 In its heyday the garden was known internationally through the letters and published accounts of local naturalists and visiting scientific expeditions, as a fine private botanic garden with picturesque features of dwarf stone walls, rustic bridges, and winding gravel walks, and a fine plant collection of choice and rare species, particularly bulbs.The house has long been significant to the conservation movement in Australia.This is indicated by proposals to refurbish the house as a museum for the 1938 sesquicentenary of white settlement, Professor Leslie Wilkinson's ownership share in Elizabeth Bay Estates Limited (1926-1935), the acquisition of the property by the Cumberland County Council in 1963 for its historic significance and the 1972-76 restoration by Clive Lucas, one of the first modern, scholarly conservations in Australia.