Detailed Maps and Background Notes for the
HARBOUR BRIDGE TO MANLY VIA THE SPIT WALK
Notes written by Graham Spindler - This edition 2012
Part 2 of the Walk has two options – Part 2a The Harbour (East) Route;
and Part 2b, The Middle Harbour (West) Route.
PART 2a: Ben Boyd Road to The Spit Bridge
Via the The Harbour (East) Route
The Part 2a route is the longest but most scenic route from Ben Boyd Rd to The Spit, passing through magnificent headlands
and bays of bushland and built environment, and significant historical sites before dropping down to Balmoral and Chinaman’s
Beaches on the way to the Spit Bridge.
For convenience, Part 2a has been divided into four segments (2a(1), 2a(ii), 2a(iii) and 2a(iv).
Section
Map
Distance
Indication
Part 2a(i): The Harbour (East) Route (Ben Boyd Rd to Mosman Wharf)
4.3km
A-B
Part 2a(ii): The Harbour (East) Route (Mosman Wharf to Chowder Bay)
5.7km
B-C
Part 2a(iii): The Harbour (East) Route (Chowder Bay to Balmoral Beach)
2.7km
C- D
Part 2a(iv): The Harbour (East) Route (Balmoral Beach to Spit Bridge)
3.6km
D- E
TOTAL: The Harbour (East) Route (Ben Boyd Rd to Spit Bridge)
A- E
16.3km
Harbour Bridge to Manly via The Spit: PART 2a Walk Notes
Graham Spindler 2012
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Time
1hr 30 mins
1hr 50mins
1hr
1hr 10mins
5hrs 30mins
PART 2a(i) Harbour (East) Route - Ben Boyd Rd to Mosman Wharf
The Walk
Distance:
Level:
Transport:
Facilities:
Other or Connected Walks
4.3km
Time: 1hr 30mins
Mostly Easy – some steps. Mostly paved.
Ferries and Buses – Neutral Bay, Cremorne Point and Mosman Bay Wharves;
Ferries only – Old Cremorne Wharf
Toilets: Neutral Bay and Mosman Bay Wharves; Cremorne Point Reserve.
Shops or hotels: Neutral Bay and Mosman Bay Wharves.
Continue east along Kurraba Rd, eventually turning left into Billong St and then left again into Shellcove Rd. At
Honda Rd, turn right (downhill) and then right again into Bogota Av. As this swings left, take the path to the right
through the faux tree-trunk archway into Cremorne Reserve.
Leaving the Ben Boyd Rd intersection, the chief attractions are mostly off Kurraba Rd at this point with its flats, pleasant
houses and modest motels. Hayes St leads down to Neutral Bay Wharf and shops, and Wycombe Rd (turning right) leads to
Wallaringa Avenue and Nutcote, the house museum purpose-built in 1924-25 for May Gibbs, writer and illustrator of the
gumnut / Bib and Bub books. A fascinating little Mediterranean-style house and garden set on the Neutral Bay shoreline, it was
designed by architect B.J. Waterhouse, several of whose otherwise Arts and Crafts style houses adorn the area. No 65 is a
classical revival style by architect Hardy Wilson.
However, just beyond where the walk turns into Billong St, is the unmissable No 146 Kurraba Rd, Hollowforth. Designed
about 1892 by E. Jeaffreson Jackson for a Professor Threlfall (Australia's first professor of Physics), it is a delightful swirling,
romantic and imaginative house, with shingles, turrets, gables and tall chimneys.
Billong St leads down to Shellcove Rd, where some of the area’s most important architecture can be seen. No 37, opposite the
street mouth is St Annes (1913), probably another of BJ Waterhouse’s designs – there are others to the right along the street.
Across, to the left, a complex house occupies its own small block at No 39. Gundimaine is a rambling, Federation-style house
Harbour Bridge to Manly via The Spit: PART 2a Walk Notes
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built around 1903 for the Craig family. The original land was larger but was subdivided in the 1920s and the house became
flats. In the early 1980s it was superbly renovated and is now 3 apartments and a separate townhouse. There are more pleasing
houses, but don’t miss reclusive but very significant No 49, The Cobbles. It’s not easy to see much, but it was designed 191819 by Samuel George (S.G.) Thorp of Peddle and Thorp as his own residence and is a very early Australian translation of the
Californian bungalow. Small terracotta shingles, liver brick and glazed header bricks, inglenooks and roundels and shutters
might be glimpsed but the tapering cobblestone chimney is unmistakable. Peddle had worked in California and was influenced
by the early rustic bungalow designs of the Green Brothers before his return to Sydney around the start of WW1.
Immediately before the turn into Honda Rd, is one of the most important houses in the area, Honda (No 55). Although what is
there now is mostly reconstruction after a ‘renovation’ in the late 1980s, this is the oldest house in the area, built in 1859.
Recently arrived English civil engineer and architect, Francis Grundy, built the original house and lived a bohemian batchelor’s
life here until 1864 in what was an isolated nook in the harbour usually reached only by boat. Another engineer, this time Irish,
William Christopher Bennett took over the lease, living there till his death in 1889. As Commissioner for Roads and Bridges,
Bennett constructed the Blue Mountains road and planned Sydney's water supply and sewerage systems. The house had
gardens and orchards down to the beach and survived bushrangers and bushfires, although barely its youngest occupant, Agnes,
who set the place on fire at the age of 4. Dr Agnes Bennett O.B.E., M.D. (Edin.), B.Sc. (Syd), survived the fire to grow up to a
remarkable medical career, breaking through into many new areas for women doctors, women’s and children’s health.
From Bogota Av, follow the reserve path down the western side of Cremorne Point to the parkland above the ferry
wharf, and then back along the eastern side of the peninsula. This will eventually lead to Bromley Avenue, a short
pedestrian street of houses, a path from which drops down to cross a bridge and turn eastwards around to Mosman
Bay. From the boat clubs, follow the shoreline around the Bay past Reid Park and back up to Mosman Bay Wharf.
Cremorne Point - Wul-Warra-Jeung to its original owners, the Cammeraygal - is one of the few peninsulas in the harbour with
a walkway and waterfront reserve almost completely around it. An 1828 law had proclaimed a 100 foot (30.5metres) public
reserve from high water mark in all future land grants around the Harbour but in fact most land had already been granted.
James Robertson (more of whom later) had been granted 86 acres of the Point in 1833, having already built a stone cottage
there. The house was enlarged and sporadically occupied by various people over time and the land sold to James Milson in
1853. In 1885 Milson then sold his land to a syndicate who proposed to subdivide down to the waterline, and at this point the
Government stepped in, arguing that the waterfront was not Milson’s to sell. The result was a long drawn-out legal battle that
was finally resolved about 1904 in the Government’s favour. The outcome, fortunately, was the waterfront reserve, and the
park at the tip of the peninsula. Losing the case would have resulted in a very different Cremorne Point.
