Urban Ambling

AS you travel down from Brooklyn to the rivers mouth at Cowan Water you will see ahead a high ridge of land. This is the Lambert Penninsula. Behind it to the east is a tied island, Barrenjoey. Both are N.ational Parks and provide stunning views of land and water. They are yet another example of Sydney’s gems. The lower Hawkesbury has nearly all pristine land and bush on either side. Again , a rare...

Brooklyn is on Sydney’s northern edge, but is totally different to the rest of the city. It is a small isolated settlement on the Hawkesbury River. Arriving by train is like stepping back 100 years. The Hawkesbury itself is somewhat ignored by Sydney residents, but it was described by a British traveller in 1873 as having scenery superior to that of the Rhine!! Brooklyn was featured on the origina...

An historic goods railway corridor becomes a link between the Parramatta and Cooks River. If I had to choose only two words to describe The Greenway, then they would be “accessible” and “history”. It is only a bit under 6kms long and is beside the light rail, so any level of capacity can be accommodated. There are also some playgrounds along the way. You can walk the lot, walk there and back, or 1...

James Bloodworth, like James Smith, was an early arrival in Sydney Town. The similarity ends there, however, as Smith's time was not successful, but Bloodworth was a stunning success. In many ways, he was critical to the survival of the infant settlement. Born on 7-3-1759, he was convicted in October 1785 of the dreadful crime of stealing a game cock and two hens! He left England on the “ Charlott...

At 47 years of age , James Smith paid his fare for a passage to Botany Bay with the First Fleet. The arrangement was made with Captain Sever of the Lady Penrhyn. The Captain did not consult with Captain Arthur Philip about the arrangement. Philip found out about Smith when the Fleet were all together in Cape Town. He was furious as it was outside the instructions he had been given. In the end resu...

Abused, Ignored and avoided were apt descriptions of the Cooks River over the years from 1788 to the mid 1970’s. It started as a Arcadian Wonderland, but industrial, chemical and plastic pollution, together with urbanisation, almost destroyed it. But the river won through and now has a delightful pathway following it for most of its course. A delightful spot to amble!

A passing mention of an engineer, Moriarty, on an historical plaque by the Moruya River, leads to some enquiries. These, oddly enough, result in learning that the sandstone circular dam that created Lake Parramatta, is of some distinction. It was the first arch dam built in Australia and was the 12th engineered dam built in the world since Roman times! The bonus was finding a delightful spot to am...

It is apt that Martin Place, like the man after whom it is named, progressed from humble beginnings to pre-eminence. Such was the life of James Martin, who arrived in Sydney at the age of one with his Irish parents. Over the next 65 years, he rose to be Premier of NSW on three occasions and finally to be the Chief Justice of NSW. The motto he adopted gives an insight into his personality: "AUT VIA...

On the 22nd of September,1918 the first direct radio message from England was received in Australia. Surprisingly, it was sent from a Transmitting Station in the NW of Wales to a radio station in a suburban house in Wahroonga , a suburb of Sydney. The message was to the people of Australia from the Prime Minister, W M Hughes. He spoke of his recent visit to the Western Front in France. Hughes, Gug...

Despite the fabulous name , this is not about a Spike Milligan or Barry Humphreys character. There really was an Eccleston Frederick Du Faur. He left a wonderful legacy to his adopted city of Sydney. In his quiet methodical way he made his dreams come true and left Sydney a better place than found it. As if being one of the founders of the Art Gallery of NSW was not enough, he was the driving forc...

In 1890 the University of Sydney received 250,000 Pounds from the Estate of John H Challis. It was the first major private benefaction. In today's money , that is $ 42,000,000! The gift was used to create professorships in Law, Medicine, Veterinary Science, Biology,Civil Engineering English Literature, History and Philosophy. Challis thus made a major contribution to Sydney. He arrived in Sydney a...

There is a statue of Allan Cunningham on the Bent Street frontage of the Lands Department , at the corner with Loftus Street. There is an obelisk to his memory in a pond in the Botanical Gardens, just near the kiosk. As if that was not enough- the Federal Electorate of Cunningham commemorates him; Cunninghams Gap ( which is the access from the coast to Toowoomba ) commemorates his discovery of it...

Naval Surgeon, Explorer, Adventurer, and perhaps a would-be Smuggler George Bass was an extraordinary person, enormously talented and incredibly brave. It was her, together with Matthew Flinders who carried out early exploration from the infant colony at Sydney by traveling down the south coast and ultimately proving there was a large body of water between what is now Victoria and Tasmania. previo...

If you are visiting Sydney, and only have a day or two and you’re wondering what the best thing would be to do. Then I don’t think there’s much doubt that you should go up to Observatory hill. It’s a little bit out of the way so it has the benefit that it’s not too crowded, but it gives you some marvelous views of Sydney Harbour, particularly to the west. There’s also a delightful park that surrou...

In this episode we return to Churchill, which is on the Rocks Ridge, and move away from the valley of the tank stream heading down towards Darling Harbour, and millers point. On the way, we mention why gas lane is called gas lane, and also go past two very interesting and historic buildings called the Glover Cottages and the Richmond villa. Moving along the eastern side of Kent street, we come to...

An amble in Randwick gives glimpses of the founding and development of the area together with some potted histories of a number of significant early homes. The amble leads to a reference to one, Commodore Goodenough. Apart from having a striking name, he was also an interesting person. He left quite a legacy, given his early and untimely death.

This episode takes us up Grosvenor Street to Church Hill. During the 19th Century , this was a very fashionable area. This was probably due to the elevation and views. It is not easy to see those attributes these days. Church Hill was also the site of one of three Government Windmills which ran along the ridge which now gives access to the Harbour Bridge. This tells of that windmill ( built to las...

Most Australians should know this name. I suspect however, that most like me had never heard of this person. That changed for me when I serendipitously noticed an obscure plaque near the entrance to The Scots Church in Margaret Street, Sydney. This is the story of Peter Dodds McCormick.  

The imposing statue of T. S. Mort dominates the southern edge of Macquarie Place , which is opposite the Lands Department Building. Mort was an interesting and complex person who arrived in Sydney in 1838 aged 21 years. He came with very little money.  In the 40 years til his death he rose to become a very prominent and successful business man. He was very community minded, giving both time a...

Near the western end of Bridge Street, there is a wonderful Victorian Building called Burns Philip House. It is worth just standing and quietly taking it in, as unusual as such behaviour is for us all these days. This episode focuses on this building, its origins and the people who founded the company that occupied it for many years. The Burns Philip Company was a shipping and freight company in t...

Someone once said that Bridge Street in Sydney was the finest of its streets, in a place that has a lot of competitors for that title. I will not debate that question, but simply say that it is one of my favourites. It has a wonderful set of Victorian Public Buildings and leads, at the eastern end, to the Botanic Gardens and the Conservatorium of Music. It is said to have the largest number of sta...