Part 1 - Waverley Council

THE
CENTENARY OF THE
MDNiaPAUTY OF WAVERLEY
1859 • 1959
THE HISTORY
OF THE
WAVERLEY MUNICIPAL DISTRICT
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II.
THE HISTORY
OF THE
WAVERLEY MUNICIPAL DISTRICT
Published by the Council of the Municipality of
Waverley (New South Wales) to commemorate its
Centenary of Municipal Government (1859-1959)
Compiled and Edited by
B. T. Dowd
FELLOW, AND COUNCILLOR OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Co-Editor
William Foster, M. A.
COUNCILLOR OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1959
Wholly set itp and printed by The Land
Newspaper Ltd., 57-59 Regent St.,
Sydney,
Australia, and hound by The Peckham Binding
Co. Pty. Ltd., 354 King St., Newtown,
Sydney.
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III
FOURTH SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
KEW SOUTH WALES
OF TUESDAY. 14 JUNE 1859.
ifmsummi BY AvmoBin.
No. 115.1
THURSDAY. 16 JUNE.
MUNICIPALITY O P WAVERLEY.
PBOCLAMATION.
By
H i s Excellency S I B WixtiAM fsOMAS
DESifiON, Knight Commaader of the Mo«t
Honorable Order of t h e Batb, Govcrcor
General in and over all H e r Majesty's
Colonies of New South Wales, Ta^wania,
T i o t o m , Sonlh A»tr&)ta, Western Australia, and Captsin General and Govemorin-Ghief of the Territory of New South Wales
and its D e p e o d e n e i ^ and Vice Adruiral of
the same, &c., &c., &o.
W
H E R E A S by an Act of the Parliament of
New South Wales pmmi in the twentysecond year of tbo reign of H«'r present Majesty,
intituled, "An Ad for estitbtithinij
Muni,ipal
" Inttitutions,"
and commonly »(_\k<i and cited
as " The Manieipmlitiai Act of 1858," i t waa
amoagst «thcr things enacted, that any City,
Town, or ILiailtt. tbtn or t l » e r ^ t e r eatablithed,
or any Rural Ihsu'xx, might, as thereio provided,
be constituted a Municipality ; and' it was by
the safd A«» enacted, that t h e Oflfveraw, with
the advice of the Execntivs Conncil, might, or.
the roeefpt of a Petition, signed by not fewethan fifty Lou«eb..>ldor3 rrsidt-nt within any such
City, Town, Hamlt-l, or KuraS Di.strict, praying
that the same might be declared a Municipality
uiider the said A c t , and Mating the Bomber o!
the inhabilaots thereof, caase the sub&taaoc and
[1859.
prayer of such Petition to be pnblished in t h e
Government Gaulle ; and unless a ConntcrPetition, signed by a greater number of householders, rfsidfisit 8« aforesaid, shoald be received
by the Colouial Sf-oretafy within three montbll
front the date of siuch puiilicttidn, iho Governor,
with the advice aforcwid, might by Proclamation
pttbltshed in like manner, dfeUre fuch City,
Town, or Hamlet, or such Hural Iss^tncl, to be a
Monicipalily, by a »»»« to he tn<!ii<.iv.rtcd la sncb
Proclamation, and might al.^i , by tba same or
«oy other ProeUawtJon, di fate the IJwits and
boundiries thereof; ai.4 tbjt iipon such publie**
tion the Manicip»Ht.y fch!,u'J bo ooostitated
aw>rdingly • And whereas a Petition signed by
mvenif honseb-oSdiri rcsiden* within the Bursl
Districts of Waverley, tkmdl, apd Little Co<^ee,
in t h e CownSy of tJumK-rlfind, ia the Colony
of New Sottlh Wale#, pra^in;^ thai the » m «
might be declared a Musiifipniuy under the provistoBg of the «»id Aet, and ststing that the onmbcr of thf' i>,huii??.!-iti tliereof waa twel-m hondred, v
"'
. .vfrfi.->r, the m&Aitnam
aodpr,^
. i..
.« were diily pttblisbed
in the <Jtmt,rnmf,nl iivzttit, m acci'i.
-h
the provisions «t th& mid Aet: Au.>. -,
..s
no eosntei Petition signed by > rr«»ler »»»)»»
b«r of hmtmhfMtn
reiident witbta l!>a said
K'ir-! I>;-!r.i".-. < '
''-y, Bondi, ami Little
i'lKif&i, 5SM rc-..
'^-e CohnM
8ecret«rj
with;n three i..
,
. . / ^,ictj
ptillidiiihm : At) .
. with
tbo advice of ti.« KiteuiiTc Couueil, has, in
cxereJjM of tbo povera cocferrrd by the said Aot,
delermiaed to declar* by Proc!«a»alion
IV
innnnnmnn-»'w
1344
Rural IhSftrAis '/.
adi, %.Wi LltUe east bonndsry of the Water R e s e r r e ; on the west
i:»c 8 .^iuBK;ipi«!¥ by the nanM by that boundary, forinicg partly the west bounisentioncd, and to define the limits daries of Ahercrombie's 5 Seres and 0 . W . C-ik's
S aorc*, and by the we*l biiundary of H. Hcagh'i*
') acres northerly to the Old South Head Road;
,... I - . . ! . . . ., 5 . , ,1... ,ria!h boundary of tho
n Soutb H e a d ; on
ise-rui uy i!.-' ivuiii k.undary of that reserve,
1 ming the north boundaries of B. P . Griffin's
,i aorM 3 roocs it porches, and J . R. Harrison's
;»uiag 4 acres 2 roods 15 pcrebcs, easterly, to the s e a ;
and on the east by the sea, southerly, to the north
. be as follow*, that is to » y ;— boundary of the Eandwick Municipality, aforesaid.
. c t P A t f t y Of VfAVKElEY.
And I do hereby with the advice aforesaid,
.'• t oorth-eastiTB portion of the parish declare and dirt«ct that soch Municipality shall
i, in the County of Comberlsnd ; and be called by the name of " Tbo Municipality of
" . -.! I'!. :"r • . ihe sea by the north- " Waverley."
Given under my Hand and the Seal of tho
"i : ipality of Randwiek,
Colony, at Government House, Sydney,
iihcrn Louodanesof J . H. AlkiDSon's
this thirteenth dsy of J u n e , in the year
r
' aer««, 5 acres aud 23 pcrcbc«, and 5
of our liord one thonsaod eight hundred
i c r c s ; tlie ttuthem and p*rt of western boundary
aud fifty-nine, and in the twentyof B. Bellis' 5 acres ; the southern boundaries of
second year of Het Majesty'.s Reign.
W, Busby's 2 acres 2 roods 5 perch..-.. F. Koy(Ls.)
W. DEN ISO.S.
vett'b 2 aetes 3 roods 5 pcrche>,and U Wlf I'tr's
two portions of 2 acres 'i ri>od« 5 pcrcbs* cacli, to
By HIS ExcellencyS
Command,
Ardcn-slr««t; the nee by that street to Douglasslane ; by that lane and V'sroadane westerly to
CHARLES COWPEa.
P«m-slrcotj by Pern street to its junction with the
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN 1
Frenchman*!) Road ; by that road, and the south
and west boundaries of W. Roberts' 2 acres 1
rood 33 psrches, to the north-west corner thereof;
thence by aline forming partly the south boondary Printed and Puhlisbed hy TnoK*8 RKU lEui., Govcmof J . B. Jones' 10 a o r ^ , bearing west to the
eneai Printer, PhiHiiHltreet, leih June, 1&59.
h^
This Proclamation was approved by Sir \Villia)ii Thomas Dcnison, GovernorGeneral of New South Wales, on ]une 13, 1859, and gazetted on June 16, 1859.
V
SEAL OF T H E WAVERLEY MUNICIPAL C O U N C I L
Perhaps one of the most important treasures of the MunicipaHty of Waverley is its historic
Seal. This Seal is only attachetd to most important documents and special letters by a resolution
of Council.
The Seal for the Municipal Council was handed over to it by Councillor Simmons on August 30, 1859. Simmons, who was Chairman of the Seal Committee, had received the Seal
from the Colonial Secretary.
The question of the Seal of Council was dealt with in an article by W. H. P. Kinsela in
"The Shire and Municipal Record", May 28, 1939, from which we quote: "The Seal of the
Municipal Council of Waverley bears leading characteristics which immediately dates it as belonging to an historic period. Its design, on the whole, is a curious mixture of heraldic symbolism
and purely pictorial representation; but, nevertheless, it is most interesting.
"So far as Mr. T S. MacKinnon, Town Clerk of Waverley Council, is aware, this Seal is the
original one adopted by the first councillors back in 1859. Its design, and the aged condition
of the actual Seal die, support this belief . . .
" . . . The dominant element of this Seal is the ornamental shield bearing the cross of St.
George and its five stars—which are symbolic of our mother State. The different devices
in three of the four quarters of the shield are, so far as I can make out, a sheep's fleece (denoting productiveness), a sailing ship (denoting communication), and an anchor (representative
of a sea-board district or town). The fourth device is unfortunately not at all clear. It may
be any one of many things [perhaps a bale of wool or merchandise]. The rising sun above the
shield is, no doubt, intended to glorify Waverley as part of sunny New South Wales. The
cornucopia, with its spilled contents of fruits and vegetables, placed against the right side of
the shield, is a standard emblem sometimes called the 'horn of plenty'—representing wealth
and peace. The pick and spade, on the opposite side, usually signify industry and possibly
pioneering.
" . . . And now regarding the background of the Seal's design. The simple little scene at the
right, with its foreshore, old-fashioned cottages, and ship at sea, seems to emphasize the fact
that Waverley is a sea-board municipality.
" . . . In the left background is, to my mind, the most interesting element of Waverley's Seal.
There, standing atop of some high cliffs, such as those which, in reality, make a formidable
north-eastern bountJary of this Nlunicipality, is a simple representation of what could be nothing else than the old Macquarie lighthouse of the outer south head of Port Jackson . . . .
The lighthouse of to-day is just outside the northern boundary of the Municipality of Waverley."
Documents in the possession of the Waverley Council show that, although the Municipality was called a Borough under the Municipal Act of 1867, the Seal of the Council was
not so altered.
VI
EMBLEM OF T H E MUNICIPALITY OF WAVERLEY
The official correspondence letter paper of the Municipal Council has at its head the
adopted Emblem of the Municipality. The Emblem shows two dolphins and Neptune's trident or spear, with an ornamental scroll at the bottom bearing the name of the Municipality.
The emblematic letter paper was adopted by Council in 1915, when E. B. Kenyon was Town
Clerk. Why this particular Emblem was adopted by Council cannot be ascertained. It is,
however, reasonable to assume that as the whole of the eastern boundary of the Municipality
borders the sea, something symbolic of the sea would be very appropriate. The inclusion of
dolphins would be appropriate on the Emblem because of their fabled friendship to man.
In this connection they figure prominently in art and heraldry.
The choice of a trident in the Emblem was, indeed, a happy one, for Neptune, the Roman
mythological God of the Sea, is always represented with a trident with which he could shatter
rocks and cause earthquakes. There is, moreover, a close relationship between the dolphins
and the trident in the Emblem. Neptune transformed himself into a dolphin and made love
to Amphitrite who bore him a son named Triton, a sea deity who calmed the waves with his
trumpet.
The scroll at the foot of the Emblem with the name of the Municipality gives the whole
a balanced effect.
Vll
HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR OF WAVERLEY,
ALDERMAN DUDLEY G. PAGE.
VIII
Prefcace
by
His Worship The Mayor of Waverley,
Alderman Dudley G. Page
As a resident of Waverley for many years I am singularly honoured to hold the office of
Mayor during the Centenary Year of the Municipality, and proud to introduce this History to
readers.
On June 16, 1959, the residents of the Municipality will commence celebrating the
Centenary of Municipal Government in the Waverley District, and to commemorate this great
occasion the Council will concurrently begin a programme of celebrations, which will conclude
at the end of this year.
This publication, which the Council is issuing in connection with the Centenary
Celebrations, unfolds the story of the development and advancement of Waverley from our
earliest recorded history to the present time. It will recall to readers important events and
notable achievements, so adequately related by our Historians, Mr. B. T. Dowd and Mr. W.
Foster, during the formative and important years of the growth of the Municipality.
Our Centenary Year must surely be a period of pride in achievement; a challenge to the
strength of our high resolve; and an inspiration to succeeding generations to continue the
growth and development of our Municipality, consistent with the accomplishments of the first
one hundred years.
IX
HONOUR BOARD
"/
Chairmen and Mayors 1S39-1939
The Honour Board listing Chairmen and Mayors of the Municipality
of Waverley, 1859-1959, is located on a wall of the Council Room, in
the Waverley Council Chambers, Bondi Road.
X
COUNCIL MEETING, MAY, 1959
Aldermen and Officers of the Mnnicipality
of Waverley at the May, 1959, Conncil
Meeting.
Left to Right: Aldermen W. W. Anderton, h ]. Brown, A. J. Elhoz, C. A. Jeppesen, D. T. SutJierland,
R. M. O'Keefe (Deputy Mayor^, A. C. Heard, ]. Cole, K. W. Anderson, j . H. McLean, C. R. Howarth.
On Dais: Left to Right: Mr. A. C. fohnson (Dt'pztiv Town ClerlO, Mr. T. /. Ihompson (Town
Alderman D. G. Page (Mayor), Mr. E. M. Stephens (Engineer'), Mr. D. H. Lawes (Chief
Inspector), Mr. D. A. Warhurton
(Accountant).
XI
Clerk'),
Health
FOREWORD
by
T H E HONOURABLE J. B. RENSHAW,
Minister
for Local Government
and
M.L.A.
Highways
To gauge progress one must look back in retrospect. "The Gazetteer of The Australian
Colonies," which was published in 1849, described Waverley as a neat little village with an
orphan school on the South Head Road about four miles from Sydney. The proclamation
constituting the Municipality on June 16, 1859, stated that the incorporation was made on
the petition of seventy householders of the one thousand two hundred persons then resident
in the combined rural districts of Waverley, Bondi and Little Coogee.
The gulf that separates Waverley of one hundred years ago from the Municipality of
today can be no more convincingly portrayed than by the early references quoted. Without
doubt, a Municipality so richly endowed by n ature with panoramic and coastal harbour views,
was predestined to progress initially as a unit of the growing metropolis of Sydney. The
prodigious spread of residential development, coinciding with the increased popularity of
surfing, can be attributed to the opportunities and facilities to participate in this sport offered
in abundance within the Municipality.
Waverley was the second suburb of Sydney to be constituted a Municipality. The
eagerness of the residents of those early days to conduct their own affairs under the new
legislation is reflected in the development of municipal services which have gone hand in
hand with the progress of the Municipality. This has imposed on the Council the responsibility
of providing vital community services demanded, in this instance, not only by the rapidly
growing Municipality, but also by the many thousands of visitors flocking to the beaches.
The name "Bondi," derived from the native word "Boondi" and translated as describing the
noise of water rolling in, is world-famed as a tourist resort. In this section of the Municipality
alone the improvements to the sea front bear testimony to the manner in which the Council
has met the demands of the resident and the visitor.
In a century of progress, the Municipality of Waverley has all the conveniences and
amenities of a modern city. The Council has encouraged a consciousness of civic responsibility which has found expression in the essential services it has provided. The roads are well
made of bitumen or concrete. Many are lined with shrubs, trees and gardens and are divided
by attractive centre plantations. There are playing fields and a number of other recreational
facilities for the delight of the residents. Shopping facilities cater for every possible need.
In congratulating the Council and the people of Waverley on the centenary of local
government in the Municipality, I am confident in their ability to co-operate in wise administration and to preserve for the benefit of the majority, rather than the few, the many
opportunities of full, active and comfortable living planned by the civic leaders over the years.
XII
INTRODUCTION
My first concentrated interest in the history of the Municipality of Waverley was aroused
some eighteen years ago. I decided then to write a comprehensive work, and was greatly assisted in the collection of data by Mr. W. L. Havard, then Fellow of the Royal Australian Historical Society. Unfortunately World War II caused a postponement of our labours.
When invited by the Waverley Municipal Council in 1956 to compile an Official History,
I sought again the collaboration of Mr. Havard, but because of other commitments, he was
unable to continue the work. I turned then to the Hon. T. D. Mutch, Fellow of the Royal
Australian Historical Society, and genealogist. He graciously acceded to my request. But in
a short time a serious illness, and subsequent death in June, 1958, deprived me of the help of
one whose knowledge of Australian history is so well known.
It was then my good fortune to receive a generous offer by Mr. William Foster, M.A.,
Councillor of the Royal Australian Historical Society, to assist in the editing of the historical
material. I had worked with Mr. Foster in other fields of historical research, and knew how
well-fitted he was for such a work. To him I am very grateful.
The plan I have followed has been to give a progressive historical survey of the district
before the incorporation of the Municipality, with particular emphasis on land grants and purchases, and at the same time to record the names of those who were associated with district activities during those years. I then concentrated on the Minute Books of the Municipality of Waverley from 1859 to 1958, and have written brief accounts of those proceedings which appear
to be of popular importance. It is certain that some of my readers would have wished for a
greater or less emphasis on certain events. That will always be so. I can only say that I have
faithfully attempted to evaluate the importance of all proceedings, and in this have been aided
by many willing and capable ladies and gentlemen. The ultimate decision in each case has
been mine, and I accept full responsibility for the historical balance herein presented.
The Council's history is followed by accounts of the several Government, semi-Government and Council facilities, many ecclesiastical, scholastic, philanthropic, social, cultural and
sporting organisations. Publicly minded citizens have spent many hours in collecting and collating material based on records. Without the enthusiastic assistance of these people the true
measure of praise to those who have given faithful service over the years to this Municipality
could not have been adequately given.
Every effort has been made to preserve accuracy. If any reader discovers an error, I
should be pleased if he (or she) will indicate that error, and at the same time forward evidence in support of the suggested alteration. Such an action will enable me to make the necessary correction in the official records of this work in the Municipal Council.
B. T. D O W D
XIII
CONTENTS
Chapter
Page
PROCLAMATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF WAVERLEY . .
iv
SEAL OF THE WAVERLEY MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
..
..
vi
EMBLEM OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF WAVERLEY
..
. . vii
PREFACE BY THE MAYOR OF WAVERLEY
ix
FOREWORD BY THE MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
AND HIGHWAYS
xii
INTRODUCTION
xiii
CONTENTS
XV
LIST
I
OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
EXPLORING THE COASTLINE
xxi
1
Lieutenant James Cook — Captain Arthur Phillip.
II
FIRST THREE LAND GRANTEES
2
(1st) William Roberts' grant — Survey by James Meehan — Bondi Estate Subdivisions, 1852 and 1866 — Edward Smith Hall — Frances O'Brien and
family — The Homestead.
(2nd) John Hurd's grant at Ben Buckler — Problem concerning ownership —
Court of Claims Case — Grant to Parry Long.
(3rd) Barnett Levey's grant — Previous occupants — A legend disproved —
Erection and Naming of Waverley House — Subdivision at Waverley
Crescent — The Crown Inn and licensees — Murder of innkeeper of
Waverley Hotel in 1850's.
Ill
CHURCH AND SCHOOL ESTATE
St. James', Glebe, Lands, 1841 - - Promisee Land Grantees, 1831-1832.
XV
20
Chapter
IV
Page
LAND
BY PURCHASE,
1832-1841
25
Location, date, price and purchaser.
V
VI
LANDS PURCHASED, 1841-1851
Location, date, price and purchaser.
37
LANDS PURCHASED,
42
1852-1870
Location, date and purchaser.
VII
VIII
SOUTH HEAD ROAD AND BELLEVUE HILL
Road built by 73rd Regiment in 1811 — Reconstructed by Major Druitt in 1820
— James Raymond's description in 1832.
46
INCORPORATION OF MUNICIPALITY
50
Public Meeting — Original Petition — Proclamation of Municipality — First
Election of Returning Officer, Charles St. Julian, and Councillors — First Council
Meeting — Street Naming — Wards — Waverley in 1860's — First Council
Chambers, 1861 — Dispute with City of Sydney Council.
IX
MUNICIPAL G O V E R N M E N T — 1 8 8 4 - 1 9 0 8
Waverley in 1887 — Revelations in Council Affairs — New Local Government,
1906.
X
ANOTHER FIFTY YEARS O F MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION,
1909-1959
73
79
Economic Depression in 1930's — Development and Planning — Growth of
Municipality — Street Names.
XI
XII
ORIGIN OF DISTRICT NAMES
Bondi — Charing Cross — Ben Buckler — Diamond Bay — Dover Heights.
92
SERVICES, FACILITIES, ACTIVITIES AND AMENITIES . .
95
..
Laying Foundation Stone of First Council Chambers — Later Council Chambers.
XIII
LIGHTING T H E
Gas and Electricity
MUNICIPALITY
XVI
100
Chapter
XIV
Page
TRANSPORT
102
Omnibus — Tramways — Eastern Suburbs Railway.
XV
ESSENTIAL
DOMESTIC
FACILITIES
110
Night-Soil Disposal — Water Supply — Sewerage System — Drainage Systems —
Garbage Disposal —- Dairies Act, 1886.
XVI
HEALTH
XVII
PUBLIC
AND
BUILDING
ADMINISTRATION
PARKS, R E S E R V E S , B E A C H E S , R E C R E A T I O N
SPORTING
119
AND
GROUNDS
121
Waverley Park, Oval and Waverley District Cricket Club — Bondi Park — Beach
and all Improvements — Bondi Baths — Surfing — Bondi and Bondi North Surf
Life Saving Clubs — Royal Command Surf Carnival — Car Parking at Bondi —
Bronte Park — Beach, Baths, Bronte Life Saving Surf Club, Bronte House and
Estate — Tamarama Park (Fletcher's Glen) — Beach — Tamarama Surf Life
Saving Club.
Other Parks — Queen's — Dickson — Varna — Williams (and Golf Links) —
Waverley Crescent Reserve — Hunter — Simpson — Barracluff — Tom Hogan
— Ben Buckler — Macpherson — Marks — Clementson — Caffyn — Open
Spaces.
XVIII
CEMETERIES
172
Waverley — South Head General — Investment of Cemetery Trust Funds —
Notable Burials.
XIX
CHURCHES
179
St. Mary's Church of England — St. Matthew's, Bondi — St. Barnabas' Church
of England, Bondi —- St. Barnabas' Church of England, Mill Hill — The Sailors
and Soldiers' Memorial Church of St. Luke — First Wesleyan Church or Chapel,
Waverley — Waverley Methodist Church — Lugar Brae Methodist Church —
Methodist Church, Bondi and at North Bondi •— Grahame Memorial Presbyterian Church — Bondi Presbyterian Church — Waverley Congregational Church
— Baptist Church — The Salvation Army Corps.
Roman Catholic Churches:—St. Charles Borromeo — Mary Immaculate and The
Friary, Waverley — Old St. Anne's, Bondi — St. Anne's, Bondi Beach — St.
Patrick's, Bondi — St. Therese, Dover Heights.
XVII
Page
Chapter
XX
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
195
Public Schools:—Waverley — Bondi Central Junior Technical School — Clovelly
— North Bondi — Bondi-Waverley Evening College — Bronte — Dover
Heights Home Science High School — and the Parents and Citizens' Associations of these Public Schools.
Denominational and Private Schools:—St. Catherine's School — St. Gabriel's
School — The Kilburn Sisters' School — First Convent School of Poor Clares
— St. Charles — St. Clare's College — St. Patrick's Commercial and Home
Science College — St. Columbanus (now Mary Magdalene) — Sisters of Mercy,
Bondi Beach — Waverley College — Marist Brothers, Bondi and Bondi Beach
— Miss Amelia Hall's School — the Sydney Kindergarten Training College.
Bondi-Waverley School of Arts — Free Public Library.
XXI
HOSPITALS, ETC
222
Eastern Suburbs — War Memorial — Baby Health Centres — Welfare Homes
— Bethlehem Monastery of Poor Clares.
XXII
EASTERN SUBURBS DISTRICT AMBULANCE
228
XXIII
FIRE BRIGADES AND FIRE STATIONS
230
XXIV
POLICE STATIONS
232
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTSTATE AND COMMONWEALTH
234
POSTAL SERVICES
240
ASSOCIATIONS, CLUBS, LEAGUES
243
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and other Societies, etc.
XXVIII
WAVERLEY'S WAR EFFORTS — WORLD WARS I AND II .. 256
Roll of Honour—Win the War League—Repatriation Fund—Loans Subscribed.
XXIX
BANKS
259
XVIII
Chapter
Page
XXX
SPORTING CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS
263
Rugby Union — Rugby League — Soccer — Baseball — Cricket — Bowling —
Swimming.
XXXI
INNS AND HOTELS, EXISTING AND DEiMOLISHED
..
. . 276
Local Option Polls.
XXXII
XXXIII
AMUSEMENT
AND
PICTURE SHOWS
SCIENTIFIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL
FEATURES
285
289
Alleged Spanish Carvings — Aboriginal Rock Carvings at Murriverie and Workshops at Bondi — Big Gun on Ben Buckler — Rock Climbing — Big Rock,
Bondi.
XXXIV
XXXV
XXXVI
XXXVII
EARLY RESIDENTIAL HOMES
298
NEWSPAPERS FOR THE DISTRICT
303
T H E LATE ALDERMAN T O M HOGAN
304
LINKS W I T H T H E PAST
305
Some well-known residents.
APPENDIX ONE
Councillors and Aldermen of the Municipality of Waverley, 1859-1959.
308
APPENDIX T W O
320
Officers of the Municipality of Waverley (1859-1959) — Council and Town
Clerks — Solicitors for Council — Engineers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
323
XIX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Plan of the Municipality of Waverley
Proclamation of the Municipality of Waverley
Seal of the Waverley Municipal Council . .
Emblem of the Municipality of Waverley . .
His Worship the Mayor, Aid. Dudley G. Page
Honour Board of Chairmen and Mayors, 1859-1959
A Council Meeting, May, 1959
Captain James Cook
Governor Arthur Phillip
Drain mentioned by James Meehan in survey of Roberts' grant
Early Plan, Bondi Estate, 1866
Edward Smith Hall
Francis O'Brien
'The Homestead" of Francis O'Brien
Location of 'The Homestead", Bondi, and other homes
O'Brien's Bush, Bondi
Notes on Surveyor Wells' Plan of Waverley Estate
"Waverley House"
Plan of Locations in Waverley Crescent
Church and School Estate Plan
Map Showing Alienation of Crown Lands
Hough's Mill at Mill Hill
"Braylesford", Bondi Road
Mackenzie's Dairy, Waverley
Bondi Junction, '75 Years Ago
Old 'Tiggery Creek"
Cottage of Content Inn
"Glen Rock" Terrace, High Street
Sketch Map of Locations between Birrell Street and Charing Cross, 1879
Old Stone Buildings, Birrell Street
"Lugar Brae" House, Leichhardt Street . . . .
"Castlefield" House, Castlefield Street
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View of Bondi from Bellevue Hill
Original Petition for Municipality
Gazettal of Governor's Appointment of Charles St. Julian, first Returning Officer
Charles St. Julian
First Council Meeting
First Balance Sheet
First Council Chambers, 1861
First Printed Rate Notice
Ward Rate Notice
Major P. R. Norman
Map of Planning Proposals
Proposed Town Hall, Charing Cross, 1882
Proposed Town Hall, Waverley
Present Council Chambers
Mayor's Chair and Dais
Bondi Junction, 57 Years Ago
XXI
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Sewerage Treatment Works, Bondi . .
