917 added two towers to the eastern front to make the place look finished. Today Vaucluse House is a museum run by Museums of History NSW, with the mausoleum on Chapel Road managed as part of it.

Vaucluse House in the 1930s, from the Royal Australian Historical Society's Osborne Collection. Royal Australian Historical Society, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vaucluse House photographed by Sam Hood in November 1932, in a picture labelled "Cinesound". Sam Hood, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vaucluse House in 1979. wilford peloquin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The pleasure garden at Vaucluse House. Sardaka at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Greycliffe House and Nielsen Park, once part of the Wentworth estate. Edgars Pudans, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wentworth's marble statue in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney, the university he helped found. Sumple, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wentworth Mausoleum today. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wentworth Family Tree

Here's the family laid out generation by generation, with husbands and wives where the sources name them. Where I couldn't find a marriage or a date in a source, I've said so rather than guess. Where sources give different years, I've shown both.

Person	Dates	Spouse / partner	Notes
Generation 1
D'Arcy Wentworth	1762 (ADB "1762?") – 7 July 1827	Partners (never married): Catherine Crowley (c.1772–1800); Maria Ainslie (1774–1841); Ann Lawes (1791–1849)	Surgeon, police magistrate. Buried at St John's, Parramatta.
Generation 2: D'Arcy's children with Catherine Crowley
William Charles Wentworth	13 Aug 1790 (Wikipedia; the ADB implies a few days earlier) – 20 Mar 1872	Sarah Cox (1 Jan 1805 – 14 July 1880), married 26 Oct 1829, St Philip's, Sydney	Buried in the Wentworth Mausoleum. Also fathered a son, Henry (b. 1830), with Jemima Eagar.
Martha Wentworth	Died at four months old (dates not found)	none	Per Wikipedia
D'Arcy Wentworth junior (born Dorset Crowley)	23 June 1793 – 21 July 1861	Elizabeth Macpherson, married 27 Apr 1826, St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh	Army captain, police magistrate, MLC 1843–45. No children. Buried at St John's, Parramatta.
John Wentworth (born Matthew)	1795 – 1820	Not found in my sources	The ADB says he died at sea as a petty officer in 1820.
Generation 2: D'Arcy's children with Ann Lawes (dates from Wikipedia; spouses not given in my sources)
George Wentworth	1810 – 1851	Unknown
Martha Wentworth	1813 – 1847	Unknown
Sophia Wentworth	1816 – 1878	Unknown
Robert Charles Wentworth	1818	Unknown	Only one year given
Charles John Wentworth	1819 – 1854	Unknown
Mary-Ann Wentworth	1820 – 1870	Unknown
Katherine Wentworth	1825 – 1898	Unknown
D'Arcy Charles Wentworth	1828 – 1866	Unknown	Born after his father's death
Generation 3: the children of William Charles and Sarah Wentworth (seven daughters and three sons)
Thomasine Wentworth	1825 – 1913	Thomas Fisher (marriage date not found)	Named after Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane. Given land on the estate (later the Strickland House site).
William Charles Wentworth	1827 – 1859	Not found in my sources	Reburied in the mausoleum
Fanny Katherine Wentworth	1829 – 1893	John Reeve, married 1847	Built Greycliffe, 1851
Fitzwilliam Wentworth	1833 (Wikipedia) or 1832 (SMH obituary title) – 8 Aug 1915	Mary Jane Hill, daughter of George Hill (Mayor of Sydney 1850)	Last person buried in the mausoleum, 1915
Sarah Eleanor Wentworth	1835 – 1857	None recorded	Reburied in the mausoleum
Eliza Sophia Wentworth	1838 – 1898	Unmarried	The last surviving unmarried daughter
Isabella Christiana (Christina) Wentworth	1840 – 1856	None recorded	Reburied in the mausoleum
Laura Wentworth	1842 – 1887	Henry William Keays-Young, married 1872
Edith Wentworth	1845 – 1891	Rev. Sir Charles Gordon-Cumming-Dunbar, 9th Baronet, married 1872
D'Arcy Bland Wentworth	1848 – 1922	Not found in my sources
Henry (son with Jemima Eagar)	b. 1830	Unknown	Born outside the marriage
Generation 4 onward: the line through Fitzwilliam (the only grandchildren my sources name)
William Charles Wentworth III	1871 – 1949	Florence Denise Griffiths, daughter of George Neville Griffiths MLA	Son of Fitzwilliam and Mary Jane
William Charles "Bill" Wentworth IV	1907 – 2003	Not covered in my sources	Liberal MP 1949–77, first Minister in charge of Aboriginal Affairs. Great-grandson of W. C. Wentworth.
Diana Wentworth	Dates not given	Mungo Ballardie MacCallum (1913–1999)	Listed in the same generation as Bill
Mungo Wentworth MacCallum	1941 – 2020	Not covered here	Son of Diana and Mungo