Another legal battle which could have dramatically changed the Point had the outcome been different came after coal deposits
under the Harbour were confirmed and two bores at Cremorne Point in 1893 found good coal at almost 1,000 metres. A serious
proposal to turn the Point into a coal mine led to a public backlash and other challenges, with the government deciding against
the development. In 1897, the Sydney Harbour Coal Mine did go ahead, but the shafts were in working class Balmain.
With these two alternatives out of the way, development of Cremorne Point went ahead, as pretty much the very liveable,
middle class locality it remains today, its original architecture largely in the Federation or arts and crafts styles.
The waterfront walk is delightful, looking down to Shell Cove and across to the often fine houses of Shellcove Rd in Kurraba
Point. Hollowforth can be seen, and a little further along towards the Harbour, Brent Knowle, a classic Arts and Crafts style
house designed by B.J. Waterhouse in 1914. Most obvious is the massive modern house cascading down towards its private
wharf, which back in the mid-1980s set a record Australian sale price of $8.5 million. It stands on land once occupied by the
1850s The Dingle (later called Shelcote). On the left, though, are the homes and apartments fronting Milson Rd in Cremorne
Point. The largest is the greyish-blue Ritz Apartments, originally an elegant hotel (The Ritz) built around 1911. Understandably
popular for its location in the 1920s and ‘30s, it began a steady decline after WWII and by the 1980s had become modest rental
accommodation for about 40 low income tenants. Inevitably, that could hardly withstand Sydney real estate prices, and it was
turned instead into 10 luxury units early in the 1990s, despite protests at the loss of social housing.
Don’t miss the paths about half-way along that drop towards the delightful and secluded McCallum Pool, perched above the
Harbour edge. One of the best kept secrets along the harbour, the current pool replaced a much earlier one, and is one of the
few free public harbour pools to have survived the wave of litigation fear-induced closures in the 1980s. The mix of properties
continues as the Point nears but there is plenty to admire ranging from Federation to contemporary.
The stone cottage built by James Robertson was near to where the walkway reaches Milson Rd. Robertson, a free settler, was
a Scottish watchmaker who arrived in Sydney in 1822, bringing a substantial amount of cash, recommendation from Lord
Goulburn, a wife, six children and two pipers. Ten days later he was appointed Supervisor of Government Clocks and worked
closely with Governor Brisbane who was a committed amateur astronomer, helping him set up and maintain an observatory at
Parramatta. A grateful Governor Brisbane granted him the 86 acres of the Point in 1833 which was soon known as Robertsons
Point.(and at its tip officially still is). The Robertsons moved to his country estates in the 1840s. One of Robertson's sons, John,
later became Sir John Robertson, five times Premier of NSW and pioneer of land reform and public education.
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The Reserve at the Point of Cremorne Point is a lovely area with extensive harbour views and a small lighthouse out at its tip,
the latter, constructed in 1904 was one of the first notable uses of pre-cast concrete in Australia. Long popular as a picnic place
or an attraction for artists, for a few years the Point was also an amusement garden. Named Cremorne Gardens (hence the
name now given to the area) after a more successful pleasure garden in Chelsea, London, it was opened on Easter Monday,
March 1856, by entrepreneurs Clarke and Woolcott, who has leased the land from James Milson. Milson’s old house
temporarily became the associated Cremorne Gardens Hotel. The Gardens offered free ferry travel to patrons along with a
dancing stage, a carousel, shooting, archery and other games, fireworks, refreshments and other entertainments, most
notoriously the all night masked balls. The place soon acquired a shady reputation and it declined and closed, along with the
hotel, in 1862. The Reserve retained its popularity with picnickers and painters (such as Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton), and
even briefly became a sort of aerodrome in 1909 when aviator A.H. White managed to get a couple of biplanes aloft from it.
The Ferry Wharf opened here in 1911 together with a tramway connecting back to Military Rd. Over the years a number of
ferry and other shipping accidents happened at and around the point including a ferry and a British submarine in 1945. In 1930
locals watched a battle between a harpoon boat and a whale, which the whale won by sinking the harpoonists. In this
tempestuous spot, even the wharf pontoon has managed to sink several times.
The walkway back on the Mosman Bay side is, if anything, even prettier than the Shell Cove side. Blocks of flats or large
houses back onto the reserve, again sometimes in Federation, Arts and Crafts or Mediterranean styles. A feature is the prizewinning Lex and Ruby Graham Gardens, between walkway and the shoreline. The story is told in plaques but the gardens
were initially the creations of the Grahams and have been developed and maintained locally since 1959. Steps at various points
lead down to a maze of small paths winding under the clifftop level down to the water line. The reserve widens a little at
Grassy Point. There are lovely Harbour views here, but the three Federation houses backing onto the area are attentiongrabbers. The lovely central house, with its little octagonal summer house is The Laurels, built about 1907 as his family home
by architect John Burcham Clamp. It and the neighbouring house were linked by a mansard roof extension prior to 1920 when
it all became a private hotel or guest house. It is now several apartments. The other house, north of the steps and laneway, was
also designed by J. Burcham Clamp and has a different feel, with an external octagonal shingled bay window and a square
tower. The little pathway that crosses at this point leads down to a modest and charming clubhouse of the Sydney Amateur
Sailing Club, founded in 1872 and later moved to Cremorne.
The path now runs parallel below Kareela Rd, with Federation and other style houses above as the path drops to Old Cremorne
Wharf, where the suburb’s first ferry service began in 1900. After 100m or so the path climbs up to more interesting Kareela
Rd homes. Again the Federation style dominates with gables and dormers, bay windows, sandstone foundations, slate roofs,
leadlight windows and other features. Development of the Peninsula having been delayed by the 100 foot reserve legal battle
until about 1904, the Federation style dominated the spate of building which followed immediately after. The path enters a
pedestrian access only street, Bromley Avenue. Short and charming, it is the only part of the peninsula that evaded the 100
foot reserve, apparently not part of the Milson land. Beyond it the path dips to a cool, rainforest-like nook with a bridge over a
tiny stream dropping into Corner Beach on Mosman Bay. The path leaves North Sydney Municipality and turns to follow the
steep-sided hillside around to Mosman Rowers Club near the head of the Bay. Originating at Dawes Point in 1873, the club
re-established itself here in 1911. However, not much rowing happens from this clubhouse, now primarily a social and
restaurant venue because of the busy waterway, and rowing is conducted from a modern clubhouse at The Spit.