Waverley Oval of Today
Waverley Oval, Two Views, 1890 . .
Waverley District Cricket Premiers, 1902-3
Waverley Oval and First Pavilion, 1908 . .
Bondi Park and Beach
Scene on Bondi Beach, 75 Years Ago
View Overlooking Bondi and North Bondi, 11
Old Bondi Swimming Baths
Bondi Swimming Baths with Heavy Seas
Bondi Swimming Baths at Present Time
Bondi Beach Surf Pavilion
Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club-House . .
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Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club First Club-House Tent
North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club-House
Royal Command Surf Carnival, Bondi
Typical Summer Day at Bondi Beach
North Bondi Surf Team Championship Winners, 1958
View of Bronte, 70 Years Ago
Bronte Park and Beach, 1880's
Bronte Picnic Ground, 47 Years Ago
First Bronte Swimming Baths
First Bronte Surf Life Saving Club-House
View of Bronte Park, Beach and Baths of Today . .
Drawings of Robert Lowe's Residence at Nelson Bay
Waterfalls in the Glen, Bronte
Robert Lowe, of Nelson Bay
Bronte Estate Subdivision Plan
First Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club and Club-House
Tamarama Park and Wonderland City . .
Tamarama Beach
Queen's Park, Dickson Park and Varna Park . .
Waverley Crescent Reserve
Thomas Hogan Park, Francis Street
Hunter Park, Bondi
Waverlev Cemetery, 1879
Governor Duff Memorial in Waverley Cemetery
Henry Kendall's Memorial in Waverley Cemetery
St. Mary's Church of England, Birrell Street . .
St. Mary's Old Rectory
St. Matthew's Church of England, Ocean Street—Old and New
St. Barnabas' Church of England, Bondi
St. Barnabas' Church of England, Mill Hill . .
First Wesleyan Church or Chapel, Newland Street
Lugar Brae Methodist Church
Methodist Church and School, Wellington Street
Methodist Church, North Bondi
Grahame Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1898, Victoria Street
Presbyterian Church, Castlefield Street
Waverley Congregational Church, Botany Street
Baptist Church, Bondi Junction
Salvation Armv Citadel, Bondi Junction
First Roman Catholic Church at Waverley, Denominational School Chapel, and First
Presbyterv
Marv Immaculate Cathohc Church and the Friary, Victoria Street
Old St. Anne's Catholic Church, O'Brien Street
St. Anne's Shrine, Bondi Beach
St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Wellington Street and Bondi Road
St. Therese Catholic Church and Presbytery, Dover Heights
XXII
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Waverley Public School, Bronte Road
Bondi Central Junior Technical School, Wellington Street
Bondi Central Junior Technical School, Additional Buildings
Clovelly Public School, Arden Street
North Bondi Public School, Campbell Parade
Bronte Public School, Hewlett and Murray streets
St. Catherine's School for Girls, Albion Street . .
St. Gabriel's School for Girls, Birrell Street
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The Kilburn Sisters' School, Waverley House ..
First Convent School of Poor Clare's, Waverley
St. Clare's Convent, Carrington Road
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St. Clare's College, Church Street
Sisters of St. Joseph First School, Bondi . . . .
St. Patrick's Commercial and Home Science College, WeHington Street
Sisters of Mercy School, Strickland Street . . . .
Sisters of Mercy Girls' School, Blair Street
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Waverley College Buildings, Birrell Street
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Welcome at Waverley College to Bede Kenny, V.C
Marist Brothers' School, Paul Street
Marist Brothers' School, Bondi Beach
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The Sydney Kindergarten Training College, Henrietta Street
Bondi-Waverley School of Arts, Bondi Road . .
The Eastern Suburbs Hospital, Queen's Park
War Memorial Hospital, Waverley
Opening of Bondi Ambulance Station
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Waverley Police Station
Old "Well", Birrell Street and Bronte Road
Anzac Memorial Hall, Bondi Beach
Tobruk House, North Bondi
War Memorials, Waverley Park
Waverley District Baseball Premiers, 1914
Waverley Bowling Club-House and Greens
Tablet Recording Transfer from W.B.R. Company to Waverley Bowling Club
Bondi Bowling Club, Barracluff Park
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Bronte Bowling Club-House, Varna Park . .
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Dover Heights Bowling Club-House
Eastern Suburbs Swimming Club Committee ..
Bondi Icebergs' Club
Tea Gardens Hotel, Old and New
Charing Cross, 75 Years Ago
Charing Cross of Today
Old Waverley Inn, Bronte Road
Bondi Beach and Cliff House Hotel
OldCIiff House Hotel, Bondi Beach, 1888-90
Bondi Hotel, Bondi Beach
Hotel Astra, Bondi Beach
Rex at Bondi Hotel, Glenayr Avenue
Aquarium Grounds, Tamarama
Wonderland City, Tamarama
Gypsies at Bondi
Alleged Spanish Carvings at Bondi
Ceremonial Rock, Bondi Biddigal Aboriginal Tribe
Conveying Big Gun to Ben Buckler
Cliff Ladder at Rosa Gully, and Rock Climbing
Big Rock at Bondi
"Chesterfield", Home of R. G. Massie
"Yanko" House at Bronte
"Eastcourt", formerly Landsdown, at Bondi Junction
XXIII
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CHAPTER I
EXPLORING THE COASTLINE
Lieutenant James Cook and Captain Arthur Phillip
It is deserving of mention that the first white
man to view that part of the coast of New South Wales,
which forms the eastern boundary of the Municipality
of Waverley, was James Cook in the ship "Endeavour."
This evidence is found in the "Journal of Lieutenant
James Cook, Sunday, 6th May, 1770," which records on
leaving Botany Bay: —
"Having seen everything this place afforded, we at
daylight in the morning weighed with a light
breeze steer'd along shore N.N.E. and at noon
we were by observation in the Latitude of 33,
50'S about 2 or 3 miles from the land and
abreast of a Bay or Harbour wherein there
appears to be safe anchorage which I called Port
Jackson. . . ."
OAHiAiN
COOK
During his stay of some eight days in Botany
Bay, Cook made many efforts to hold friendly communication with the natives, but they refused to be
approached.
The next important official party to see that line
of coast forming the eastern boundary of the Municipahty of Waverley was that of Captain Arthur Phillip,
first Governor of the Colony of New South Wales,
in January, 1788.
Captain David CoDins, who
accompanied the Governor, records in his "An Account
of the English Colony in New South \\'ales" (Mitchell
Library): •—
"The Governor set off on Monday; the 21st,
(January 1788), accompanied by Captain Hunter, Captain Collins (the Judge Advocate), a
lieutenant, and the master of the Sirius, with
a small party of marines for their protection, the
whole embarked in three open boats . . . their
little fleet attracted the attention of several parties
of the natives as they proceeded along the coast,
who all greeted them in the same words, and in
the same tone of vociferation, shouting everywhere; 'Warra, warra, warra' — words which,
by the gestures that accompanied them, could
not be interpreted into invitations to land, or
expressions of welcome.
It must however be
observed that at Botany Bay the natives had
hitherto conducted themselves sociably and
peaceably toward all parties of our officers and
people with whom they had hitherto met, and
by no means seemed to regard tliem as enemies or
as invaders of their country and tranquillity. The
coast as the boats drew near Port Jackson, wore
so unfavourable an appearance, that Captain
Phillip's utmost expectation reached no farther
than to find what Captain Cook, as he passed by,
thought might be found shelter for a boat. . . ."
No doubt both of these naval gentlemen closely
scanned the rocky headlands and the silvery wavewashed beaches along the coastline from Botany Bay
to the South Head.
CHAPTER II
FIRST THREE LAND GRANTEES
William Roberts — John Hurd — Barnett Levey
WILLIAM ROBERTS' CATTLE FARM AT
BONDI
The present generation of Australians, and particularly those living in New South Wales, will find
it hard to realize that this glorious sea-bathing resort—
Bondi Beach — colloquially called "The Playground
of the Pacific," was once a closed door to the people
of this country. This happened just on a century
and a half ago, when the then Acting-Governor,
Colonel \Vm. Paterson, without vision or foresight on
the possible needs of an expanding population, made
an individual grant to one, Wilham Roberts, of 200
acres of land embracing almost the whole of the
frontage of Bondi Beach.
Originally this grant was made during the
deposition of Governor Bligh to Roberts on
22nd December, 1809, by Colonel William Paterson.
Governor Macquarie, who succeeded Bligh in January, 1810, following instructions from the Home
Government to cancel grants of land made during
such deposition, caused the land to be surrendered
to the Crown, but re-granted it under the date of 1st
January, 1810, to William Roberts. Here is a description of this historic grant, as shown in the RegistrarGeneral's Department, the first to be issued within
the limits of the present boundary of the Municipality
of Waverley.
"Unto William Roberts his Heirs and Assigns to
have and to hold forever Two hundred acres of
land lying and situate in the District of Sydney
bounded on the South-West side by a line West
thirty degrees North fifty nine chains Commencing from a Drain in a small bight of the Coast.
On the North West side by a line North thirty
degrees East forty chains bounding the South Head
Road and on the North East side by a line East
thirty degrees South sixty one chains to the
Beach, and on the South East by the Beach being
part of the Coast. Conditioned not to sell or
alienate the same for the Space of Five years
flom the date hereof And to Cultivate thirty
acres within the said period And reserving to
Covcrnmcnt the Right of making a Public Road
through the same And also reserving for the use
of the Crown such timber as nia\ be deemed fit
for Naval purposes. Quit Rent Four ShiUings.
In Testimony, &c., this 1st Day of January, 1810.
Signed, L. MACQUARIE.
Witnessed by:
H. C. Antill.
James Meehan."
The land was measured by James Meehan, Head
Surveyor of the Colony, in December, 1809, and is
recorded in his Field Book, No. 58, now in the
Mitchell Library, Sydney.
One page of his Field
Book is of particular interest, because it shows at
the top of the page "Bundi Bay, Deer. 11, 1809,"
which is no doubt the first mention and spelling of
the name (now Bondi).
Generally speaking, this grant was situated between present Bondi Beach, Old South Head Road,
Beach Road (formerly Matilda Street) and Edward
Street. This area, as most people know, embraces
the very heart of the business and residential centres
of the ever-growing Bondi of today. It has been
said that William Roberts received his grant for services rendered in connection with the making of the
South Head Road.
As a road or track existed to
South Head before Meehan surveyed the grant, as he
refers to it in his survey in 1809, and before the
twenty-one soldiers of the 73rd Regt. constructed it in
1811, there may be some truth in the statement.
It is known, of course, that William Roberts
was engaged by the Government in the construction
of some of Sydney's streets and bridges before 1812,
as the "Sydney Gazette" of that year indicates an
amount of £ 2 9 7 / 1 5 / - being paid to him on that
account.
It seems quite clear that Roberts did not live
on his farm at Bondi, but resided at the corner of
Hunter and Castlereagh streets, Sydney, where he
had secured an allotment of land in 1807, and on
which he later conducted an inn, called the "King's
Arms," having been granted a licence in 1810. Further
evidence of his residence there appears in the "Svdnev
Gazette" of August 31, 1811, as follows: —
"Horned Cattle.
William Roberts, corner of
Castlereagh Street, hereby gives Notice that he has
a Farm at 'Bundye' near Sydney, which is calculated for the Depasturage of the above description which will be taken every possible care of
at the low rate of sixpence a week for each head
which will be necessary to defray the expense
of a proper Herdsman."
Again, in the ''Svdnev Gazette," of September 4,
1819: —
"Notice is hereby given that all persons are strictly
forbidden to cut or carry away any Wood off
Boondye on the South Head Road. . . . Two
Guineas reward."
It seems that the responsibility of running the
inn was a matter for the wife of William Roberts, as
he was engaged in road and bridge building for
the G o v e r n m e n t — t h e roads Sydney to Liverpool —
Appin-Bringelly and Liverpool to Parramatta being
constructed, or partly by him, about 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 1 7 . An
interesting feature about the contract for the building
of the S\dney-l.,iverpool road and britiges by liobcrts
was that he was to be paid at the rate of £ 1 3 0 per
mile for 12 miles for a road 3 3 feet wide. He was
allowed part payment in rum of 4 0 0 gallons at 2 5 / per gallon — the road to be completed in 12 months.
This arrangement was approved in 1813 by Governor
Macquarie. Roberts died at his residence, the "King's
Arms" at the corner of Castlereagh and Hunter streets,
in September, 1 8 1 9 , leaving a large family.
In his
Will he described himself as "dealer, farmer and
grazier," to which he might have added innkeeper and
road builder.
JAMES M E E H A N — S U R V E Y O R
As Meehan was the surveyor who measured
Roberts' grant, the first within the present municipal
area of Waverley, some details of his life should be
of particular interest in this history. James Meehan
might rightly be described as an Irish political exile,
explorer, pioneer surveyor and settler in New South
Wales. If Francis Greenway deserved the title of
"Macquarie's Architect," then so also did Meehan deserve the title of 'Macquarie's Surveyor."
Meehan
arrived in Sydney by the convict ship, "Friendship," in April 1 8 0 0 . His offence for being transported. Commissioner Bigge said, was not of a serious
nature.
His knowledge of practical mathematics,
though not of a very high degree, still made him a
most useful man for assignment to Charles Grimes,
the then Acting Surveyor-General in New South
Wales. Meehan accompanied Grimes on practically
all his explorations and survev work, and acted for
him while he was absent in England.
It was Macquarie's intention to make Meehan Surveyor-General
when Grimes did not return from England, but when
John Oxicy was appointed by the Home Authorities,
Meehan, much to Macquarie's disappointment, be-
came Deput\ Surveyor-General to Oxley in 1 8 1 2 .
James Meehan surveyed almost all the land grants in
New South Wales between about early 1803 and
1820.
Worn out after scmie twentv-two years of
pioneering work and service for the Government, during which he had endured many untold hardships,
he resigned at the end of 1 8 2 1 .
In recommending
him for a pension. Governor Macquarie wrote: "He
is a man of real worth and probity, and has a \ery
strong claim to the bounty of the Home Government."
Meehan was granted a pension of £ 1 0 0 a \ear, but did
not five long to enjoy it, as he died at his farm "Macquarie Field" (near I n g l e b u r n ) , on April 2 1 , 1826,
at the earl\- age of 52 years.
BONDI ESTATE
After the death of William Roberts, his wife
(later Jane Hutchinson) retained an interest in the
estate until her death in 1 8 3 4 . The Bondi estate,
then by the Will of William Roberts, was devised
to his son, Richard Roberts, whn. b\ his \ \ ill in 1 8 3 8 ,
dexiyed the estate to William Roberts, the son of
William Henrv Roberts, his brother.
From William
James Roberts, of Braidwood, the estate of two hundred
acres was transferred on March 8, 1 8 5 1 , for a consideration of £ 2 0 0 to Edward Smith Hall as trustee
to hold for the use of Georgiana Elizabeth, his
daughter, who was the wife of Francis O'Brien, and
Francis O'Brien, his son-in-law. From that period it
seems that Francis O'Brien acted in most matters
connected with the estate. In 1852 he decided to
subdivide the Bondi estate, as advertised in "The
Sydney Morning Herald" of July 3 of that vear: —
' T h e survev and plan of Bondi Estate by Mr.
Knapp, being completed dividing it into convenient allotments, parties desirous of purchasing or
leasing any portion of the same will be treated
on liberal terms.
This suburban property is
within three miles of the City, comprising the Old
South Head Road from Bell View to the Race
Course on Point Piper Estate; a mile frontage to
a Government Road from Bell View to the Ocean
and a Sea Board of three-quarters of a mile which
takes in the Bay, and Bight of Bondi. A constant stream, in all seasons, of the purest water,
runs along the valley for half a mile, ending
in a fresh water lagoon. For buildings there is
an abundance of freestone and the land undulating forms every variety of site for the fancy
builder; and being one of the old grants, without the usual reservation of late years, includes
Beach of Bondi. Title—A Grant from the Crown
free of encumbrance. T e r m s : The purchase
money may remain on mortgage for a term of
vears at six per cent, per annum. T h e plan can
be seen and any further particulars obtained at
the office of F. O'Brien, 610 George Street."
Knapp's old subdivision plan, faded and weatherworn is still extant, and may be seen in the office of
the Waverley Municipal Council. It was presented
to the Council by the O'Brien family in 1941. It is
too faded to be reproduced here, but because of its
interest, let me try and describe what it shows, as
far as can be deciphered. It is really difficult to
say from the almost obliterated lines on the plan and
the subsequent addition of red lines, what was the
full extent of the subdivision, but it seems certain
that some of the roads provided correspond more or
less with present-day Hall, O'Brien, Wellington and
Simpson streets and part of Glenayr Avenue near
the "Six Ways." No road names except "South Head
Road" were shown on Knapp's plan.
Drain running into the "Bight" at "The Boot,"
where James Meehan commenced his survey of
Roberts' grant at Bondi.
An interesting feature of the old plan is that it
indicates "The Bight of Bondi," the spot now called
' T h e Boot," where James Meehan commenced his
survey of Roberts' two hundred acre grant in 1809.
Low down on the rocks is shown the "Fishing Rock,"
and on top of the bight a "fresh water spring." It is
possible that "The Bight" has, over the long years, been
corrupted to "The Boot."
That, of course, is only
just a thought that comes to mind.
The "Bondi
Lodge" is mapped as being partly enclosed by a fence
which might be described as extending from the fresh
water lagoon that existed at the corner of Gould and
Hall streets, westerly along Hall and O'Brien streets
to Lamrock Avenue, down the avenue to Sir Thomas
Mitchell Road where the fence ceased and a stone
wall continued to opposite Lucius Street where the
entrance gates to the Bondi Lodge stood. The wall
ended about four or five chains east of the gates.
Another interesting feature of the plan is that it
indicates the intended location of a road from Old
South Head Road, near Bellevue Hill, to Bondi Beach
partly through the Bondi Estate.
It is apparent,
however, that this location was put on the map after
the survey by Knapp. It left the Old South Head
Road at about present New Street, cutting across Penkivil and Ocean streets, Dickson Park, Wellington,
Edward and Francis streets and, generally speaking,
following Forest Knoll Avenue, where it met the old
existing track at that time from Old South Head Road,
at present O'Brien Street.
It then ran practically
along Sir Thomas Mitchell Road of to-day, to the
beach. This proposed road was actually surveyed
by Assistant Surveyor Burrowes in January, 185 5. It
does not appear to have been proclaimed as a public
road at that time, but its line through the Bondi
Estate, with some deviations, has been now generally
adopted as Sir Thomas Mitchell Road. It was no
doubt named after the Surveyor-General of that period,
Sir Thomas Mitchell, who died in the same year as
the road was surveyed. On the north side of that
intended road, at no great distance, ran a creek
through a stone quarry just north of Forest Knoll
Avenue; and east of this spot another creek joined
in from the south, just near the place of the later
built "Mausoleum" at Forest Knoll Avenue. On that
creek was a "clear and grassy pic-nic ground," as surveyor Knapp called it. The main stream then ran
lazily through swampy land, then changed to a fresh
running stream and changed again to a swampy area
at the back of the Lodge, part of which was cultivated,
and finally terminated in a fresh water lagoon at the
rear of Bondi Beach. There were two tracks running from the Lodge — one linking up to Denham
Street, and the other to meet Bondi Road and Campbell Parade of to-day. Another track existed from Old
South Head Road to above the Six Ways, and turning into present Curlewis Street.
That, I think,
covers the old 1852 plan of Edward Knapp.
It is very doubtful whether O'Brien had much
success with his selling or leasing of any part of the
subdivision at that time.
DISPUTE—E. S. HALL v. GOVERNMENT
Following Knapp's survey of the Bondi Estate,
a good deal of correspondence took place between the
Government and E. S. Hall, trustee for the estate,
concerning access to Bondi Beach from the Old South
Head Road (which we previously referred to as an intended road) and a reservation of land along the beach
for public recreation, and the surrender of certain land
of the Bondi Estate in exchange for land at Newtown.
When Surveyor-General Mitchell reported on September 28, 1854, on this matter, he was under the impression that there already existed a reserve at Bondi
Beach, but writing on September 29, the following
day, he said:—
"Since writing the above, I have learned that
the public are wholly excluded from the beach
at Bondi Bay; I have therefore to submit that
access to this is indispensable, and on behalf
of the public, that portion of the adjacent shore,
above highwater mark ( 1 0 0 feet from it superficially) should be resumed, if necessary at the
public expense, for the health and recreation of
the inhabitants of Sydney."
In reply to a later letter, E, S. Hall, under date
of October 30, 1854, wrote: —
" . . . I beg to say that any quantity of land of
the Bondi Estate, in addition to the twenty-one
acres and 36 p., as per plan, already agreed
to be vacated by me, is at your disposal. Compensation therefore to be determined by arbitration on the principle already settled. . . . Government having spare land at the south, or
Sydney side of Bondi, as well as Grose Farm,
either or both will furnish the means of compensation. . . ."
the compensation area of 9 acres. The cost of the
award by the arbitrators, amounting to £128, was
paid by the Government. Although it was intended
by the Surveyor-General that the extra land should
have been included in the area for arbitration, it is
clear from later correspondence with the Crown
Solicitor that this land was not so included, and consequently remained a part of the Bondi Estate. The
land actually surrendered to the "Queen" by Francis
O'Brien, under date of April 15, 1856, comprised
20 ac. 2 r. 36 p., and the consideration was £4,500.
This land included about 8 i acres at the junction
of Old South Head Road, Simpson and Edward streets,
present Francis and Simpson streets. Hunter Park, and
the land in continuation to Edward Street. This left
O'Brien's Bondi Estate as containing about 179 acres.
The other part of the Bondi Estate included at this
time Barton's 17-acre grant adjoining Roberts' grant
at the south of Bondi, and Parry Long's grant formerly
Hurd's at Ben Buckler.
It is interesting to mention here that only five
months after the Municipality was established, Joseph
Vickery, the Chairman, and Councillor James Vickery,
formed a deputation to wait on the Minister for Lands
to urge him to place on the Estimates for 1860 a sum
of money to carry out the making of the Public Drive
(Sir Thomas Mitchell's Line) from the South Head
Road near "Bell-vue" to the shores of the Pacific at
Bondi and round the Bay between the recreation
reserve at the south headland at Bondi to Ben Buckler,
such road to be 100 feet wide, except round the Bay
where it should be 100 yards wide. Following consideration by the Minister, the Council were advised
in August, 1860, that a road could be made through
the Bondi Estate, but that the proposed road round
the Bay, etc., could not be adopted. So the public
still had no access to or use of the beach at Bondi.
Mitchell reported to the Colonial Secretary, November 2, 1854, as follows: —
" . . . I have inspected the land between Bondi
Bay and Old South Head Road . . . for securing
to the public the best line of access by a public
drive for the inhabitants of Sydney to the sea
beach at Bondi . . . I have marked it . . . a
chain wide, and leaving say 100 feet from highwater mark for public recreation, I beg leave to
recommend to be secured to the public . . . for
purposes of public recreation. . . ."
An agreement was eventually reached between
the Government and Mr. E. S. Hall, as trustee for
the Bondi Estate, for the exchange of about 21 acres
0 rds. or 26 p. of the Bondi Estate for 9 acres at Newtown, but Mr. Hall claimed further land, in compensation of about 6 acres and 100 feet reservation at the
beach. The Government, however, maintained that
the road and 100 feet of reservation were included in
On July 1, 1863, Francis O'Brien mortgaged
the estate to Frederick Fanning, of Sydney for £20,000,
but excluded the Barton and Long parts and 4 i acres
on which the Mausoleum was erected. Apparently
Fanning had some ideas concerning the subdivision of
the estate, as mortgaged, because in 1866 Surveyor
Reuss prepared a plan of a subdivision into allotments
extending from about Old South Head Road to Bondi
Park of today, arid from Edwards Street to near
Beach Road and beyond. On this plan he also indicated by blue lines what he called Fanning's Subdivision, which showed lots of from 1 acre along
Old South Head Road, to as large as 32 acres between Hall and O'Brien streets, and the prolongation
of the latter street to Beach Road, and 3 5 acres
for the "Homestead" block between Hall Street and
Sir Thomas Mitchell Road, and a line to Glenayr
Avenue and the beach.
Subdivision
survc) of Bundi Estate by Surveyor j . H. Reuss, 1P66. The heavy,
the boundaries of a former subdivision for Mr. Charles
Fanning.
The Bondi Estate, then consisting in all of about
2 1 7 acres, was brought under the Real Property Aet
on August 4, 1 8 6 8 , by Francis O'Brien.
It was at
this time that a marked discrepancy was discovered in
the position of the north-eastern boundary of Roberts'
grant. \V'hile the mapping of the latter grant showed
the boundary as along Francis Knight's grant, the
measurement along the Old South Head Road actuallv
left a strip of land about five chains wide between the
grants of Roberts' and Knight's, extending from Old
South Head Road to Bondi Beach. Apparently the
discrepancy was rexealed when Surveyor Armstrong,
of the Department of Lands, was instructed to define
dark
lines
are
the boundaries of Roberts' 200-acre grant, which he
completed on April 4, 1 8 6 8 . T h e survey showed that
O'Brien still had over 2 0 0 acres without the strip
in question which he claimed, but the Crown disallowed the claim. Later, on May 2, 1 8 8 1 , this piece
of Crown Land was notified as a Government reserve
containing 3 6 i acres.
T h e North Bondi Public
School, Barracluff Park and Bondi Bowling Club form
parts of this land—the other part was the subject of
various later subdivisions.
Some five years after Francis O'Brien had brought
the Bondi Estate under the Real Property Aet in 1 8 6 8 ,
as already mentioned, a substantial part of the estate.
about 51 acres, extending from the beach westerly
between Hall and O'Brien streets, Sir Thomas Mitchell
Road and parts of Francis and Wellington streets,
passed into the hands of Frederick Charles Curlewis,
either by wa) of mortgage or otherwise, in October,
1873. Owing to the bankruptcy of Francis O'Brien
in 1877, the residue of the Bondi Estate, comprising
the land within the certificate of title became vested
in August, 1877, in Frederick Thomas Humphrey,
the official assignee for the insolvent. From Humphrey
the residue was the subject of a transfer to Frederick C.
Griffiths in September, 1878. Part of this land was
subdivided for sale by J. H. Reuss in June, 1879,
and lots put up for sale in November of that year.
The Frederick C. Griffiths just
a member of the firm of Fanning,
Merchants, of Spring Street, Sydney,
the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. of
referred to, was
Griffiths & Co.,
and a director of
Sydney.
administration, but it was not long before he condemned it with all the power at his command. Other
prominent people came sharply under his criticisms,
and within a short space of time he was deluged
with actions for libel — some of which cost him a
term or two in gaol. He fell foul of the Church of
England authorities at St. James' Church, and
was refused admittance to his pew. He, however,
overcame the difficulty by breaking down the obstruction and then quietly taking his family seat. When
he gave up the "Sydney Monitor" it was taken over
and edited by his son-in-law, Francis O'Brien, for a
time. E. S. Hall had land grants at Lake Bathurst
and also in Sydney. He died on September 18, 1860,
after a hectic life, at the age of 74 years, and was
buried in the private Mausoleum on O'Brien's Estate,
Bondi. His first wife, Charlotte, died in August,
1826, aged 41 years. It is understood that he was
thrice married.
