[3][1] Dame Eadith Walker DBE, CBE, who never married, died at Yaralla in 1937 after a long career devoting her life to the Australian Red Cross and a wide range of other philanthropic organisations.

He himself however, acquired an inn, the Jolly Sailor, in George Street in 1798 and soon developed business premises, a shipyard and a stone dwelling on the west side of Circular Quay.

It seems likely that he was the victim of the monopolistic ambitions of the New South Wales Corps, with John Macarthur pulling the strings, and Governor Hunter, deeply suspicious of the verdict, referred the case to England.

He spent a period as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, representing the Port Phillip electorate (which later became the state of Victoria), and as the president of the board of the Bank of NSW.

Grant arrived in the colony in 1878 and worked first at Yaralla, Concord for the Walkers for some considerable time, then at Rosemont, Woollahra for Alexander Campbell MLC, then for Mr Tooth at the Swifts, Darling Point, which he planned and laid out.

It is likely that the positions at Yaralla and Rosemont both included quarters for a single man and that only after he married Margaret Stevenson in January 1880 was he obliged to find alternative accommodation (Willow Cottage).

[1] Prior to World War I, Eadith had 25 servants and employees living at Yaralla, including a butler, nine maids, cooks, laundresses, chauffeurs, four gardeners, poultry and dairymen, a housekeeper and an engineer who looked after the power station and provision of water.

It was while staying at Yaralla that the governor general, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar, received a cabled warning of the approach of World War I.

These additions and alterations were designed by architect John Sulman, who was married to Eadith's childhood friend, Anne Masefield[12] The alterations to the main house included a new marbled floor entrance hall overlooked by a balcony, a panelled dining hall with a marble and bronze fireplace, an upper storey on the back and extensive balconies on the front.

[11] The paddocks formed an important part of the Estate's rural function from its beginning, providing grazing area for the cattle and horses used in farm activities.

Cattle were shown at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and provided milk for the Estate and area for the horses used when buggies were the main form of transportation.

[12] The grounds were extraordinary and a lot of time and money had gone into establishing large areas of lawn with native and European trees, rockeries, walks, fountains, ornamental urns and statues, grottos, hot houses, a conservatory, rose gardens and more than a dozen cottages.

The Walker Estates Act[15] enabled trustees to purchase Yaralla and its grounds to establish a convalescent home for men, which was vested in the state government.

[17][1] In November 2016, the refurbished gate house, Hyacinth Cottage hosted its first family of a burns patient to live in, while remaining close to Concord Hospital for follow-up care.

Concord Hospital is part of the NSW Statewide Burns Injury Service, with many patients coming from regional, rural, remote and overseas locations for specialised care.

Whilst a lack of maintenance has meant some regrettable losses - the now in-filled swimming pool, the lost Indian room and Norwegian house, it remains largely intact.

It retains key elements including buildings and landscape, such as its fields, outer (informal) and inner (more formal) gardens, outbuildings, yards and working areas, cottages, terraces, power house, jetties, walks etc.

[1] Mixed shrubbery borders lining both sides along and the central island within the inner drive (within the inner set of gates) are richly planted with a mixture of old fashioned shrubs, small trees, succulents, some dramatic such as variegated Mauritius hemp (Furcraea selloa 'Variegata'), bulbs and perennials.

[1] Next to (to the left of) the house's entrance front the verandah gives onto a broad path and lawns reaching down to the north to clumps of giant bamboo from which a broad grassed walk, bordered on its higher side with elaborate concrete grotto-work, leads from the site of the jetty round the shore line to a shelter house also of concrete grotto-work beside the site of the swimming pool (now filled and grassed over).

[23][1] The sunken garden north-west of the house was replanted in the early 1990s with predominantly dwarf mondo grass but retains its form and intended character.

[1] Cottage - Single storey Californian Bungalow style dwelling with a series of gabled roofs and prominent entry porch and tall chimneys.

[1] A group of buildings arranged around a central court with a rich assortment of decorative elements - towers, lanterns, a clock and dormer windows - and includes a horse enclosure and two flats.

[1] Sandstone wall of random sized stones at the edge of the tidal zone, with some rough cement bonding and integrated with the naturally occurring rock.

[1] Sheds and animal (pig, chicken and fowl) enclosures are generally roofed with terracotta tiles and have walls of timber or brick construction[24][1] The building was reported as being in good condition externally and internally as at February 2009.

The available maintenance makes it impossible to present the garden in the style for which it was designed, although with the exception of the architectural features, the Norwegian house and the Indian Room's regrettable losses - and that of the now infilled swimming pool, the layout appears quite intact.

It comprises a unique complex of 19th- and early 20th-century buildings in an essentially rural landscape setting and is an exceptionally rare complete example of a large Edwardian private residential estate in Australia and one in close proximity to the city.

The estate has direct historical links with the early days of the colony of NSW and is strongly associated with an important mercantile and philanthropic family.

Its core is a substantial Italianate villa designed by Edmond Blacket & John Sulman and also of architectural and historical significance for its associations with Thomas Walker, a prominent Australian.

The estate has a large collection of rare and important trees and shrubs, many over a century old, some of individual botanical and horticultural significance and rarity as well as herbaceous and climbing plant specimens.

[1] The existence of the foundations of demolished buildings is significant in that they provide physical evidence of the location of previous structures and add a dimension to the interpretation of the site as a whole.