Wednesday 2 June 2010

The stain of a convict past


Vaucluse House, named after an area in France, was built for William Charles Wentworth who was one of the statesmen of the 19th century who guided the state and the nation to self-government. He was born in the UK in 1790 and died in Sydney in 1872. He is interred in a mausoleum close to the remants of his estate.


Being illegitimate and with convict associations - via his father, D'arcy and his mother - Wentworth struggled to be accepted by the polite society of this colonial outpost. This is a disjointed house which exhibits more grace in the grounds and the out buildings, than in the house itself. However, it does nestle in a gloriously beautiful part of this city.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photo..

Cloudy said...

It's always very interesting, because I'd never heard from him...
Servus and have a nice day
Kvelli

Miguel Martinez Martinez said...

A interesant men.
Congratulations.

Janet said...

As always I love popping by your blog! Very interesting and fabulous photographs

Jim said...

I'd like to visit this someday.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

T. Becque said...

It's very pretty there.

Peter said...

Beaut photos, is this the place that Wentworth bought the soil from Ireland and put it around to keep the snakes out?

Ann said...

I want to go out there again too. LOve the shot of the tap and old trough, great textures.

The course is excellent, really enjoying it. Can highly recommend SCC, would like to do Documentary, Landscape and Photojournalism if they ever run them in the CBD. they also have something called Shooting Skills where you have four shoots with working professionals. We have a night shoot at the Opera House tomorrow which is going ahead rain or shine so it could be extremely miserable. Took a quick look at some of th lights on the way home last night (they started quite early, before 5.30pm) but only had the p&s with me. Want to spend the time to do it properly with the SLR and tripod but will depend on the weather.

Do you have any idea when you are going to Fire Water?

Marka said...

Great colors! They really jump out at me.

Jayne said...

Love your eye ;)

Joan Elizabeth said...

Oh I love those rough textured objects. I decided to revisit Vaucluse a few years ago and really enjoyed it ... especially the kitchens.

brattcat said...

What beautifully saturated images.

Mary Ann said...

I used to find the very real impact of these kinds of "stains" impossible to understand.

Social rules have changed a great deal, but not everywhere, not entirely.