Grandchildren through Thomasine, Fanny, Laura, Edith and D'Arcy Bland weren't listed in any source I could check, so they're not shown.

Timeline

• 1762 – D'Arcy Wentworth is born near Portadown, Ireland (14 February, per Wikipedia).
• 1787–1789 – D'Arcy is tried for highway robbery at the Old Bailey and acquitted every time.
• July 1788 – Catherine Crowley is convicted at the Staffordshire Assizes and sentenced to seven years' transportation.
• 28 June 1790 – D'Arcy and Catherine arrive at Port Jackson in the Neptune.
• August 1790 – William Charles Wentworth is born at or near Norfolk Island.
• 1793 / 1795 – Dorset (later D'Arcy junior) and Matthew (later John) are born.
• January 1800 – Catherine Crowley dies at Parramatta.
• 1803 – Sir Henry Browne Hayes buys the Laycock and Cardell grants and builds his Vaucluse cottage.
• May–June 1813 – William crosses the Blue Mountains with Blaxland and Lawson.
• 1817 – D'Arcy helps found the Bank of New South Wales, and William enters the Middle Temple.
• 1819 – William's Description of New South Wales is published (1818 in one source).
• 1822 – William is called to the Bar, and Captain John Piper acquires Vaucluse.
• 14 October 1824 – The first issue of The Australian comes out.
• 1825 – Sarah Cox wins Australia's first breach of promise case, and Thomasine is born.
• 7 July 1827 – D'Arcy dies at Homebush.
• 27 August 1827 – William buys Vaucluse from Piper (the ADB's Hayes entry says 1829).
• 1828 – The family moves into Vaucluse.
• 26 October 1829 – William marries Sarah Cox at St Philip's.
• 1831 – More than 4,000 people celebrate Governor Darling's departure at Vaucluse.
• 1843 – William tops the poll for Sydney and enters the Legislative Council.
• 1847 – Fanny marries John Reeve, and Greycliffe is finished in 1851.
• 1849–50 – William leads the founding of the University of Sydney.
• 1853 – William chairs the constitution committee, the house contents are auctioned and the house is leased to John Hosking.
• 1854 – The family leaves for England.
• July 1855 – The New South Wales Constitution becomes law.
• 1856, 1857, 1859 – Isabella, Sarah Eleanor and William junior die.
• 1861–62 – Brief return to Sydney. William is President of the Legislative Council, and the Gothic verandah is built.
• 20 March 1872 – William dies at Merly House, Dorset.
• 6 May 1873 – Public funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral and burial in the vault at Vaucluse.
• March 1874 – The mausoleum's palisade fence is finished.
• 14 July 1880 – Sarah dies at Eastbourne and is buried at Ocklynge Cemetery.
• 1898 – Eliza Sophia, the last unmarried daughter, dies.
• 1900 – The house contents are auctioned.
• 6 July 1910 – The government takes control of part of the estate, which becomes Nielsen Park, and Vaucluse House is secured.
• 8 August 1915 – Fitzwilliam dies. He's buried in the mausoleum, and the vault is sealed.
• 1917 – Two towers are added to the house's eastern front.
• 14 October 1927 – The Church of England Property Trust takes on the mausoleum.
• 1997 – The Historic Houses Trust leases the mausoleum for 99 years.
• 2 April 1999 – Vaucluse House and the mausoleum are added to the State Heritage Register.
• 15 December 2015 – A plaque to Sarah Wentworth is placed in the mausoleum.