Edward Smith Hall.
Francis O'Brien.
Edward Smith Hall, better known as "Monitor"
Hall, who purchased the Roberts' Bondi F'state, in
March, 1851, came to the colony in the ship
"Friends" in 1811. He was a son of Smith Hall, a
London merchant. He married Charlotte Holl at
St. Luke's Church, London, before leaving for this
southern land. It was his first intention to become
a settler, but that life was not whollv suitable to his
dynamic character. He joined with Simeon Lord,
a Sydney merchant, in 1814, and some three years
later, in 1817, receixed an appointment as cashier in
the newly-opened Bank of New South Wales.
He
resigned from the bank, and a few years later ( 1 8 2 6 )
started the famous ''Sydney Monitor" newspaper. At
first his policy was favourable to Governor Darling's
Francis O'Brien was perhaps one of the most
picturesque figures in the districts of Waverley and
Bondi. It seems that he came to Sydney with his
parents and brother George about 1826.
He and
George were sons of Thomas O'Brien, settler, and his
wife, Jane Warnock. Francis is recorded as being
born in India, and George in the East Indies. The
latter died at Surry Hills, October 10, 1877, at the
age of 56 years, 5 1 of which had been spent in NewSouth Wales.
At the death of Francis OBrien,
August 25, 1896, at the age of 80 years, he had been
70 vears in the colony, which meant that he was
born about 1816 and was 10 years of age when he
arrived in New South W ales.
On October 23, 1839, Francis O'Brien married
Sophia Statham Hall, a daughter of Edward Smith
Hall, of "Sydney Monitor" newspaper fame, at the
Church of St. Lawrence, Sydney. At that time Francis
O'Brien, in association with E. S. Hall, was Editor
of the "Sydney Monitor." This marriage was of short
duration as his wife, Sophia Statham, died on February 2, 1841. Her residence at the time of death
was North Dapto, Brisbane Water. There was a son
of this marriage, Francis O. O'Brien, born in 1840.
He married, at the age of 42 years, Mary Ann Hankin. Francis died on June 22, 1922, at Grassmere
Road, Lindfield, Sydney, at the age of 82 years. There
were two sons of the marriage, Francis and
Oscar O'Brien. Some two years later, on March 15,
A tragedy happened to two of the children of
this marriage when on April 18, 1896, about four
months before the death of Francis O'Brien, they were
drowned in a lagoon near the ''Homestead" residence
at Bondi. Dorothy was aged 11 years and Amy 8
years. They were interred in the Mausoleum on the
Bondi Estate.
Lucius Ormond O'Brien was born in 1844, at
which time his parents were residing at Darling Point.
When Lucius died at "Strathdoon," Royalist Road,
Mosman, on June 25, 1905, at the age of 62 years,
he was a retired barrister— 56 years of his life had
been spent in New South Wales and 6 in Victoria.
A verv interesting link with Bondi is that Lucius
'The Homestead" at Bondi, originally called "Bondi Lodge", Francis O'Brien's
old home. Photograph taken about 1919.
1843, Francis O'Brien entered his second matrimonial
venture by marrying Georgiana (or Georgina) Elizabeth Hall, sister of his former wife, and another
daughter of E. S. ("Monitor") Hall, also of North
Dapto, Brisbane Water.
About 17 years later, misfortune again came
upon Francis O'Brien when his second wife, Georgiana
Elizabeth, died on July 7, 1860, at the early age of
39 years, leaving a family of three boys, Lucius,
Thomas and Ormond, and one girl, Georgiana, living,
and one boy deceased. Two of the sons in particular,
Lucius and Thomas E. O'Brien, are closely linked with
Waverley and Bondi, but before referring to them,
let me mention Francis O'Brien's third marriage, which
eventuated on December 15, 1880, at Bondi, to
Amelia Jane Kirk. There were six children of this
marriage — three living and three deceased at the time
of the death of Francis O'Brien in 1896.
O'Brien married, about 1868, Matilda Emma Curlewis,
who was the daughter of George Campbell Curlewis
and his wife Matilda Martha Burnie Curlewis, of
Ravenswood, Bungonia, and a sister to Frederick
Charles Curlewis, born in 1842, previously mentioned
as the person to whom O'Brien's Bondi Estate of 51
acres passed in 1873, by way of mortgage or otherwise. Continuing the link, we find that a son of
Frederick Charles Curlewis was Herbert Raine Curlewis, late Judge Curlewis, of Sydney. It was he who
married the noted writer of Australian stories, Ethel
Turner, who died on April 8, 1958. A son of this marriage, born in 1901, is the present Judge Adrian Curlewis of Sydney, who has for some years been President
of what is now the Surf Life Saving Association of
Australia. It is with this Association that the two
Surf Life Saving Clubs at Bondi and other beaches
are so closely linked.
.»• • , * . * - s *
'^***v
^
;
-•"*-, ..-
s:^...:.\>^.t^i
>**.
•*».
"The Homestead" is on the right of picture. "The Ravine" house is between the two centre trees.
The house on left of picture is probably "Cambrae" and the house to the right of "Cambrae" at back
is "Forest Knoll." Date of photograph about 1895.
Part of O'Brien's Bush in
1888.
«
BONDI BEACH ESTATE, Hall and Roscoe
streets near Gould Street, sale on February 12, 1910.
O'BRIEN'S BEACH ESTATE, Hall Street, Lamrock Avenue, Sir Thomas Mitchell Road, Francis to
Wellington streets, O'Brien Street back to Hall Street,
sale on November 19, 1910.
BAGLIN'S ESTATE, George, WeHington and
Curlewis streets, sale on November 27, 1915, with
building covenant £400 — prices approximately
£ 3 / 1 5 / - to £ 8 / 1 0 / - per foot.
HOMESTEAD ESTATE, between Lamrock
Avenue, Campbell Parade and Sir Thomas Mitchell
Road, sale on January 25, 1919, including O'Brien's
Homestead.
CLIFF HOUSE subdivision, 18 lots, Bondi Road,
Sir Thomas Mitchell Road and Francis Street, sale
on January 29, 1921.
FOREST KNOLL ESTATE, Sir Thomas Mitchell Road, Forest Knoll Avenue and Francis Street,
sale on February 19, 1921.
O'BRIEN'S HOMESTEAD ESTATE of 8 blocks,
between Lamrock Avenue and Sir Thomas Mitchell
Road — valuation, £17 to £ 1 7 / 1 5 / - a foot on Lamrock Avenue and £11 on the last-mentioned road
frontage.
GLASGOW ESTATE, Warners Avenue, Beach
Road, Gould Street and Glenayr Avenue, originally
part of Government reserve, sale January 20, 1923.
Further lots on east of Glenayr Avenue to Curlewis
Street, sale on April 12, 1924.
RAVINE ESTATE, fronting Sir Thomas Mitchell Road and Ormond Street, sale on May 2, 1925.
Ravine House and Chazipur are on estate.
THE ESPLANADE ESTATE, 6 lots Campbell
Parade and Beach Road, sale on January 26, 1929.
MORNINGTON ESTATE, Sir Thomas Mitchell
Road and Francis Street, 10 lots, sale on December 14,
193 5. Prices, £850 to £1,488 at corner Lucius Street
and Sir Thomas Mitchell Road, per lot.
SEA VIEW ESTATE of 12 lots, at the corner
of Roscoe Street and Glenayr Avenue — no date available — and a few others.
The foregoing estates represent the main subdivisions of the old Bondi Estate.
Let us now revert to Thomas O'Brien, the brother of Lucius Ormond O'Brien. Thomas is vitally
linked with Bondi because he was born in the "Homestead," Bondi, in 1851, and resided in Bondi all his
life. In 1923 he wrote his reminiscences of Bondi
and recalls many interesting events of early Waverley
and Bondi.
Thomas O'Brien was a solicitor by profession and
lived in more recent years at 49 Penkivil Street, Bondi.
He married Alice Helena Fisher in 1882, at Darlinghurst. Thomas O'Brien was a familiar figure in the
Waverley district though he had a retiring disposition.
He died on December 27, 1940, at the remarkable age
of 89 years. His sons, Desmond and Rupert, were well
known as estate agents at Bondi. Rupert O'Brien
died in August, 1940 and his elder brother, Desmond,
in 1944. A son of the latter Desmond O'Brien is
connected with the present firm of O'Brien Bros.
Pty. Ltd., of George Street, Sydney.
BONDI ESTATE SUBDIVISIONS
From the period of 1879, Roberts' Grant or the
"Bondi Estate" was the subject of many subdivisions.
It is not intended to enumerate all the subdivisions for
sale, but an endeavour will be made to record all that
is readily available, so far as concerns the name and
date of the various subdivisions.
There was a subdivision into about 60 allotments
(unnamed) on March 19, 1881, in Sophia (now
Glenayr Avenue), Hall and O'Brien streets and odd
lots in Georgiana (now Wellington) Street.
QUEENSCLIFFE ESTATE in Hall, Glenayr
Avenue (formerly Sophia Street), Bondi Beach, and
Matilda Street (now Beach Road) included parts of
Roscoe, Curlewis and Hall streets (the latter ran
through to the beach at Matilda Street) and Gould
Street. It contained about ISO allotments and was
put up for sale on Mav 28, 1881.
BONDI ESTATE, OCEAN VIEW , approximatelv
between Old South Head Road, Matilda Street (Beach
Road), O'Brien Street and Hall Street, put up for sale
on February 24, 1888.
DUNRICH ESTATE subdivision in Hall Street
and four lots in Sophia Street (now Glenavr Avenue)
for sale on Mav 17, 1898.
NAUTILUS ESTATE subdivision in Lucius, Sir
Thomas Mitchell Road, Francis and Campbell streets,
HOMESTEAD ESTATE, one block of about 32
acres between Georgiana (now Wellington), O'Brien,
Francis streets and Sir Thomas Mitchell Road and
proposed road behind the Homestead, parallel to Hall
Street, Campbell Parade and Bondi Park, sale on October 19, 1906—Reserve of £400 per acre.
BONDI HEIGHTS ESTATE, Sir Thomas Mitchell Road, .sale on March 23, 1907.
PARAGON ESTATE, Hall, Simpson, Wellington and O'Brien streets, sale on October 12, 1907.
HURD'S GRANT AT BEN BUCKLER
Fascinating Problem Concerning
Ownership.
Next to William Roberts' grant was one of thirty
acres embracing the headland of Bondi, known as
"Ben Buckler," extending from the coastline to the
present Wairoa Avenue, including that avenue and
part of Hastings Parade and all other streets etc.
within those limits and small frontage of Bondi Bay.
The stor\ of this grant is as intriguing and fascinating
as one could imagine. The grant was surveyed by
James Meehan at the same time as he did Roberts' 200
10
acres in 1 8 0 9 , for a person named John Hurd, sometimes spelled Hard, Heard and Herd, but we will call
him Hurd. Who was John Hurd who received in 1809
a grant of thirty acres from Colonel \Villiam Paterson?
Records show that John Hurd was a Devon man,
tried and convicted at Exeter, England, on March 15,
1790, for an offence, the penalty of which was
transportation to the penal colony at Port Jackson,
New South Wales. He came by the ship "Atlantic,"
which arrived in Sydney on August 2 0 , 1 7 9 1 , and was
then about 4 8 or 49 years of age.
That the land included in this lease was originally located under the Authority of an Order
of Governor Macquarie in favour of Richard
Hurd as appears from the advertisement in the
Government Notice of 10th September 1830
and in pursuance of which a Deed was prepared
in favour of Richard Hurd dated 8th August.
1831 but as he was at this time deceased it is
invalid.
That Richard Hurd died on the 7th May 1822
and bequeathed the land in question to Charles
Roberts (see the deposition of William Henry
Roberts taken before the Commissioners on the
19th April, 1841 and burial certificate dated
18th September, 1840, signed by Henry Kerrison James).
When the Muster (now called Census) was
taken in 1 8 0 6 , John Hurd was then employed as a
labourer by William Roberts. It is significant that
Hurd who was working for Roberts, should get a
grant a few years later alongside Roberts at Bondi on
the same date in 1809. Both Roberts' and Hurd's
grants, in common with others made during the interregnum between the Governorships of Bligh (deposed)
and Macquarie, would have been on Macquarie's accession, surrendered and if there were no objection be
re-granted similar to Roberts' grant. Hurd's, however,
was not so re-granted. Yet, in a record of landholders
in 1 8 1 3 , Hurd is recorded as the holder of thirtx
acres at Bondi. T h e story now becomes a little more
puzzling, as John Hurd died in 1 8 1 3 , being buried
in March of that \ear apparently intestate and without
issue. It is assumed that the land would have reverted
to the Crown. But the extraordinary thing is that
some years after the death of John Hurd, another
Hurd named Richard Hurd became identified with
the same portion of land. Was he in any way connected
Avith John Hurd? Richard Hurd was born in London
and followed the trade of cabinetmaker and upholsterer. He was convicted for an offence in 1815 and
sentenced to transportation for life. Richard Hurd
came to Sydney in the convict ship "Mariner," which
arrived on October 11, 1 8 1 6 , he being then about 43
\ears of age. St. Phillip's Church Register, Sydney,
shows that Richard Heard ( H u r d ) ex ship "Mariner"
died on Mav 7, and was buried May 8, 1 8 2 2 . T h e next
remarkable record is a land grant of thirty acres prepared to be issued to Richard Hurd, dated March 8,
1 8 3 1 , said to be in fulfilment of a promise by
Macquarie, on or before December 3 1 , 1 8 2 1 , which
by description was the same block of land previously
promised at Bondi to John Hurd bv Colonel Paterson
in 1809.
T h e Will of Hurd was not forthcoming being
mislaid as explained in the deposition of W . H.
Roberts, who, however swears as to its having
existed, and also as to the devisee (see details at
end of report Case No. 9 1 2 ) .
That the said Charles Roberts did on the 5th
September, 1840 b\ Indentures of Lease and
Release (produced and verified before the Commissioners) sell and convev the said land to Parry
Long, the present claimant.
The Commissioners therefore respectfully recommend that a fresh deed of grant should issue to
Parry Long, of West Maitland Solicitor, in the
Colony of New South Wales and to his heirs.
Dated'this 8th May, 1 8 4 1 .
Willm. Carter.
Chas. Windeyer.
Alfred Cheeke.
( N o t e by Gov. Gipps)
T h e proof of the devisee of the land by
Richard Hurd to Charles Roberts is certainlv
very unsufficient but still as the right of persons
claiming either under that Will or as Heirs at
law of Hurd will not be affected by the execution
of a Deed to Parry Long, I see no reason why
the Report to the Commissioners should not be
acted on.
The report is therefore approved.
G. Gipps.
May 2 1 . "
"Case No. 912
Monday, April 19th, 1 8 4 1 .
^\'illiam Henry Roberts of Hunter Street,
Svdnev, being sworn saith I knew the late
Richard Hurd he held some land at Bondi Ba\
and being the land in question containing 30
acres — he made a Will which I remember seeing and which was in the custody of my late
father and with his papers — I have these
papers but although I was looking for the Will
Now the question of ownership of this land did
not arise until September 1 8 4 0 , when Parry Long, a
Maitland solicitor, lodged a claim for the land in
question at Bondi. This brought the matter before the
Commissioners of the Court of Claims for investigation
and recommendation. This report which is of particular interest is as hereunder: —
"The Commissioners have the honour to report
for the information of his Excellency the
Governor
II
Although the date of the deed of grant is October
19, 1831, Levey was in possession of the land some
five or more years before. Neither was Barnett Levey
the first to have possession of this land. But before
we go into this story, let us first identify this grant in
the light of present location. It might be briefly
described as bounded on the north by Old South Head
Road, on the south by Birrell Street, on the east by
Paul Street and its continuation north and south and
on the west by Hollywood Avenue and its continuation
north and sou^h.
all yesterday I cannot find it. I remember however that by his Will, Richard Hurd left the
land at Bondi to my brother Charles Roberts.
It is the signature of my brother, Charles, which
is attached to the transfer from him to Parry
Long now before the Court.
William Henry Roberts.
William Carter.
Alfred Cheeke."
The questions which might be asked are these.
Why was a grant of land issued to Richard Hurd, a
prisoner for life, fifteen years after his arrival in the
colony and nine years after his death? That is certainly
very strange. Was it because some evidence was produced to show that he was the heir of John Hurd? No
such evidence was produced in Court. Was any such
promise of land made by Macquarie? The Court said
"Yes," but no date could be found and none has since
been found, though all the Macquarie Promise and
Order Books have been investigated.
Now the story of this grant, which has been
generally accepted for more than well over a century,
has its origin in a plan or map at the Registrar-General's
Department ( 9 2 W ) , signed William Henry W^ells,
Surveyor, undated. A photostat copy of part of the
map is shown herein, on which is the following
notation: —
"The Waverley Estate containing sixty acres was
originally granted by the Crown to —. Hatley,
Junior who sold to William Foreman for an Old
Horse; worn out. William Foreman sold the
Estate to Barnett Levey for a Cask of Cape Wine
(sour) and he obtained a Grant from the Crown,
dated 19th October 1831. Vide Page 110 of
Gov. Gaz. 1832
"
The result, of course, was that Parry Long
received the grant of thirty acres at Bondi under date
of May 27, 1841, and the grant to Richard Hurd was
cancelled as invalid in consequence of the death of
the grantee prior to its execution. And so ended a most
strange and interesting case of the land at Ben
Buckler.
In 1844, when under the District Council's
assessments for annual value were made. Long's thirty
acres at Ben Buckler were in the hands of the Loan
Company as owner but no part of it was occupied.
It is not proposed to trace the various ownerships of the land granted to Long, but it is thought
some mention should be made of the principal subdivisions. There was the Queenscliffe Estate of about
two hundred lots in Hastings Parade, Scarborough
Crescent, Brighton Boulevarde and Ramsgate Avenue
made for sale October 22, 1881. Then followed a sale
of three hundred lots on January 14, 1882. The number of lots sold at each of these sales has not been
traced. Later, on November 13, 1915, at a further
sale, lots in Hastings Parade, Brighton Boulevarde and
Ramsgate Avenue were put up for sale, called Bondi
Beach Estate. A further sale of this estate was made on
May 1, 1920, on the north side of Hastings Parade.
Wells' story has such a romantic touch about it
that it seems a pity that it has now, after so many
long years, to be challenged as not in accordance with
documentary evidence recently discovered by the writer
in the Mitchell Library. The documents and letters
found show the transfers of that particular portion of
sixty acres finally granted by the Crown to Barnett
Levey. Let us begin by quoting a letter of July 8,
1828, by Barnett Levey to the Hon. Alexander McLeay,
Colonial Secretary.
"Sir,—In reply to your letter of the 25 June
respecting the authority under which I hold the
land on the South Head Road I beg to enclose
copies of the transfers from Jones to Foreman
and from Foreman to me also a copy of the letter
from Jones to the late Mr. Oxley.
I beg therefore to state that when the late
Surveyor-General understood that I was building
on the ground he ordered Mr. Hoddle to measure
the same to shew my boundaries.
ROMANTIC STORY OF LAND GRANT TO
BARNETT LEVEY DISPROVED
The next grant within the Municipality of Waverley, after those to Roberts and Hurd, and perhaps the
most important of the three so far as "Waverlians" are
concerned, was that of sixty acres granted to Barnett
Levey on the South Head Road. It was this grant
that was responsible for the origin and foundation of
the present suburb of Waverley, from which stems the
name of the Municipality of Waverley.
I have, etc.
Barnett Levy" (Sic)
On the back of this letter was an undated office note: —
"A Promise of grant to the late Mr. Hyatt which
letter was given him by the late Governor
Macquarie and handed to the late Mr. Oxley by
Hyatt."
12
//;/ ryaytrifM
•
tfot
rdc'u,^'^
^- / ^ ^W^S^" ^ ^
J%e ^ ^ eteh^JL ti'ntif are cx^tlfUf
' ^ ' ^ '^^^
^'^'
|.—
- — iL-
fences.
Notes recorded on plan of Waverley Estate by Surveyor William Henry Wells, held in RegistrarGeneral's Department. The inaccuracy of some of these notes is proved on pages 12-14.
Thomas Jones Hath granted bargained sold . . .
. . and for ever quitted claim
to all
that piece or parcel of land or ground situate lying
and being on the South Head Road containing
sixty acres. Bounded on the West by a line South
thirty four chains on the South by a line east
sixteen chains on the East by a line North forty
eight chains to the South Head Road and on the
North by the road twenty one chains together
with the
Tenement or Dwelling House and
premises thereon erected and built and all woods
. . . . intended to be hereby granted . . . .
unto the said William Foreman . . . .
Signed, Sealed and Delivered. Sydney.
Thomas Jones L S
William Foreman L S
Received
from the within named
William Foreman the sum of Sixty Pounds being
the full amount of the consideration money
expressed to be paid to me"
Appended to the original document was the
following: —
"Received in part payment of a farm of sixty acres
of land situate on the South Head Road the sum
of Fifty Six Pounds in Dollars at five shillings
each this 8th day of September 1824
Signed Thomas Jones
Witness M (or W ) Harding"
Before quoting the second transfer document,
perhaps it would be of interest to quote this advertisement which appeared in the "Sydney Gazette" of June
2, 1825: —
"To be Let, and entered on immediately a neat
cottage together with 60 acres of Land a part in
But the Acting Surveyor-General, T. L. Mitchell,
succeeding Oxley, had already stated on May 29, 1828,
that no record could be found of such a promise, and
the Colonial Secretary added on July 16, of the same
year "that Mr. Hyatt appeared to have no title to the
land and will not be allowed any in this place". A
recent search of the Governor's Promise and Order
Books extant reveals no promise for Hyatt at any time
for this land.
An interesting find was made, however, by a
Promise under date of 31st March, 1821, of sixty
acres in the district of Svdney to one Thomas Jones
by Governor Macquarie. Jones was recommended by
Captain Piper as a new settler.
Now let us return to the copies of the Indentures
of Transfers mentioned by Barnett Levy (sic) in his
letter previously quoted. The first one affects the
transfer of sixty acres from Thomas Jones to William
Foreman, which is here now quoted in part: —
"This Indenture made the twenty sixth day of
January in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and twenty five between Thomas
Jones of Sydney in the Colony of New South
Wales Settler of the one part and William Foreman of Sydney aforesaid Publican of the other
part. Whereas the said Thomas Jones stand
lawfully seized and possessed of a certain piece
or parcel of ground situate lying and being on
the South Head Road, in the district of Sydney
and the said William Foreman hath
agreed to and with the said Thomas Jones for the
absolute conveyance thereof at or for the price or
sum of sixty pounds
He the said
13
Hoddle recorded the 4-mile stone at the junction
of Victoria Road and Old South Head Road of today.
Quit Rent commenced on Levev's sixty acres on
January 1, 1827, and the actual date of grant was
19th October, 1831.
It would seem appropriate to give now some
particulars of who and what Barnett Levey, this grantee,
was, for it is, he who gets the credit of having founded
Waverley.
The late C. H. Bertie, well-known Sydney
historian, wrote of him, "Barnett Levey was a true
pioneer. He possessed initiative and force, and, above
all, he had the unquenchable courage which defies
defeat and is onlv conquered by the hand of death.
He was a little in advance of his time, otherwifc his
descendants today would number, probably, a baronetcy in the clan and a larger rent roll to support it."
Some say he was a "ne'er-do-well" and always broke.
Barnett Levey, or as he was recorded as "Barnard" in
the 1822 Muster, came on the ship "John Bull," which
arrived in Sydney on December 18, 1821. The "John
Bull" was a convict ship carrying about eighty female
convicts. Barnett Levey was one of the twenty or more
free pas.sengers on that ship. He was also described
in the 1822 Muster as a "merchant" and "brother of
Solomon Levev". Solomon, who was a partner of Sir
Daniel Cooper in the Waterloo Stores in George and
Market streets, Sydney, was also in business at 72
George Street, Sydney. Solomon Levey with Cooper
bought up several small grants from the owners on
the Woollahra and Rose Bay side of Old South Flead
and obtained a consolidated grant of 1100 acres extending from Jersey Road, Paddington, to Fernleigh Avenue,
Rose Bay. Barnett Levey obtained an auctioneer's
licence in 1825. In June of that same year he
married Sarah Emma Wilson, of Pitt Street, Sydney.
Their first child was born in Jul}, 1826. The baptismal occasion was celebrated by a Ball. Levey was a
man who did most things with pomp, show and full
theatrical effect.
cultivation having a good garden well-fenced in,
about an acre and a half, situated on the South
Head Road about three miles from town, for the
term of three or five years at a very moderate
Rent:—For particulars enquire of William Foreman near the King's Wharf, George St Sydney."
This certainlv shows that the land was an improved farm with a cottage thereon before Barnett
Levc) took it over.
Now follows an extract from the Indenture of
Transfer from Foreman to Barnett Levey: —
"This Indenture made the tenth day of October in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and twentv six between William Foreman of
Sydney in the Colonv of New South Wales Dealer
of the one part and Barnett Levey of the same
place Merchant of the other part. Whereas the
said William Foreman is seized and possessed of
as well entitled unto the piece or parcel of land
and described. And whereas the said
Barnett Levey both contracted and agreed with
the said William Foreman for the absolute
purchase of the piece or parcel of land or ground
. . . premises at or for the price or sum of
one hundred and thirt\ pounds. Now this
Indenture Witnesseth that for and in consideration of the said sum of one hundred and thirty
pounds of lawful money of Great Britain to the
said William Foreman in hand well and
truly paid
the receipt whereof the said
William Foreman doth hereby acknowledge . . .
. . and doth grant, bargain, sell
and
confirm to the said Barnett Levey in his actual
possession
Received from the within
named Barnett Levey the sum of one hundred
and thirty pounds being the consideration money
in the within deed mentioned to be paid by him
to me this day and year first within written
Signed William Foreman."
The evidence which has been produced here
concerning the origin of Barnett Levey's grant at
Waverley completely disproves the old worn-out horse
and cask of sour Cape wine story, recorded by Wells
on his plan at the Registrar-General's Department.
We have not yet solved how and where Wells got the
information he recorded on his map. When the
Government was fully aware of Levey's possession of
this land and intention to erect a dwelling house, action
was taken to have it surveyed. Robert Hoddle of the
Survev or-General's Department was instructed to carry
it out. Hoddle records the survev in his Field Book
of February 2, 1827: —
" 60 acres marked to commence at the 4 mile stone
on the South Head Road west 42 chs south of
road drove a stake side of hill then west 20 chains
at 10 chains across a road, 2 to left old hut and
north 2 5 chains to South Head Road"
Barnett Levey came to this colony really to join
his brother Solomon, who was, as previously said, in
business at 72 George Street, Sydney, which is now
Dymock's Arcade. Solomon had purchased this site
about the year 1817 for £400. A report in the "Sydney
Gazette" of July 10, 1823, stated "Mr. Solomon Levey
to be joined by partner from England." No doubt this
was his brother, Barnett, because an advertisement in
the same paper on June 23, 1825, indicated Barnett
Levey, Warehouseman, No. 72 George Street. The
following month Solomon Levey advised in the press
that he had moved from 72 George Street to No. 9
Macquarie Place, Sydney.
It is thought that it would be appropriate to quote
here some parts of an article published in the Australian Jewish Historical Society's Journal, \'ol. 1-2 by
Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Hyman (now deceased).
