History Walk

“All the conveniences Introduction In the 1830s on the north side of the harbour of town” only a few isolated huts were in existence. The Government Gazette on 9th October 1838 made th A walking tour of the 19 it known that a site had been fixed for the Century Township of North Township of St Leonards. The layout of the Sydney township had been proposed by Major Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor general between 1838 and Distance: 4 Km 1840. The Government Gazette advertised ½ Approximate time: 3 hours acre residential block in the township. Grading: low to medium Many of the settlers in this period were timbergetters and harbour workers (boatmen). In 1846 the census counted only 412 people living in the district of St Leonards.

In the very early days of the township, the first hotels, schools, churches and business premises were set up in the vicinity of Blues Point and Milsons Point close to the water and ferry services and transport to Sydney city. As the population grew the businesses started to move further from the water.

By 1881 the population had risen to 11,010 and by 1893 the area became known as North Sydney.

The walk commences from Don Bank Museum, 6 Napier St, North Sydney.

The land on which this timber slab cottage stands was part of the land grant given to Edward Wollstonecraft in 1821.The cottage was built on the far south-eastern boundary of what became known as the Berry Estate. When Edward Wollstonecraft died in 1832 at the age of 49, the estate passed to his sister Elizabeth who in 1827 had married his business partner Alexander Berry.

The cottage was originally built as a small four- room cottage (possibly as an estate workers North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 2

cottage) on the Berry estate. We cannot give an S Halstead (hay and corn dealer) and J A exact date of its construction. It was originally Lambert’s (coach factory and repairs). thought to have been built as early as 1820s but we have no concrete evidence. However By 1905 James White and his family were long newspapers were found in the house dating to term residents of the area and living in James 1835. The house, then known as St Leonards Street. During this year he bought St Leonards Cottage , was most likely built in the late 1830s Cottage/Don Bank and leased the cottage out. or early 1840s. Although he and his wife Joanna never lived in the house, his son Thomas (also a saddler) Prominent colonial occupants of the house moved in 1915. When James died in 1925, included Charles Palmer secretary to Governing Thomas inherited the cottage and continued to body of Bank of NSW, and retired sea captain, live there with his family until his death. Captain Jenkins. Lane Cove Road (formerly Gordon Road) was a main thoroughfare for traffic going north. It cut through the fringe of the Berry Estate which on the West side was largely undeveloped.

As foot and horse drawn traffic increased in the area there was a demand for formed roads rather than just tracks. Heavy rains made roads impassable on many occasions. The Freemans Journal correspondent in 1867 reported on the state of the road to Milsons Point: “The disgraceful and impassable state of the road. The traffic on it was for several days Walk down Charles St to Pacific suspended until the [horse-] bus owners early Hway last week set their men to work to fill up the chasms which were in several parts of it”. On the corner of Charles and Lane Cove Road (the Pacific Highway as we know it today) By 1878 there were two lines of horse buses stood the saddlers shop of James White who conveying passengers from Milsons Point ferry - came to live in St Leonards in 1858. He opened - one running via the Lane Cove Road, (as far as up his saddlery business in 1867 at the age of the Green Gate -- Killara); the other went along 21. the Military Road (to George’s Head – Middle Head). He was one of the many tradesman /shopkeepers who set up business on the By 1886 cable trams were running from Milsons fledgling north side of the colony. At that time Point to a terminus at the corner of Ridge and there were a number of tradesmen and Miller Streets near St Leonards Park. Electric shopkeepers in Lane Cove Road providing trams were introduced in 1893. services for horse drawn traffic included Edward Brophy (blacksmith), Joseph Fogg, (drayman), North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 3

Lower North Shore residents had the use of gas teachers of the School of Arts and a in their homes from about 1876. Charles Watt Churchwarden of St Thomas Church. and JW Fell manufactured and supplied gas in a system of pipes to householders in the Ward was a keen amateur photographer and Municipalities of St Leonards; East St Leonards took many of the earliest photographs of North and Victoria and also providing some street Sydney (see view in Berry St on left). Dr Ward lights. also joined the St Leonards Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1861. Turn left at Pacific Hway and proceed uphill to Berry St traffic lights St Leonards Volunteer Rifle Regiment was to become one of the most controversial parts of the Township’s social network. It was the cause of a rift among this close knit society. It brought the spectre of sectarianism to the area when a number of catholic tradesmen (including James White the saddler) applied to join the regiment but were ‘blackballed’.