Where the Sources Disagree

• When Wentworth bought Vaucluse. The Vaucluse House heritage history (via Wikipedia) gives 27 August 1827, and the ADB entry on Wentworth also says 1827. The ADB entry on Sir Henry Browne Hayes says the estate passed to Wentworth in 1829.
• When Piper got it. The same Vaucluse House history says Piper rented it for a year in 1814 and acquired it in 1822. It also says the estate "passed through several hands" between 1813 and 1827.
• William's birth. Wikipedia says he was born on the Surprize off Norfolk Island on 13 August 1790. The ADB says his mother reached Norfolk Island "with the infant William" on 7 August.
• William's schooling in England. The ADB says he was sent to England in 1803. The Wikipedia pages on D'Arcy junior and Vaucluse House say 1802, and the D'Arcy junior page adds that schooling began in October 1803.
• The Description. The ADB dates it to 1819, while the Vaucluse House history says 1818.
• D'Arcy junior's age at death. The ADB says he died in 1861 "aged 65". Wikipedia gives his birth as 23 June 1793, which would make him 68.
• Fitzwilliam's birth year. Wikipedia's family list says 1833. The 1915 Sydney Morning Herald obituary, as titled by Obituaries Australia, says 1832.
• "State" or "public" funeral. The ADB calls it a state funeral. The heritage history used for the Wentworth Mausoleum and Vaucluse House articles says Sarah accepted the government's offer of "the honours of a public funeral".
• How much land was taken in 1910–11. The Nielsen Park history says 9.3 hectares on 6 July 1910, with 21 hectares more in 1911. The Vaucluse House history mentions both "some 11 hectares" and a 1910 resumption of about 4 hectares. The ADB's Hayes entry just says the house was "bought in 1910".
• Is Sarah in the mausoleum? For years people believed she was. She's actually buried at Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne, and the old belief probably came from the plaque to her daughter Sarah Eleanor.

My Earlier Posts

• Vaucluse House
• Blaxland, Wentworth & Lawson – Crossing the Blue Mountains
• The Sydney Mint – Macquarie Street (the old Rum Hospital D'Arcy helped build)
• Strickland House (Carrara) – 52 Vaucluse Road – Vaucluse
• Philip Gidley King – Third Governor of New South Wales

Sources

• Michael Persse, "Wentworth, William Charles (1790–1872)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 2, 1967 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentworth-william-charles-2782
• J. J. Auchmuty, "Wentworth, D'Arcy (1762–1827)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 2, 1967 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentworth-darcy-1545
• "Hayes, Sir Henry Browne (1762–1832)", Australian Dictionary of Biography – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hayes-sir-henry-browne-2172
• Wikipedia, "Wentworth Mausoleum" (based on the NSW State Heritage Register listing) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentworth_Mausoleum
• Wikipedia, "Vaucluse House" (based on the NSW State Heritage Register listing) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaucluse_House
• Wikipedia, "William Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wentworth
• Wikipedia, "D'Arcy Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Wentworth
• Wikipedia, "D'Arcy Wentworth Jr." – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Wentworth_Jr.
• Wikipedia, "Sarah Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Wentworth
• Wikipedia, "William Charles Wentworth IV" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Charles_Wentworth_IV
• Wikipedia, "Political families of Australia" (Wentworth/Hill/Griffiths section) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_families_of_Australia
• Wikipedia, "Nielsen Park" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Park
• Wikipedia, "Strickland House, Vaucluse" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strickland_House,_Vaucluse
• Pictures: Wikimedia Commons, with individual credits under each image.