14
who was a distant relative of Barnett Levey. Hyman,
it may be interesting to add, was for some time President of the North Bondi Surf Club.
ORIGIN OF NAMING OF WAVERLEY
Concerning his 60-acre farm on the Old South
Head Road an earlv indication of Barnett Levev's
intention was shown bv a reference in the '"Sydney
Gazette" of July 16, 1827, which said: —
" . . . T h e building, well-known to the last generation of Sydney citizens under the name of the
Royal Hotel, was not the first Royal on the site.
The first hotel was built for Barnett Levey, . . .
Four years later, namely, on 26th March, 1 8 3 2 ,
Levey opened a portion of the building under the
name of the Victoria. Joseph Fovvles, in his wellknown book, 'Sydney in 1 8 4 8 , ' relates that Mr.
Levey was at that time the owner of the
original hotel in George Street, and he fitted up
the saloon of that establishment as a theatre,
where the first specimens of the legitimate drama
were exhibited in the colony . . . Levey set on
foot a scheme to erect the first real theatre in
Sydney, and the public was invited to take shares
of £ 5 0 or £5 in a Tontine Company . . . the entertainment made rapid progress. T h e building
was at the rear of 72 George Street, Sydnev. Bv
March, 1 8 2 8 , the full number of 2 0 0 shares
were taken up . . . In June, 1829, Levey obtained
the license from the Governor of the day to open
a concert for vocal and instrumental music, and
for performances of plays . . . It is on record
that at the final performance given on 31st
August, 1829 Levey sang 'My Love is Gone to
Botany Bay.'
The 'Sydney Gazette,' of 31st
August, had a paragraph stating it was 'the eve
of the day on which he | Levey J is to deliver up
possession of the premises to the shareholders of
the Tontine,' for the waters of financial adversity were washing round poor Barnett Levey,
and he finally decided to sell the Royal Hotel. On
the 14th December, 1 8 3 0 , Levey's career as its
proprietor came to an end."
"Mr. Barnett Levey is, we understand, engaged
in erecting a cottage about three miles from Sydney on the South Head Road, fiftv feet long and
thirty [feet] wide, for a country residence—purposes to supply Sydney with vegetables, etc."
A further report appeared in the same paper on
November 1 1 , 1827, which stated: —
This splendid building which Mr. B.
Levey is erecting at about three miles on the South
Head Road, which has a commanding view of
Sydney to the west and of the ocean to the east,
has been named by the proprietor 'Waverlev
House' in honour of Sir Walter Scott."
Scott, of course, wrote the "Waverley Novels" of
which "Waverley" published in 1814, was one of the
largest group dealing with Scotch history, which also
included six others. Sir Walter Scott was born at
Edinburgh on August 15, 1 7 7 1 , educated at Edinburgh
High School and Fklinburgh Universitv, knighted in
1820, and died at Abbotsford on September 2 1 , 1832.
This is the first reference to the application of the
name "Waverley" to this grant.
Had this statement
not been correct we suggest Barnett Levev would have
at once denied it, in the same sharp manner, as he did
in the following rather playful passage-at-arms which
took place between the Editor of the "Sydney Gazette"
and Mr. Levey. In the issue of October 15, 1827,
the Editor wrote: —
"Mr. Barnett Levey, besides the erection of his
frightfully lofty temple in town, is also building
a handsome dwelling house upon his estate on the
South Head Road within a few minutes walk of
'Bellvue'. As soon as the house is finished Mr.
Levey intends erecting a Church near his estate
for the benefit of the neighbourhood in that
direction."
Concerning the Theatre, Mr. C. H. Bertie,
in his booklet, "The Story of Old George Street,"
published in 1 9 2 0 , wrote:
"The Theatre was opened on December 26,
1 8 3 2 , when Douglas Jerrold's 'Black-Eyed Susan'
was performed, followed, as was the custom of
the day, by a farce, in this case 'Monsieur Tonson.' T h e theatre was closed when the Royal
Victoria Theatre in Pitt Street, was built . . . "
The "Sydney Gazette" of 22nd January, 1 8 3 1 ,
stated "it was much to be regretted that Mr. Levey
should not have met with the encouragement
which his enterprising disposition would seem
almost to command. Men are estimated by their
success and those who now acclaim against Mr.
Levey's folly in erecting so capacious an edifice
would have lauded his daring spirit had the results of his labou's been commensurate with his
enterprises
To this Mr. Levey replied to the Editor on the
17th of the same month t h u s —
"
In this morning's paper \ou make a
great error. As far as your statement goes as to
building a house on my little estate is true, but
as to building a Church is totally wrong. I think
a grog shop would find more inside passengers
on that road."
As already said, Levey soon denied anything not
meeting with his approval. \\'hile Levey's various
business activities in the town of Sydney kept him
verv busy, his "Waverley House" dwelling had not up
to the middle of 1828 been completed, for in August
15
"Waverley House," built and named by Barnett Levey in 1827, the origin of the suburban name Waverley.
ing a view of Sydney and the Cove, etc.
Immediate entry. Rent moderate.
Apply John Morison, 43 Pitt Street, Sydney,
18th'june, 1829."
of that year Levey obtained a mortgage from John
Morison for an amount of £1,085 over "10 acres of
land, including Waverley House with stables, well, etc.,
now erecting and nearly completed thereon and of a
range of cottages now building thereon on the north
side of the said house . . . .
The mortgage is given
as a mutual security for the payment of the goods sold
and delivered and the Mortgagor
to finish and
complete the dwelling house and buildings thereon—
within 6 months from date of deed (1st August,
1828)."
It is not clear whether Morison rented "Waverley
House" at the time, but it is worth mentioning that
"Reminiscences of Bondi", an article by Thomas
O'Brien, published in the Royal Australian Historical
Society's Journal VIII Supplement, 1923, states: —
"I would like to refer to Waverley House because
my father and mother lived there, with my
grandfather. Monitor Hall, about 95 years ago."
On June 23 of the following year the completed
"Waverley House" was advertised by John Morison
in the "Sydney Gazette" as "To Let" and for the first
time we got some idea of the building itself. It was
advertised as: —
From this it would appear that Monitor Hall must
have been the first to occupy "Waverley House" after
the building was completed and advertised as "To Let"
in June, 1829.
"A capacious dwelling house, situated 3 miles
from Sydney, on the South Head Road, called
'Waverley House', consisting of 3 large cellars
and kitchen on ground floor; 2 parlours, 2 bedrooms, storeroom, etc., on second floor; large
dining room, 2 bed-rooms, lobby room, etc., on
third floor; with bed-room in the attic; stables
and offices, with a well of excellent water, plentifully supplied in the driest seasons, and a paddock
of cleared land of about 10 acres.
These premises are pleasantly situated, command-
The range of cottages referred to in the preceding
advertisement was Levey's Waverley Crescent Subdivision, another of his fantastic schemes. No
better explanation of its aims can be given than that
shown in auctioneer Bodenham's advertisment, which
appeared in 'The Australian" on January 30, 1828,
indicating the sale of 63 allotments at his rooms on
Friday, February 15, of that year—without reserve.
"63 allotments on the South Head Road, 4 i miles
from Sydney, situated at Bell Vue—each allot16
C.—Roberts, in announcing to his friends and
the public general!)' his having opened the above
INN, begs to inform vou that the same is now
replete with Wines and Spirits of the choicest
Qualities.
Dunbar's Bottled Ale and Porter, Cigars, etc.,
etc., and every requisite for their accommodation.
N.B.: Good stabling.
Firewood by the load.
South Head, July 12, 183 3."
ment it is intended shall comprise a frontage to
the main road of 30 feet and 300 feet in depth,
with a lawn the whole front of the buildings, and
a fountain in the centre. It is proposed to sell
the land in separate allotments for whatever they
fetch and each purchaser will be required to build
a cottage—the whole to be erected under a joint
continuation of verandah. The purchaser to be
allowed the ground without any rent whatever,
independent of the purchase money or fee simple,
for 50 years and then to revert to ground landlord. The building to be erected in the form
of a crescent, and to be designated Waverley
Crescent, after the name of the celebrated novels;
and it is intended to erect a spacious school at one
end, with an extensive inn or boarding-house at
the other. It is presumed that this will prove
highly beneficial and important to the health of
the numerous families in Sydney from its salubrious and healthy situation
Terms onefourth cash and the residence at 6 and 12 months.
Each party not completing his contract to forfeit
his deposit. The plan of this important colonial
design may be inspected on application to Mr.
Bodenham, Agent and Auctioneer."
You will notice in this advertisement the words
'Tate Taylor" which, of course, clearly shows that
Taylor had the first licence for this inn. Confirmation
of this is shown in the columns of the "Sydney Herald"
of July 5, 1832, which stated,
"A licence this year granted to a house in
Waverley Crescent, South Head Road, which
has been hitherto steadily refused for the last
six years. Kept by Mr. Taylor, formerly of York
Hotel (Sydney)."
Again, in the same paper on July 25, 1832,
mention is made of "Crown Hotel," Peter Taylor. It
would seem that Taylor was the licensee when the
land was owned by R. Brownlow.
FIRST INN AT WAVERLEY—THE CROWN INN
It is not clear how many blocks of the subdivision
were sold, but some readily traced were: one each to
Joseph Bigge in July, 1828: Rayner in September of
the same year on which a cottage was in course of
erection; John Brown in December, 1829; Doyle in
1830, adjoining Wilshire, who apparently had bought
one; John Paul, John and G. Pane in 1833 (see also
Ben Eden House) (now part of Marist Brothers'
School), and perhaps some others. The one that has
particular interest in this history is the first-mentioned
one sold as No. 12 to Joseph Bigge, an innkeeper, because on this lot was opened an inn, the first in the
district of Waverley. From Bigge the land passed into
the hands of Richard Brownlow, an innkeeper, of Sydney, in August, 1831. The transfer from Brownlow to
Chas. Roberts on August 2, 1833, included "the dwelling-house or tenement lately erected and built on the
said piece or parcel of land and now called or known
by the name or sign of 'Crown Inn' and all ways,
etc. To hold the same unto the said Charles Roberts
his and assigns—Consideration £200." The application of Charles Roberts for a licence for a public house
was granted in June, 183 3, but it was also included
in a list of new applications granted on July 12, 1833.
Some three days later the following advertisement
appeared in the "Sydney Herald," July 15, 1833: —
Where was the "Crown Inn" in Waverley Crescent? Its site has been definitely fixed on present-day
maps as on the south side of Waverley Crescent,
facing the centre of the small triangular "crescent"
reserve or park at the junction of the Crescent with
Bondi Road. It is this location that Surveyor Knapp,
in October 1842, showed cottages owned by R. Dawson
and John McKay. Dawson's was afterwards Mrs.
Smith's. They were both stone houses and McKay's
was big with stables, but Dawson's was most likely
the old Crown Inn. They are now gone and more
modern cottages take their place on Waverley Crescent.
These old places are again referred to on page 19.
Charles Roberts conducted the "Crown Inn" until
(he licence was granted to John H. Emerson on June
27, 1837. Emerson ran the "Crown Inn" until the
following year, when, on June 26, 1838, his application for a renewal of the hotel licence was refused.
And so ended the "Crown Inn," the first established
in Waverley. (See also under Inns and Hotels.) When
Roberts left the "Crown Inn" he went to the "Star
Inn," Parramatta Road, for which he was granted a
licence on July 1, 1837.
It is rather remarkable that although Barnett
Levey built "Waverley House" no evidence can be
found whether he or his family ever occupied it as a
dwelling. It may have been because Barnett Levey
became involved in the widespread economic depres-
"Crown Inn, Waverley Crescent,
South Head Road,
Late Taylor.
17
PIJAI^
or
2-k i l r r r g of %'an6
near
WAVBRLY
CRESCENT
H i o p r o j i o r j y of ih<« lale .15 ^ \ n i T B
It
i.V*
- V"
' (tic fnt..4 '
.1 r-
PLAN BY SURVEYOR KNAPP, OCTOBER, 1842.
The house to the right of Hayes' property is the approximate site of the
first Waverley Inn. John White's land (later Mrs. Brownloif's) extends
from present Bondi Road along Paul Street to about Gowrie Avenue.
sion in the colony in 1829 or his activities as hotel proprietor, theatre manager and merchant were
getting beyond him. Things with him were so bad
that his Waverley Estate was put up and sold by
Sheriff Macquoid at the suit of John Morison and
McDonald and Campbell on February 4, 1830.
hotel. The commanding situation of these premises
makes them well adapted for that purpose."
No licence for the opening of this house as an
inn can be traced.
WAVERLEY HOUSE BECOMES ROMAN
CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE
Morison's debt, which amounted to £1,080,
was covered by his purchase of several lots of land,
including Waverley House, which he secured at a
price of £705. The balance of the land was divided
into twenty allotments which brought in an amount
of £ 4 8 1 / 1 1 / - , the whole sale totalling £ 1 , 1 8 6 / 1 1 / - .
On
tised in
February
tisement
Up to 1836 Waverley House, which had become
known as "Levey's Folly," had been used for no useful
purpose whatsoever. In March of that year it was
advertised as a place or "resort for invalids," but it
does not seem that this was a success. Following a
petition presented to Governor Gipps by the Roman
Catholic authorities requesting that provision might
be made for the support and education of the orphans
of Roman Catholic parents and for other children without protectors and others, Waverley House was taken
over bv Bishop Folding and a committee, and was
established as a school or orphanage for destitute child-
July 9, 1832, Waverley House was adverthe "Sydnev Herald" "For Sale," and on
28 of the following year appeared an adverin the same paper: —
"Waverley House, Waverley Crescent, will be
opened on the ensuing licensing day as a tavern and
18
ren in June, 1837. It was opened with only twelve
or thirteen children under the charge of Miss Burke
as matron. She was succeeded by a Miss Smith who
gave up in 1838 when Mrs. Martin was appointed
Matron. She carried on as Matron at Waverley until
\V''averley House was given up and the children, then
numbering 113, were transferred on March 8, 1844,
to their new quarters provided by Sir George Gipps
near the Female Factory at Parramatta.
(Annual Assessment Value) of each. George Young &
Co., owner of Waverley House, stone, untenanted
and in disrepair, in one acre of ground—A.A.V. £50.
Atwell Hayes, 2 acres, on which was a stone cottage,
out offices, garden and paddock, in Waverley Crescent
—A.A.V. £50. Mrs. Smith, one rood, on which is
stone cottage and kitchen, untenanted—A.A.\'. £20.
Mr. John McKay, one acre, good stone cottage, kitchen, offices, stable and paddock, in Waverley Crescent — A.A.V. £60. Richard Brownlow 2a. 3r. Op.,
fenced with hut, man in charge, partly cultivated —
A.A.V. £20. Charles Brigden (Commissariat), 7a. Or.
21p. — A.A.V. £52 — occupied by Brigden. Brigden
also had a weatherboard cottage (formerly Hodgkinson's)—A.A.V. £20. Jacob Josephson, 3a. Or. 21p.,
weatherboard cottage and garden, occupied by Thomas
Brown—A.A.V. £20. There were a few others with
A.A.V. to about £6. In all, there were about 2 5 acres
of the grant unoccupied and called waste land. The
total annual assessment value of the lands amounted
to £323. This document was signed by Jacob Josephson, Executor of Barnett Levey, who died in 1837.
The institution, when at Waverley, was aided
by the Government to the extent of £600 a year to
end of 1839, when it was raised to £1,000 and in
1840 to £1,500 a year. While at Waverley House the
Orphan School was twice struck by lightning, but the
casualties, if any, are not known.
When District Councils, the first form of Local
Government in New South Wales, were established
in the early 1840's the owners of parts of Barnett
Levey's old grant were assessed at an annual
valuation, as recorded in the Assessment Book
of 1844. Let us take the principal ones and the A.A.V.
19
CHAPTER III
CHURCH AND SCHOOL ESTATE
AND PROMISEE LAND GRANTS
One of the least known facts concerning Crown
Lands in the area embraced within the Municipality
of Waverley, if we exclude the three grants already
referred to, is that it was once wholly a part of Church
and School Estate lands of the Church of England.
A Corporation had been granted a Charter on March
9, 1826, by His Majesty the King, mainly for the
purpose of land being used for the support and establishment of that Church in New South Wales. One
of the provisions was that the Corporation or Church
of England was to be granted one seventh of the land
contained in every parish of a county. A glance at
the photostat copy herein of a plan of the area in
f}^t/r,/mfri
Waverley shows its extent. It was short-lived, however, for in 1829 His Majesty intimated that he intended to revoke the Charter, as was later done, but
further grants under it for some time ceased. As a
result, the Waverley land, granted to the Church and
School Corporation reverted to the Crown.
ST. JAMES' GLEBE LANDS AT WAVERLEY
The above Glebe Lands comprised eleven acres
situated in Oxford Street between Henry Hough's
grant and the present Waverley Tram Depot. The
land originally formed part of the old Sydney Common
set apart by Governor Macquarie in 1811. Later the
Common became the Lachlan Swamps or Water Reserve from which the water supply for Sydney was obtained in its early years. The site of the tram depot is
also a part of the same reservation. Authority for the
appropriation of the Glebe Lands for St. James Church
in Sydney was approved by the Governor in 1841 and
granted on September 3, 1842, to the following
trustees:—William Grant Broughton, Bishop of Australia, Alexander McLeay, Richard Jones, William Macpherson and John Lamb. The 11 acres just referred
to, however, represented only a part of the Glebe
Lands for St. James, the balance an area of 29 acres
which was also included in the beforementioned grant
was situated between Hampden Park, Paddington, and
the junction of Ocean Street and New South Head
Road, Edgecliff.
On the west side of St. James Road in Oxford
Street a small area of Oa. 3r. 5p. was approved of
as a site for a Church of England school house in
1858. This land was in lieu of an appropriation for
a school site at St. Mark's, Double Bay. A part of the
school site was acquired by the Government for tramway purposes on June 12, 1912, but the other part of
four allotments fronting Oxford Street was included
in the Westgate Estate subdivision of the north portion of the St. James' Glebe Lands in January, 1881,
which extended southerly to Gowrie Street of today.
Westgate Cottage, with a nice garden in front and
stables at the rear, stood about the eastern corner of
St. James Road and Oxford Street. Ruthven Street did
not at first extend through to Oxford Street. In 187172, Westgate was occupied by T. W. Wilshire, but
another storey was subsequently added and its occupant became Lieut.-Colonel P. Raymond, no doubt
the well-known land and estate agent of that period.
ri^ Ittije fvt.
Church and School Lands in
1828.
20
21
which have been from time to time changed. Where
it is considered necessary for identification, the earlier
name or names will be shown in brackets.
The original subdivision of the Glebe Lands was made
in 1848 and were intended as 28 year leases. Apparently that was not a success, as we find that a number
of 99 year leases are recorded in the Registrar General's
Department as commencing from the year 1867.
These, of course, will only have a few years to run
and unless a sale be made in the meantime with the
lessees, the leases with improvements will revert to
the Church of England. There must have been some
lots not leased, as a subdivision sale was held on
October 7, 1882, of Glebe Lands of St. James.
HENRY BOND was an early applicant for land
in the Bondi part of the municipal area. He was given
an Order by Governor Darling for four acres under
date of January 18, 1827—one of the conditions being
that he "establish a Tan Yard on the land within two
years." The grant which was called "Bondville" was
situated a little north of Murriverie Road (late Gregory
Street) with a frontage to Old South Head Road.
It is not clear whether Bond established his "Tan
Yard" or not, but, as the grant did not issue to him
until May 14, 1836, there appears to have been a
considerable delay in the issue. It may be, of course,
that Bond, being in occupation, did not take the trouble
of apph'ing for the Deed for some years. Such a thing
often happened. In 1844 when the Annual Assessment
Valuation was made by the District Council, an early
form of Local Government, W. Reynolds was in occupation with a small fenced-in cottage. The A.A.V. was
fixed at £10. In later years this land formed the
"Lynch Estate" subdivision which brought into being
Shaw and Elliott streets.
LAND GRANTS BY GOVERNOR'S PROMISE
OR ORDER TO 1831-1832
(See Grant Location Map, Page 21.)
Apart from the three earlier grants, namely
Roberts, Hurd, and Levey's, which have been already
referred to within the municipal area, only a few other
land grants were approved of, prior to the new regulations determined upon by the Home Government
for the disposal of Crown Lands in New South Wales,
which came into force on August 1, 1831. However,
where a promise of or order for land had been made
before that date, by the Governor it was allowed to
proceed to completion, subject, of course, to the usual
conditions being complied with. In some instances
the promisees after occupation, disposed of their interest in the land; in such cases the grants were issued to
the purchasers. \\'here any doubt as to ownership
existed the question was referred to the Court of
Claims which determined ownership. This very often
delayed the issue of a grant for a considerable period,
although the delay did not interfere with occupation.
Another reason for delay was, as indicated by a report
by Surveyor-General Oxley to the Colonial Secretary,
dated July 10, 1827, which stated, ". . . Mr Dixon
has completed the survey of the east boundary of
County of Cumberland . . . and measured and determined the boundaries of all farms held under proper
authority but the grants have not yet passed the Seal
. . ." This is mentioned because some of the early
grants at Waverley may have come within this category.
FRANCIS J. KNIGHT was another early
promisee of land in this locality, the order for four acres
bearing date of January 14, 1830, and possession
ordered to him on January 1, 1831. He called the
grant "Brayted," a name which has not been perpetuated in subsequent years. Similar to the other
grants just referred to, it had a condition attached,
namely, that "he establish a Tan Yard within two
years." The grant did not issue to Knight until January
1, 1838, some seven years after possession. It is,
indeed, significant that the grants with the "Tan
Yard" establishment condition attached were located
near the Old South Head Road along the low-lying
lands running between Bondi and Rose Bay, which
contained in those days a number of swamps and
lagoons, the water of which would be of great importance to such an industry, and may be the reason for
the intended establishment of such a business. Knight's
land in later years formed the Clarke's Estate subdivision which includes Bonus and Justus streets. Not
very much is known of Francis Knight except that he
came to New South Wales at the age of about 32 years
in the ship "Elizabeth" in 1827. After that he was for
a time engaged as a soap manufacturer in Clarence
Street, Sydney.
It is now proposed to give some particulars
concerning persons who were promised, given orders
for, and/or possession of areas, prior to the regulations
of August, 1831, insofar as they affect the Municipality of Waverley. Sufficient details to identify the
location of the land today will be given together with
anv biographical sketches or interesting personal
references to the purchasers that may be available.
An endeavour will also be made to keep the land
purchases in chronological order so that the trend
of development may be shown and followed (see map).
It is proposed also to use the present-day street or
road names rather than the original names, many of
When the District Council's Annual Assessment
Valuation was made in 1844 the owner of the grant
was then F. J. King. The occupier, Richard Bottom,
lived in a weatherboard cottage, fenced in the only
improvement. The A.A.V. was fixed at £10.
22
HERCULES WATTS was promised an area of ten
acres, adjoining Bond's on the north, on May 23, 1829,
and given possession on August 31 of that year. As
in the case of Bond s grant one of the conditions was
that he "establish a Tan Yard within two years." Watts
called it "Louisa Vale." There is no indication of the
name having been perpetuated in any way. The grant
did not issue until April 13, 183 5, quite another long
delay. At the establishment of District Councils and
the fixing of the Annual Assessment Valuation in 1844
the owners of the grant were then Hercules Watts and
Charles Steele of the firm of Morley and Steele,
Bathurst Street, Sydney. The assessment was £20 p.a.
Erected on the land was a cottage with a garden fenced
in. This land had a frontage to Old South Head Road
and includes present Owen and Roe streets of the later
Benburb Estate, the subdivision of which was made
and put up for sale on April 14, 1917. Hercules Watts
will be remembered as being a Councillor of the third
elected Council of the Municipality of Waverley in
1861. His service to the Council was short, as he
died in July of that year.
HENRY HOUGH and the name "Mill Hill" has
a familiar ring of memories to early Waverlians. Henry
Hough, of Sussex Street South, Svdney, received a
grant of 10 acres of land on which he erected a windmill and used it for the grinding of corn and other
cereal products. This land was promised to Hough in
July, 1832, and possession granted in December of
the same year. The deed of grant, however, did not
issue until March 16, 1840. Delays of this kind were
not unusual for reasons we have already mentioned and
sometimes for special reasons. This grant was actually
in lieu of an area of 60 acres promised to Hough
in 1820 by Governor Macquarie which had not been
selected. The little farm at "Mill Hill" was called
JAMES CHISHOLM obtained a grant of five
acres adjoining Watts' ten-acre block, already mentioned, on November 24, 1834. A grant in this year
would be, generally speaking, a purchase grant, but
it is found that this land was originally promised to
one, James Alcorn, on February 16, 1830, and possession given to him on May 26 of the same year. One
of the conditions was that Alcorn "establish a Dairy
within two years." Apparently Alcorn disposed of the
land, probably to Chisholm, without having applied
for the grant. On Chisholm applying for the grant,
the question of ownership was referred to the Commissioners of Court of Claims which decided in Chisholm's favour, to whom the grant was issued, as before
stated. Prior to 1887 this five-acre block was sundivided with frontages to Old South Head Road and a
new street called Wiley Street (now William Street)
being established. It extended easterly to present Polyblank Parade.
Hough's Mill at Mill Hill, Waverley, sketched
by G. W. Lupson. Demolished about 1881.
WILLIAM BEET had a grant of 20 acres about
one hundred yards or so northerly of Chisholm's land
and with a frontage to Old South Head Road. This
land was promised to him on July 1, 1831, and possession given on July 16, of the following year. The grant
which was not issued until March 16, 1840, was
actually in lieu of 50 acres previously ordered to Beet
by Governor Brisbane, but apparently had not before
been selected. This is another instance where a considerable number of years passed before the grant
issued. This area was later subdivided, part of which
was The Cardigan Estate ( 1 9 0 7 ) , with frontages to
Old South Head Road, Liverpool Street (formerly
Collingwood), Chaleyer and Onslow streets.
"Hope," perhaps a little wishful thinking by Hough at
the time. It may be identified as fronting Oxford Street,
Denison Street and southerly along that street to about
midway between Birrell and Hough streets, on the
west by St. James' Glebe Lands which is a line about
midway between Ruthven Street and Mill Hill Road,
inclusive of any streets or lanes within that area.
It is generally believed that Hough erected the
mill about 1846, but it is revealed that when J. Gorman surveyed the St. James' Glebe Lands adjoining,
for the Church of England on May 12, 1841, the
location of a mill and hut then existed on Hough's
23
John Smith, of George Street, Sydney. In June, fout
years later, he was employed by a man named Teale
who had a lease of a windmill on Church Hill, Sydney.
He was married about this time to Elizabeth Sheppard,
a daughter of Isaac Sheppard, of Sydney. In his day
Hough was a conspicuous figure. W. J. Napier, an
early resident of \\'averley, once described him as
"proud of his position" and said, "He was possessed
of a court uniform which he alwavs wore to Government House, to which he had entree—"
land, as shown on Gorman's plan furnished at the time.
This suggests that a mill was in existence at least five
years earlier than the vear generally accepted.
The old familiar landmark stood the test of time
until about 1878, if the report of the "Australian Town
and Country Journal" newspaper is correct, which
stated in its issue of October 19, 1878; ". . . On
October 1, 1878, ninety years after the founding of
the colony, the last of the Sydney windmills was
levelled to the ground." It is suggested that 1878 is
not quite correct as demolition was not completed
until about 1881. The old mill was a picturesque sight,
the entrance being through slip-rails from the Old
South Head Road (now Oxford Street) at about
present Mill Hill Road. The location of the mill would
be approximately at the junction of Gowrie Street
and Gowrie Lane of today.
