Vienna Cottage - National Trust of Australia NSW

A timely message from our friends at All Saints' Anglican church just up the road.

Don't be late for Easter Day!
Clocks go back an hour tonight 😀.

𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢 is still closed, awaiting the commencement of remediation works. However, the Committee continues to plan fundraising events to support the maintenance of the property. Here is (very) advanced notice of our joint Heritage Lecture with All Saints' in August this year!
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𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞
𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥
𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥

𝑳𝒆𝒔 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉

Speaker: Theodore Ell

Recitalist: Aleks Mitsios

Sunday, 16 August 2026 at 2.00pm

All Saints' Anglican Church
Ambrose Street, Hunters Hill

Tickets $25, and including light refreshments to follow.

http//www.trybooking.com/DJMVI

Enquiries by phone to (02) 9816 1794 or email to < [email protected]>

More than any Australian author before or since, poet and late National Living Treasure Les Murray (1938-2019) explored the imaginative richness and asserted the essential dignity of Australian English. The Australia of Murray's mind, built from vignettes of folk memories, anecdotes, animal encounters and quirks of character, was a 'Vernacular Republic' that arose from everyday speech, beyond the reach of officialdom.

This talk will address Murray's lifelong delight in 'prospecting on the property,' a constant search for new possibilities in Australian idioms that produced dozens of entries in the 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 and literary usages of dazzling originality. The talk will also compare Murray's work in retrieving, conserving and celebrating Australian idioms and their meanings to similar efforts by Seamus Heaney in Ireland and Derek Walcott in the Caribbean, to highlight the international resonance of Murray's local concerns.

𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙞𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙮

Writer Theodore Ell is an Honorary Lecturer in literature at the ANU, at work on a new authorised biography of Les Murray. His essay ‘Façades of Lebanon’, about witnessing the Lebanese revolution and surviving the Beirut port explosion, won the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize.

His memoir of that period, 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘴, was published in August 2024 and was Highly Commended for the 2025 ACT Book of the Year. His poetry collection 𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 shared the 2022 Anne Elder Award.

𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙞𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙮

Aleks Mitsios commenced as Director of Music in the Parish of Hunters Hill in 2025, but his love of music began at age four with the piano. That passion was pursued at the Conservatorium High School where his repertoire of instruments expanded to include learning Pipe Organ. He began playing for churches in 2019 with a number of scholarships while he completed his Bachelor of Music (Performance) majoring in Organ at University of Sydney (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

Aleks has flourished in his role as Director of Music in the Parish of Hunters hill, where he leads a growing choir and talented team of musicians. At the Heritage Lecture and Recital he is planning a programme to showcase the Bevington organ.

Les Murray’s Talking Mosaics Les Murray’s three huge scrapbooks, known collectively as his ‘Great Book,’ were deposited at the National Library of Australia in 2022. They offer salient insights into Murray’s aesthetic preferences and compositional procedures, in particular a preoccupation with intricate patterns in whic...

Our thanks to everyone who supported our Christmas Boutique in the Hunters Hill RSL Hall.

Compliments of the season, and all the best for 2026!

We had another lovely, positive and successful day at the relocated Vienna Christmas Boutique.

Hoping for a bigger and even better one next year!

Our stallholders are eager to see you from 10.00am - 4.00 pm tomorrow (Sunday 15 November).

Our Christmas Boutique banner is up at the Hunters Hill RSL Hall on the corner of Alexandra and Ady Streets.

Come along this weekend, and browse a selection of pearl jewellery, skincare products, boutique wines, fashion wear and festive fare amongst other seasonal gift items!

The Vienna Cottage Christmas Boutique is on this weekend at the Hunters Hill RSL Hall, 56 Alexandra Street, eight doors uphill from the cottage.

The Boutique will be open on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th from 10.00am-4.00pm.

All your favourite stallholders will be there –

* Millbrook Estate Boutique Winery and Distillery
from the Hunters Valley will be presenting free
tastings of their limited edition table wines and their range of special liqueurs.

* Rosie Perl will be displaying original one-of-a-kind jewellery. The beauty of gold leaf and AAA grade freshwater pearls make for some of the most unique and covetable jewels around.

* Founded and formulated by Natalie Kessell in 2004, Pink Hibiscus is an eco-aware skincare range designed to nurture your skin and soul.

* Local hero Katie Perry will again be displaying 100% made-in-Australia men's and women’s lounge and travel wear using natural fabrics.

* Crooked Creek sweet and savory biscuits at a special price, and Rotary plum puddings in cloth (800 grams) $25.

* Gloria Jenkyns' Vienna stall will feature discounted tea towels, and a range of heritage and historical books and publications.

* As ever, there will be a Two day Christmas Hamper raffle thanks to Marlene Arditto.

Our committee Chair's 'To the Point' announcement of the Vienna Christmas Boutique in last Wednesday's edition of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴.

𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞

The Vienna Cottage Christmas Boutique has been a feature of Hunters Hill since 1988.

Vienna is currently closed for mould remediation and is not available for this year’s Boutique, which will instead be held in the RSL Hall at 56 Alexandra Street – just eight doors from the cottage.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟎-𝟒𝐩𝐦.

Once again the committee has assembled all your favourite stallholders, offering a diverse and interesting range of beautiful goods suitable for Christmas buying, and a range of special Christmas fare.

Millbrook Estate Boutique Winery and Distillery from the Hunter Valley will be presenting free tasting of their limited-edition table wines and their range of specialty liqueurs including a very popular semillon liqueur. Freshly brewed coffee will also be available.

Founded and formulated by Natalie Kessell in 2004, Pink Hibiscus is an eco-aware skincare range designed to nurture your skin and soul.

Rosie Perl will be displaying original one-of-a-kind jewellery. The beauty of gold leaf and AAA grade freshwater pearls make for some of the most unique and covetable jewels around.

Katie Perry will again be displaying 100% made in Australia men and women’s lounge and travel wear using natural fabrics with a focus on craftsmanship and an emphasis on sustainability.

Crooked Creek biscuits will be available at a special price, and 800 gram Rotary Christmas puddings in cloth for $25.

The National Trust Vienna Cottage shop selling Australiana linen tea towels, a selection of 1850’s Sydney prints, art books, and publications on the history and heritage of Hunters Hill, will once again be staffed by our volunteers.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧
𝟏𝟎-𝟒𝐩𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟓 & 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟔 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝑭𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝑨𝑫𝑴𝑰𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑶𝑵
𝐄𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝟗𝟖𝟏𝟔-𝟏𝟕𝟗𝟒 𝐣𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡@𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝.𝐜𝐨𝐦

All funds raised by the Boutique will be used to maintain Vienna Cottage, an 1871 four-room stone working mans cottage at 38 Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill.

The cottage was purchased in 1984 by the local community, and is owned by the National Trust and managed and operated as a house museum by a local voluntary committee. Visitors to the Boutique can visit the recently restored Vienna cottage garden and the adjoining Hillman orchard.

The Hunters Hill Spring Garden Competition offers residents and families a unique opportunity to display their gardening talents – and help raise funds for the maintenance of the historic Hillman Orchard, located beside 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘊𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 in Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill.

2025 Spring Garden Competition Enter this year's Hunters Hill Spring Garden Competition now! Here is everything you need to know.

Vienna Committee and Hunters Hill Historical Society members at our joint Moocooboola stall.

Our volunteers sold $250 worth of tea-towels, historic prints, and marmalade, making a useful contribution to our funds and helping to keep 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢 in the public eye.