On 27 August 1827 William Charles Wentworth, Blue Mountains explorer, barrister, author and co-editor and publisher of THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper, purchased the estate from Captain John Piper. An additional grant brought the harbourside estate to 515 acres.
Wentworth used Vaucluse as a family home and as a setting to enhance his status as a public figure. By the 1830s the Wentworth family had made many visible improvements at Vaucluse, including turrets on the house, a sandstone stable in 1829 by architect George Cookney, a large kitchen wing and convict barracks. Vaucluse House and its furnishings were clearly intended to provide the correct social surroundings for Wentworth and his wife Sarah's immediate family of seven daughters and three sons.
In 1915 Vaucluse House became Australia’s first official house museum and continues to entice visitors to its lush and still secluded grounds.