It seems that the demolition of the old mill was
the preliminary step to the subdivision of the grant in
May, 1881. This subdivision brought into being Mill
Hill Road, Hough and Hope streets a continuation of
Ebley Street (then Smithers Street) and present Spring
Street (formerly Browne Street). In all it was subdivided into 183 allotments with twenty-feet frontages, except the corner allotments which ranged from
thirty-one feet along Oxford Street to forty feet on
other corners. This sort of subdivision no doubt
accounts for the small type of cottage which can still
be seen today.
Who was this Henry Hough (pronounced Huff
or Hoff), one of the earliest Waverlians?
Hough was born in 1804. By trade he was a
millwright and was engaged about 1828 as such by
24
CHAPTER IV
LAND BY PURCHASE
1832-1841
(See Land Purchase Grants Slietch Map on Page 21 for Location)
The introduction of the above form of land
grants marked the end of the disposal of Crown Land
by free grants. Then there came into being a change
in the disposal of Crown Lands by Public Auction Sale
in August, 1831, to which reference has been made.
It was some three or four years before any purchases
were made under the new regulations in the Waverley
or Bondi areas. Apparently the demand was little.
When the demand did come, it was for acres mainh
along the Old South Head Road through Bondi Junction to the reserve at South Head and at isolated
beaches along the coast line. Again, we shall try for
the same reason, as beforementioned, to keep them in
some sort of chronological order. For easy identification purposes present-day street names will again be
used.
ANDREW MURRAY was one of the earlv purchasers of an area of 6a. Ir. Op. for £ 1 2 / 1 0 / - for
which a grant was issued on February 7, 183 5. It was
located between Beet's and Chisholm's grants on the
Old South Head Road already mentioned and adjoining William Street. "The Avenue" runs through the
land and came into being by the Rose Park Estate subdivision in more recent years.
RICHARD ROBERTS bought an area of 10 acres
on the north side of Hughes' land for an amount of
£55 and received the grant under date January 28,
1836. The land extended to Princess Street in the
north and easterly to Gilbert Street. This land was
subdivided under the name of Roberts' Estate on
April 28 and May 4, 1883, with frontages to
Roberts Street provided by that subdivision.
So far the land granted has been along the Old
South Head Road from about the Waverley Tram
Depot to Princess Street but to keep in chronological
order of sale we now turn to Nelson Bay, or Bronte of
today.
WTLLIAM MORTIMER LEWTS was the first
purchaser of land in this locahty and he bought in
such lots that he completely secured the whole frontage to that beach as we know it now. His purchases
included 12 acres fronting the beach for £144, the
grant issuing June 6, 1836, adjoining on the south
10 acres for £20, October 12, 1836, the grant issuing
January 23, 1837; a further grant of 8 acres
adjoining on the north also issued January 23, 1837
(sale price not ascertained); another portion of 11a.
2r. 24p. adjoining the last mentioned on south and
west he purchased for £ 7 / 1 1 / 6 . The whole of these
portions embrace nearly 42 acres and may be roughly
described as extending southerly to the north end of
Tipper Avenue, Gardyne Street, part Murray Street
on west and on the north side to about Hewlett Street.
This area would include now the whole business section
at the beach, Bronte Park, Bronte House and the main
residential portion near the park. It may be reasonably
asked—what had William Mortimer Lewis in mind
when he purchased this large area of virgin bush?
He was at the time Colonial Architect in New South
Wales, and perhaps he saw in this bushland spot with
easterly ocean view, the setting for a colonial mansion
of baronial dimensions, for that is exactly the type
which we believe he contemplated when he laid the
foundations on the present site of Bronte House.
PROPOSED COLONIAL MANSION
It was indeed unfortunate for him that a calamitous economic depression, which struck the colony
about 1840 and the following few years, left him, as it
did many others, in such financial difficulties that his
ambition got no further than laying the foundation
and the erection of a few upright posts of his mansion.
It was in this unfinished state that the house and
land of about 42 acres were purchased for £420 bv
Robert Lowe, who had only arrived in the colonv
about the end of 1842. So we can say that the Bronte,
as we know it todav, was purchased about 1843 for a
modest £420. But the real story of Lowe and Bronte
House will be told under "Bronte House." Let us see
who William Mortimer Lewis was. Lewis was
appointed an assistant survevor in the SurveyorGeneral's Department on September 11, 1829. Town
Surveyor in Svdney in 1833 and was then selected
25
by Governor Bourke in 1835 to be Colonial Architect,
a position which he held with great success. He
designed many of the public buildings in N.S.W.
including Darlinghurst Gaol and under the English
Architect, Blore, superintended the erection of present
Government House.
Bay as well as at Bronte. In 1844 this grant had
passed to H. C. Sempill.
Of recent years two important subdivisions were
made on parts of Hatfield's grant:—Wonderland City
Estate fronting Pacific Avenue on the north side of
the park, and Wonderland City Estate south of the
park fronting Thompson Street. The amusement centre
of Wonderland City was established and opened on
this land in 1906 and prior to that the Bondi Aquarium
in 1887.
Most of the areas just mentioned on the Old
South Head Road and towards the ocean, were lands
put up in a sale by the Crown on October 10, 1838.
Included in that sale was an area of 17 acres sold to
WILLIAM BARTON for an amount of £5 3 / 1 0 / - ,
the grant of which issued to him on March 7, 1839.
This land is located at what is now called "The
Boot," just south of Bondi, between Fletcher Street
and Hunter Park. This grant was subdivided prior to
1887, with frontages to two new streets. Bay and
Thomas, but now called Wilga and Sandridge streets,
respectively. A more recent subdivision provided for a
strip along the ocean front as a recreation reserve.
In 1844, when assessments were made on owners'
lands, the grant was then owned by H. C. Sempill,
but there was no one in occupation and no improvements had been made. It was later a part of the O'Brien
Bondi Estate.
LAND SOUTH AND EAST OF BELLEVUE HILL
We return again to the Old South Head Road
near Bellevue Hill where some fairly large suburban
lots were put up for sale on October 10, 1838, as
previously mentioned. The principal buyers for blocks
between Bellevue Hill and to Bondi Road were JOHN
B. JONES, in partnership with EDWARD FLOOD,
who bought two ten-acre portions adjoining Levey's
grant for £110 and £ 1 0 2 / 1 0 / - each, the grants of
which issued on 16th and 7th February, 1838, respectively. These lands extended from Paul Street to
Flood Street. On August 6, 1868, parts of these two
areas were the subject of a private subdivision known
as Waverley Crescent Extension Estate which brought
into existence three new streets: Geierstein (now Bon
Accord Avenue), Kenilworth and Woodstock streets
and several lanes. Another part of the grant, east of
the ^Vaverley Crescent Extension was the Clarendon
or Waverley Heights Estate, subdivided on December
1, 1882.
William Barton, the grantee, was a stock and
share broker, accountant and land agent, and did a
flourishing business at 5 55 George Street, Sydney. He
was the father of the subsequent Speaker and AttorneyGeneral in the Federal House, Sir Edmund Barton. He
learnt the business he was engaged in on the London
Stock Exchange. Many Sydney Banks and Insurance
Companies were floated by him. He came to Australia in 1827 as Secretary of the Australian Agricultural
Company, but left that company in 1830. In Stock
Exchange circles he was said to have been the first
"bull" and "bear" to operate.
A further sale of lots on the Waverley Crescent
Extension Estate was held on February 6, 1886, an
inducement being free deeds to the buyers of allotments.
Edward Flood was one of the best known pastoralists in New South Wales and also ran the Blackwall
Stores at Circular Quay, Sydney, more than 80 years
ago.
Another earlv purchaser was JOHN ROBY
HATFIELD. His grant comprised 10 acres fronting
Tamarama or Dixon's Bay which is located between
Bondi and Bronte. He paid £60 for the block for
which the grant issued on January 15, 1839. This
was an average of £6 an acre. This grant extended
generally along Thompson Street, to Andrew Street,
to near the end of Birrell Street and then south-easterly
to the coast, roughlv including Walaroi Crescent, parts
of Pacific Avenue and Tamarama Drive, of today. A
large portion of Hatfield's grant now forms part of
Tamarama Park (the story of which will be told under
Parks). Hatfield was not the first buyer of the 10acre block, as some time before, it was purchased by
James Cunningham, but he forfeited his deposit and
it was subsequently bought by Hatfield. As Hatfield's
grant description states that it commenced from the
"eastern shore of Nelson Bay," it would seem from this
that the name applied, at first, to Dixon's or Tamarama
Easterly of Flood Street, between Old South Head
Road and present Bondi Road and extending to Anglesea Street, an area of Hi acres, was purchased by
MICHAEL WOOLLEY for £ 1 6 1 , the grant being
issued on February 2, 1839. The subdivision of this
land prior to 1887 under the name of Anglesea Estate,
brought into existence Anglesea Street and Orr Street
(formerly Mitchell Street)—the latter being the northern limit of Anglesea Estate. Orr Street was named
after R. T. Orr, a former Council Clerk in Waverley
in 1882. That part of Woolley's grant between Orr
and New streets and Old South Head Road, was subdivided as Williams' Estate and put up for sale on October 13, 1900. It was on this land stood Williams'
"Anglesea Villa." An old house called "Wairoa" was
also on the Anglesea Estate, in Flood Street.
26
Michael WooIIey, the grantee of the land, might
be remembered in early Sydney as being one of the
firm of T. & M. Woolley, of George Street, Sydney,
Ironmongers, also dealing in sheep-shearing appliances
and chaff-cutting machines.
On the south side of Bondi Road opposite Wellington Street, J. J. GALLOWAY purchased an area
of five acres for £ 1 0 0 for which the grant issued on
January 22, 1 8 4 0 . Adjoining that block on the south
with a frontage to Birrell Street he bought another for
£ 6 0 , the grant issuing on the same date. Galloway was
a prominent surveyor of the Surveyor-General's Department, and made many important surveys in Sydney
and country towns. His experience in land matters
should have enabled him to know the value of the
portions he was buying. Watson Street runs through
about the centre of these grants. In 1844 John N .
Mackintosh was the owner of Galloway's grants, but
there was no occupation of the land or improvements
made up to that time. The land was subdivided for
sale in January and February, 188 5, the subdivision
extending each side of Watson Street. "Greganhurst
House" stood at the corner of Watson Street and Bondi
Road. This was no doubt the home of Thomas Gregan
who was an Alderman of Waverley Council in 18676 8 . Further sales of apparently unsold lots were held
in this estate on January 3 1 , 1 8 9 1 , and again on
December 12, 1902.
An identity of considerable interest who resided
on the Bondi Road end of this land was "Scotch
Mary" who lived in a cottage with a lot of ground on
which she ran a flock of goats. She had some fame
about the 1880's as a "medicine woman" and concocted
medicines of goats' milk and herbs which were supposed to give relief to sufferers of rheumatism and gout. It
is believed that the "magic cure" died with the old
woman. Although her daughter vainly tried to carry
on, she finally gave up and the goats disappeared.
E D W A R D FLOOD and J. B. J O N E S , who had
previously bought two ten-acre portions on Bondi Road,
also purchased an area of 14 acres, between Anglesea
Street and Penkivil Street, extending northerly to the
Old South Head Road for £ 2 1 0 , the grant issuing
on February 2 7 , 1 8 3 9 . This land was subdivided prior
to 1885 by J. Newman, of "Mamhead Lodge." Robert
Newman was in occupation in 1 8 6 7 . The Lodge is
now "Mamhead Flats." The estate had frontages to
New Street and Old South Head Road. A portion of
the south end of the early subdivision between Penkivil
and Anglesea streets and Bondi Road became Slade's
subdivision about the 1880's. Slade was a Svdney
solicitor whose second name was Penkivil; hence the
unusual street designation. It might be mentioned
that it is on this grant that the present Bondi-Waverley
School of Arts and the Masonic Hall now stand.
Adjacent to Gallowav, easterlv on Bondi Road,
R A N D O L P H J. W A N T bought a '5-acre portion for
£ 6 7 / 1 0 / - , the grant issuing on April 30, 1 8 4 0 .
Want's grant, which included Avoca Street, formed
that part of the Avoca Estate which fronted Bondi
Road, subdivided for sale on December 4, 1897, and on
which stood "Avoca Villa." This villa was occupied
then by J. F. Jones, but it was previously the home of
John Birrell who died there on February 2 1 , 1 8 7 4 .
Birrell, who was a member of the firm of Fesq and
Birrell, wine and spirit merchants, of King Street,
Sydney, was also the first Chairman of the Council
of the Waverley Municipality on its establishment in
1859, and again in 1860. He served as Councillor
and Alderman of the Municipality in different years
up to a few vears before his death. Birrell Street,
Waverley, commemorates his name—one of the long
streets in the Municipality but not the longest.
MICHAEL WOOLLEY purchased two more portions on Bondi Road of 141 and 131 acres each for
£ 1 2 3 / 5 / - and £ 6 7 / 1 0 / - , respectively. These grants
which issued on February 2 7 , 1 8 3 9 , included the subdivision streets of Penkivil, Ocean and Martins Avenue,
extended along Bondi Road to a line running northerly
to Simpson Park and Francis Street to Old South Head
Road and then to Penkivil Street. This area was subdivided into allotments prior to 1 8 8 7 , but that part
north of Martins Avenue formed the Schneider's
Garden Estate which extended a little over Penkivil
Street. The centre of this garden was calld "Bondi
Glen" and was not cut up. Schneider was a wellknown Waverley landscape gardener and this glen was
where his garden was established. Time and again
flood waters played havoc with his garden and land
adjoining. However, Schneider's Garden and Gully,
which he made a place of beauty, was the subject of
some later subdivisions — "Glen Roona" in Francis
Street, and "Merton" in Martins Avenue.
Randolph J. Want, the grantee, was a member
of the legal firm of Want, Roburgh and Want, Solicitors, of Pitt Street, Sydney, about a century ago. He
was killed in a railwav' accident at Haslem's Creek
(now Rookwood), on January 10, 1 8 5 8 .
On the east side of Want's land along Bondi
Road, FRANCIS M I T C H E L L bought two 5-acre
portions for which he paid £ 9 2 / 1 0 / - and £ 7 8 / 1 5 / - ,
respectively. The grants issued on April 30, 1 8 4 0 .
T h a t portion between Avoca and Imperial avenues
formed part of the Braylesford Estate on which stood
historic "Braylesford." This two-storey building was
said to have been erected in 1862 by Christopher
Newton and stood in a large area of ground. Captain
William Albert Braylesford Greaves came to live in
T h e area south of these estates and Mamhead
Estate to Bondi Road subsequently became the
"Waverley Estate" subdivision.
27
One of his most important works was his appointment
by the N.S.W. Government as its representative to
determine the position of the 29th parallel of south
latitude part of the boundary between New South
Wales and Queensland. After this he returned to
Sydney and did suburban work before his retirement
in 1887. During his career he took an active part in
public affairs and various societies wherever he lived
and worked. He was one of the grand old pioneering
men.
After the death of Greaves in 1925 Braylesford
Estate was subdivided for sale into 23 lots on June
13, 1925.
FRANCIS MITCHELL'S other 5-acre grant,
which extended to Boonara Avenue, formed the western half of Mackenzie's Estate with Farrelly's Avenue
as its southern boundary. At one time this land was
a grazing paddock for Mackenzie's dairy cows. It ran
from Denham Street to about Tasman Street and nearly
up to "Braylesford." Quite a big herd of cows were
milked, and a dozen or so carts ran to the city and
suburbs delivering the milk. It was a big business
nearly 80 years ago. As building increased and the
paddock became smaller Mackenzie's herd found grass
at "The Boot" and "Tamarama." The milking sheds
were in the vicinity of Denham and Fletcher streets
(see picture). They are now a concern of the past
and up-to-date villas now occupy the site. The "Mackenzie Estate" was subdivided for sale in April, 1919.
At this time the land was estimated at about £18 a
foot between Denham Street and Boonara Avenue and
£8 along Imperial Avenue and £12 to the house "Gaerlock." The corner block at Denham Street and Bondi
Road, £26 a foot, and along Denham Street, at £10 a
foot. Mrs. McKenzie hved in "Boonara" house, a
little west of Denham Street, and F. McKenzie lived
in "Gaerlock", which was westerly of "Boonara" on
Bondi Road.
"Braylesford," Bondi Road, home of
the
late Captain
(1925).
Noiv
William
Greaves
demolished.
this residence after his retirement from the Public
Service in 1887, and without doubt gave it the name
of "Braylesford." As he was well known in Waverley,
a brief sketch of his life is well worthy of mention
here. The "Sydney Morning Herald" records in its
issue of January 15, 1925, important particulars
from which this summary is taken:—Captain William
Albert Braylesford Greaves, who was intimately associated with the early history of the State, died at his
residence—"Braylesford", Bondi Road—the previous
day in his 96th year. Captain Greaves was the second
son of Mr. William Greaves, of the Hermitage, Mayfield, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England, and greatgrandson of Sir John Blake, Bart., of Galway, Ireland.
He was born on February 12, 1829, and educated
at Ashbourne Elizabethan Grammar School. In 1851
he was engaged in railway surveying in England
where he met Sir Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General
of New South Wales, who induced him to accept a
position in the Surveyor-General's Department. He
arrived in Sydney in 1852 and was at first employed
in the Bondi district, afterwards at Botany, George's
River and Port Hacking where he gave a number of
native names to features there. Later he was transferred to the Manning River district, thence to the
Clarence River, and in 1858 was made a Crown
Lands Commissioner in the Northern Districts. He
afterwards moved his headquarters to Armidale, and
in 1859 was appointed a Magistrate of the Territory.
Two years later he received Her Majesty's commission
as Captain of the Grafton Corps of Voluntary Rifles.
The Mackenzie Estate just mentioned also
included a 5-acre grant on the east side of Mitchell's
grant fronting Bondi Road, to Denham Street, to
one GEORGE W. COLE for which he paid £ 7 5 —
the grant being issued on April 1 3 , 1 8 4 1 . Cole had been
a Lieutenant in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, and for
having 20 years' service was allowed a remission of
part of the purchase money.
Adjoining the south side of Want's, Mitchell's
and Cole's grants extending to Birrell Street and
easterly to Denham Street and Farrelly's Avenue,
HUGHES and HOSKING purchased four portions of
5 acres each for £23 5—this averages over £16 per acre.
This land includes the subdivision streets—Jackaman,
Philip, Tasman and Tamarama and Fletcher
Avenue. One of the earliest subdivisions for sale in
28
the corner block extending back along Cowper
Street (now Bronte Road) (also a business centre)
to Ebley Street. (Cowper Street was named in honour
of Sir Charles Cowper, an early Premier of New
South Wales, who, when Premier, laid the foundation stone of the first Waverley Council Chambers
in 1861.) The cost of the four blocks of land just
referred to was £ 2 3 2 / 1 2 / 6 . The total frontage of
the four blocks along Old South Head Road was
1,320 feet. This works out at a price of about three
shillings and sixpence per foot. Compare this with the
year 1957, about 120 years later, which is as fol-Between Denison Street and Newland Street
lows:
£ 13 3 per foot, and between Newland Street and
Bronte Road £790 per foot.
this area embraced 28 lots fronting Tamarama Street,
called Tamarama View Estate, on October 15, 1881,
and again on April 24, 1909. About six lots in
Fletcher's Estate, Fletcher's Glen, were put up for sale
on November 28, 1885. The Avoca Estate, which
I have already mentioned, also had frontages to Birrell, Jackaman, Tasman and Phillip streets and was
subdivided on December 4, 1897. Fletcher's Glen
Estate was subdivided and offered for sale on December 19, 1891, at what was known as "Fletcher's Glen."
It was also part of Hughes and Hosking's grants.
Major Blanchard's property was at the south end of
Fletcher's Avenue. Fletcher's Glen, a beautiful natural
glen, was called after David Fletcher, an early Sydney
dentist, who lived there and was Waverley's first Mayor
under the 1867 Municipal Act. Prior to this Act the
title was Chairman. (See also under Fletcher's Glen.)
By the year 1844 the three blocks bought by
Jones, just mentioned, had passed into the hands of
T. W. Smart, but no improvements of any kind had
been made on them. The four blocks between
Denison Street and present Bondi Junction subsequently formed part of the Erith Estate Subdivision of
T. W.' Smart about 1876-77. At the time Messrs.
Richardson and Wrench, who were the agents, asked
Jonathan Wiley, who had only recently resigned from
the position of Council Clerk at Waverley, to fix the
prices likely to be obtained at the sale. Wiley fixed £4
a foot for the present corner of Oxford Street and Denison Street, £8 up to Newland Street and Cowper Street
(now Bronte Road), and £4 a foot for that corner,
£5 a foot for inside blocks to Spring Street,
and Ebley Street at £ 2 / 1 0 / - a foot. Sales, he said,
were slow. John Douglas, a blacksmith, was one of
the early buyers of an allotment, on which he established a shop of his calling. About 10 years later and
after several other shops had been erected nearby,
the owners considered that a blacksmith's shop where
it stood, lessened the value of adjacent properties.
They offered to buy the Douglas lot at £100 per foot,
but the good Scotch smithy refused the offer and
carried on. In April, 1881, 12 business lots between
Included in the Crown Land Sale of October
10, 1838, were lots embracing what is now the main
business section on the southern side of Oxford Street,
Bondi Junction—the northern side being within the
Municipality of Woollahra. In all such sales there were,
of course, always some lots not bid for, some
were forfeited and put up again. But the lots sold and
for which grants subsequently issued were the ones
which concern us here. Let us first deal with four
portions in Oxford Street between Denison Street and
Bondi Junction (Bronte Road). The blocks varied in
area from 31 to 5 acres, with an average frontage of
about 330 feet each to Oxford Street and a depth of
nearly 500 feet to Ebley Street. Some particulars of
these purchases should be of interest. Going easterly
from Denison Street, J. B. Jones' 41 acre block was
bought for £ 5 8 / 1 0 / - ; T. W. Smart's 4 acres,
between Newland and Cowper streets
(now
Bronte Road) for £58; J. B. Jones' two portions of 31 and 4 acres each, for £ 5 8 / 2 / 6
and £58, respectively. The last-mentioned was
Group of milking Shorthorns at F. A. Mackenzie's Waverley Dairy, Bondi,
29
1903.
When District Councils were established in the
early 1840's and assessments of valuation made in
1844 on occupied or unimproved lands, Jacob Josephson then owned only one of the three original blocks
purchased by him. It seems that it was the corner
block (Oxford Street and present Bronte Road) on
which the Tea Gardens Hotel was later built. At that
time ( 1 8 4 4 ) there was a weatherboard cottage and
garden on it occupied by G. G. H. Hooper—its Annual
Assessment Value being £20. One of the other blocks
had passed to Charles Brigden, of the Commissariat,
and the other one to Atwell and Hayes. On May,
1877, the Tea Gardens Hotel site, or "Simon Pure,"
as it was also called, and 19 allotments of land were
put up for sale, some of which fronted Gary Street
(now Hollywood Avenue) (see also under Tea Gardens Hotel).
Spring and Ebley streets were advertised for sale,
but we are not aware of what sales, if any, were
effected. On the opposite side of Cowper Street (Bronte
Road) on which business shops and the Tea Gardens
Hotel now stand, was a block also purchased
in 1838 by Jacob Josephson for £76. Gray and Ann
streets and the site of the present-day Post Office form
part of this grant. Along Oxford Street to Barnett
Levey's grant, Waverley House, and extending at the
back of Hollywood Avenue (formerly Gary Street)
was a purchase grant of five acres by Elizabeth Speed
(formerly Raine), of O'Connell Street, Sydney. It
was called "Fulloonsville" and was the subject of a
promise made to her on or before June 5, 1830, by
Governor Darling, which she was authorised to take
possession of on January 6, 1831, as a special reserve.
It is not clear whv this was so reserved. Neither is
Bondi Junction in 1884.
the reason given why the grant did not issue until
April 27, 1839. Part of W-'averley Street and Hollywood Avenue run through this grant. It is on this
land that the Waverley Bowling Club now stands.
The land between Bronte Road and Pine Avenue, in
1957, was valued at about £650 per foot.
On the south side of Ebley Street opposite Speed's
grant, just referred to, and running westerly on the
.south side of that street, six more portions were also
sold at that time as follows:—Two blocks extending
to Birrell Street and Bronte Road of 4a. Ir. 3 3p. and
4a. 3r. 13p. each bought by Jacob Josephson for
£ 4 3 / 1 8 / 9 and £ 6 0 / 1 7 / 6 , respectively—the area of
the old road to Coogee (now Bronte Road) being
excluded from the grants.
That part of these grants from Birrell Street
along the south-west side of Cowper Street (now
Bronte Road) to Pottie's land (on which the Star
Picture Theatre now stands) by that land, Brisbane
and Birrell streets was the subject of Dobson's subdivision into 79 allotments in May, 1871. Apparently
these were not all sold, for on August 8, 1882, a
further sale of 36 lots in the same area was held.
LINK WITH FAMOUS EXPLORER
Continuing on the west side of Cowper Street
TBronte Road) a portion of 5 i acres was purchased
by William Lawson, Snr., of Veteran Hall, Prospect,
in 1838, for £ 1 5 9 / 1 0 / - . Mackenzie Street is a part
30
of the grant. Lawson will be well remembered by
all as one of the famous exploring party, Blaxland,
Lawson and Wentworth, who succeeded in discovering
a passage across the Blue Mountains in 1813 which
opened the way for the settlement of the great western
country. Lawson joined the N.S.W. Corps in England and came to this Colony in 1800. He was
soldier, explorer, settler and, it might be added,
politician. Lawson died at "Veteran Hall," Prospect,
on June 16, 1850. His link with Waverley is, incleed,
an interesting one.
Lawson's grant was subdivided as Lawson's No. 3
Estate, comprising 54 lots, on December 9, 1882.
Adjoining Lawson's land was a portion of 2 i acres
purchased by Samuel Peek for £ 9 0 / 1 5 / - . Reference
to Peek has already been made along the Old South
Head Road. Walter and Rattray streets form part of
Peek's grant. A subdivision of Peek's land, comprising
12 lots, was first made in January, 1879. A re-subdivision of part of the land, with frontages to Walter
Street, was made as the Park View Estate.
Next to Peek, across Newland Street, T. W.
Smart purchased an area of 5 i acres for £88. Adjoining Smart's land was another purchase for £121 bv
Lawson, Sr., of 5^^ acres, which bounded Denison
Street. Lawson's block was later subdivided as
Lawson's Estate, No. 2, for sale January 13, 1883.
South of Hough's farm at Mill Flill, along Denison
Street, was an area of five acres purchased by GEORGE
W. COLE on December 11, 1839, for £115, the grant
issuing on April 4, 1841. On account of Cole having
served a period of 20 years in Her Majesty's Navy, he
was allowed a remission of a part of his purchase
money. It was subdivided in the 1880's in conjunction with Abercrombie's land, but later in the early
1900's formed part of the Centennial Park Estate subdivision, which brought into being Rawson Street,
named no doubt in honour of Governor Sir Harry
Rawson, who was appointed in 1902. Cole also had
a grant in Denham Street, previously mentioned.
