Progress Of The Suburbs - XVI - Potts Point - SMH - Saturday 25 October 1913, page 9

 

PROGRESS OF THE SUBURBS.
XVI - POTTS POINT.

In London, the great metropolis of England, the hub of the world, the West End has always'been the centre of attraction. There the wealth of the country is to be found. There the homes of the leaders or society have been built, & from them the movements of the British race are largely formulated. But with Sydney, the mother city of Australia, it has always been in the east that wealth & power have congre- gated, & dictated the future destinies of the young country. From Darlinghurst to South Head, the homes of the wealthy have from time to time been built along the beautiful foreshores of the harbour. Leaders in commercial centres, people high up in the social circle, & men prominent in the political world of New South Wales, have at all times congregated in the east. It is truly a continuation of the old idea among Britons, that everything Australian is the converse of what it ought to be.

In the early days Potts Point & the heights of Darlinghurst were selected as the natural and proper sites for what an Englishman would term "the West End," but, geographically speaking, the East End of Sydney. Some people today might even question the right of including Potts Point in the suburban area. It is part of the city itself, & it is even true that Potts Point has of late years, in common with other residential portions of Sydney, felt the effect of the rapid advances which the city as a commercial centre is making, & which has necessitated the driving out of the people to what were once long-distance suburbs, but which have been drawn near by the railway & tramway extension & improved ferry services. But less than 50 years, ago Potts Point was the most favoured of the suburbs around Sydney. Before the days of the tram, when the population was small, & means of transit limited, those who had the means of doing it built their homes in Macleay St & the surrounding area. Those were days when
palatial residences were to be found stand-ing within large areas of land & beautifully-kept grounds at Potts Point. Indeed, amongst the more ignorant of the less wealthy section of the community in those early days, it was a common expression, "Oh, he is a Potts Pointer." But within the last few years the scene has changed. These palatial residences, standing within their wellkept grounds, have been removed to more distant suburbs, & closely packed houses, largely used as boarding establishments, together with quite an array of private hospitals now line the streets. At tbe once picturesque Point itself, land has been resumed, tbe Point has been cut away, & huge wharfs are being constructed to make room for the shipping. In fact, into every portion of this once aristocratic residential area, commercialism has, within the last few years, forced its way & destroyed the old homes of the rich & the influential; & modernised the district from end to end, thus converting the once pretty suburb into part of the great city itself.

But Potts Point has an interesting history, & that history was well told in a paper read by Mr. James Arthur Dowling before the Historical Society a year or two ago. Mr. Dowling has by means of his paper to a large extent rescued from oblivion the history of the more important holdings at Potts Point, which is better known today as Darlinghurst. But the locality was not even always Darlinghurst, for in a map of Sydney, compiled by Mr. J. S. Roe in 1822, Darlinghurst was named Henrietta Town, so called by Governor Macquarie after the first Chris-tian name of his wife. This Henrietta Town included Woolloomooloo Bay, then named "Wallabahmullah," meaning a young male kangaroo or a male black kangaroo; yet another name was "Wallamullah," meaning a place of plenty, or where fish were caught. The name "Wallamooloo" was used up to the end of the 1830's, & from that date Woolloomooloo came into common use. Darlinghurst & Woolloomooloo were in the days of Governor Macquarie set apart as a reserve for the blacks, & right up to the 1870's the aborigines inhabitated this area. Late in the 1860's what was then Barcom Glen, the estate of the late Mr. Obed West, more commonly called West's Bush, was a camping ground for the blacks, who dwelt among the tall trees which grow on the sandy slopes of what today are wellmade streets and footpaths lined with hundreds of houses of the terrace type.

But Mr. Dowling tells us that the first house of note in the 1830's at Darlinghurst was Craigend, fronting Upper William St South, now Woolcott St. It was built by Sir Thomas Mitchell, the then SurveyorGeneral, on a Crown grant (dated October 19, 1831) of 9 acres 3 roods and 27 perches, & occupied at one time by himself & later by Mr. G. J. Rogers, solicitor, Mr. Henry Prince, warehouseman, & others. Craigend afterwards became a private hospital, then a first-class boarding-house. There is Craigend St close by, which will per-petuate the memory of this landmark of Darlinghurst. Another very old residence at Darlinghurst or Potts Point was Goderich Lodge, which was built by T. McQuoid, who was sheriff in the 1830's - 1840's. Mr. McQuoid also had a Crown grant dated Octo-ber 19, 1831, & upon this land stood Goderich Lodge. It was north of Craigend. Mr. McQuoid lived there for 10 years until he died In 1841. Then the Bishop of Sydney, Dr. William Grant Broughton became a tenant, also Mr. S. A. Perry, deputy surveyor general, & others. It was in the 1850's that the property passed into the hands of Mr. Frederick Tooth. He subse-quently sold it to Captain Charles Smith, of the firm of McDonald, Smith, & Co. & for very many years the property has been occupied by his widow. At one time its garden extended to the junction of Bayswater Rd, then Upper William St, North & Upper William St South. On the east side of Goderich Lodge stood Waratah, which was in the 'Fifties occupied by prominent citizens. including Mr. Edwin Tooth. It was there Mrs. Tooth died. Right in the midst of those properties stood a number of windmills. Darlinghurst lands being so elevated above the city they were famous for windmills. Mr. Dowling mentions that just behind Craigend or Myrtle Cottage stood the last of the old Darlinghurst windmills known as Hynde's. They were built on his grant of two acres. In addition to these there had been three within a quarter of a mile of Craigend, & just near tho gaol two more. These were of wood, erected so as to enable them to be turned by manual labour to the wind. The larger mills turned mechanically. But the writer remembers the last of the Darlinghurst windmills standing on high land fronting Surrey St right at the back of St. John's
Church. The ruins of this mill wore removed late in the 'Sixties after several children had met with accidents through climbing about the old building.