A secret ballot system had been introduced to replace a show of hands as the method for voting in new members. The men were deemed unsuitable (of bad character) to join. In retaliation the men aired their grievances in letters to The Freemans Journal.

On the opposite corner stood the house (above William Forster also took up the cause of the – North Sydney Heritage Centre, PF 177) of Dr men and in 1870 the Volunteer Act Amendment Robert Dalzell Ward who was the first doctor Bill was introduced into Parliament to ban the on the North Shore. He arrived in Sydney in secret ballot system. The Bill sparked a lively 1852 as a surgeon superintendent on the ship and vicious debate in Parliament between the David M’Ivor. William Tunks (the north shore member of parliament). He was born in the West Indies and was a slightly eccentric figure even in those days who Volunteer regiments (the equivalent of reservists reputedly dressed in a duck suit and pith helmet today) became part of colonial life from the when visiting patients on his extensive North 1850s and were formed to supplement British Shore rounds. He apparently always walked with troops. The first volunteers were recruited in an umbrella over his shoulder. The house was 1854 when a Russian invasion was feared demolished in the mid 1970s. (Crimean War) and they came largely from the middle classes (gentlemen and clerks – those Ward was very much part of the St Leonards who had money and could pay for their own establishment becoming an Alderman of the St uniforms). However, as the threats of invasion Leonards Council, one of the founders and North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 4

diminished by the close of the decade the On this site (the heart of the Berry Estate) lived Volunteer Rifles had virtually ceased to exist. Alexander Berry in his highly admired Crows Nest House . Berry trained as a doctor in However, the Volunteer regiments were Scotland and became a ships surgeon with the resurrected in 1860 when there was a fear of East India Company. war with the French. Under the Volunteers Act 1867 , land grants of 50 acres were offered to By the early 1820s, those who served 5 years. As a result, many Berry had secured a shopkeepers and tradesmen were encouraged land grant of several to join. However professional men were still thousand acres in the keen to be involved and these included Dr Ward Shoalhaven area and and John Guise (the first chemist in the area). was in a successful business partnership Continue uphill on the Pacific Hway, with Edward cross over Doohat Ave and stop near Wollstonecraft who had the bus stop received 524 acres on the North Shore. No. 172 Pacific Hway An early colonial stone house, Woodstock was Formal portrait of Alexander Berry, 1867. built in 1870 by John Brown an early pioneer Photograph by Edward Dalton. (Courtesy State and timber merchant on the north side. He had Library of NSW) acquired hundreds of acres of land stretching from Pearce’s Corner (Normanhust/Hornsby) By the late 1830s Berry was a very wealthy down through Lane Cove and eventually to St landowner, successful businessman and very Leonards. He transported logs by bullock much part of the establishment of the colony as wagons and jinkers down to Fidden’s Wharf (on a member of the legislative assembly. highway at Killara), from where they were carried by barge to Sydney. Work began on the mansion (see below) in the 1840s but, sadly, his wife Elizabeth (sister to his Although the house has been restored, it still business partner Edward Wollstonecraft) died shows the Georgian symmetry but in true before it was completed. Berry lived here until Australian style including a verandah and his death in 1873. beautifully spaced carved timber columns

Continue along Pacific Hway and cross over Bay Rd and proceed to McLaren St traffic lights

Note the elaborate stone/iron fence and gates surrounding the North Sydney Demonstration School

North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 5

the Zig Zag Railway in the Blue Mountains, bought the house in 1875 and lived here until his death in 1898, after which the house was tenanted out after his widow returned to England.

The property was sold in 1907, subdivided and subsequently demolished. A plaque affixed to the fence outside Stormanston House records the life of artist Adelaide Ironside who lived in this area and was a parishioner of the St. Thomas’ Church across the road. Incidentally, Crows Nest House during Berry’s occupancy. Adelaide Ironside presented a silk banner to the (Courtesy State Library of NSW) volunteer regiments in 1855.

