Experiment Farm Cottage

Visit the site of Australia’s first convict land grant and discover an extraordinary historical precinct in Western Sydney.

A starving colony. A journey up the river. One convict’s experiment in self-sufficiency. Standing on the lands of the Burramatta Dharug people, Experiment Farm Cottage is the fascinating site of Australia’s first convict land grant to James Ruse in 1789.

Ruse was tasked with proving that self-sufficiency was possible in the early colony, and his successful farming of the 30-acre site turned the experiment of Experiment Farm into the stuff of legend.

Walk through the Indian-style bungalow built by Surgeon John Harris, who purchased the land from Ruse in 1793. Reflect on the stories of the early colony and Dharug dispossession and resistance. Explore the cottage gardens and surrounding historic buildings of Hambledon Cottage (1824), Elizabeth Farm (1793), Old Government House (1799) and the Queen’s Wharf park for a full day of history and exploration in Sydney’s West.