Collingwood is a heritage-listed former residence and golf clubhouse and now house museum at Birkdale Crescent, Liverpool, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

[1] The hill top and ridgeline at Collingwood is understood to have been a meeting place for the Tharawal, Dharug and Gundungurra peoples and a vantage point enabling Country to be observed and monitored.

The lookout provided views across the landscape, which allowed for observations of weather patterns, movements, threats from fire and changes in seasonal vegetation.

[1] In 1791, American captain Eber Bunker arrived in the colony as Master of the Third Fleet convict ship William and Ann, a converted whaler.

[1] Bunker was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1761, a direct descendant of two Mayflower families, the Tilleys and pilgrim John Howland.

In 1803, sailing in Albion with Lieutenant John Bowen, accompanied HMS Lady Nelson to establish a British settlement at Risdon Cove on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land.

In January 1808, Bunker was a signatory to a letter to Major George Johnston expressing support for his seizure of command of the Colony in the Rum Rebellion and recommending that he ensure that measures adopted for public security be confirmed by his successor.

The building features are typical of the early colonial Georgian period – it has a simple rectangular shape, symmetrical facade, six panelled door, a chair rail around the wall, and entrance doorway with sidelights and semi circular fanlight.

The fabric of the walls differs from the later sections of the house being built of sandstock brick (made by convicts from local clay) rather than from random rubble.

It attracted a range of cattle, imported as well as colonial-bred, horses, pigs, sheep, poultry, wool and farm produce.

The colonial economy was prospering, the new Sydney Railway was running as far as Liverpool and suburban development encouraged speculative building.

Collingwood house today is the only surviving section of this major project which must have well expressed the current mood of reckless colonial optimism and which later led Atkinson to insolvency.

Four identical cottages to house twenty workers and their families were of Gothic design with decorative stonework, gables and bargeboards.

An architectural irony which highlights the speculative enthusiasm of 1856 was noted by a reporter in "Empire", writing about the Collingwood Piggery, that it: "will accommodate 500 of these animals...and the provision for the good condition of the pigs is most complete: indeed, their dwellings have a far more tasteful exterior than those of many whose food they will become."

[1] The Australian Paper Company purchased 8 hectares (20 acres) of land on the river banks between Collingwood House and Atkinson Street from Gillespie in 1864.

The factory which is reputed to be the first large paper mill in Australia became for a time the largest employer of men, women and children in Liverpool.

During his ownership of the Collingwood Estate, the house was leased to a number of notable tenants including: William Russell Wilson Bligh; Joseph Wearne Jnr; Charles Bull; and John Vigar Bartlett.

[1] When E. J. Ashcroft died 80 hectares (200 acres) of the Collingwood property were leased to Mr Frank Crowe to create the Liverpool Golf Course.

[1] At that time everyone including the National Trust of Australia (NSW) thought 'Captain Bunker's Cottage' was the kitchen block.

The "vista" from the high ground provides a corridor southeast to the Georges River across remnant native vegetation and riverine environment.

[7] Collingwood House is located on a small block of elevated land that is truncated at the rear (due to residential subdivision) but has some remnant garden and open space to the west.

[1] The complex sits in garden with some mature trees, including very tall and wide lemon-scented gums (Corymbia citriodora), forest red gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis), a younger but mature honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), brush box (Lophostemon confertus), white quince (Alectryon subcinereus), coral tree (Erythrina x sykesii), young Bunya Bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) and pepper(corn) tree (Schinus molle var.areira).

[1] The estate originally known as Bunker's Farm is associated with the early economic development of Liverpool, which was established as a town by Governor Macquarie in 1810.

One of the earliest and largest land grants in the Liverpool region, Bunker's Farm played an important role in the development of agriculture and early industries in the colony.

The location of the farm in relation to the Georges River and the railway which arrived from Parramatta in 1856 encouraged commercial speculation, and the development of new industries on the estate lands.

[1] The place is significantly associated with its original builder the American Loyalist, mariner and trader Captain Eber Bunker (1761–1836).

Captain Bunker who arrived in Port Jackson in 1791, as Master of the Third Fleet convict ship the "William and Anne", is regarded as the founder of the Australian whaling industry, and is also credited with being one of the colony's first exporters and traders.

Atkinson speculated and capitalised on the arrival of the railway, developing the Collingwood Estate as a depot for the transfer of pastoral and agricultural produce.

Sir Saul Samuel (1820–1900) who owned the estate from the late 1860s until the turn of the century was a businessman and member of both houses of Parliament between 1854 and 1880.

The evolution of the house in terms of its fabric, dimensions and layout, is illustrative of the social and economic standing of its owners within the colony, their resources, and the genteel lifestyle to which they aspired.