Elizabeth Bay House

This guide to Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney follows Alexander Macleay, the colony's colonial secretary, whose real passion lived in glass cases full of butterflies and moths, ranked among the finest private collections in the world. It traces the mansion architect John Verge built for him and his botanic garden between 1835 and 1839, and even the grand colonnade Macleay had to drop because he could not afford it. Step into the saloon and look up at the sandstone staircase curling overhead, each tread resting only on the step below.