Adjacent to Cole's land on the south a purchase
of five acres bounded by Denison Street to present
Victoria Street was made by W. ABERCROMBIE for
£105, the grant of which issued on April 30, 1840.
This land was partly affected by the subdivision mentioned in Cole's grant. An interesting feature about this
locality about the 1880's was that it bore the rather
unsavoury local title of the "Old Piggery." However,
there is no proof that pigs were kept there. "Piggery
Creek", as it was called, had its source somewhere near
the old road to Coogee or Cowper Street and coursed its
way down through a scrub of wattle, bottle-brush and
sand hills through Brisbane, McKenzie, Newland and
Alt streets to where it was blocked by a roadway, which
prevented it from running into a pond in the old Water
Reserve (present Centennial Park). This block
created a water-hole or dam at or on Abercrombie's
grant, which became known as the "Old Piggery." It
was a favourite swimming place for school boys, even
at school breaks during the day. It is hard to realise
now that such a place ever existed. Abercrombie's
land seems to have changed hands fairlv earlv, for in
1844 when the Annual Assessment Valuation was
made by the District Council, parts of the grant had
been disposed of. Of the five acres, 1 acre was owned
by Ed. Carter and occupied by John Martin, the AAV
being £10. It was fenced and had on it a slab hut
and garden. William Thompson was the owner of 1
acre, fenced but not occupied, the AAV being
£5. John Meillon owned H acres, not occupied, and
Thomas Wilkes, a corn dealer, of Brickfield Hill, had
l i acres with no occupation or improvements on it.
'SdMi^-^ [y"
Sketch of "Old Piggery Creek," 1885, which
coursed its way from about present Bronte Road
to Victoria, Denison and Lynch streets, where
it formed a waterhole or dam.
One of the old roads through Waverley was the
road to Coogee. It was only natural that development
should take place along its route towards Randwiek.
It is now Bronte Road, but formerly Cowper Street.
One of the earliest of purchasers was no less a person
than LEWIS GORDON of the Surveyor-General's
Department. Gordon bought a block of 8 acres for
£80 in 1839. It is bounded by Birrell Street, Carrington Road, Bronte Road and Church Street. The
Waverley War Memorial Hospital occupies the whole
of the site except a small subdivision with cottages
thereon along part of Bronte Road, Birrell Street, and
Church Street. On this grant, with a frontage to
Birrell Street opposite the end of Botany Street, was
the home of Lewis Gordon, whose land purchases in
the Waverley District were extensive.
An early subdivision of the Birrell Street frontage
towards Carrington Road was made prior to 1861, for
in that year a house called "Rockhampton" was
occupied by Mr. or Captain Finch, then Sergeant-atArms in the N.S.W. Legislative Assembly. The position of "Rockhampton" indicates that it was once Lewis
Gordon's house in Birrell Street. It seems, too, that
this was later the place ran as an hotel about the middle
of the 1860's bv a man named Atkinson. It is said
31
"Cottage of Content" Inn, Cowper Street (Bronte Road), occupied in 1858 by JOIDI Shea
(or Shay) and afterwards about 1865 by Hy Franklin as a shop. Demolished about 1890.
that he was a fine looking man, but a heavy drinker,
and not usually in a fit state to conduct an hotel free
from brawls and serious fights. Consequently its
reputation was not good. Down near the corner of
Church Street and present Bronte Road on this same
grant of Gordon's stood the "Cottage of Content" Inn.
In 1858 it was run by John Shea or Shay. It had all
the appearance of a country inn of a single storey, with
a front verandah rather low. It disappeared as an
hotel about 1865 and the building was used as a fruit
shop by a Mr. Franklin, and later, about 1890, was
demolished. Cottages now occupy the site and also
the site of a cottage occupied by Husband, a carrier.
Behind these cottages was a flat patch used by the
locals for playing cricket. Ebenezer Vickery acquired
the Edina property of six or seven acres about 1866 or
67 and built the first "Edina". The second "Edina",
a very substantial and beautiful house, which the
family later gave and established as the Waverley War
Memorial Hospital, was erected about 1884 (see also
under War Memorial Hospital).
Cross Post Office, the location of which was formerly
known as "Madden's Corner," after Madden, who resided there from about 1841. It was called Charing
Cross, in 1859, by the Municipal Council.
We next come to a sale at Bondi Junction, east
of Waverley Crescent. There were three blocks of
ten acres, each fronting present Bondi Road, extending
to Birrell Street and Park Parade. These may be
readily identified now as Waverley Park and Cricket
Oval and formerly the old "Flagstaff Farm". The
portion adjoining Paul Street and its prolongation to
Birrell Street was purchased by one RICHARD
ROBERTS for £ 8 2 / 1 0 / — t h e grant issuing on April
12, 183 7. It is on this land that the present Municipal
Chambers and the high level reservoir stand today.
On the latter is a steel tower of considerable height,
which once carried a red light, no doubt a good guide
to aeroplanes coming and going from Kingsford Smith
Aerodrome. Following the transfer of St. Mary's
Church of England from Church Street, a small area of
about one or two acres was given by T. D. Edwards,
then owner of the Roberts' grant, for a Church of England Parsonage. It was subsequently subdivided and
sold with frontages to Goldie and St. Mary's avenues
(see also under Waverley Park and St. Mary's Church
of England).
The portion of 10 acres adjoining Roberts on the
east was the subject of a purchase by JOHN ROBERT
RAINE for £ 5 2 / 1 0 / - , the grant issuing to him also on
April 12, 1837. On this block the new pavilion of
the cricket ground is now located. This land is also
a part of present Waverley Park, previously called
'Tlagstaff Farm" (see also under Waverley Park).
LEWIS GORDON also purchased the block on
the opposite side of Church Street and bounded by
that street, Carrington Road and Bronte Road, with
Short Street cutting through behind most of the residential frontages to Bronte Road. The block originally
contained 4? acres, for which he paid £ 4 6 / 1 5 / - in
1839. On this land stands today St. Clare's Convent
and College, Girls' Primary School and Kindergarten,
St. Charles Boys' School and Hall and detached caretaker's building (see also under Schools). Then there
is the Oddfellows' Hall in Church Street, and Charing
32
Adjacent to Raine's grant and extending to Park
Parade was a portion of 10 acres bought bv T. D.
EDWARDS and JOHN SMITH, on February 2, 1839,
for £ 170. This and other grants to Roberts and Raine
formed later the Waverley Park of today, purchased
by the Government, in 1879, for that purpose.
The purchase was exclusive of an area of about 2 i
acres of Roberts' grant for the Church of England
Parsonage or other purposes. This small area was later
sold by the Church and since subdivided with frontages
to Goldie and St. Mary's avenues, running off Birrell
Street, as already mentioned (see also under Waverley
Park).
It would also appear that it was this land that formed
the Warner's Estate subdivision of later years. Other
subdivisions were Plowman's, fronting Plowman
Street, subdivided in April, 1923, Glenayr Estate,
fronting Glenayr and other streets, subdivided in
February, 1922, and the Rose Bay Golf Links Estate
Subdivision with frontages to Gilgandra Road, Patterson, Niblick, Brassie and other small streets. There
was also the Tennis Court Estate, which seems to have
been a re-subdivision of a part of previous Warner's
Estate, at the corner of Blair and Mitchell streets and
Warner's Avenue, subdivided for sale first in 1924,
and offered again in February, 1927.
AGAIN ALONG OLD SOUTH HEAD ROAD
It is hard to realise that this valuable area of today
was originally bought bv Francis Knight for £2 5—at
£ 1 / 5 / - per acre.
We return again to the location of the Old South
Head Road. Mention was made of the purchase of an
area of four acres by Francis J. Knight. Adjoining
that portion on the south FRANCIS KNIGHT
purchased a block of twenty acres, for which he paid
only £25, the grant being issued on January 9, 1837.
Knight was not the first applicant for this block, as it
was previously applied for in 1829 by one, Edward
Ferraby, but owing to a dispute with the Government
concerning its boundary, Ferraby lost it. This 20-acre
block at Bondi may be identified as located roughly
between Warner's Avenue, Mitchell Street, Murriverie
Road and Old South Head Road.
Out towards South Head, with a frontage to the
Old South Head Road, between Kobada, Peel and
Lancaster streets, THOMAS WARE SMART purchased an area of 7a. 2r. Op. on October 10, 1838,
for £ 3 7 / 1 0 / - , the grant issuing to him on January 5,
1839. In the early 1880's this land was subdivided
into the "Silverton Estate", which brought into existence George Street, which runs through the estate.
On the same date T. W. SMART also purchased
an area of 12i acres, separated from his other portion
by Peel Street and extending easterly to the Ocean
along Lancaster Street. For this block Smart paid
£ 6 5 / 1 2 / 6 , the grant issuing to him on January 5,
1839. This was equal to £ 5 / 5 / - p e r acre. Before 1887
this land was the subject of the Dalley Estate Subdivision, but in later years it was re-subdivided by the Conncil Estate, leaving only the allotments fronting Peel
Street and the south-west section bounded by Military
Road, George and Lancaster streets as remaining part
of the Dalley Estate.
In the Annual Assessment Valuation (AAV) of
occupied lands in 1844 by the District Council,
Edward Ferraby is shown as the original owner, which
is not quite correct. He was the original promisee,
but Knight was the grantee. By 1844 the land was
then in the hands of Lewis Gordon. It appears that
it was then divided into lots of varying areas. Of Lot
1 of 10 acres, 6 acres of it was occupied by one William
Reynolds, on which was a weatherboard cottage—the
land being generally swampy. Its AAV was £10.
Of Lot 2 , 1 0 acres was owned by Robert Johnstone, but
it was not occupied or improved. Its AAV was also
£10. Lot 3, containing about 19i acres, was in the
ownership of E. H. Statham, but unoccupied and
unimproved. Its AAV was similar to Johnstone's.
Lot 4 of the block, comprising only 4 i acres, was
owned by J. B. Smith. It had no occupation or
improvements and had an AAV of £10.
T. W. Smart was a well-known Sydney auctioneer
with auction rooms in George Street, Sydney, in the
1840's. He was also interested in milling works.
Thomas Mort, of wool fame, once remarked of Smart.
"It's nice to have him on a board of directors with you
as he always took such commonsense short cuts through
any difficulty that arose". Smart was also interested
in the political field. He became Colonial Treasurer
in the Cowper Ministry in March 1869 and Minister
for Public Works in the same Ministry in October,
1869. He owned at one time or another quite a good
deal of land in Waverley and Bondi.
This 20-acre portion has been also the subject
of a number of private subdivisions, mainly from 1887,
which have brought into existence many Avell-known
streets. In 1883 a strip of land, a part of Knight and
Parry Long's grants, running along the then Government reserve, of which Warner's Avenue forms a part
from Old South Head Road towards Mitchell Street,
was in the hands of a man named Bigg, who ran a
dairy. It was probablv' the same person Avho ran a
butchery business at the "Junction" about that time.
D
Adjacent to Smart's last mentioned portion on
the north side of the road MICHAEL BURKE purchased a block of 11 acres on the same date as Smart
for £ 4 1 / 5 / - , the grant issuing to him on February 16,
1839. This land extended to about Palmer Street to
the north and easterly to the ocean. This grant subdivided for sale in April, 1882, brought into being
33
Eastern Avenue and left a strip along the coast line
as a reserve, which has since been set aside for public
recreation.
Fronting the Old South Head Road and separated
from Smart's 7i-acre block was located JOHN
RICHARD'S purchase of 7 acres in 1838 for an
amount of £ 2 9 / 8 / - , and for which the grant issued on
February 20, 1839. This land later embraced the
"Ostrich Farm" Estate subdivision, which included two
new streets, Elvina Street and Norton Avenue. This
estate took its name from the fact that in 1889 Joseph
Barracluff started an ostrich farm on this area on a
commercial basis, which he carried on until his death
in 1918. It was later closed down. Joseph Barracluff
was elected to the Council of the Municipality of
Waverley in 1907, and was Mayor in the years 1914
and 1915 and died in November, 1918. A street and
park in the Municipahty bear the family name. In
1920 J. T. Barracluff, another of the familv, was
elected to Council, resigned in 1924 and died in 1928.
Contiguous to Peak's land on the north, fronting
the Old South Head Road and extending northerly and
easterly to Military Road, FRANCIS MITCHELL
purchased 4a. 2r. Op. for £99, equal to £22 per
acre. The grant was dated April 30, 1840. The
land has of late years been subdivided and Wilfred
Avenue and a pathway have come into existence.
Francis Mitchell was a merchant of Svdnev and also
purchased land in other Sydnev suburbs.
AROUND CHARING CROSS
On the eastern side of Carrington Road, between
Birrell, Victoria and O'Dowd streets, were two tenacie portions purchased bv WILLIAM MANNERS
CLARKE in December, 183 7, one for £26 at the
corner of Birrell Street and Carrington Road, and
£ 1 0 / 1 0 / - for the one adjoining on the east. The grants
issued on March 30, 1838. In August, 1938,
Clarke transferred to Lewis Gordon a part containing 17a. Or. 30p., leaving a central strip of nearly
three acres facing Victoria Street. In September, 1839,
an area of about seven acres at the Birrell Street and
Carrington Road corner passed from Gordon to J.
Vickery. In March, 1858, nearly 20 years later,
another part along the south side of Salisbury Street
passed from Gordon to Joseph Vickery whose residence
on this block faced Carrington Road. In March of the
following year J. Birrell bought a strip along the north
side of Salisbury Street from J. Vickery. It was on
this land that Birrell built "Ellerslie" as a residence.
Birrell in February, 1864, sold the house and land to
Charles J. Stephens, who in May, 1871, sold the property to Mrs. Eliza Barlow for £2,000. It was then
that Mrs. Barlow changed the name of "Ellerslie" to
"Airmount," which building now forms a part of
Waverley College, the story of which will be told
under "Schools."
A portion of 7 acres on the Old South Head Road
with frontages to Princess, Gilbert and Lancaster
streets was purchased by JOHN BOOTH JONES for
£ 5 1 / 9 / - , the grant issuing to him on February 16,
1839. This area was in more recent years subdivided
as the Northcote Estate, bringing into being Northcote
Street, which now runs through this grant.
Just south of Diamond Bay and on the north side
of Palmer Street, bounding Burke's land, a grant of
6a. Ir. 15p., extending easterly to the Ocean and
westerly to Military Road, was purchased by HUGHES
and HOSKING for £ 6 3 / 8 / 9 , the grant issuing on
December 11, 1839. A portion of this land was
subdivided prior to 1887, with allotments fronting
two new streets, Ethel and Ray. In more recent years
the name Pacific Estate applied to only a small part
of the ocean front. Both of these grantees were well
known for their land purchases in Sydney and suburbs.
Hosking was the first elected Mayor of Sydney, in
1843. He also built the well-known "Carrara House"
in 1854, now the Strickland Convalescent Home at
Vaucluse.
One of the early subdivisions and sale of Manner's
grant was at Charing Cross extending along Carrington
Road to opposite St. Charles School and along Victoria
Street to Campbell Street and running a little distance
north along that street. This subdivision was made
jn 1876 when the omnibus stand was at the "Cross."
Another area subdivided was along O'Dowd Street,
containing 16 lots, in December, 1880. O'Dowd,
after whom, no doubt, the street takes its name, was
one of the early bus drivers to Waverley and had
at one time his stables in a paddock there. The Fesq
subdivision along Campbell Street and others were
also parts of Clarke's grants. One of the outstanding
buildings on W. M. Clarke's grant, at present fronting Victoria Street, is the William Grahame Memorial
Presbyterian Church (see under "Churches"). The
former church or school building stood on the east
side of Campbell Street according to old maps in the
1880's, but this seems to be an error. The most outstanding buildings, of course, on Manner's grants
Westerly of the Hughes and Hosking grant, with
frontages to Old South Head Road, Palmer Street and
Military Road, SAMUEL PEAK bought an area of
4a. Or. 8p. for £ 6 0 / 1 5 / - , the grant issuing on April
30, 1840. This was equal to about £15 per acre. In
more recent years it was subdivided for sale in allotments.
Samuel Peak was no doubt the principal
of the firm, Sainuel Peak & Co., Wholesale Grocery,
Tea and Wine Merchants, of George Street, Sydney,
in the 1840's and 1850's. It is almost certain, too, that
it was the same Samuel Peak who lost his life in the
wreck of the ill-fated "Dunbar" at the Gap, near South
Head in 1857.
34
today are the Christian Brothers' Waverley College,
"Our Lady's Mount," Boarding School, and new
College Chapel (see under Waverley College).
Eaton's home was also in Salisbury Street between
Fesq's home and Henrietta Street. A subdivision of an
area at the corner of the last-mentioned street and
Wiley Street, for sale, was made on October 5, 1 9 0 1 .
Other early residences along Vickery Street were
"Tarnagulla," lived in first by Mr. Ward then by Andrew Leverrier whose son, Frank, was the well-known
K.C. "Strathearn" of Dr. William Grahame later called
' T h e Grange," "Ellerslie" of John Birrell, Charles
Stephens and then the Barlow's who changed the
name to "Airmount" (now part of Waverley College).
Contiguous to Gordon's grant on the south was
another of five acres to William Lawson, Senr., purchased on December 5, 1 8 3 9 , for £ 7 0 . This land
was the subject of a subdivision called Law.son Estate
No. 1, in the earlv 1880's which brought into being
Wiley Street. I have already referred to two other
grants to Lawson at Bondi Junction.
On the opposite side of Salisbury Street resided
William Reidy, partner of Reidy and Corrigan, Ship
Chandlers, Svdney. Then in a quaint old cottage lived
the parents of Ebenezer Vickery, later of "Fxlina," then
Mrs. P]dith Throsby, of "Pinegrove," opposite Church
Street, said to have been occupied once by John
Birrell, first Chairman of Waverley Municipal Council, and la^er of "Avoca Villa," Bondi Road. Then S. A.
Milford in 1854 (afterwards Judge Milford) followed
by Captam Mavne in 18 59, Superintendent of Police,
who had a carriage and coachman and a private
entrance to the barack-like building in present Campbell Street. T h e property was later bought by Benjamin
Campbell who designated the place ''Craignish." The
estate was cut up for sale in 1876 into 24 lots which
brought into being Campbell Street. "Coomoora" flats
in Carrington Road is about the site of "Craignish."
Next came George Sadler who lived in "Sherwood."
This property was later bought by Mr. Patrick Kearins.
The name was then changed to "Kildary." From that
place to Victoria Street was a sandhill some 30 feet
high with a bowl-like top of some depth which proved
a great playground for boys and also a good place for
bus driver Quinn to break in young horses. In a
two-storey house in Salisbury resided George Fesq, of
George Street, well-known wine and spirit merchant.
The estate ran through to Victoria Street. "Laval,"
the residence, was later occupied by Mr. John Hughes,
Vice-President of the Executive Council of N . S . \ \ ' . ,
and brother of Sir Thomas Hughes, former Lord
Mayor of Sydney, who also lived in "Laval." It later
passed into the hands of the Misses Lenthall, but was
later demolished to make way for cottages. "Laval"
was named after a town on the Garonne River, Bordeaux, France, the Fesq's original home place.
Fronting Birrell Street on the opposite side of
Henrietta Street to his five-acre grant, just referred to,
LEWIS G O R D O N bought an area of 15 acres, also
in 1839, extending along Henrietta Street east side
to Gipps Street, for the fantastically low price of
£ 7 / 1 0 / - . Henrietta, Gibson (late Bay View) and Sea
\'iew streets with Langlee Avenue, form part of the
grant. Subdivisions including "The Ocean View" Estate of November 22, 1902, Gipps Street, October 10,
1 9 0 3 , and part Lang-Lee Estate of March 16, 1 9 0 7 ,
also from parts of the grant. Mention should be made
of some of the early residences which occupy sites on
the grant. One was "Glenburnie," once the home of J.
B. Macpherson, of Holdsvvorth Macpherson, Hardware
Merchants, of George Street, Svdnev. Macpherson was
an Alderman of the Waverlev Municipal Council for
the years 1869 to 18 82, and Mav or from 187 5 to
1882 inclusive. In 1907 the property was owned by
C. B. Pavne. Alongside of "Glenburnie" was "Preston,"
built about 1900 by Richard Craven, a rich mining
man, who gave his architects a free go to build him
a mansion irrespective of cost. These two houses, which
now form St. Gabriel's Church of England Girls
School, originally extended to Langlee Avenue.
Southerh along Henrietta Street opposite Victoria
Street stands the Sydney Kindergarten Training College,
of New South Wales. This side was formerly the
site of "Elsternwich" ( W a l k e r s ) , the name of which
was changed to "Woodlawn." A cottage called "The
Bungalow" of earlier days is also part of the College
(see also under Schools).
Between Victoria Street, Bronte Road and Henrietta Street were two grants purchased by Samuel
Peak ( w h o has already been referred to) on July
27, 1839, one of 7a. 3r. Op., fronting Victoria Street
and Bronte Road for which he paid £ 8 9 / 2 / 6 and
the other of 4a. Ir. Op. adjoining on the west
fronting Bronte Road and Victoria Street for which
he paid £ 8 9 / 5 / - . In a subdivision of these lands
called "Sea View" in 1863 the Logue family is shown
as owning about 2 1 acres fronting Victoria Street to
Vickery's land. Mrs. Charles Logue lived in 'Toch
Fov'le," the two-storey building alongside the Friary.
In 1876 it was leased to W . H. Simpson, a saddler
and harness maker, of George Street, Sydney. He later
Adjoining Clarke's land on the east and extending to Henrietta Street and southerly along that street
to beyond Salisbury Street LEWIS G O R D O N puiehased an area of five acres in June, 1839, for £ 5 0 ,
the grant issuing on August of the following year.
On this land in Salisbury Street and Henrietta Street
was "Newry," the home of the Hewlett family. Alfred
Hewlett was an Alderman of the Waverley Municipality for the years 1 8 8 6 , 1 8 8 7 , 1 8 8 9 , 1892 to 1899
inclusive, and Mayor for the years 1889 and 1 8 9 5 ,
1896 and 1897 when he resigned.
35
Glen Rock Terrace xvas built in 1866 by the Vickerys for workmen at the Tannery and
leather works. Inset picture shmvs the name Glen Rock on the right-hand gable.
{Photo.:
C.
Cameron.)
Immaculate Catholic Church and the "Friary" of the
Franciscan Priests (see also under Churches).
resided at "Abbotsford," at the southern end of Henrietta Street. Simpson was an Alderman of Waverley
Council and Mayor in the years 1883-4-5 and again in
1891-92. "Loch Foyle" house was pulled down in
1956. It was then owned by the Franciscan Fathers.
About the 1860's the lots from Charing Cross to Albion
Street were owned by W. E. Eveleigh, R. S. Sheldon,
Richard W. Smith, J. McLeay and R. Washell and in
later years J. Peters the corner lot. On the former grant
of 7a. 3r. Op., before mentioned, Vickery established
a business in 1866, known as the "Glenrock Tannery."
In High Street he built a small terrace of houses
called Glen Rock Terrace for his employees at the
tannery. These buildings can still be seen today.
Vickery also had a leather manufacturing business
in Sydney. So many complaints about the odours
arising at the tannery pits were made to the Municipal
Council that the tannery finally closed and disappeared. The land then formed the "Tannery Estate",
subdivided for sale and put up in November and
December, 1881. It included the land each side of
High Street to Prospect Street and partly on each
side linking with part "Sea View Estate" at the corner
of Bronte Road and Prospect Street of May 7, 1881.
Adjacent on the west to J. R. Hatfield's 5 i acre
grant in Dickson and Murray streets A. E. HAYES
bought an area of 5 acres at the same time with frontage to Brown and other streets for £60. The grant
issued in 1840. It later formed part of the Sherbrooke
or Bronte View Estate, already mentioned as for sale
on May 9, 1908, and Ocean View Estate and Ocean
View, on November 22, 1902, and October 10, 1903.
Bronte View Estate was first offered as "Sherbrooke"
on April 15, 1905.
We have been deahng with a number of grants
in the Charing Cross area. Let us for a moment return
to North Bondi where six portions in the same period
were offered for sale by the Crown on March 11,
1840. They were measured in blocks of about four
acres each. Of the six portions E. B. BOULTON
bought three for £ 4 4 / 2 / - , £ 4 6 / 9 / 9 and £ 4 9 / 1 1 / - ,
respectively. The other buyers were JOHN THOMPSON, one, £42; LEWIS COHEN, one, £42; and
W. M. CLARKE, one, for £ 4 8 / 8 / 9 . The lots were
bounded by Ocean, Lyon, Hardy and Raleigh streets
and later formed a part of the Dover Heights Estate
which extended right up to Dover Road.
Apart from the important business houses along
Bronte Road on Peak's grant there also stands Mary
36
CHAPTER V
LANDS PURCHASED IN 18414851
(See Land Purchase Grants Sketch Map on Page 21 for Location.^
So far we have endeavoured to cover in this
section lands purchased in the several parts of the
Municipality up to the end of the year 1841. We
shall now deal with purchases from that year
to the end of 1851. It was about five years before
any more land was sold in ^Vaverley area, because
the boom which occurred in the years immediately
preceding 1840 was followed by a disastrous financial
depression which severely affected the whole colony.
Some idea of its effects might be gleaned from the
columns of 'The Sydney Herald" of the years 184142 which read something like this—
'•Mr. Stubbs will sell 8th July at 7.30 at the
auction market. King Street — The celebrity of Bondi
has gone so far as to have occasioned in the critisizing
annuals of popular periodicals (in the Mother country) the most extraordinary penegyrisuis — such as are
seldom made, excepting on occasion which can
warrant the interference of the public press. Former
advertisements are referred to respecting the universal
admiration in which this magnificent and profitable
subdivided suburban North Bondi property is made
account of bv some of the most prudent purchasers
and influential judges in the colony.
"The Herald" referred to the outrageous extravagance "which had been displayed by the great majority
of the colonists"—the "feverish speculation" which had
been indulged in by all classes during the same period
mainly in the direction of land buying. "Town
Booming" had been carried on to a ridiculous extent,
the voice of the "land jobber" had been heard in the
land and his victims were now suffering the consequences of their infatuation. The year 1842, according to 'The Sydney Herald" of January 2, 1843, will
long be remembered as one of the darkest in the
history of New South ^Vales. Its commercial aspect
was fearfully dismal. From its commencement to its
close black clouds overhung it and thick fogs covered
it. That ends the summary.
"There is no spot near this increasing metropolis
so admirably adapted for Villas as North Bondi. It is
the nearest to Sydney; only pleasant ride or walk from
the town; has a fine carriage road all the way. When
on the spot nothing can exceed the beauty of the
scene. It commands a view of the sea and the Heads;
takes in at a bird's eye glance a circuit of many miles;
and has a magnificent sheltered sandy beach. Indeed,
the number of pic-nics that constantly take place at
this charming spot, while it evinces the good taste of
the parties selecting it, speaks more in favour of North
Bondi than eulogies which the auctioneer could pronounce. Not only are the beauties of this favoured
spot well known in Australia, but its fame has even
reached 'across the mighty waters' and is there spoken
of
to an engraving of the Emperor Napoleon
standing on the shores of Elba, 'The bav on which he
was represented to be standing, brought vividly to my
mind a scene which I often beheld with delight —
that scene is Bondi Bay, a place that among all the
splendid natural beauties of which Austraha can
boast is certainly unsurpassed. England, Ireland and
America and many other countries can justly boast of
their lakes, their mountains, their rivers and their
bavs — but there is not one among them but would
feel proud of their possession of a spot so picturesque
and enchanting as Bondi', so savs 'Australian Sketch
Book'."
