Australia’s collection of homesteads, gardens and arts showcase a unique and fascinating blend of the colonial and the contemporary, the indigenous and the multicultural, the traditional and the avant garde.

Experience Australian character through sound and film, books and art in Canberra’s most impressive line up of museums, libraries, galleries and exhibitions. The nation’s capital is custodian to some of Australia’s finest cultural treasures, however it is during Floriade (each September and October) that Canberra really shines, showcasing more than a million bulbs in bloom.

Stroll through Sydney’s harbourside botanic gardens to see a performance at the Opera House or to admire the impressive collection of Australian, Aboriginal and international works that hang in the New South Wales Art Gallery.

See a performance at the Melbourne Arts Centre or catch a movie at the moonlight cinema in the city’s pretty gardens.

Take a walk through Adelaide’s wide green swathe of parklands or visit South Australia’s capital during the colourful Festival of the Arts.

Tasmania’s landscapes and light inspire painters, potters and woodworkers who’s creations can be viewed and purchased in galleries across the State.

Across the country, under wide verandas and beyond porticoed entrances, Australia’s unique homesteads showcase the spirit of the nation as well as any canvas. From a luxury lakeside chalet on the Mornington Peninsula to a working cattle station in the Gold Coast hinterland, from an old pearler’s home in Broome to a romantic retreat in the Clare Valley vineyards, a European style country house in the Blue Mountains or an outback homestead cantilevered above the gorges of the Kimberley, Australia’s heritage houses showcase the timeless style and elegance of a bygone era, restored and updated to include the modern comforts our forefathers could only ever have wished for.

Houses surrounded by formal English gardens, lush tropical blooms, fertile farmlands and outback landscapes that have changed little over tens of thousands of years, inspiring poets and artists over generations now welcome visitors through their doors.

Small hotels with big history have a story waiting to be told behind every door, they include a convent transported more then 600km to provide a intimate hideaway in the Hunter, a timber home shipped from America’s east coast to rest by the beach on Philip Island or a row of warehouses and an old jam factory transformed to create one of Hobart’s most stylish hotels.

Hidden in this heritage are some of Australia’s most impressive private art collections, libraries filled with rare books, wine cellars stocked with hard to find vintages and exclusive pampering day spas.

Enjoy billy tea by the campfire on the banks of the Murrimbidgee or an authentic Italian degustation dinner at a villa in the Victorian High Country. Picnic in the formal gardens of one of Tasmania’s most charming country manors or enjoy a lively evening meal with the owners in their elegant period dining room. Sample the property’s own sparkling wines in the Yarra and sip port by the fire in a grand federation mansion on the shores of Strahan’s Macquarie Harbour.

Specialising in privacy and personalised service, a stay in one of these stunning properties provides a genuine welcome and a window into Australia’s pioneering past.