Cross over Pacific Hway at traffic Proceed along McLaren St to Miller St lights and walk along McLaren St

No. 196 Miller St Stormanston House , No. 27 McLaren St This impressive Federation Queen Anne Style Large Federation Queen Anne building dating to house was the former home and surgery of Dr. about 1900 which at one time was the Clive Murray Curtis. Montrose as it was known was Private Hospital . This house also marks the built about 1909 possibly by the architect James site of another important house in the township. McCarthy for Dr.Dan Kelly who was Senior

Surgeon at the Mater Hospital. In 1913 it was purchased by Dr. Curtis who lived and worked there for 40 years. From 1970 to 1988 it was the home of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Since then it has operated as the L’Incontro Italian Restaurant .

Look across the St

North Sydney Council Chambers The Municipal Act was enacted in 1858. In the same year there was a public meeting in the St Montrose (as it was prior to John Whitton’s Leonards township to discuss forming a local death – North Sydney Heritage Centre, PF 764) government in the area. The provision of road formerly known as Church Hill Cottage , was improvements, clean water supply and proper built in the 1850s by Robert Burton. Robert sewage works were high on the agenda. While Napier (Manager of the CBC Bank) purchased many prominent landowners and business the house in 1861 and renamed it Montrose leaders were enthusiastic advocates of local Cottage . John Whitton, Engineer in Chief, NSW government there was one notable exception – Government Railways, 1857-89 and designer of namely Alexander Berry who saw the petition for North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 6

the formation of local government in St Leonards Harold Selwyn Capper, and it was also used as as a conspiracy to crush him “like a miserable a private hospital in 1910. earthworm.” Cross back over Miller St and head Despite some opposition, The Borough of East downhill until large set of gates St Leonards received its proclamation in 1860, followed by the Borough of St Leonards in 1867 Another early house from the early St Leonards and the Borough of Victoria in 1871. The East St settlement still stands within the grounds of the Leonards Borough took in the majority of the Monte Sant’ Angelo school and was owned populated and prized waterfront real estate by another prominent member of St Leonards around Milsons Point and Kirribilli. The larger St community. In 1855 Hon Francis Lord (MLC Leonards Borough was more sparsely settled 1812-1897), the son of wealthy colonial and covered most of the rest of locality up to merchant Simeon Lord, purchased this large Willoughby and Middle Harbour and across to block and proceeded to build a stone house and including Mosman (Mosman broke away named MaSaLou after his daughters, Mary, from North Sydney in 1893). The much smaller Sarah and Louise. In 1873 the Sisters of Mercy Victoria Borough separated from the larger St started a school in a nearby cottage but soon Leonards possible due to its location directly at needed larger premises purchased the house in the waterfront and being a more populated and 1878 and opened a girl’s college here the unified region. following year.

By the time of the amalgamation of the three municipalities in 1890, there were 1,850 persons and 367 houses in the St Leonards township.

These early councils had critics as early as 1876. The St Leonards correspondent of the Freeman’s Journal writes of the “self interest” of the aldermen in the councils whom he argues [get] “their own streets formed [and] as soon as these jobs are consummated many like Volunteer officers retire on their ranks” – undoubtedly a reference to the officers of the St Leonards Regiment. Sketch illustration of MaSaLou when owned by Council met in a number of venues until this the Lord Family. (North Sydney Heritage Centre, property was purchased as the North Sydney PF 763). Municipal Council Chambers. It was remodelled in 1926 and enlarged again in 1938. Continue down Miller St to Berry St The house was designed in the Federation Arts and cross at traffic lights and Crafts style by the well known architect, E Jeaffreson Jackson. The front portion portion of Rag and Famish Hotel the present building was once the home of Dr Despite the small population of the township, there were many public houses. Initially they North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 7

catered for waterside workers and timber getters accommodate horse drawn engines of the including the Dinds Hotel in Milsons Point and Metropolitan Fire Brigade The station had a the Union Hotel on Lane Cove Road. telephone switchboard but early messages were delivered by foot, horse and bicycle. In those early days the public houses would have been a real social hub not only for the The North Sydney Fire Station was closed in the serving of alcohol but venues for music, 1960s. The building was used for many years as business, card games, illegal gambling, work the Malaya Restaurant and more recently meetings, payment of wages and political converted to the present Firehouse Hotel . assemblies. Cross over Spring St The first public house built on this site was in 1860 which went by the name of the Sailors Albert Hotel, cnr Walker/Mount Sts Return . The licence was transferred to the Another one of the other early hotels established eccentric Charles Bullivant in 1866. and in the Township was the Albert Hotel in 1870. It renamed the Rag and Famish It was rebuilt in was enlarged in 1874 to a substantial 2-storey 1892 and named the North Shore Hotel . structure with first floor balcony. Charles Bullivant ran it as second Rag and Famish . Mrs Emma Darton renamed it the Albert Hotel when the she became the publican.