Mosman Bay, ‘Gorambullagong’ to its indigenous owners, was known as Greater Sirius Cove for some time, after the First
Fleet flagship, HMS Sirius, was careened for repairs for some months on the tidal flats here in 1789. This lovely corner of the
Harbour then returned to its former isolation and quietude until, in 1831 a Scot, Archibald Mosman, was granted 138 acres by
the bay, building Mosman's first permanent house, The Nest, on the Mosman side. A shipowner, he developed a Whaling
Station here around 1838, a remnant of which is the Scout Hall on the eastern side known as The Barn. Mosman himself did
not remain much longer but he left area and the bay with his name. The area soon became a popular beauty and picnic spot,
especially due to an attractive 30metre waterfall at the back of what is now Reid Park. A succession of wooden footbridges
crossed the Bay before the mudflats were finally infilled and the park created. The area attracted artists and photographers in
profusion, a few of whom were Conrad Martens, Julian Ashton, A. H. Fullwood, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts. In 1861 a
ferry service began, promoted by Richard Harnett, a developer who also had an extensive freestone quarry in operation above
on the Cremorne side and who began subdivision of the Mosman side in 1874.
Reid Park, was mostly reclaimed from the Bay from about 1900 on (when Sir George Reid was NSW Premier) and the famous
waterfall is no more. A pedestrian bridge links the heights on either side, and a walkway on the western side once led to a
gothic mansion with a 40 acre garden, The Rangers, built for wealthy English-born Oswald Bloxsome, where he entertained
Sydney and visiting elite from the 1840s on. A long term guest was Queen Victoria’s marine artist, Oswald Brierly, who had
come to Australia in 1842 on Benjamin Boyd’s ship, The Wanderer. Another artist, much associated with the area, who also
lived just above the park, was Margaret Preston (1875-1963), an artist versatile in many media, but probably best known for her
woodcuts, linocuts, and silkscreens of native flora.
Harbour Bridge to Manly via The Spit: PART 2a Walk Notes
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PART 2a(ii) - Harbour (East) Route) - Mosman Wharf to Chowder Bay
The Walk
Distance:
Level:
Transport:
Facilities:
Other or Connected Walks
5.7km
Time: 1hr 50mins
Mostly moderate– some steep inclines and several sets of steps. Partly paved but mostly well-formed
bush tracks.
Ferries and Buses – Mosman Bay and Zoo Wharves;
Buses only – Sirius Cove, Clifton Gardens and Chowder Bay Barracks (Chowder Bay).
Toilets: Mosman Bay and Zoo Wharves; Sirius Cove Reserve; Athol Hall; Bradleys Head; Clifton Gardens
(Chowder Bay).
Shops or hotels: Mosman Bay and Zoo Wharves; Athol Hall (café normally open Tues-Friday + Sun 113.00); Clifton Gardens (Chowder Bay barracks).
From the eastern side of Avenue Rd, directly opposite Mosman Wharf, takes the steps up to Mosman St, crossing
from its lower to higher level and continuing uphill. At the intersection with Rose Cres, continue uphill on
Trumfield Lane to McLeod St. Turn left here, uphill, to Musgrave St. Across Musgrave, McLeod continues as steps
and pathway up to Raglan St. Across the two levels of Raglan, a path and steps begin to drop down alongside
houses, past the end of Curraghbeena Rd, The path and steps drop and curve down to Little Sirius Cove Reserve.
Mosman Municipality is a spectacularly located part of Sydney, with 21km of waterfront and only 3km of land boundary. The
rest of this walk to The Spit follows much of that waterfront, often in unspoiled bushland above charming bays and headlands.
The headlands can be a bit steep to cross, as the first kilometre of this section attests, but it is an area favoured by artists before
and after development took place. Dominating the Harbour and facing the Heads as it does, it was also an area favoured by the
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military, as will soon be seen, and its first road network was developed to serve the gun emplacements placed there over time
by the British, Colonial and later Commonwealth military.
Amongst the many artists and writers who worked or lived here was William Macleod (1850-1929), whose house, Dunvegan
(now demolished) was in the street now bearing his name. Now largely forgotten, he was The Bulletin's first artist, and by the
1880s, one of Australia's most commercially successful. From 1886 to 1903 he was also joint Managing Director of The
Bulletin with JF Archibald during its best years. AH Fullwood, at one time another Bulletin artist, lived in Musgrave St for a
time, and Arthur Streeton and his family lived in a Musgrave St boarding house in 1919 - a return to the area for both of them,
as they worked extensively here during their 1890s association with Curlew Camp - of which more soon. Sydney Ure-Smith
(1887-1949) also lived in Raglan St, a little way to the left of the crossing point. An artist himself, Ure-Smith was a major
influence in contemporary Australian art. As a journalist publisher of the periodical Art in Australia from 1916 to 1942, he
probably had more influence in deciding who was in and who wasn't in Australian art in that period.
Little Sirius Cove is a lovely enclave park and beach with shallows made for kids and dogs and a lawn made for picnics and
dozing in the sun. It gets its name by association with what had been Greater Sirius Cove, now Mosman Bay. Surrounding
houses hide in the trees or on the heights above, a small boatshed is tucked behind the south-east corner and the harbour and
eastern suburbs provide the backdrop for bobbing boats. Taronga Zoo sits on the eastern ridge and below it, along the
waterfront bush, is the rediscovered site of one of Australia's most interesting former artists' colonies.
From the eastern side of the Cove, locate the paved pathway leading into the bushland. It soon climbs a little
around above the Sea Scouts building to meet steps dropping from Whiting Beach Rd along the perimeter of
Taronga Zoo. Continue on the bush track with the Zoo boundary on the left. Near the point where the boundary and
track turn 90 degrees left, a side track to the right drops down to Curlew Camp – an optional excursion. From the
left turn, the track is straightforward, paralleling the harbour on the right above Whiting Beach and around to
emerge at the Zoo Wharf.
The 'Taronga' in Taronga Zoo is Cammeraygal for 'beautiful sea view', which is slightly inaccurate given that it has a
beautiful Harbour view, but this is one of the world's great and best sited zoos. Its forerunner opened in Moore Park in 1884 but
became overcrowded, and in 1912 a grant of 50 acres at Ashton Park was made to the Zoological Society. The new zoo opened
in 1916, the animals moving across the harbour in various 'arks', Jessie the elephant (d. 1939) nearly sinking the landing
pontoon. Edward the macaw also made the move and lived on until 1974, aged more than 100. For many years the Zoo’s
development was dominated by Sydney businessman and later long-time Zoo Director, Sir Edward Hallstrom (1886-1970) but
he would find few of its old time concrete and barred enclosures in the state of the art, ecologically-focussed institution today.
