Cherry first visited Elizabeth Bay House in the late 1980s and immediately fell in love with it. But it was not until 1994 that she decided to seriously research the history behind the man whose home it was originally - Alexander Macleay. Sydney's colonial society loved to ridicule the colourful and controversial figure of Alexander Macleay. Likewise, historians over the years have either criticised or completely ignored him. But when it came to serious matters, such as who was to be Australia's first Speaker in the Legislative Council in 1843, public opinion changed The story of the man who introduced wisteria to Australia as well as the stunning jacaranda whose mauve flowers adorn Sydney each October, is traced from the remote north of Scotland, and to London and the Linnean Society, and through his latter years in Sydney where he took up the position of Colonial Secretary in 1826. He never returned to his homeland.Dismissed from public office by Governor Bourke in 1836 amidst bitter intrigue, his life was filled with adventure, romance (especially his children's romances), a passion for natural history and financial problems which ultimately resulted in personal calamity. Yet the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney and Macleay Street in Kings Cross remind us of the significance of Alexander Macleay, whilst the Royal Botanic Gardens, the New South Wales State Library, the Australian Museum and the Australian Club are just a few of Australia's early institutions that benefitted from his active involvement. His magnificent house, Elizabeth Bay House, is still the finest colonial mansion in New South Wales. Alexander Macleay - from Scotland to Sydney is the first biography about this extraordinary Scottish gentleman. It will take its rightful place amongst the definitive histories of Australia's founding fathers.

When the first British visitors arrived on Australia's shores at the end of the eighteenth century, it was not only the potential of its space that tantalised them, but the extraordinary living things that they found there. Every European collector worth his salt desired a kangaroo, a parakeet, a waratah, and ship after ship sailed north loaded with Australia's remarkable natural history specimens. In 1826, the most serious collector to make his own trip to the antipodes arrived - his name was Alexander Macleay, and over 70 years he and his family accumulated an unbelievably rich and diverse collection of specimens from Australia itself and beyond. Museum throws open the doors of a historically rich and rare collection, stunningly captured in the images of Robyn Stacey. It reclaims the stories of those specimens, and those obsessions, revealing another chapter of Australia's own very particular, passionate and unique history.

Brings together exciting accounts of life history strategies of a range of species, as well as background information on general butterfly behaviour, taxonomy and evolutionary aspects.

The Road to Batemans Bay is the story of competing ventures to create ‘the Great Southern Township’ on the South Coast of New South Wales in the early 1840s. The idea of developing the furthest reaches of settlement was linked to the hopes of southern woolgrowers for a road from their properties to the coast, over the Great Dividing Range. The township proponents dreamed that having a quicker and cheaper connection to Sydney would allow them to open a port second only to Port Jackson. The scene begins with the proposed coastal township of St Vincent, in an age of optimism: settlement is expanding, exports are growing and land prices are soaring, generating Australia’s first land boom. Before long, however, the colony experiences a catastrophic economic depression whose ‘pestilential breath’ infects those with a stake in the coastal townships. Alastair Greig follows the fate of these individuals, while also speculating on the broader fate of South Coast development during the mid-nineteenth century. Greig gives a unique insight into many aspects of colonial life—including the worlds of Sydney’s merchants, auctioneers, land speculators, surveyors, map-makers and lawyers—as well as its maritime challenges. The Road to Batemans Bay is a chronicle of how Australia first developed its land-gambling habit and how land speculation led to the road to ruin.

A history of the municipality of South Sydney, from Woolloomooloo, around Garden Island, Elizabeth and Rushcutters Bays, through the Cross and Darlinghurst, and over to Waterloo, Zetland, Rosebery via Moore Park. Heading east, South Sydney stretches to Paddington, and then through Redfern and into Alexandria, Erskineville and Newtown. It also embraces Camperdown, Darlington and Chippendale. Many of the photographs in this fascinating book are from an exhibition that toured the municipality in 2000, drawn from the collections of past and present residents.

An exploration of the little-known yet historically important emigration of British army officers to the Australian colonies in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. The book looks at the significant impact they made at a time of great colonial expansion, particularly in new south Wales with its transition from a convict colony to a free society.