Postal Services were first established in the Township in 1854 in a wooden building on or close to this site. With the development of the area, the service expanded and the first official post office, incorporating telegraph facilities was built in 1874 elsewhere in the Township.

The Rag and Famish Hotel as it appeared in the According to early North Shore historian G V F mid to late 1860s as photographed by North Mann: Sydneyy’s first doctor Dr Ward. (North Sydney The delivery for the whole district was made by a Heritage Centre, PF 851) postman with a red [scarlet] coat [and black silk hat] who collected his letters at the Sydney Post Cross Berry St traffic lights, walk Office and took them to the North Shore, along Berry St to Walker St and turn provided harbour transport and weather were right. Continue downhill to Spring favourable. Mr G H Stevens was appointed the Street first resident postmaster (with an annual allowance of 12 pounds) and his son, Harry, St Leonards Fire Station delivered the letters from door to door, A fire service was established in the township in sometimes on horseback. 1870 and located in this part of the township close to a spring (hence the name Spring Turn right into Mount St and continue Street ). In 1895 this fire station was built to uphill to Mount St Mall North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 8

Nos. 67-67A Mount St maker (steel and bone bustles) and also a Please note the names engraved in the parapet fortune teller. of these early building facades. (Read the signage on the front of the building) These were Cross over Miller St traffic lights and the former buildings of the Oldfellows Hall then Pacific Hway traffic lights (Grand United Order of Oddfellows Society formed in 1855) and adjoining butcher shop of J North Sydney Post Office Thompson (1870). In 1884 a site was chosen for a new Post Office fronting the then Lane Cove Rd. Colonial Walk up to corner of Miller and Mount Architect, James Barnet, designed the complex Sts of buildings, comprising Post Office, Court House and Police Station, which opened in Miller St was one of the roads marked in the January 1889. The tower was added in 1895 1838 plan of the Township. It was named after and the clock installed in 1900. William Miller, assistant Commissary General of Government Provisions who purchased some of Cross over Mount St the land granted to Deputy Assistant Commissary-General Thomas Walker (Walker The Royal Hotel Street) on the North Shore. The present CIC offices, on the corner of Miller and Mount Sts, occupy the site of a succession The Bank of NSW opened in 1877 on the of hotels since the 1860s. Joseph Spruson corner of Miller and Mount Sts and was the first purchased the site in 1868 and erected the bank on the north side of the harbour. It was Royal Hotel a 2 storey wooden building with rebuilt in 1906. The present electrical goods plain facade and shingled roof containing 7 store occupies the third bank building on or near rooms. In 1870 Patrick O’Brien was listed as the the original site. This elegant inter-war building licensee of the Royal Standard Hotel . was erected in 1931/32 when the Lane Cove Road was extended to the Sydney Harbour Patrick O’Brien was an Irish catholic who also Bridge (forming the present Pacific Hway). was refused entry to the St Leonards Regiment. Under Parliamentary privilege, William Tunks This intersection (Victoria Cross ) was a very (sitting member for St Leonards and first Lord busy centre for tradesmen and shopkeepers Mayor of St Leonards) describes O’Brien as ‘ a from the mid 1850s at the very heart of the disorderly man addicted to cock fighting on fledgling St Leonards Township. Sunday’

By 1867, there were a wide variety of In 1884 the pub had changed its name to the businesses in this vicinity including Mrs Roper Royal Princess Hotel . From 1885 the hotel was (draper), Carters greengrocery and the bakery of leased to the brewing company of JT Toohey Daniel McGlinchy. One of the Township’s first and J M Toohey. In 1887 ownership passed to butchers, Nicholas Pyne, had his shop on Mount Joseph John Spruson and he rebuilt it in boom Street. Another businesswoman located near style Victorian manner with 3 floors and 20 this corner was Madame Chalk, draper and rooms. By the turn of the century it was renamed haberdasher, who was described as a steel skirt North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 9

the Federal Hotel . Tooheys bought the hotel in 1921.