An optional side track through the bush down to the Little Sirius Cove waterfront leads to Curlew Camp, mostly lost to view
until uncovered again as part of a major 1991 art exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery. Mosman was attracting artists camps by
the 1880s, one surviving at Balmoral Beach until 1903. Curlew was established in 1890 as a weekend camp by Sydney
merchant, Reuben Brasch. It had canvas tents, stone walls and a permanent cook, and soon regulars included artists Tom
Roberts and Arthur 'Smike' Streeton, who planted flame trees still at the waterfront. The 1890s Depression turned it into a
semi-permanent home for mostly impressionist and plein air painters and their associates. One outcome was a wonderful stock
of paintings of the area and back to Cremorne Point, where most residents rowed across from. It was also photographed
extensively by another resident, Rodney Cherry. By 1900 most of the artists had gone and its proprietor had become Fred Lane,
who had settled there after winning the equivalent of two swimming gold medals at the 1900 Paris Olympics. By now the camp
had a weatherboard dining hut and a billiards tent as well as quite permanent living tents. The establishment of Taronga Zoo in
1912 brought it all to an end and the stone foundations and other evidence of the camp's existence, such as its name carved in
the rock, disappeared under regrowth until 1991.
The track turns above quiet little Whiting Beach in a near-rainforest corner, before passing through bush above the Harbour to
emerge below the the Zoo's Sky Safari gondola ride. Immediately across the road is Taronga Zoo Wharf. This wharf had
opened with the Zoo by 1916 and was also serviced by trams until the 1950s. The steep gradient sometimes gave commuters
more thrills than the Sky Safari as several times trams lost traction and overshot into the Harbour. The wharf had a bit part in
another drama in 1981. In late 1980 three Woolworths stores, including the Town Hall store, were bombed, the latter on busy
Christmas Eve. Warnings were given and there were no casualties but the bombers demanded $1m in ransom. When a
supposed Woolworths courier followed instructions in January 1981, to go to the Zoo Wharf, he was told on a CB radio to
lower the money into the Harbour. Unfortunately for the diver waiting down there for the cash, the courier was a detective and
the site was surrounded by Water Police and divers, resulting in the arrest of the two extortionists, McHardie and Danielson.
From the Zoo Wharf walk uphill on Athol Wharf Rd to opposite the 1916 Zoo entrance. The paved pathway diverts
down and slightly inland from the road and quickly becomes the bush track to Athol Hall. From the Hall lawn
return to the main bush track and follow it around and southwards above the water to Bradley’s Head.
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Once the track leaves Athol Wharf Rd, it enters a section of Sydney Harbour National Park above Athol Beach, where the rest
of this section of the walk is located. The section of the Park is called Ashton Park, after James Ashton, Minister for Lands,
1904-7, being some more of the waterfront preserved partly by the same legislation which saved the Cremorne Point Reserve,
and partly by military needs. The Hall and lawn area are also known as Athol Reserve. As the track is about to enter the lawn
area, there is a circular concrete base – all that remains of a razzle-dazzle, a large rotating ride which was pushed to spin while
passengers sat on it - one reminder of the area’s days as a pleasure garden. The former dancehall on the rise ahead, may have
originated as early as the late 1850s, when Athol Gardens was established. A decade or so later a Mr Clark built a small hotel,
the Athol Arms Inn and a stone house behind the dancehall. Many such pleasure gardens (there were several on the route of this
walk) were established around the Harbour in the 19 th and into the 20th centuries. Most had dancehalls, hotels and amusements
and were usually reached by ferries – in fact the ferry operators often owned the pleasure gardens - Sydney Ferries acquired
this one in 1905. Most also gained reputations of notoriety for wild and loose behaviour, drunkenness, fights and occasional
shootings - and even Sunday dancing. Most began disappearing as private motor cars became common. Athol Hall was one of
the first and the only main Harbour hall left in its bushland context.
From above Athol Beach (a track branches off to the beach) the track and wooden walkways pass through bush and turn south
along Bradleys Head peninsula, offering fine views. This part of the Harbour is known as Athol Bight and is one of its deepest
parts. From WWII until late in the 20th century, there were naval wharves here which had housed mothballed naval vessels until
they were sold off for scrap. The deep water served as a WWII anchorage for the Cunard Queens (Mary and Elizabeth) in their
role as troop ships and in more recent times for giant US carriers and battleships.
The waters of Bradley's Head have seen some of Sydney Harbour’s major nautical tragedies. In 1927 the ferry Greycliffe,
with 125 passengers, many of them school children, was run down west of here by the steamship Tahiti. Forty died and many
were seriously injured. Both ships had been travelling above the Harbour speed limit and the ferry had cut across the Tahiti's
bows. The Tahiti went down near Tonga 3 years later. Then in 1938 the ferry Rodney carrying more than 130 passengers, many
teenage girls, was farewelling the cruiser, USS Louisville. Some were sitting or standing on the roof of the top deck. When
Rodney changed course, the deck crowd rushed to the other side and Rodney rolled and sank, drowning 19 passengers. Rodney
was salvaged, modified and remains in service (renamed). Perhaps less tragic, but still historically significant, was the sinking
in the 1950s of the former lightship, Bramble, off the Point to kill a plague of cockroaches aboard. Bramble had been the
lightship moored at Sow and Pigs Reef from 1877 to 1911. After a number of years as a lighter used by Colonial Sugar
Refineries (CSR), in 1938, she was refitted as a replica of the small First Fleet warship, HMS Supply, and used in the
sesquicentennial re-enactment of Governor Arthur Phillip's landing at Sydney Cove.
Approaching Bradleys Head, on the foreshore near an amphitheatre, are the remains of a military wharf built 1839-57 to supply
Bradley's Head fortifications which are up the hill to the left. Nearby, in the water, stands one of the doric columns from
Sydney's first GPO, demolished in the 1860s/70s. It is one nautical mile from the Fort Denison tower and was used for testing
the speed of water craft.
Bradley's Head was named after Lieutenant William Bradley, second-in-command of the First Fleet and First Lieutenant of
the Sirius, and who landed here with Captain Hunter in January 1788. Bradley had a curious end to a distinguished career. He
returned to England and eventually became Rear-Admiral of the Blue in 1812. After retirement, he took up petty fraud, posing
in 1814 as a 'Captain Johnson' of a non-existent ship, the Mary and Jane. He presented hundreds of bogus letters to shore post
offices and was paid 2d per letter as per regulations. He was eventually caught and sentenced to death, commuted to
transportation for life to Australia! However he escaped to France where he later died.
Bradley's Head is marked by two towers, one a lighthouse similar to that on Cremorne Point, constructed in 1905, and the 32
ton tripod mast (or Fighting Top) of the first HMAS Sydney. After years at Cockatoo Dock it was erected here in 1934 to
honour the ship which fought the RAN's first major naval engagement with SMS Emden near Cocos Island in 1914. On the
ground in front is a memorial commemorating all four HMAS Sydneys.
