It is located 8 kilometres (5 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Waverley Council and the Municipality of Woollahra.

[2] Tahiti, a Hawaiian-style residence in tropical gardens above Hermit Bay, set an Australian residential record when it sold to a trio of South Africans (the Krok brothers) for more than $29 million in September 2007.

[3] The Australian residential record was overtaken by Leon Kamenev, the founder of Menulog, purchasing four waterfront properties on prestigious Coolong Road for a combined $80 million in April 2016.

[5] Before European settlement, the area where Vaucluse is now located was inhabited by the Birrabirragal people, an Aboriginal clan who belonged to the coastal Dharug language group.

The first European activity in the area took place not long after settlement, when a makeshift signalling station was set up on the ridge overlooking the ocean.

[6] Macquarie Lighthouse was constructed on the ridge, a little south of the signal station, in 1816, having been designed by Francis Greenway, the first notable architect in the colony.

The original Vaucluse House, from which the area derived its name, was built by Sir Henry Browne Hayes, who had been transported to New South Wales for kidnapping the granddaughter of a wealthy Irish banker.

In 1827, the small but charming cottage was bought by William Charles Wentworth (1790–1872), barrister and explorer and one of the men who had crossed the Blue Mountains in 1813.

Later in the same decade, more residential development occurred with the construction of Greycliffe House at Shark Beach by a son-in-law of William Charles Wentworth.

[9] By 1871, the colony was experiencing the "Russian scare" that prevailed at the time, as a result of which fortifications were built at Steel Point, just a little north-west of Carrara.

Cannon emplacements, powder magazine and embrasures, plus a store and barrack rooms, were constructed at this strategic point overlooking the harbour.

William Charles Wentworth died in England in 1872 and his remains were interred in the Victorian Gothic mausoleum that was constructed in Chapel Road, Vaucluse.

Located in St Michael's Place, this new sandstone church would later be enlarged in the 1930s, with the addition of a new spire, by Professor Leslie Wilkinson.

[12] Several defensive fortifications are located on the shores and cliff tops of Vaucluse, such as the Signal Hill Battery, constructed in 1892; it was intended to defend the town of Sydney from bombardment by an enemy vessel standing off the coast.

[13] The Steel Point fortification in Nielsen Park was constructed in 1871; it originally accommodated three 80-pounder rifled muzzle-loaders (RMLs) that were replaced in the 1890s with 5 inch breech-loading guns.

58.7% of people were born in Australia, the next most common counties of birth included South Africa 8.0%, England 5.2%, China (excluding Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan) 3.2%, New Zealand 1.7% and the United States of America 1.3%.

[25] There are a number of well-known people interred at the cemetery including Australia's first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton.