Stories
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1000 Years of Coronations at the Abbey
St Edward’s Crown: Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 31700) more »
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Government House presents ... Lady Jane Bacon!
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Governor Phillip's First Commission
On 18 August 1786, with mounting pressure on Britain’s Pitt Government to find a solution to the “convict problem” and the shortage of prisons to house them, the British Government issued instructions to the Treasury to provide funds for the establishment a convict colony in faraway Botany Bay. Two months later, on 12 October 1786, Captain Arthur Phillip was given his first Commission appointing him “Governor of our territory called New South Wales”. more »
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The Governor's Bathing House
While bathing in the harbour was practised for millennia by First Nations people, one of the first bathing houses in the colony was constructed by order of Governor Ralph Darling, 7th Governor of New South Wales from 1825-1831, on the foreshore of Farm Cove. more »
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The Sèvres Cabinets: A Window to the World - Collections at Government House
A pair of French “chiffonier” cabinets known as ‘the Sèvres Cabinets’, located in the Drawing Room, span a history from 18th century France to the 19th colony of New South Wales and tell a story of love, war, kings, revolution and riches. more »
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The Andrew Lenehan Collection at Government House
Government House possesses a rare and historically significant 19th century suite of dining room furniture, commissioned by the 11th Governor of New South Wales, William Denison (1855-1861) from Andrew Lenehan, a Master Cabinetmaker and supplier of furniture to the colony. more »
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King George VI Coronation: A Window to the World - Collections at Government House
Detail of Royal Insignia on coronation chair more »
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Let There Be Light! New Lamps from an Ancient Craft
Guests at evening receptions will be guided by the lights of new lamps, replacing the 1950s-era lamps on the Government House Main Drive/Parade Ground and Northern Path light pole. The original lamps outside Government House were gas-lit and installed in 1850. more »
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The Meissen Collection: A Window to the World - Collections at Government House
‘White Gold’ more »
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In Famous Footsteps: Dame Nellie Melba at Government House
“Poets talk about ‘the wings of the wind’,” exclaimed Dame Nellie Melba as she looked from the windows of Government House across the tempest-beaten trees, “but all the good they were to us was to keep us back 36 hours whilst the Niagara steamed in the teeth of a westerly gale.” more »