The mast stands on an 1839-40 gun emplacement. In 1839 US Commander Charles Wilkes brought his four warships into
Sydney Harbour without challenge and commented that he could have taken the town before anyone woke up. A plan for an
outer line of defences resulted, and the Bradleys Head water level gun pits, partly carved out of existing rock, were the first to
be completed. In the 1860s, fear shifted to the Russians, Germans and even Irish (Fenians having launched raids into Canada
and an Irish Fenian having attempted to assassinate the Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf Beach in 1868 - see notes for Part 3 of
this walk). Harbour defences were greatly expanded with Fort Denison completed and new 68 pounder smooth bore batteries
established at Middle, South, Georges and Bradleys Head. The guns were rolled into place on skids laid along new military
roads. The Bradleys Head battery, complete with a gun, can be visited by taking the steps north of the toilet block about 100m
uphill. It has 3 gun pits, a magazine and connecting trenches and a loopholed firing wall for riflemen.
From Bradley’s Head, follow the road out and then pick up the main track where it enters the bush at the point where the road
switches back to head uphill. Follow the track due north through bush above the water. After a kilometre or so, the track
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swings right with the shoreline, passes steps up to Iluka Rd, and then tracks behind Iluka Rd houses. After the last of the houses
(an extremely large one) and another set of steps up to Iluka, the track moves into bushland on Chowder Head. About 300m in
it swings northwards, still through bushland before emerging below more houses above Chowder Bay. Steps then lead down
into Clifton Gardens at Chowder Bay.
After leaving Bradleys Head Rd, the first kilometre of bushwalk is pleasant and fairly level, with glimpses of Harbour and a
fair chance of encounters with lizards or brush turkeys. The Bay on the right, best seen after the bend towards Clifton Gardens,
is known as Taylor's Bay after a local fisherman Joseph Taylor. It hardly looks like a battle ground but is serenity was
dramatically disturbed on the night of 31 May, 1942. Following aerial reconnaissance from float planes launched from
Japanese submarines which revealed the USS Chicago and HMAS Canberra and other warships and merchant ships moored in
the Harbour, three two-man midget submarines were sent into the Harbour from a pack of long-range submarines. One was
caught in the incomplete submarine boom which stretched from George's Head to Watsons Bay, and later blew itself up. The
others slipped through below ships passing through the boom gates. One attacked the Chicago at Garden Island but its two
torpedoes missed, one failing to explode and the other destroying the depot ship HMAS Kuttabul instead, killing 21 naval
ratings. It managed to escape from the Harbour despite a flurry of shellfire and depth charges, but sank off the northern beaches
just short of its rendezvous point with its parent sub. It was rediscovered in 2006. The third sub, M21, was discovered and
attacked and left the Harbour, where it waited some hours and then re-entered. Spotted by lookouts, fired on and chased into
Taylors Bay by three patrol boats, it was depth charged for almost 4 hours before the crew of the damaged and doomed sub
committed suicide, their torpedo tubes still full. Ferries continued to run on the Harbour during the attack, giving commuters
quite an experience, as did the 5 inch shells from USS Chicago which skipped on the water and exploded in Fort Denison,
Mosman and Cremorne. The limited damage caused by the attack was due more to good luck than effective defence, and the
attack revealed many weaknesses in intelligence, communications and leadership in Sydney's extensive defence system. A
week later the mother ships bombarded Sydney and Newcastle Harbours, again causing little damage, but helping create a short
lived real-estate bonanza for those willing to buy up Harbourside properties being sold off in panic by some home-owners.
It all must have been quite a spectacle for the Clifton Gardens houses above Taylor's Bay, as it was across the whole Harbour.
The backs of Iluka Rd houses are close to this section of the track and the most spectacular and largest house is the last. This
multi-gabled monster with its tall chimneys is The Manor, built 1909-13 by Thomas Bakewell. Owner of a brick and tile
works at St Peters which provided the building materials, this was his idea of a family holiday home. In 1922 it was sold to a
Mr van der Leeuw, a wealthy Dutch theosophist, who passed it on to the Theosophical Society, who still own it. Radio station
2GB was established here in 1923 (GB standing for Giordano Bruno, the 16th century Italian philosopher and inspiration for
Theosophists). One notable associated with the place was the Indian philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), who some
believed at the time to be the new Messiah (although Krishnamurti himself was not one of them). Krishnamurti was in Sydney
in 1925 for the Star of India Congress held at the Balmoral amphitheatre (see Harbour (East) Route: 2a(iv) notes). Another
person who spent part of 1926 there was the future actor, Peter Finch (1916-77). At the age of 11 Finch had been sent to
Sydney from a Theosophical community in India, where his grandmother had taken him. After some time at The Manor, he
was located by some relatives and brought to live with them in Sydney's Greenwich.
The bushland beyond The Manor is Chowder Head, named, as is the adjacent Bay, from the American whaling ships which
anchored here for refits and to collect clams and shellfish for their chowder (chow), a favourite dish. One of the American
whalers, Captain E. H. Cliffe, who arrived in 1832, eventually acquired 56 acres in the area, building the Cliffeton estate of two
cottages, a store and gardens down on the now reserve. Produce from the latter was often sold to the American whalers to add
to their chow. He died in 1838 and the estate was sold in 1853, the name Clifton Gardens becoming established for the area.
By 1871 the Clifton Arms hotel had been established on the estate and was subsequently bought by David Thompson who by
1891 turned it into the larger and popular Marine Hotel. Thompson developed the Clifton Gardens Pleasure Grounds,
building a large dance hall and a wharf with a tramway into the Gardens. It was a popular location for profession picnics, such
as the annual Butchers’ picnic, and there were band concerts, balloon ascents, mixed and night-time bathing, and, of course, the
usual scandals. It was also popular with larrikins and the frequent gang brawls were reflected by a song of the day which
included the line “I put a rock in my sock and went down to Chowder”. Sydney Ferries Ltd purchased the whole site in 1911,
built double-deck circular baths (able to hold 3,000 spectators) and revamped and renamed the dance hall Dixieland, which at
75m by 12m, could hold 1200 dancers or 2000 concertgoers. Again, changing tastes saw the Pleasure Gardens come to an end,
and even the Marine Hotel came to be disliked by conservative, powerful locals. It was closed in 1966 and demolished the
following year. Today, Clifton Gardens remains a lovely setting, but the swimming enclosure is a more modest semi-circle and
only the concrete floor of the dancehall remains of the old Gardens.
