Potts Point

This guide to Potts Point in Sydney is built around Alexander Macleay, an obsessive entomologist and the colony's Colonial Secretary, whose insect collection was said to be unmatched anywhere in England. It follows him to this harbourside hill in 1826, through building Elizabeth Bay House between 1835 and 1839, and into the mounting debts he owed his own eldest son through the following decade. Best walked slowly along the ridge, past the mansions now split into flats.