This unusual view of Sydney’s Government House is seen from Farm Cove, across the water. It dates from before the Fort Macquarie seawall was constructed in 1862 and shows the house as it looked before the southern portico was added in 1873.

Farm Cove, the tidal inlet and shallow bay in Sydney Harbour adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden, was so named because the first farm in the colony was established there by Governor Arthur Phillip, shortly after European colonisation in 1788. Farm Cove was used as an anchorage for the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy and visiting naval vessels until the 1960s.