It was certainly a gloomy picture painted by "The
Sydney Herald", but it was all too true. Some few
years passed before a recovery was made, but in the
meantime many were permanently ruined and had
to sell at buyers' offers in land or other commodities.
^\'hether land holders were forced to sell or not we
find alluring advertisements appearing in the "Australian," June 29, 1841, and later fike these: —
"North Bondi Crescent, 100 allotments by public
auction this day of that truly beautiful, picturesque
spot North Bondi."
In the same paper of July 3, 1841: "The beautiful North Bondi Villa allotments—induced by the
popularitv' of a former sale, the proprietor has instructions to throw open the whole of the remaining allotments at public competition unreservedly.
This is typical of numerous advertisements that
appeared in the press inducing people to buy, during
1841.
Can any Australian advertisement of today
surpass it?
37
a timber business in its place, but it too had to finally
give way to progress. The Dickson family lived in an
old-fashioned two-storev house flanked with two Norfolk Island pine trees, landmarks, which indicated the
site of the old home, at present Ewell Street. Unfortunately, these two stately trees were marked for demolition bv tlie Council about 1929. In front of the
house stood a fine orchard of peaches, pears and
quinces. Alanv a school boy raid was made on this
orchard, but it was not always a benefit to the boys,
particularly when the fruit was not quite ripe.
Although some blocks of land were sold along
the unnamed Government Road, later Waverley Street
and now Bondi Road, prior to 1845, four unsold portions were secured bv JOSEPH DICKSON for £25
each on December 2 5, of that year. Two of these portions faced present Bondi Road and two Birrell Street,
and extended from Bennett Street to about midway
between Ocean and W^atson streets. Joseph Dickson
was one of the first elected Councillors of Waverley
Munieipalitv and one of its early treasurers. Other
members of the family in other years, followed his
footsteps in Waverlcv's civic affairs, namelv James, in
1861-63, Stephen, 1864-75 (once Chairman and
twice Mayor), Thomas J. Dickson, 1883-1892, 1896pt. 1897 resigned (twice Mayor).
Dickson's grants were the subject of the Dickson
Estate subdivision for sale on December 3, 1892, with
frontages to King, Stephen and Ewell streets. A
further sale, of apparently unsold lots, took place on
November 10, 1907, in Ewell and Stephen streets.
Between these two streets stood an old house, called
"Hiawatha," with a frontage to Bennett Street. Many
old residents may remember it.
The area comprising Dickson's grants was
familiarlv' known about the 1870's as ''Dickson's
Paddock," a grassy paddock stretching down towards
McKenzie's dairv, Denham Street. Part of the paddock
was occupied by a market gardener named Duffy.
Before the establishment of the Municipality in 1859,
Dickson ran a soap factory and sort of "boiling down"
works fronting present Bondi Road, but owing to
numerous complaints by residents of nuisances arising
from such a business. Council was fully justified in
havin" it closed down. The Dicksons then conducted
The next block sold (in chronological order) was
one in Victoria Street, Charing Cross, adjoining
Queen's Park. It was originally put up for sale in 1838
and purchased bv Edward Lee, but he having failed
to complete the purchase, the land, which contained
5 acres, was resold to GEORGE SMITH on August
12, 1846, for £25. Smith had been a Private in Her
Sketch of locations between Birrell Street and Charing Cross in 1879 made by Major W. L. Johnston.
Birrell Street runs East and West.
38
Majesty's 80th Regiment, for a long period of years,
which entitled him to a remission of £ 9 on his purchase money. John Street and Henry Street which
came into existence by the "Cannonbury Estate" subdivision about the 1880's are parts of this and adjacent
grants.
Between Bourke and Blenheim streets a block
of 4 i acres was bought bv SIMEON HENRY PEARCE
and JAMES PEARCE on November 2 7 , 1 8 4 9 , for
£ 2 2 / 1 0 / - , the grant issuing to them on July 8, 1 8 5 0 .
Blenheim and Isabella streets form part of this grant.
T h e Pearce's had a stone building, of which
there were quite a number fronting Birrell, Blenheim
and Isabella streets. On the west side of Blenheim
Street fronting Birrell Street, one of the Pearce's, a
relative of the above, conducted a small store about
1 8 7 9 . On the opposite side of Blenheim Street extending to Bronte Road and about the same distance along
that road, was Pearce's garden. Afterwards, a cobbler's
shop was built where the Chinaman's greengrocer's
shop now stands. Pearce's store in Isabella Street has
been replaced by a nice brick cottage. Pearce's garden
and cobbler's shop were on Glenn's grant, not the
Pearce's grant.
.Another portion, of 4a. 3r. 8p. at the corner of
Carrington and Bronte roads. Charing Cross extending along the latter road from the Robin Hood Hotel
to about Albion Street which includes all the business
section along Bronte Road, was bought bv LEWIS
G O R D O N on October 15, 1 8 4 6 , for ^ £ 2 4 , ' t h e grant
issuing on June 15, 1 8 4 8 .
In this area, along Birrell, Blenheim, Bourke
and Isabella streets, there is quite a number of small
stone houses. As far as can be ascertained, these
peculiarly designed stone houses were built about the
middle or the end of the 18 50's — the exact date has
not been traced. Most of them are still standing with
little change since the date of erection.
Stone
buildings,
Birrell Street, near
Street, about 100 years old.
(Photo.:
Isabella
C. Cameron,
1958.)
To keep some sort of chronological order we
must refer to a small area of 3a. 3r. 27p. on the extreme northern boundarv of the Munieipalitv between
Christison Park and Clarke Street which was purchased bv B E N J A M I N P. G R I F F I N the Elder, in
1847, for £ 1 1 / 1 5 / 2 . It afterwards formed a part of
Jensen's Ocean Frontaue Fstale sulxHviclcd for sale in
later years.
I return again to Bondi Jimction portion of
the Munieipalitv' and deal with lots adjoining the south
side of Birrell Street opposite the portions sold in
1838, from Alt Street easterly to Bronte Road and
continuing along the south western side through
Charing Cross to the beginning of Albion Street, the
end of the business section of Charing Cross. I
begin with T. W. SMART (a previous buyer of lots)
who bought a block of 4 ' acres for £ 2 2 , the grant
issuing on April 14, 1 8 4 7 .
On the same date,
MICHAEL FITZPATRICK bought two portions of a
little over 5 i acres each for £ 2 8 / 2 / 6 a iiiece, f)r which
grants were issued on June 30 and September 24,
1847, respeclivelv. T h e portion adjoining Newland
Street formed part of an area subdivided as Fitz'.;erald
Estate in March, 1 8 9 5 , and later as Victoria Estate
subdivision.
S^o;/t' building,
Isabella
before
and liirrcll
1860.
(Plioto.:
streets
C. Cameron,
built
1958.)
Simeon Henry Pearce was born in Gloucestershire, England, about 1 8 2 0 , and arrived in the Colonv
in December, 1 8 4 1 , in the ship, ''Lady Clarke."
Pcarcc married Alice Isabella Thompson, of Sydney,
in the late 1840's, and settled at Randwiek, where he
built "Blenheim House."
In the subdivision of the Pearce's grant in
Birrell Street, Pearce named one street, "Blenheim,''
no doubt after his house at Randwiek, and another
"Isabella" after his wife's second christian name.
The portion up to Boiuke Street taking in Fitzgerald Street, was a part of the Fitzgerald Estate subdivided prior to 1 8 8 7 .
Simeon Pearce was one of the first elected Councillors of the Randwiek Municipality and its first
39
creased Lowe's acreage at Nelson Bay to over 50
acres, and was part of the estate put up for sale in
1849 but not sold. Bronte Beach and Park subdivisions put up for sale on November 19, 1927 form
part of Lowe's 9-acre grant.
Leaving Nelson Bay we come to a purchase of a
portion of 2a. 3r. 26p. at the corner of Gipps Street
and Bronte Road purchased by JOHN COLEMAN on
June 15, 1849. It was later subdivided into the Lily
Grange Estate subdivision.
With a frontage to Macpherson Street an area
of 7a. 3r. 36p. was bought by ROBERT WEBSTER,
on January 15, 1851. Webster was an ex-captain of
one of Her Majesty's Regiments of Foot, with long
service. On that account he was allowed the usual
remission of part of his purchase money. Lugar Brae
and Rose streets are parts of the grant. The northern
portion of this grant is a part of the Lugar Brae Estate,
subdivided for sale on July 22, 1880, and that part
fronting Macpherson Street, included in the Ocean
View Estate, was subdivided for sale on June 1, 1881.
Chairman. He also attended the first public meeting
for the establishment of the Municipality of Waverley
and spoke on that occasion.
Simeon Henry Pearce died at "Blenheim House",
Randwiek, Sydney, in January, 1886, aged 66 years.
Simeon Henry Pearce, a son of S. H. Pearce, was a
bootmaker and occupied the cobbler's shop beforementioned.
On the opposite side of Blenheim Street along
Birrell Street to Bronte Road and extending along that
road to Victoria Street, A. S. GLENN purchased two
portions of land, one of 4a. Or. lOp. on December 11,
1845, and the other of 3a. 3r. 20p. in 1848, respectively at prices not available, but almost without
doubt at the upset price of £5 per acre. W^ith frontages
to Bronte Road, and on these grants were the Waverley
Police Station, Public School and residence, and the
old Waverley Inn (now demolished) between the
Police Station and Birrell Street, opened and conducted by Mrs. Logue, (better known as "Mammy"
Logue) from about 1863 to 1869 or 1870, and then
by others. Quinn, the bus driver, lived along there and
Richardson had a shop nearbv'. It was from Richardson
that the school site was purchased about 1876. One
of the earliest sales of parts of Glenn's grants was
a subdivision of 1 5 lots, at Charing Cross. These were
bounded by Victoria Street, Bronte Road and Taylor
Street, and were situated directly opposite the
Waverley Post Office of the present day.
Adjoining Glenn's on the west, LEWTS
GORDON purchased another 3 acres for £15 on
February 9, 1849. The school and police station
sites are also a part of this grant.
A similar area on Gordon's west side was bought
by ABRAHAM QUINCEY also for £15, on November
23, 1849. Yenda Avenue is part of this grant.
Lu^ar Brae House, now demolished.
On the other side of Victoria Street where the
Charing Cross Hotel now stands, a block of 4a. 3r.
35 2 / 3 p . was bought about this time by J. B. JONES,
who had purchased several other areas before at the
"Junction" and along Old South Head Road in the
municipal area of today. Jones no doubt paid the
general upset price of £5 per acre. This land later also
formed a part of the Cannonbury Estate which about
the 1880's brought into existence parts of Edmund
and John streets.
About the same time or a little later, and adjoining Webster's land on the west with frontages to
Bronte Road, Leichhardt and Macpherson streets,
DUGALD McPHERSON purchased a block of 5a.
Or. 7p. for £106. On this stood the well-known
"Lugar Brae" stone house. It faced Leichhardt Street
and attached to it were an orchard and gardens. Inside
the entrance grew a beautiful clump of Christmas
Bush which, when in full bloom, was the envy of
passers-by. It was a proud boast that this land, bought
for £106, was worth about £2,000 in 1890, less than
40 years later. The grant was the subject of the Lugar
Brae Estate subdivided in August, 1880, and June,
1881, which excluded the house, "Lugar Brae," and
its grounds. The Lugar Brae Methodist Church, which
stands near Lugar Brae Street or Lane fronting
Leichhardt Street, is on part of the original grant to
McPherson.
There was some sort of a subdivision of Lugar
Brae in 1875, but no details are readily available of
its extent or whether anv sales were made.
Photo, taken 24/10/25.
This locality was not always the respectable
place it is today. Edmund Street was in the late 1870's
locally called ''Hell Street" because of the lively
characters who lived there.
Returning again to Nelson Bay at Bronte where
Robert Lowe had, as previously stated, purchased the
IMortimer Lewis grants. Adjoining this land on the
north and along the coast line, south of Hewlett
Street, ROBERT LOWT purchased an area of 9 acres
in September, 1848 at £5 per acre. This area in40
At the south-east corner of Macpherson and
Albion streets, opposite St. Catherine's Church of
England School for Girls, JAMES PORTER purchased
an area of 4a. Or. 20p. on September 23, 1851. This
land later formed the Nelson Estate, extending to
Wallace Street, subdivided for sale May 23, 1885.
Also in this locality bounded by Leichhardt,
Varna, Kent and Carlton streets an area of 4a. 3r. 8p.
was bought about this time by A. DOUGLAS which
later became the Wallace Town Estate about the
1880's. It is noticed in an advertisement of an estate
agent, named French, in 1885, that he offered two
lots in this estate at £ 3 / 1 5 / - a foot each.
Bondi Road and Simpson Park. On the last mentioned
grant is now located St. Patrick's Cadiolic Church and
Hall, St. Joseph's Convent and School, and "Scarba",
the Welfare House for Children.
Because John McLerie was late Captain in Her
Majesty's 58th Regiment of Foot for a long period, he
was entitled to a remission of a portion of the purchase
money of his grants. This regiment had done service in
India. McLerie arrived in Tasmania in 1844 and then
came on to Sydney. After fighting in the Maori War
in 1845 he returned to Sydney in 1847 and left the
army. He then became Adjutant in the Mounted
Patrol in New South \\'ales and in 1849, Principal
Gaoler at Darlinghurst. The following vear he was
appointed Police Magistrate of Sydney and Superintendent of Police. Then, in 1856, he was promoted
to Inspector-General of Police. He played a big part in
the suppression of bushranging in the country.
McLerie died in October, 1874.
Adjoining St. Catherine's Church of England
School for Girls on the north side at the junction of
Bronte Road and Albion Street, JOHN McLERIE
purchased an area of 3a. 3r. 24p. on October 29,
1851, and another area of 5a. Ir. l i p . on the same
date on the west side of Wellington Street between
41
CHAPTER VI
LANDS PURCHASED IN 1832-70
(See Land
Grants
Sketch
Map on Page 21 for
location')
oJ South Head Cemetery) and one to JACOB MARKS.
This brings us to the end of the year 1851 period
of grant purchases. W e shall continue in the order of
years whatever the locality may be, but mostly without
the prices paid bv' the purchasers.
T h e first of these embraced an area of 10 acres
along Bondi Road and extending to Birrell and
Bennett streets and Park Parade. It was purchased
by E D W A R D B E N N E T T in March, 1 8 5 3 , at the
upset price of £5 per acre. This land was originally
put up and sold to T. W. Smart on December 10,
1 8 4 5 , but, because of forfeiture of his deposit, the
sale lapsed and the land was resold, to Bennett. This
land became the Bennett's Estate, subdivided for sale
on Mav 16, 1 8 8 1 , and contained 66 allotments.
Prior to 1 8 8 7 , only Tuting's grant, with frontages to each side of Macdonald and Young streets,
appears to have been subdivided. More recently, however, Jensen's Ocean Frontage Estate subdivision
covered the grants to Tower Street, and Vaucluse Ocean
Heights Estate to Tuting's grant already mentioned.
Tuting's grant at Rosa Gully, passed to the estate of
Sir G. Allen. Tuting's adjoining grant, fronting
Diamond Bay Road and Old South Head Road, was
subdivided as Sunbeam Estate and Aland's grant was
subdivided into the Howlett's Estate. J. R. Harrison's
portion fronting Diamond Bay, passed to Plunkett,
and Want's land adjoining on west, was later partiallv
subdivided.
A further area of 4a. 2r. 9p. fronting Bondi
Road and extentling along Glen Street to Fletcher
Street, was also purchased bv E D W A R D B E N N E T T
in March of the same year. The Garnstone-on-Sea
subdivision later fronted Glen Street.
The subdivision of Tuting's and Harrison's grants
on the north side of Military Road and Kimberley
Street, were not specifically named estates.
T h e earliest reference to the name Diamond Bav
that has been located appears on a map of the Harbour
Defences in 1 8 6 5 , the original of which was prepared in 1 8 6 3 . On this map at the eastern end of
present Palmer Street was noted "Caves."
On the south side of Hewlett Street between
Murray's and Lowe's 9-acre grant at Bronte, CHARLES
N A T H A N purchased a portion of 6 acres in August,
185 3. A portion of this grant along part of Hewlett
Street from Murray Street was subdivided as Bronte
Beach \'iew Estate in recent years. Charles Nathan
will be remembered as a noted surgeon about the
middle of the last centurv. He died in September,
1872.
Another Crown subdivision of 17 portions of
between 4 and 7 acres each was made and put up for
sale in December, 185 3, at what is now known as
"Dover Heights." It extended along the coast from
Lancaster Street (Bulga R o a d ) southerly to Lyon
Road, along that road to Gilbert Street crossing Hardy
Street to include Jacob Marks' two portions, then by
Gilbert and Lancaster streets (Kobada Street). Of
the 17 portions offered, 5 were bought by H U G H
MACKAY, 3 bv JAMES R. HARRISON ( a previous
b u v e r ) , 4 bv ' JACOB MARKS, 2 by W I L L I A M
HELLYER, and one each bv M I C H A E L S C A N L A N .
JOSEPH M A C P H E R S O N and B U R C H A R D FREDERICKS.
Fairy View Estate, which covered J. R. Harrison's
and Jacob Marks' grants south of Lancaster Street
between Military Road and Gilbert Street, extended
southerly each side of Portland Street to Harbour Lookout Estate, a subdivision of Joseph Maepherson's grant.
Adjoining this on the south the subdivision of another
grant of J. R. Harrison was made as the Panorama
DIAMOND BAY
A Government subdivision of Crown land in the
"Diamond Bay" area and ''Rosa Gully" was surveved
bv George Legg in September, 1 8 5 3 , and put up for
sale on December 2 of the same vear. It comprised 12
portions of between 4 and 6 acres each extending
from Christison Park nea'" the Lighthouse, along the
coast to midwav between Kimberley and Palmer streets
and along Militarv Road to Old South Head Road,
excluding the General Cemetery and two small
portions 109 a.nd 502 shown on parish map of
Alexandria, Countv of Cumberland.
Of the 1 3 portions, 6 were bought bv G E O R G E
T U T I N G , 3 bv lAMES R. HARRISON and one each
bv R A N D O L P H J. W A N T , ISAAC ALAND, E.
B E N N E T T (later to ELLEN HARRISON now part
42
W^ARD, J. T. B R O W N and F. KNYATTT one each.
The land embracing two of Massie's grants. Cooper's
and Busbv's grants, between Chesterfield Parade,
Macpherson Street, St. Thomas and Baglin streets,
were subdivided for sale as Chesterfield Estate in
April, 1 8 8 5 .
Estate and that brings us to Blake Street. Tlie Knox
Estate subdivision fronting Myuna Street formed part
of Burchard Fredericks' grant, and the Gloria Heights
Estate fronting Weonga Street was the subdivision of
another Jacob Marks' grant.
The Dover Heights Estate extended southerly
from Dover Road between Hardy Street, the Ocean
to Raleigh Street and covered the grants of Hellyer,
Cohen, Boulton and W. M. Clarke alreadv mentioned, with frontages to streets within that area.
The Rose Bay View Estate formed the subdivision of Jacob Marks' grant lying adjacent to Hardv
Street between Dover Road and Liverpool Street.
Prior to that, the Chesterfield Heights Estate
covering W a i d s , Brown's, Busby"s and Knyvett's
grants was put up for sale in Mav, 1 8 8 2 , and the
Ercildoune Estate in Boundary, Scott and Arden streets
and parts of W heeler"s grants were subdivided for
sale in February, 1888. T h e n came the Chesterfield
House subdivision embracing two of R. G. Massie's
grants fronting Arden Street, including Inverness
Street and Gordon Place.
Clovelly Public School
now stands, partly, on the site of old "Chesterfield
House." This house was lived in at first by R. G.
Massie, well-known squatter and politician, and afterwards bv John B. Macpherson who formerly resided
in "Glenburnie," Birrell Street.
BETWEEN CHARING CROSS AND BRONTE
A further survey of 5 portions of Crown land
varying between 3 i and 6 acres bounded by the
Ocean, Trafalgar Street, St. Thomas Street and Lewis'
grant, south of Nelson Bay, Bronte, was made and
land sold between 1 8 5 3 - 5 6 . T h e tramline to Bronte
runs through the blocks. Of these lots JOSEPH
PIERCE purchased 2 and J O H N T H O M P S O N ,
EDWARD WISE and J. R. HARRISON one each.
Pierce's two grants were the subject of the Pembroke Estate subdivided for sale in October, 1 8 8 5 ,
and a further sale of odd lots in this estate took place
in November, 1 9 1 1 . Wise's grant was subdivided for
sale as the Trafalgar Heights I'state in julv, 1882.
Tipper Avenue is a part of the subdivision.
Another area on the opposite side of Macpherson Street to Chesterfield Estate and extending along
St. Thomas Street to Gardyne Street embracing Yanko
Avenue, Albert, \'irgil anti Violet streets was originallv
sold in 6 portions, between 1853 and 1856, two of
which about 5 acres each, were bought bv CHARLES
S I M M O N S and J. J. FALCONER respectively, and
four small portions of about 2i acres each, were
purchased
singlv
bv
CHAS.
SIMMONS,
H.
W H E E L E R . G E O . WOODCOCK and H. H. BLIGH.
Some idea of values of land might be gained by
an advertisement which apjieared in Henrv French's
property circular of Februarv, 188 5, in which he
advertises a block of land in the Nc Plus Ultra Estate
with 86 feet frontage to Ardcn Street and 16 feet
frontage to Carlton Street lii' 13 70 with eas\ ierms.
C. Evans' grant formed part ol tlie Ocean \'ievv
Estate at the west corner ol' I vans anti Macpherson
streets. Bleak House Estate on part li. Webster's grant
was originally subdivided in August, 1 8 7 9 . At one
time Evans resided in "Bleak House" opposite Macpherson Park.
Falconer's and Smnions' bl(,cks fronting Gardvne
Street were subdivided as \ a n k o i-.state which brought
into existence Yanko Avenue as the frontage to " \ a n k o
House" said to have hvvn bulk bv Simmons in 1 8 5 9 .
Yanko Heights Estate, in Macpherson, Virgil and St.
Thomas streets, was subdivided for sale in August,
1 8 8 1 , ant! Januarv, 1882.
A re-subdivision of
Yanko Heights Estate occurred in February, 1 9 2 0 ,
on each side of "Yanko House" to Gardyne Street.
It was then proposed to turn the old house into flats.
Woodcock's Grant subdivision each side of Yanko
Avenue to ''Yanko House" grounds was a later sale.
A small area of two acres in .Albion Street
opposite the Clergv Dauehters' School wiis put up and
sold to J O H N C A L D W E L L on December 2 9 , 1 8 5 8 .
Adjoining this block on the west, the We lev an Church
was granted one acre for a church and half an acre
each for a school and residence. It was arrroved and
dedicated as sites for these purposes on Julv 16, 1 8 6 3 ,
and had frontage to Carrington Road. The dedication
for the school site was revoked (;n November 12, 1904.
NORTH BONDI AND DOVER HEIGHTS
A further Crown sui)division extending southerly
from Raleigh Street to Hastings Parade, Ben Buckler,
and Mitchell and Hardv streets on the west, was made
about 1854 in areas of between two and eiglit acres.
These were sold at varving dates between 185 5 and
1868. It is likelv of course that some of these portions
were not at first bid for, others bought and forfeited,
and re-sold later. The exact dates of purchase, therefore, have been omitted, as in some previous cases.
T h e largest purchaser in this subdivision was FRANCIS O'BRIEN, who bought 11 blocks, all of which
were near Hastings Parade, North Bondi, and along the
coast to Murriverie Road; other buvers were R O B E R T
/Another Crown land sale of 12 portions of land
from 11 to 2 i acres each was held durir ; 1853 and
1856, extending along Macpherson Street and including Chesterfield Parade, Busby Parade, Clifton
Road and Scotts Street. Of the land .sold, R. G.
MASSIE bought 4 lots, WILLIAM BUSBY and H.
W H E E L E R 2 each and FRANCIS COOPER, l O H N
43
Of the purchasers mentioned, Renwicke's Maepherson's and McDonald's grants formed parts of the
Palmerston Estate of James Marks, subdivided in
September, 1886. The Marlborough Estate subdision had frontages to Dickson, Brown and Palmerston
streets, Blandford and Langlee avenues. On this
estate stood "Palmerston", the home of James Marks
a former M.L.A. for Paddington Electorate, in the
1880's. Prior to that, however, it was owned by Dugald
McPherson. (See also Palmerston.)
Lloyd's grant, or that part between Langlee Avenue and Dickson Street, was a separate subdivision
of ten lots.
Grant's two portions were subdivided into the
Kenilworth Estate subdivision on September 28, 1889.
The Palmerston Estate between Belgrave and
Hewlett streets was the subdivision of two of Bennett's
grants, and the Pacific View Estate put up for sale on
December 7, 1895, formed the subdivision of Dan
Egan's two grants southerly to Hewlett Street.
Bennett's two other grants which fronted Birrell
Street and extended to Tamarama Park, Alfred, Darling and intervening streets were subdivided for sale
as Bennett's Estate on October 20, 1892. William
Barton's grant of a little over 7 acres between Thompson, Andrew and, Hewlett streets was cut up as
Mirimar Estate on April 9, 193 8. Mirimar Street
came into existence through the Miramar subdivision.
Blocks brought from £ 5 / 5 / - to £13 a foot at the
corner of Hewlett Street and Marine Drive.
J. A. Zahel's grant between Hewlett, Murray
and Dickson streets was subdivided into 42 lots for
sale on June 4, 1880, and V. J. Zahel's grant between
Darling and Hewlett streets formed Zahel's Estate subdivision.
There was a further sale of land by the Crown
on January 23, 1855, between Bondi Road, Tamarama and present Marks Park. It comprised lots varying
from about 4 acres to over 5 acres. Purchases were
made by Francis O'Brien, Ed Bennett and Alfred Fairfax along Bondi Road from Denham Street, and H.
Alleyne, C. J, Zahel and W. King southerly of Fletcher
Street to Dellview Street. G. W. Graham made two
purchases adjoining W. King's grant on east on August
27, 1865.
O'Brien's grant was the subject of a subdivision
into 20 lots on March 24, 1877, part of the western
side of Bennett's grant was subdivided as GarnstoneOn-Sea Estate. Fairfax's land covered by the Surf
View Heights Estate fronting each side of Dudley
Street was put up for sale on May 8, 1909. Prices
here were estimated at £3 to £5 per foot. The
northern portion of Alleyne's grant was subdivided as
part of Wonderland City Estate for sale on November
5, 1919. Zahel's grant was cut up as Aquarium
Heights Estate on March 24, 1909. The /Aquarium
Hotel was then located at the corner of Dellview
ROBINSON 7 lots (bought in 1867), JOHN MACFARLANE 4, MICHAEL DESPOINTES 3, J. D.
.McLEAN, JACOB MARKS, SEBASTIAN FEHRENBACH 2 each, and WTLLIAM DALEY, E. L.
CLARKE, W. HARVEY, ALEX PARK,
A.
McARTHUR, JAMES HARRIS, J. D. McLEAN, E.