Coming nearer Potts Point, at the junction of Upper William & Macleay St's, formerly Woolloomooloo Rd, stood the property of the Hon. Richard Jones, M.L.C., known as "Merchant Jones." This land was a grant to Mr. S. A. Perry, dated October, 1831. Adjoining this property is the site of Alberto terrace, owned and built by Mr. John Solo-mon. Beyond It stood Kellet House, which was built by Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson, the first Premier under responsible government. In 1856, Mr. Donaldson lived there for some years, & the property was afterwards owned by Mr. W. F. Buchanan, who pulled down the old house & erected the terrace known as Bayswater-terrace. Adjoining the Premier's residence came Seven Oaks, the home of Judge Dowling, & Eaton, where Mr. Edward Knox, & later Captain Martindale, lived. The name of "Dowling" will always be associated with Potts Point and Darlinghurst. In October, 1831, Mr. Justice Dowling received a grant of'land which extended to & included the site of what is now Forbes St. Upon this land Mr. Justice Dowling erected Brougham Lodge, which he occupied for the first time on February 24, 1831. He named it after Lord Brougham, through whose influence he obtained his ap-pointment as Puisne Judge. He gave portion of the land to make Victoria St, which he named after the late Queen; also another portion to make Duke St, which was so called in honour of the Royal Family. He also gave a portion to make Dowllng St, which he named after himself, and a portion to make Forbes St, which he named after Sir Francis Forbes, the then Chief Justice. The estate was subdivided in 1846, & it sold fairly well, but that por-tion in Victoria St, upon which Brougham Terrace now stands, with a corresponding frontage to Brougham St, containing under an acre, was retained for a residence, & upon Lady Dowling vacating the house it was let to tenants. Many old residents will remember Mr. Horniman's school being conducted there. But in 1882
the property was sold for £7000 cash, which was a big price. It was more than was given for the whole of the other eight acres of the grant. There was a large garden on the estate, but when Victoria St was formed the front portion of this garden had to be taken for the street. It should be mentioned that the fine specimen of coral tree in the front grounds of one of the houses in Victoria Terrace, next to Brougham Terrace, was originally in Brougham Lodge garden. Mr. J. A. Dowling, in his paper to the Historical Society, points out that when Brougham Lodge was built in the Thirties, there was no William St, simply a track for foot passen-gers from Sydney on the site of the present street, which was not extended from its termination in Darlinghurst-hill further east until 1845, when Sir Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor-General, surveyed the extension, which was by what they termed Upper Wllliam St North & South, now Bayswater Rd & Woolcott St.
Vehicular traffic to Darlinghurst before William St was formed, Mr. Dowling says, came from Sydney along Hyde Park (then the racecourse), up the old South Head Rd (now Oxford St), to the gaol, & across then to Darllnghurst-hill, and any person wishing to travel to South Head would go by Old South Head Rd, being the only route past Bellevue Hill. This road, which is now the main tram line to Bondi, was then crude & rougher. Persons wishing to go to Eliza Point, afterwards known as Point Piper (al-ready dealt with in previous articles) had to
proceed by way of Glenmore Rd by the track known for years afterwards as Point Piper Rd (now Jersey Rd), which commenced at its junction with the Old South Head Rd, Paddington, & passed along Underwood's distillery in the Rushcutter Bay gully, on the Glenmore Estate, until the track to Point Piper was reached. This track started just where the Edgeeliff Rd Post-office now stands.

But in 1845 New South Head Rd, really a continuation of William St, was commenced, under the supervision of Sir Thomas Mitchell, & finally it joined the Old South Head Rd near the lighthouse. The necessary land to construct the new thoroughfare wes given by Messrs. Palmer, Dowling, & Laidley, but for a number of years the new road did not get beyond Rushcutter Bay. Ultimately the work was continued through the Cooper & other grants to the lighthouse.