The Federal Hotel was demolished and replaced in 1939 by a new art-deco hotel named the Victoria Cross Hotel (in honour of the Council’s naming of this prominent North Sydney intersection). Sadly, one of North Sydney’s finest streamlined style pubs was lost in 1983 when the building was demolished for the present office tower.

The St Leonards School of Arts was a prominent Walk along Mount St to William St building in the Township in the 1860s. This view

was taken by Dr Ward. (North Sydney Heritage On this site stood the first Catholic school in the Centre, PF114) Township set up by Jeremiah Crowley. Crowley was an Irish Catholic and a much admired man No. 62 Miller St in the St Leonards Township In 1883 he took On this site stood the chemist shop of John over the North St Leonards Public School (later Guise. the first chemist in the Township. He was Crows Nest High School). He was also the born in Surat near Bombay in India and his anonymous correspondent for St Leonards for father was a Captain in the East India Company. the catholic weekly newspaper Freemans He arrived in Sydney in his early 1820s. This Journal. was Guise’s second shop in the Township.

He had a well established business in Blues The school was replaced by the St Leonards Point Road before moving to this site in Miller School of Arts . It was built in 1886 to replace Street. William James Guise, born in 1853, the first School of Arts built in 1859 which stood served his apprenticeship in his father’s shop where the present courthouse stands today. The and qualified as a chemist in 1879. purpose of the school of arts was to ‘improve the education of working men’. It had an extensive This building was a two storey sandstone shop library and held concerts and recitals. In the hall built about 1860 before it was demolished in in 1887 the amateur dramatic society had a 1983 to make way for the Victoria Cross function for the aid of the cottage hospital. In development. At that time it was thought to be 1935 the North Sydney School of Arts was the oldest surviving shop in North Sydney. closed and it was bought by City Mutual. It was demolished, along with the adjoining Victoria John Guise joined the St Leonards Regiment Cross Hotel , in 1983 as part of the Victoria as an Ensign and in 1871 rose to the rank of Cross development. Captain. He was also an Alderman in 1867 on

the St Leonards Council. Return to Miller St. Turn right and walk along a short distance A few doors from Guise’s chemist shop was

dealer Antony Ebert’s shop. He was a catholic

and one of those denied admission to the St North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 10

Leonards Volunteer regiment. Blacksmith Henry Coyle (Coile) of Miller St was also rejected as St Peters Presbyterian Church and being eligible for the regiment. Painter/glazier Manse Henry Monday also of Miller Street (across the The Church of Scotland was given a parish and road) enrolled as a private in the regiment in crown grant on the north shore in 1844. 1863. According to the North Sydney Heritage Inventory, St Peter’s Presbyterian Church is the According to early North Shore historian G.V.F. oldest surviving Presbyterian Church in Sydney, Mann, the North Sydney Weekly Times was the oldest surviving church on the North Shore published from premises in this section of Miller Reverend Cunningham Atchison was the first Street. Peter Jefferson Wallace (1839-1929) co Presbyterian minister on the North Shore in founded the newspaper in 1858. 1863. The Church spire was a prominent landmark in old ships charts. The adjoining Carefully cross over Miller St and manse was erected in 1871. walk along to Gas Lane. Turn left and walk to end Return to Miller St and cross over at traffic lights. Turn right and walk Greenwood’s School down hill in Blues Point Rd. Pass The Greenwood Hotel occupies the original flats take steps down to carpark building of one of the first schools in the area. The site, originally bounded by Junction, Blue, St Peters Schoolhouse and Miller Sts was acquired in 1875 and the first The inception of schooling in North Sydney stage of the school was built as the St began in 1844 when the Presbyterians erected a Leonards Public School in 1878. The wooden school house at approximately the original Gothic style east wing was designed by corner of Blues Point Rd and Lavender St. This G.A. Mansfield. As the district grew so too did building was subsequently replaced with the the school with additions constructed in 1882, present stone schoolhouse in 1863.The school these being the central and western wings became a State School in 1874, the forerunner designed by Government Schools architect W.E. of public schools in North Sydney. Kemp. During the 1880s it was renamed the Superior Public School and began offering post In the early 1880s there was a rapidly growing primary classes. Additional buildings were population on the northern shore of Sydney erected in 1891 and again in 1898 and 1901. For Harbour and with the withdrawal of State aid many years it was known as the Greenwood from many denominational schools there was a School after its long serving Headmaster, demand for further provision of government Nimrod Greenwood. After the site was sold in schooling. 1987, the 1887 school building was restored and renovated as part of the Metroplaza A committee of six members was formed under redevelopment. the chairmanship of Mr Frank Treatt, to petition for another government school (additional to the Exit to Blue St. Turn right and walk to St Leonards Public School in Blue St). The Miller St. Cross Miller St and then committee produced a long list of people who Blue St via traffic lights promised their children for the new school – North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 11

