Posts in the category: Elizabeth Bay House

Then and now – the dining room at Elizabeth Bay House part 2

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Detail of the the dining room at Elizabeth Bay House 11 August 1987. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Sydney Living Museums. Photo Andrew Payne Photographix

This week we’re back at Elizabeth Bay House, in one of Sydney’s grandest dining rooms. After the departure of the Macleays, Macarthur-Onslows and Michaelises, its years as a reception house and then as flats, the ‘Lion of Sydney’ began its new life as a house museum. But, as this continuing ‘Then and Now’ series shows, it certainly wasn’t without controversy!

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Joanna Nicholas, curator

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Joanna Nicholas, curator, Sydney Living Museums. Photo © Stuart Miller for Sydney Living Museums

Joanna Nicholas is Curator in the House Museums Portfolio, responsible for Vaucluse, Elizabeth Bay and Rose Seidler Houses. She is passionate about the immersive experiences house museums can provide for visitors – the power of their collections, gardens and grounds. Continue reading →

Shake shake shake

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Georgian salt cellars and pepper casters. Elizabeth Bay House Collection Sydney Living Museums Photograph © Nicholas Watt

Since we’re talking spices, this week we’re taking a seat at the table and having a seasoned look at the salt and pepper shakers – before we tuck into a delicious toast sandwich. Seriously! Continue reading →

Introducing Latoya Schadel

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Latoya Schadel, Sydney Living Museums Visitor & Interpretation officer. Image courtesy Latoya Schadel

We have guest bloggers on The Cook & the Curator this week and next from the kitchens at Vaucluse House –

Latoya Schadel has been an enthusiastic lover of history since the tender age of seven when she visited Elizabeth Farm for the first time, dressed as a convict-lass. Since then she has (grown up and) completed a First Class Honours in History at the University of Sydney, specialising in the Australian ‘history wars’ and their impact on children’s literature. For the last two years she has been a proud member of the House Museums Portfolio at Sydney Living Museums as a Visitor Interpretation Officer, and hopes to instill her love of the past in a new generation of seven year olds – and beyond!

Introducing Leila Wallace

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Leila Wallace, Sydney Living Museums’ Visitor and Interpretation officer, Photo © Sydney Living Museums

We have guest bloggers on The Cook & the Curator this week and next from the kitchens at Vaucluse House –

If you are looking for Leila, you will find her either in the staff kitchen creating authentic pickles and preserves for the Colonial Kitchen display at Vaucluse House; in the cellars hosting holiday ‘crafternoons’; writing stories for the newsletter and website; or Instagraming anything with a bit of old world charm. Originally from a science background with specialisations in environmental conservation and natural heritage, Leila has found her calling as a Visitor Interpretation Officer at Sydney Living Museums. With her love of farm yard animals, beautiful vistas and a passion for nature, there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.

Eat your history – the book!

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Jacqui Newling, author of Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

Handwritten recipes passed through the generations, tales of goats running wild in colonial gardens and early settlers’ experimentation with native foods…
Eat your history dishes up stories and recipes for Australian kitchens and dining tables from 1788 to the 1950s.

Jacqui Newling, resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums, invites you to share forgotten tastes and lost techniques, and to rediscover some delicious culinary treasures. Continue reading →

Of sideboards and serving tables – parte the fyrste

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The Belgenny sideboard as seen in the Eat your history a Shared Table exhibition

The 'Belgenny sideboard' as seen in the Eat You History: A Shared Table exhibtion. Photo © Jamie North for Sydney Living Museums

Back in December we started looking at dining room furniture, and the ‘esky’ of the 19th century, the wine sarcophagus. Today we’re looking just a foot or two higher, to a piece of furniture many houses have done away with altogether – the sideboard. Continue reading →