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PART 2a(iii) Harbour (East) Route - Chowder Bay to Balmoral Beach
The Walk
Distance:
Level:
Transport:
Facilities:
Other or Connected Walks
2.7km
Time: 1hr
Partly level, but a substantial and steep climb and steps (up) and a large set of steps (down). Mostly wellformed bush tracks or steel steps.
Buses: Clifton Gardens, Chowder Bay Barracks, Middle Head Rd, Balmoral Beach.
Toilets: Clifton Gardens (Chowder Bay), Chowder Bay Barracks, Georges Heights (Headland Park),
Balmoral Park and Beach.
Shops or hotels: Chowder Bay Barracks, Balmoral Beach.
From the north-eastern end of Clifton Gardens picnic grounds, cross the little beach stream and climb the steps
into Chowder Bay Barracks. Follow the wharf front until reaching the steps leading to the upper level. From here
take the path leading across the lawn past the Sergeant-Major’s Cottage (information centre)and then follow the
roadway 50m to the roundabout near Building 2 (Bacino Bar). Just beyond the roundabout and before the building,
take the steps left (northwards) and track that lead uphill into Headland Park to emerge at the roadway near the
Gunners Barracks Tea Rooms.
The Chowder Bay Barracks were constructed 1890-93 on a series of terraces as an accommodation, storage, training and
operational facility for the NSW Submarine Miners Corps. These soldiers did not use underwater boats - their job was to
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protect Sydney Harbour by laying mines in the water which could be remotely detonated by attached electrical cables - an
advanced piece of military technology in its day. The buildings included mine stores, a cable pit where the cables were stored
under water, magazines and test rooms. A couple of the submarine mines are on display and detailed information is available
at the barracks, as are refreshments. Like most colonial forces before Federation, the troops were mostly volunteer militia.
They held regular exercises - usually very public ones - around the Harbour. The Easter exercises of 1891 included a
demonstration of submarine mining at Cobblers Beach on the Balmoral side of Middle Head. Several thousand spectators
including the Governor of NSW turned up to watch. One mine was successfully detonated. The cutter with 14 men aboard then
laid another mine containing about 40 kilograms of gun cotton, and pulled 3-400 yards away to trigger the explosion.
Unfortunately the active lead had been mistakenly connected to a mine still in the cutter, not the submerged one, and the crew
were blown out of the water. Four were killed. Time and technology ended the submarine miners role in 1922 and the barracks
were occupied by various branches of the Army. In 1973 they became one of the schools of the Royal Australian Corps of
Transport and eventually the Army Maritime School, until the unit departed for Townsville in 1997. Subsequently the Sydney
Harbour Federation Trust took over all the Georges Heights military land, creating Headland Park and preserving and restoring
the sites with public access and developing sustainable adaptive re-use of the buildings.
The area climbed to – Georges Heights and Middle Head, was the site of a failed experiment in Aboriginal relations by
Governor Macquarie. Bennelong is perhaps best known as the first Aboriginal person to be (forcibly) inducted into European
society by Governor Phillip, but the story of Bungaree is just as remarkable. An intelligent and rather flamboyant character
who liked to dress in military officers’ discarded uniforms, Bungaree sailed with Matthew Flinders on the Norfolk as
interpreter to explore the Queensland coast and then again on the Investigator, to circumnavigate and chart the coastline of
Australia in 1802-03. He later also sailed with Commander Phillip Parker King on the Mermaid to the north-west of Australia.
In 1815, Governor Macquarie settled Bungaree with about 16 other Aboriginal families on what was intended to be a farm here
on the heights. Although given fishing equipment, seed wheat and some convicts to teach them about farming, the venture was
not successful and the farm was abandoned early in the 1820s. Bungaree died at Garden Island on Nov 27, 1830, aged about
60. His nautical exploits have not always been forgotten. In WWII, the RAN requisitioned a merchant ship, already named
Bungaree, converting it into the minelayer HMAS Bungaree. The only RAN minelayer, Bungaree laid 10,000 mines to protect
northern waters and was one of the ships in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese submarine raid. Returned to civilian service
after the war and renamed, ironically she struck a mine and sank off South Vietnam in 1966.
The track opens onto a road end above the Harbour near the magnificently located former Gunners Barracks, now Tea
Rooms. This is the edge of a once intensively militarised zone, now either National Park or Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
land, preserved for the public. The area abounds in former military buildings and structures and gun emplacements constructed
from 1801 onwards. Most of the older emplacements and their accompanying tunnels were built in the 1870s, fuelled by
concerns about Russian, French, German or Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Changes in technology and World Wars I and II
led to additional buildings or conversions of old structures. After WWII, coastal and harbour artillery was outmoded by aircraft
and missile technology and the concrete and stone embrasures and tunnels were finally abandoned, although large parts of the
area continued in use as barracks, command and training centres until the army finally moved out at the beginning of the 21st
century. The Gunners’ Barracks were begun in 1872 and the fortified building has tunnels connecting to the adjacent Georges
Head Battery of six circular gun pits and zig-zag trenches, tunnels and underground magazines Even without a visit to the Tea
House, the gun pits can be visited from a path and viewing platform immediately to the north of the barracks.
Follow the roadway uphill from the Gunners Barracks about 100m to Suakin Drive. The path to the gun pits heads
east here, but the track leaves the Drive northwards at almost the same point, immediately before the next group of
buildings. This track now follows the upper cliff line through bush which opens out on the left to the former hospital
buildings (now Artist Colony and café) and more gun emplacements. Not long afterwards the track hooks around to
the left to cross Middle Head Rd before dropping down several hundred metres of steel stairs to Balmoral Park and
Oval. Once this is crossed, Balmoral Beach is reached.
Occasional superb views toward Sydney Harbour Heads emerge along this track. The anti-submarine boom that claimed one of
the three Japanese midget submarines in 1942, stretched from below here across to Green Point at Vaucluse. Back inland are
the buildings formerly occupied by the Army's Headquarters Training Command and now mostly offices, including the Sydney
Harbour Federation Trust itself. Soon an open area of wooden buildings emerges. Now recycled as a café and artists' colony,
many of these buildings were built as part of a large Army hospital during WWI. More recently, some of the buildings housed
the Army's 30 Terminal squadron, a port facilities unit which moved to Townsville in 1997 and is now part of a logistics
battalion. The site had also included an artillery store, rigging shed, soldiers’ quarters and an All Ranks Club. Only slightly
obscured by the re-emerging fringe of bush are two WWII era gun emplacements with accompanying concrete works and
tunnels. On the second of these, the Harbour Trust in 2006 re-installed a six inch Mark XI breech-loading naval gun of the type
located here during WWII as part of the Harbour defences. Such guns are rare now, this particular one possibly coming from
one of Australia’s WWI cruisers (HMASs Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane) and might well have seen later service as a coastal
defence gun. It had been stored at Port Wakefield Proof Range in South Australia. Engraving on the breech indicates it was
made in 1912 by Vickers Sons & Maxim in Britain.