EDWARDS, THOS. MOORE, J. B. ELPHINSTONE,
and HERCULES WATT, one each. The portions
varied in size of between 2 and about 6 acres each. All
the land between Military Road, Murriverie Road to
near Hastings Parade, formerly O'Brien's grants, were
later acquired for Military Purposes. The land is now
"Williams Park," the Municipal Golf Links. (See also
under Parks.)
The Robinson grants were almost wholly covered
by the Rawson Estate subdivision, part of which also
formed the Carrisbrooke Estate subdivision to Hardy
Street, which was put up for sale in November, 1924.
The Douglas Estate on the north part of Raleigh
Street and the Outlook Estate on the south were subdivisions of two of Michael Despointes' grants, the
latter estate being put up for sale on March 27, 1920.
The O'Donnell Estate subdivision formed part
of Macfarlane's and O'Brien's grants between Murriverie Road, Frederick Street, O'Donnell Street and
Military Road put up for sale in January, 1915. Lots
of this sale were priced at from £5 5 to £300 each.
The Glenayr Extension Estate was a subdivision
of part of Macfarlane's other grant and VJ. Harvey's
between Frederick, O'Donnell and Mitchell streets
and Murriverie Road, put up for sale in November,
1926 and east part to Frederick Street in March, 1927.
Some unsold odd lots were put up again in February
1928, and some lots in O'Donnell and Frederick streets
in March, 1934. The Reynolds Estate adjoining
Glenayr Estate formed part of Alexander Park and
S. Fehrenbach's grants.
The Vicar's Estate comprised 4 subdivisions with
frontages to Military Road, O'Donnell and Blair
streets, Wallis Parade, Wairoa and Vicars Avenues
and was first submitted for sale in February, 1923.
Subsequent sales were in 1924, 1928, 1929. These
subdivisions formed part of Francis O'Brien's land
grants.
IN VARIOUS LOCALITIES
In 185 5 quite a large area lying on the south
side of Birrell Street, and extending from Seaview
Street to Tamarama and southerly to Hewlett and
Murray streets, Bronte was put up for sale. In all,
16 blocks, varving between 4 and 7 acres each, were
disposed of. Of these EDWARD BENNETT bought
4 lots, T. GRANT 2, DAN EGAN 2, G. A. LLOYD,
G. RENWICKE, J. H. McDONALD, J. A. ZAHEL,
V. ZAHEL, CHARLES NATHAN, WTLLIAM BARTON, and DUGALD MACPHERSON bought one lot
each.
44
Edward C. Merewether, of "Castlefield," was a son
of H. A. Merewether, Sergeant of the Inns of Court,
London, and Solicitor-General to Queen Adelaide.
Edward Merewether arrived in New South Wales in
1838, was appointed A.D.C. to Governor Gipps and
later Private Secretarv to Governor Fitzrov and also
to Governor William Denison. He became Commissioner of Crown Lands in the New England district,
N.S.W'., and afterwards Clerk to Executive Council.
He married the daughter of Dr. Jas. Mitchell. Merewether died at "Castlefield" on October 30, 1893, aged
75 years.
and Fletcher streets. King's grant formed a subdivision for sale of villa allotments called the Royal
Aquarium "Dell View" Estate in December, 1887, of
which one portion was for sale as a hotel site. This
period was about the opening of the Aquarium at
Tamarama.
G. W. Graham's two grants were subdivided as
Mackenzie's Ocean Estate for sale on April 24, 1920,
Mackenzie's No. 2, Kenneth Street, on February 12,
1920, and Mackenzie's No. 3 each side of Gaerlock
Avenue, for sale on October 27, 1928.
Another area of land lying between Bondi Road,
Wellington and Edward streets was subdivided into
five portions varying from 4 to 8 acres, and was put
up for sale by the Crown on July 1, 18 58. The block
along Wellington Street of a little over 8 acres, on
which the Bondi Public School now stands was purchased by JOHN CROFT. This land was subdivided
as Henderson Estate on March 3, 1883, and Henderson Bondi Estate, on November 6, 1886, and a further
sale on September 21, 1889. W. Henderson's mansion
then existed a little east of this subdivision about
midway between Bondi Road and Edward Street on
what was early called "Rocklev," which formed a part
of B. CAMPBELL'S and J. WESTON'S grant. This
property was subdivided as Henderson's Estate on
October 6, 1894, and extended from Bondi Road to
Edwards Street.
Castlefield Mansion, Bondi Road, about 1900—
the home of E. C. Merewether.
Another property called "Glendarrah" adjoined
"Roekley" on the east, embracing HENRY PHILLIP'S
and part of FRANCIS O'BRIEN'S grants, the latter
adjoining Denham Street.
"Glendarrah" mansion
(C. K. Moore's) with surrounding grounds, stood on
this land. It was first subdivided in 1880-1881, but
was re-subdivided with an extension to Denham Street
as Castlefield subdivision Merewether Estate, on
January 9, 1907, and 22 lots fronting Bondi Road,
Castlefield and Miller streets and Imperial Avenue,
were put up for sale on September 18, 1909. Bondi
Road frontages were valued at from £ 6 / 1 6 / - to £7
per foot and others from £ 3 / 1 1 / - to £ 6 / 1 0 / - per
foot. "Roekley" mansion still existed at that time on
the opposite side of Imperial Avenue to Miller Street,
D. McDonald being the occupier. Both C. K. Moore
and W. Henderson were Councillors of the Municipality of Waverley in its early years.
A Crown subdivision of Centennial Park Lands
fronting Birrell, Denison, York and Ashton streets,
was put up for sale in November, 1902. This adjoins
the Centennial Park Estate on the west.
This was followed on March 18, 1905, by a
further subdivision of Centennial Park Lands extending from the Waverley Tram Sheds along York Road,
Ashton Lane, Birrell, Alt, Denison, Cuthbert, Blenheim and Victoria streets. It comprised 18 sections
subdivided into some 287 allotments. One of the last
of Crown subdivisions for sale in the vicinity of Bondi
Beach, consisting of allotments fronting Brighton
Boulevarde, Gould Street, Ramsgate and Wairoa
avenues, was put up for sale on March 7, 1936.
Merewether's "Castlefield" Mansion was located
on the eastern side of Imperial Avenue fronting Bondi
Road. It had a magniiieent garden attached to it.
This terminates the chapters dealing with the
original land purchases, the records of which form the
foundation of the history of the Municipality.
45
CHAPTER VII
SOUTH HEAD ROAD AND
BELLEVUE HILL
First Road Link with Waverley and Bondi
gravel of good quality." At first the road was known
as the South Head Road, but later, as Oxford Street
to Bondi Road at Bondi Junction. When the "New"
South Head Road came into being, the adoption of
"Old" South Head Road became necessary for the
original one to prevent confusion.
The "South Head Road," as it was known before
being called the "Old South Head Road," is an
important link with the history of Waverley, because
the centre of it forms the division or boundary line
of the municipalities of Waverley and Woollahra.
Consequently no history of either municipal area would
be complete without a brief story of this old road.
Moreover, it was this link which paved the way for
land development and expansion in the Eastern Suburbs
of Sydney. From it branched roads to "Little" and
"Big or Great Coogee," as these places were sometimes
called.
Referring to the newly-constructed road the
"Svdney GazeUe" of May 25, 1811, stated: "The
new road to South Head promises to become a fashionable resort from the accommodation it will afford to
carriages which heretofore could not possibly pass
without extreme difficulty and danger."
It is quite clear from James Meehan's survey of
Roberts' grant at Bondi in 1809, that a track or road
of some kind to South Head existed at that period, as
he definitely mentions it in his Field Book. A road
for vehicular traffic was badly needed, but the Macquarie Government had no funds to spare to make
a new road. It was then decided to call for public
subscriptions for that purpose. The subscription list
was liberally supported by the Officers of the Colony
and also by private individuals. It was then arranged
that the work of construction should be carried out
by twenty one Soldiers of the 73rd Regiment. The road
commenced from the south-east corner of Hyde Park
(the Old Racecourse) and terminated at W^atson's Bay
where an obelisk bearing the following inscription commemorates the fact—
Apparently roads in those early days were not
built for heavy traffic for in February, 1813, Governor
Macquarie threatened to levy an annual tax on the
inhabitants of the town if they did not take necessary
measures to preserve the roads in order and repair
the bridges, at the same time recommending to the
inhabitants William Roberts, who had rendered much
satisfaction in repairing George Street, Sydney.
Interesting comment on this newly-made road to
South Head was made in the "Sydney Gazette" of
August 8, 1812. It stated: ". . . . presents the inhabitants of the Town a beautiful avenue of recreation,
either as a pleasant ride, or promenade, that attracts
the wonder of the meditating passenger who reflects,
that scarce a twelvemonth has elapsed since the smooth
and level course that now invites him onward, exhibited . . . . wild, almost impenetrable . . . . now
may not we, in grateful, in contrasted contemplation
fondly dwell upon our benefits, and gladly hail the
splendid dawn that animates our prospects. . . . we
are presented with an advantage which intense labour
only could produce, . . . . By voluntary subscription
the plan has been proceeded in and happy we are to
say, that in the truest sense of the word the contribution has been Voluntary . , . . "
"This Road made
By Subscription was compleated
in Ten Weeks from the 2 5 of march 1811
By 21 Soldiers of
His Majesty 73 Reghtment"
On the west and south side face of the monument are
"VIII Miles
from Sydney"
The Regiment completed the road in 10 weeks. It
was sandy, but when finished was 'well covered with
46
distances being recorded in his Field Book No. 178.
Only a few of the important references will be mentioned. Harper commenced his survey from the Toll
Bar at south-east corner of Hyde Park (College and
Oxford streets) which is one mile from the Obelisk
in Alacquarie Place. Harper records: "In the centre
of the road 1 5 links W^ of the turn-pike gate in line
with the garden wall bearing N 30 W — " then he
takes a bearing to the Flag Staff on Fort Phillip of
N 28 degrees west. He gives little information except
bearings and distances until at end opposite 4-mile
stone and at separation of the road to "Bell \ ' u e " (which
is part of present Victoria Road and the road to Bellevue Fiill) he very definitely fixes the position of that
stone in his survey. Harper then sighted the Lighthouse and Flag Staff at South Head and from a flag
staff on "Bell Vue" Hill he also sighted the Flag Staff
on South Head a bearing North 2 0 1 degrees East.
It is interesting to note here that Hoddle, in his survey
of Barnett Levev's grant in 1 8 2 7 , some 6 years later,
commenced his survey from that 4-mile stone. It
is found that bv working back towards Sydney the 3mile stone would be on the site of Woollahra Picture
Show, at the corner of Oxford Street and W allis Street,
the 2-mile stone about the site of the Paddington
Post Office and the 1-mile stone at the corner of
College and Oxford streets, Sydnev. Now this statement concerning the mile-stones along the Old South
Head Road will be challenged bv the "old hands",
but it should be explained what happenetl in 1 8 4 6 .
It was decided that for postal purposes it was more
appropriate to measure the miles from the Sydney Post
Office, instead of from the Obelisk in Macquarie Place,
Sydney.
This was approved and put into effect,
and all mile-stones, except the first one about
Liverpool Street, Sydney, along Parramatta Road
and to other places were altered to the extent of the
difference between the Obelisk and the Post Office,
approximatelv half a mile. There is every reason to
believe that the same alteration would have been made
on the South Head Road. If we do this and add this
half-mile to the beforementioned 3-mile stone near
W^ooUahra Picture Theatre it would place it about one
chain west of Grosvenor Street in Oxford Street, Bondi
Junction, about the position of Mcllrath's Grocery
Shop. Confirmation of this position as being right
is indicated by a plan in the Department of Lands (by
Surveyor Burrowes, in 1 8 5 0 ) which shows a milestone in that location, but no number. This was some
three or four years after the change to the Post Office
mileages. It would then follow that if the mile-stones
were altered along South Head, the 4-mile stone would
be at where O'Brien Street joins Old South Head Road
and the 5-mile stone about midway between Beaumont
and Liverpool streets and 6-mile stone at Diamond Bay
Road and the 7-mile stone a little north of Flag Staff.
All the mile-stones seem to have been on the left hand
Seven or eight years later the 73rd Regimental
Road to South Head had deteriorated to such an extent
that a complete reconstruction became vitally necessary,
and on this question the "Sydney Gazette" made comment on January 15, 1 8 2 0 : —
"The new road to South Head, constructed
bv the Chief Engineer, Major Druitt, offers to the
former road a contrast which can scarcely find its
parallel. T h e former road was certainly a very
great improvement upon its predecessor, but it unfortunately happened that the face of the ground,
owing perhaps to its original affinity to the shore
upon which it bordered, and the excessive heat of
the summer sun, was very soon converted from a
gravel into a sand, in some parts rendered so deep
by the drifting torrent of the wind as to be little
less than impassible to travellers of any kind. The
precaution however, adopted with the present road,
confirms us in the belief that it will be one of the
most agreeable drives about Sydney. An excursion
to South Head has been considered a pleasant jaunt;
but this excursion has been generally performed
by water, on account of carriages not being able
to travel through a depth of sand which at two
thirds of the way knocked up the horses.
The
present road is not encumbered with any similar
obstruction, the whole line of road having been well
covered with an excellent hard gravel, which, with
the assistance of the inhabitants from time to time,
must secure to the town of Sydney one of the most
agreeable rides that imagination could contemplate."
In his Memorial of August 5, 1 8 2 1 , to
Governor Macquarie about the road from Sydney to
Macquarie Tower, South Island, Chief Engineer George
Druitt referred to the road as "7 miles in length with
I I completed bridges." "South Island," as here mentioned, was an early name of the whole of South Head
heights easterly from the low lands between Rose Bay
and Bondi, but the name did not survive long after
that period.
About 50 years or more ago the low-lying land
between Bondi and Rose Bay was a series of lagoons
and sand dunes of varying heights. Prior to these
lagoons and sand dunes it is generally believed by
those who have studied this geological question that,
to a great extent, this long low passage allowed the
sea access to Port Jackson at Rose Bay from Bondi
making South Head lands an island. This passage
was created by the sinking of the Sydney coast long
years ago to the depth of about 2 0 0 feet. In excavations of later years sea shells were found at various
depths to about 4 0 feet.
T h e year following the reconstruction of the
South Head Road bv Major Druitt in 1 8 2 0 , a
trace of the road was made by Assistant-Surveyor Harper in November, 1 8 2 1 , the details of bearings and
47
on this part of the coast, closed in by rocky
headlands, and backed by barren rising
ground have something of a peculiar loneliness about them. The solemn roar of the
breakers — the confined view of the ocean
— the shining sandy beached unmarked by
human foot — and the low but beautiful
shrubs, make up a scene to be peopled by
the imagination. The solitary traveller may
recall the sound of Shakespeare's lyre —
'Come unto these yellow sands
And there take hands,' etc.
The botanical production found round these
bays are scarce, and botanists resort thither
to view, in flower, many shrubs and shrubs
rarely to be met with elsewhere — [Location
between South Head Road and Bondi Bay.]
On the right, a swamp, which was once the
Sydney race-course; [north of Murriverie
Road] some of the posts still remain. Some
very picturesque old tea trees, most desirable
subjects for an artist's sketch book, may be
seen on its margin.
On the left another swamp extending to
Rose Bay, [The Royal Sydney Golf Links]
the land between Port Jackson and the
ocean at Bondi being only slightly above
level of the waters, and consisting of hills of
sea sand.
5 On the right, several small grants [near
Knight's original grant]. On the left road
to Rose Bay, connecting with Point Piper
road.
6 i On the left, road to Vaucluse, the residence
of W. C. Wentworth, Esq. [Captain Piper
side of the road going from Sydney to South Head
through Waverley, which would place them in the
Woollahra Municipality.
Reverting again to South Head Road as it affects
the municipal area of Waverley. It would be hard to
find a more interesting description of this road than
that which appears in "The N.S.W. Calendar and
Directory," 1832, by James Raymond which is quoted
hereunder, with comments in square brackets. The 3mile stone was located opposite York Road, Centennial
Park, which is the municipal boundary.
"3i (miles). On the right, adjoining Levey's
garden, is the bush road leading to a hill on
which stands Levey's tower an octagonal
obelisk, commanding an extensive view. This
road also leads to Great and Little Coogee;
it is a track much used by W^oodcutters.
[The site of Levey's tower and octagonal
obelisk has not been located, but it is quite
certain that it was near the road to Coogee,
probably on the southern portion of Barnett
Levey's grant.]
The distance to Great Coogee is I I miles—
31 On the right, Waverley House, built by Mr.
Barnett Levey. Adjoining is Waverley Crescent, a range of cottages projected by Mr.
Levey, but of which only two or three are
completed.
4
On the left, gate leading to Bellvue, a high
hill, from which there is an extensive view;
and a large extent of the Pacific, close under
the spectator is suddenly brought into view
with the Light house etc. On the left
'Oh! what can sanctify the joys of home
Like Hope's gay glance o'er ocean's
troubled foam'
Byron.
Road.]
7 i On the right the Light-house, called Macquarie tower, from its having been erected
during Macquarie's time
"
[The location of the Lighthouse is about 20
chains north of the municipal boundary of
Waverley.]
From this gate the road to South Head descends the range, which is visible from Sydney.
In June, 1848, an Act was passed by the N.S.W.
Pailiament creating the position of Commissioners of
Road Trusts. It was amended in 1849 but not as regards the appointment of trusts. The Old South Head
Road came under the control of the Commissioners of
the Old South Head Road Trust and the road remained the responsibility of the Trust for more than
half a century.
4 i On the right, the first track to Bondi Bay
[junction of South Head Road and O'Brien
Street]. Half a mile further on is a bridge
across a small stream. [Near Murriverie
Road.]
Some good specimens of weeping birch are
seen here, which, when in bloom, are singularly beautiful. There are also some fine
specimens of the Zunica palm, called by the
natives 'Burwan,' also the fern tree; and
further on the right, in the bush, the fan
palm, commonly called the cabbage tree, may
be found; a little further on is a grassy spot,
indicated bv the ruins of a house. The bavs
In 1904, Waverley Council was informed by the
Department of PuMic W^orks that the Old South Head
Road Trust had been abolished and that henceforth
the Borough Councils were authorised to take control
of so much of the road located within its boundary.
The Eastern Suburbs municipal councils protested and
said it was unfair to saddle the councils with the cost
48
View of Bondi from Bellevue
Hill
Park.
(Plioto.:
of maintaining this road, which previouslv was done
by tolls, and when these were abolished, bv ".grants from
the Government. Councils maintained that they were
main roads for public and military use. This resistance
was successful in forcing the Government to put the
South Head Road in proper condition before handing
over to councils. The centre of this road is the division
of the Waverley and Woollahra municipalities. Later
in that vear ( 1 9 0 4 ) the Minister for Public Works
agreed to put Old South Head Road in order before
transfer to the Council's charge.
1958.)
Phillip's crew first discovered the waters of Port Jackson (previous to their embiuking from Botanv Bay)
having gone into the bush on a short shooting excursion — hence the name Bell \ ' u e . " The hill formed
part of the consolitlated grant to Daniel C'ooper and
SoL;m(,n Levcv (brf.ther of Barnett Levey) in 1 8 3 0 .
It has been described as circular with a radius of a
little under 200 links from the centre top with a
road leading to it from Old South Head Road. It was
surveyed by Survevor Lewis Gordon in March, 1 8 5 0 ,
for surrender to the Crown. In compensation for this
surrender the Crown agreed to grant two small portions of land at what was then called the village of
Double Bav. The conveyance of the lands in question
was dated August 30, 1 8 5 3 . A re-survev of '"Bell Vue
Hill" was made in September, 1 8 8 1 , and a part of the
area comprising la. Or. 2 5p. was resumed for public
recreation on Mav 1 1 , 1 8 8 8 . In the following year
the Council of the Borough of Woollahra was
appointed Trustees for the area called "Bell Vue Park."
( N o w Bellevue Park.)
BELLEVUE HILL
Although Bellevue Hill itself is not within the
boundary of the Munieipalitv of Waverley, it is so
closely interwoven with the suburb of W^averley that
some specific mention of this feature should be recorded here, despite the reference made previously.
I cannot confirm the mention made by the
"Sydney Morning Herald" of /August 4, 1 8 5 3 , which
stated ". . . . It was to the spot that some of Captain
E
C. Cameron.
49
CHAPTER VIII
INCORPORATION OF THE
MUNICIPALITY OF WAVERLEY
1859
"W^averley Municipality—A Meeting of the residents of Waverley, convened by public advertisement,
was held last evening (Monday, 20th December,
1858) at Webb's, Tea Gardens, to take into consideration the desirableness of constituting the district into
a municipality. There was a fair muster present. Mr.
William Barker, being called to the chair, read the
advertisement, and explained the object of the meeting.
Addressing himself to the subject, he submitted whether
it would not be desirable to have but one municipality
for the district of Randwiek and Waverley. If this was
done, the united districts might be divided into wards,
which would receive equal consideration, and equal
justice for the residents generally. Referring to the
popular prejudice against municipal institutions, upon
some mistaken ideas that they would involve an increased rate of taxation, he said that these prejudices
must give way, when it was considered that under any
circumstances, the inhabitants would be mixed, and
that it must be much more desirable that they should
control and superintend their own taxation, the amount
of which, whatever that might be, they could also
expend more efficaciously and profitably than strangers
could. Under these circumstances, he must state that
his feeling was in favour of an amalgamation of Randwiek and Waverley, and that immediate steps should
be taken to constitute them into one municipality.
With reference to the municipal Bill, he explained
that the provisions of it as regarded the maximum
taxation was sufficiently defined to dispel the idea that
the inhabitants would subject themselves to any reckless system of taxation. Mr. S. Raymond, in speaking
to the question, suggested that a committee should be
formed to consider and report on a subsequent meeting, which might be generally conceived the best
digested, and most judicious plan of carrying out the
object of a united municipality for Randwiek, Waverley
and Coogee. It would, also, be for such committee to
consider as a preliminary step whether the districts
The Municipality of Waverley was established
under the Municipalities Act of 1858, passed in the
Legislature by the Cowper Ministry when thirty-five
suburban and country municipalities were constituted.
This Act (22 Vic. iNo. 13) made provision for the
dissolution, if necessary, of the District Councils and
the placement of the areas controlled by them under
municipal bodies. At first Waverley came under the
District Council of Sydney, Parish of Alexandria,
County of Cumberland. Nine years after the Municipalities Act of 1858 (22 Vic. No. 13) was passed, it
was repealed and replaced by the Aet of 1867 ( 3 1 , Vic.
No. 12) which divided municipalities into two classes,
boroughs and municipal districts. It provided that a
borough should upon its first incorporation contain an
area of not more than nine square miles with a population not less than 1,000 inhabitants; and a municipal
district must not exceed fifty square miles, and should
contain a population of at least 500.
Under this
Act, Waverley became the Borough of Waverley—its
Councillors became Aldermen, and its Chairman,
Mayor. In 1897 came an Act which consolidated a
number of minor amendments made from time to
time. Then followed the Local Government Acts of
1905 and 1906. The latter Act abolished the old
names, boroughs and municipal districts, and introduced the designations, shires and municipalities,
under which the Borough of Waverley became the
"Municipality of \Vaverley" as it is today.
PUBLIC MEETING CALLED
The earliest indication of some real interest in
the establishment of a Municipality of Waverley was
shown when a public meeting was called for that purpose, on December 20, 1858.
This meeting was
reported on the following day, December 21, by "The
Sydney Morning Herald." Because of the importance
of the subject, it is intended to give the newspaper
report fully.
50
referred to were prepared for municipal legislation. In
conclusion, he would move the following resolution—
ORIGINAL PETITION
The next move following the appointment of the
committee and deliberations of that committee was the
presentation of a petition of protest against the proposed inclusion of Little Coogee within the intended
boundaries of the Municipality of Randwiek and Botany, as published in the "N.S.W. Government Gazette" of November 11, 1 8 5 8 , and praying also for the
erection of a Municipality of Waverley according to the
boundaries as described therein. This petition was
dated Januarv 2 4 , 1859, and was presented to Governor, Sir William Denison, on January 2 5 , 1 8 5 9 .
Details of the petition and petitioners' names, etc., arc
shown in a photostat copy of the original document
herein.
'That a committee be formed to consider the
question of forming a municipality in the
district of Waverley and Randwiek.'
Mr. C. Simmons seconded the resolution.
Mr. W. B. Allen spoke in support of the resolution and
pointed out on a map the boundaries of the two districts of Waverley and Randwiek. He called attention
to these boundaries so that, whenever a committee was
formed to consider the question of a united municipality, the boundaries of Waverley should be properly
known and made distinct from those of Randwiek. Mr.
Pearce followed, more particularly calling attention to
certain boundaries which, previously described by Mr.
Allen as those of Waverley, he claimed as those of
Randwiek, contending that ^Vaverley, as a district, had
no boundaries whatever, and had never been recognised in the Government maps as a separate district.
This became the point of debate, the immediate question—that of the necessity of a municipality—being
set aside for the more local question of boundaries,
which occasioned some interruption. In conclusion,
Mr. Pearce explained that when the people of Randwiek resolved to apply for leave to form their district
into a municipality, they would have been most anxious
to amalgamate themselves and their district with the
people and district of Waverley, but as one of the leading residents of the latter place who when the movement for Randwiek was first commenced, had taken
some part in the matter, but had subsequently withdrawn himself from it, it was thought that the people
of Waverley would have preferred to take separate action themselves. This was the only reason that prevented the Randwiek people from seeking united action
with their neighbours of Waverley. He hoped, as their
interests were identical, that there would be no feelings
of jealousy or hostility between them. After a few remarks from Mr. Hebblewhite, the motion was put
and declared to be unanimously carried. A committee
was appointed to carry out the spirit of the resolution.
This concluded the proceedings, and the meeting
separated."
(See pages 52-57 for six photostats of original
petition of residents of Waverley for establishment of
Municipality.)
FURTHER REQUEST FOR INCORPORATION
About four noVihs later, Mav 17, 1 8 5 9 , another lequest to the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Charles
Cowper, concerning the incorporation of Waverlev was
made, particulars of which are shown on the following photostat copy of the document.
(See photostat on Page 5 8 . )
PROCLAMATION OF MUNICIPALITY
Following this request action was taken expeditiously by the Colonial Secretary and a proclamation
establishing the "Munieipalitv of Waverlev," as approved b\ the Governor on June 13, 1859, was published on June 16, 1859, in a Supplement to the
"New South Wales Government Gazette" of June 14,
18 59. A photostat copy of the proclamation is in the
front pages of the book.
( T h e indistinct portion of the photostat in the
top left-hand corner is the seal of the Colony.)
FIRST APPOINTMENT OF RETURNING
OFFICER
A further proclamation nominating the appointment of a Returning Officer is also shown by photostat herein.
The committee appointed comprised: Messrs.
Raymond, Smithers, Zahel, Brown, Hooper, Gray,
Hornby, Vickery, Porter, Taylor, Shea, Barker, Birrell,
Madden, Hannan, Bennett, Simmons, Allen, and Falconer. Mr. W''illiam B. Allen was appointed secretary.
Many, if not all of these, continued in after years to
play a prominent and useful part in the progress of the
Municipality. It is quite important that we should
know the people who first interested themselves in the
establishment of the Municipality in this way.
(See photostat on Page 5 9 . )
FIRST ELECTION OF COUNCILLORS
Notice of the holding of the first election for
the Municipality of Waverley appeared in the "New
South Wales Government Gazette" of June, 1 8 5 9 , as
hereunder: —
(Continued
51
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