people of all denominations. This new school Also on this intersection was the first chemist North St Leonards Public School was built on shop of John Guise (1820-1894) and W.E. two acres of land along the Lane Cove Rd, Davey’s St Leonards Boot and Shoe Crows Nest purchased from Berry’s Estate. It Warehouse . was a small weatherboard school room, built by the local contractor, Mr J W Eaton. The return Cross over Blues Point Rd traffic for 26 January 1883 showed 64 boys and 45 lights and again across Union St girls. lights

Return to Blues Point Rd Commodore Hotel A hotel has been operating on this site since St Peters Presbyterian School Hall 1848. The present Commodore Hotel occupies This hall was built in 1891 adjoining the former the original site of the Billy Blue Inn built for John schoolhouse. Blue. In 1867 it is listed in the Sands Directory as the Old Commodore Inn and the licensee was Walk at Lavender St intersection Arthur Carr. Arthur Carr was also a private in the St Leonards Regiment in 1861. The original By the mid-1880s Blues Point Rd has a hotel was demolished in 1901 and a new hotel vibrant shopping centre and business was built by Tooth and Co. community including printers, engineers, artists, dressmakers, accountants, ironworkers, The second hotel was demolished and replaced fruiterers, joiners and dairymen. At the Lavender in 1938 by another hotel which survived until St intersection was the Victoria Council 1973 when it too was demolished. The third Chambers. The Council clerk was Walter G hotel building was extensively rebuilt and Willington, a shopkeeper who had his store extended to the present design in 1997. further along Blues Point Rd at King George St. Two doors away from the hotel lived James Mackanass, a butcher, who joined the St Leonards Regiment in 1862.

Opposite and adjacent to the McMahons Point Community Centre is an early stone house erected circa 1874 by local Lavender Bay landowner/gentleman John Carr. This property is known as No.165 Blues Point Rd.

Continue walking along Blues Point Rd Dr Ward took a photograph of John Guise in his St Leonards Regiment uniform. (North Sydney No. 184 Blues Point Rd Heritage Centre, PF 10) This nicely detailed three-storey block of flats was erected in the 1930s was the former site of the Alma Hotel run by Mrs Tait. It was later North Sydney History Walk : “All the Conveniences of Town” Page 12

known as the Royal Hotel with a succession of Our All the Conveniences of Town publicans, most notable being William walking tour ends here at the Blues Point Waterhouse from 1876 to 1886. Hotel. North Sydney History Walk: From Track to Tarmac will guide you through Continue walking along Blues Point the history and development of Blues Rd. Cross over Victoria St and then Point Road in more depth. Mitchell St. Stop at pedestrian crossing These walking tour notes were compiled by Susan Shaw, Local Studies Librarian No. 139 Blues Point Rd for Heritage Week 2008 from resources The building on the corner of King George St, held in the North Sydney Heritage presently used as a Thai restaurant was for Centre, Stanton Library. Ph: 99368400 many years a grocery store owned and operated by William G Willington. He started the business in 1885 under the name of the London Store Willington & Son . William G Willington enrolled in the St Leonards Regiment in 1863 as a private.

Continue walking along Blues Point Rd

On this site in Blues Point Road between Carr and French Sts stood the premises of James Higley one of the first shoemakers in the area. He was born in Ireland but of a protestant family and arrived in Sydney in 1839. He set up a cobblers shop in North Sydney. James became a Corporal in the St Leonards Regiment. His son John James became an undertaker and set up a shop on Lane Cove Rd and was also in the regiment.

Continue walking along Blues Point Rd, crossing over Princes, Mil Mil and French Sts

Blues Point Hotel Originally known as the North Shore Hotel and most likely built by publican James Phile about 1864. The present art-deco hotel was built on the site in the 1930s.