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After the Military Road crossing, steel stairs drop down alongside the boundary fence of HMAS Penguin. The stairs have
grids at either end for soil removal to prevent the spread of hytophthora cinnamomi which is the cause of dieback amongst so
many trees in this and many other areas. HMAS Penguin was begun in 1941 and includes a Balmoral Naval Hospital, with
special facilities relating to underwater medicine and decompression, as well as other training roles. Part of No 1 Commando
Regiment, a mixed regular and reserve special forces unit, is also located here. The name ‘Penguin’ originated with three
former RAN ships and a shore establishment associated with the Royal Australian Navy, including a survey ship, a WWI light
cruiser and a submarine tender, all subsequently turned into depot ships at Garden Island. The name was relocated here in 1943
after the Garden Island Base was renamed HMAS Kuttabul in honour of the depot ship sunk in the Japanese attack in 1942 (see
Part 2a(ii) notes). In the 1950s and ‘60s, before the RAN re-established a submarine service, several British submarines were
also based here.
At the base of the stairs is Balmoral Park and Oval. The small creek tumbling from the hillside in the greenery near the base of
the stairway is a remnant of the original creek and swampy area that it was before garbage dumping and a sewage works in the
first half of the 20th century transformed it into a large flat space behind the beach. A small farm operated by a pardoned
convict, Tommy O’Neil, had clung to its edges as early as 1813. The first European to move into the area, O’Neil was one of
the many Irish rebels from the rising of 1798 who were transported to Australia. A fellow rebel, Barney Kearns, later settled
nearby at Chinaman’s Beach. Interestingly, the sewerage works was converted into a swimming baths in 1926, presumably
after a thorough clean-out. Balmoral was, of course, named after Queen Victoria’s Aberdeenshire estate in 1886 after the area
had been proclaimed a public reserve.
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PART 2a(iv) Harbour (East) Route - Balmoral Beach to The Spit Bridge
The Walk
Distance:
Level:
Other or Connected Walks
3.6km
Time: 1hr 10 mins
Level at beaches, but a short bush and then street climb from Balmoral Beach and a steep street climb
from Chinamans Beach, then a gentle footpath drop to The Spit. Mostly paved or grass and a few steps.
Transport:
Buses: Balmoral Beach, Hopetoun Av, The Spit
Facilities:
Toilets: Balmoral Park and Beach, Rosherville Reserve (Chinamans Beach) and The Spit Reserve.
Shops or hotels: Balmoral Beach, The Spit.
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From Balmoral Park, cross to the Beach promenade and follow it all the way (1+km) almost to the end of the
beach at Wyargine Reserve. Take the track through to the left near the end of the houses above the Beach, climbing
up through the edge of Wyargine Reserve and about 50m up take the track turn-off to the right which leads up
through the Reserve to emerge at Stanton Rd. Follow this uphill – it almost immediately becomes Burran Av. About
150m after the road swings left at the intersection with Kirkoswald Av (the road is now Hopetoun Av) take the
narrow concrete roadway called Rosherville Rd to the right (downhill). It soon leads to a pathway to the left
(Armitage Lane) and steps down to Rosherville Reserve (Chinamans Beach). On the northern side of Rosherville
Reserve, climb steep St Cyprian St to Parrawi Rd and follow it downhill to The Spit Rd and Reserve.
There is a considerable Scottish influence in the history of Mosman – Mosman himself being a Scot. At Rawson Park, atop the
ridge between Middle and Main Harbours, is a cairn created in 1988 from 1,750 stones collected from throughout Scotland
which recognises this connection. The suburb and beach of Balmoral is also named for a part of Scotland, the castle estate
favoured by Queen Victoria and still the summer retreat of the British Royals. This section of the walk follows the Balmoral
beach- and water-front, the main beach consisting, actually, of two beaches, the southern one being called Balmoral Beach and
the northern section, Edwards Beach. They are separated by a rocky islet called, appropriately enough, Rocky Point. The Bay is
called Hunters Bay, after the first Scot to step ashore in what became the municipality, Captain John Hunter, commander of
HMS Sirius, which was careened in Mosman Bay for several months in 1789 (see Part 2a(i) notes). A park on The Esplanade
is also named after Hunter. However, the Irish were actually here first, in the form of Tommy O’Neill in 1815.
Near the southern end of Balmoral Beach is one of the few remaining enclosed Harbour pools, constructed in 1899 and
retaining a semi-circular wharf-like walkway around it. It has taken a pounding from time to time from heavy seas, one
particularly damaging one in 1974 dumped several yachts into the pool and damaged the Promenade as well. The wharf here
had a ferry service to Circular Quay from 1913 to 1922. From the baths, a low-walled concrete promenade stretches most of
the length of both beaches, a strip of parkland with fig trees separating it from The Esplanade. Like many beach beautifications
of this kind, the Promenade was built as a work-for-the dole project during the 1930s Depression.
Towards the end of Balmoral Beach, the bus shelter out towards the street was originally a tram shed. A tramway linking the
Military Rd line to Balmoral Beach opened in 1922, the line then connecting back to Milsons Point and other north shore lines.
The Balmoral trams dropped down to the beach through a cutting and then followed The Esplanade as far as Mandalong Rd.
The cutting still exists, directly across from the Baths, and has become an interesting linear walk called Larry Plunkett Reserve,
featuring some tram relics. The tram permanent way peters out in Mulbring St, and from there the trams originally climbed a
zig-zag route through the streets to Military Rd. Like most of Sydney's tram services, the line was shut down in the 1950s - the
last service running in 1958.
Balmoral Beach ends at Rocky Point and Edwards Beach begins. A charming concrete bridge – like the nearby Rotunda,
another 1930s Depression work project – links the island-like Point to the mainland and offers a short and very pleasant
diversion. The Promenade now continues along part of Edwards Beach. Almost immediately, the 1920s Spanish mission style
Bathers Pavilion is encountered. Bathers’ facilities still exist here but the building predominantly houses a café and
fashionable restaurant. Edwards Beach was the site of other Mosman area Artists Camps from the 1880s to the beginning of
the 20th Century (see Part 2a(ii) notes). Ti-Tree Camp was the earliest, and another further up the beach was Euroka Camp.
Many artists of the day lived and worked there from time to time, including Bulletin artist Livingston Hopkins (‘Hop’), Alfred
Daplyn, Julian Ashton, Henry Fullwood, Charles Conder, William Lister Lister, Sydney Long and Arthur Streeton, amongst
others. Two visitors who dropped in in 1893 were Bulletin Editor J.F. Archibald together with a writer with something of a
penchant for beach camps, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. The tents and their Bohemian lifestyle folded
once daylight beach bathing became popular (and technically legal) in 1903.
The concrete Esplanade ends just after the Bathers Pavilion with the Balmoral Beach Club living up to its name by almost
being on the beach. Its 1999 building replaced humbler predecessors which went back to the era of the artists camps, one of
which Euroka, was on this site. The group of swimmers who took over the site called themselves ‘The Smugglers’ and in 1914,
they formally established the Club.
From the clubhouse on the route follows the beach through to Wyargine Reserve. A rock pool creates a good area for children
and on the road side is a large red brick block of flats. This was for 27 years the site of an extraordinary building, the Star
Amphitheatre, an open air Greek Doric style structure completed in 1924. It was constructed by the Order of the Star of the
East, a branch of the Theosophical Society (see Part 2a(ii) notes) at a cost of some 10,000 pounds. Its initial purpose was as the
site of a World Congress featuring the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was then seen as the possible ‘world
teacher by the society. Three storeys high, the stage 21m above the beach, with meeting, library and tea rooms underneath, the
amphitheatre could seat 2,000 people. The view is directly onto Sydney Heads which may have given rise to the urban myth
that it was built for the faithful to watch the second coming. Apparently Christ was to walk on water through Sydney Heads.
The Order was dissolved in 1929 and the building sold in 1931 to an entrepreneur who used it as a performance venue (with
mini-golf on the roof!). Remarkably, the Catholic Church bought it in 1936 (perhaps they had also heard the second coming
story) but did little with it. It deteriorated, eventually being demolished in 1951 and the apartments built on its foundations.
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At about the point where the houses end and the beach curves eastwards, a path leads left upwards through the bush. The turnoff to Stanton Rd is about 50m further along. Stanton Rd quickly joins and becomes Burran Av. The road swings left and at the
junction with Kirkoswald Av to become Hopetoun Av. Not surprisingly, there are some quite impressive homes on this
headland. About 150m on, little Rosherville Rd seems to be the driveway of more well-located homes, the white walled house
on the corner being an uncharacteristic Glenn Murcutt design with a Greek feeling, built for a well-known artist. Rosherville
Rd quickly leads to the Armitage Lane pathway down to Rosherville Reserve and Chinamans Beach. The lovely reserve and
the very natural beach with its sand dunes are both worth exploring.
Originally an area of sand dunes with Aboriginal engravings and other sites and a swamp and creek running to northern end of
beach, some of the land around the beach was purchased by a John McLean in 1836. His daughter and her husband, John
Armitage, ran dairy cows on it and diverted the creek to the south end when he built a house on the northern end in 1893. The
enlarged stone home, Shellcove, remained in the family until the death of Captain W. J. Armitage, RAN, in 1968. Four years
later the Council bought the house, demolishing it despite protests, and adding the land to the reserve. The wider area had a
varied history. Another pleasure resort ("Rosherville") was opened on it in 1862 which later came to be owned by prolific
developers, Harnett and Stuart. Richard Harnett subdivided the area but retained the picnic area and beach as a reserve in the
1880s. Chinese market gardeners also used part of the area from the 1860s to the 1890s, hence the name given to the Beach.
They built huts and post and rail fences, and some of the gardeners, whose names supposedly included Cho Hi Tick, Ah Sue
and Ah Foo, had greengrocers shops in the district. They moved their produce about on horses and carts and celebrated Chinese
New Year with fireworks - to the annoyance of neighbours. They, themselves, were more than a little annoyed by other
fireworks, when the Easter encampment of the Volunteer and Permanent Artillery held exercises here in 1881. The attacking
force came in from The Spit and the battle was fought amidst the vegetables.
The beach itself once had a reputation for quicksand which could swallow small boats. Another of the transported 1798 Irish
rebels, Barney Kearns, settled near the beach and began a rowboat ferry service from the beach to Clontarf in 1829 until his
death in 1832. The beach supposedly saw bodies washed up here from the wreck of the sailing ship, Dunbar, on the seaward
cliffs near Watsons Bay in 1857 - a final journey of around 3km. The 5 hectare reserve land behind the beach was acquired by
the Council in 1848, marshland was infilled and the dunes stabilised. Understandably, it is another Mosman area favoured by
artists and Ken Done has a studio near the edge of the beach.
If the tide and weather (and luck) permit, it is possible to continue from the Beach along the rocks right around to The Spit
beach. However, even at low tide, the chances of at least wet feet are very high. Most walkers will choose the safer but very
steep climb up St Cyprian (in its various other guises). Once at the top, there is the reward of the gentler decline along Parriwi
Rd to The Spit. Parriwi (the name is supposed to be Aboriginal meaning ‘East Point’) was originally Lower Spit Rd and was
both the main vehicle route and the tram route down to The Spit The Spit tramway opened in 1900. For a couple of hundred
metres substantial houses cling to either side the road and the rocky shoreline below, Nos 51 and 53 sharing the road way with
the Rosherville Lighthouse, a 14m navigation tower built before 1912, which aligns with the Grotto Point Light (see Part 3
notes). As the road turns towards The Spit, a large concrete valve house of the Northern Ocean Outfall Sewer (NOOS) sits
below, its companion easily seen across the water at Clontarf Beach. Opened in 1936 and built in the Egyptian Temple style
Chief Public Works Engineer, JJC Bradfield (of Harbour Bridge fame) seemed to favour, it pumps the flow in pipes under the
Harbour on its way to the treatment plant at North Head. Many other submerged services (telephone, water, etc) cross The Spit
nearby.
At busy Spit Rd follow the verge along to the Bridge itself past former and current boatsheds and marinas - some now
restaurants. There were ladies and gentlemen's Baths on this side in the early years of the 20th century - part of the promenade
survives at the 1960s Yacht Club. The stonework of the old Coal Wharf is still there, originally sited there in the 1890s to
provide fuel for the steam punt which preceded the Bridge. The Spit itself, known to the local Aborigines as Burra-Bra, was a
narrow sand spit, but is now broader as a result of reclamation and sand build-up. Riders originally crossed it by swimming
their horses, but from 1850 a Peter Ellery provided a hand-operated punt until this was replaced by a Government steam punt in
the 1880s. Trams reached The Spit from Mosman in 1900, and between 1911 and 1939 they crossed to the Manly line on a
special tram punt with a raised adjustable platform to take account of tidal variation. A bridge was a long time coming but in
1924 a temporary wooden bridge with an opening span was completed. It was less temporary than expected and the current
Bridge did not replace it until 1958.
If continuing towards Manly, walk down towards the bridge abutment and take the path underneath it, and then climb up onto
the bridge’s western walkway. Across the bridge, steps at the water end of the car parking area lead down to The Spit to Manly
walkway.
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