~ I WA~RJ"'~A.H St-\l~ 'HER.I~E 'S.Tf..>O'-I I HISTcg..'1 ~ A~CHA.C=:OLOG."'" I ,I I I I I .. I ,I , , I . ". il 1I I I, I I I I;. ( ,I ~ WENDY THORP I Consultant Archaeologist 78 Australia St, .1 Camperdown 2050 Ph (02) 516 3381 I I HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE OF WARRINGAH SHIRE I for THE WARRINGAH SHIRE HERITAGE STUDY I May 1988 I .1 .1 I I I I I .1 I I 'I L ,- I I INDEX 1.0 Preface to the Report 1 I 1.1 Parameters of the study Area 1 1.2 Initiative for Study 1 1.3 Obj ectives 1 I 1.4 Methodology 1 2.0 The Geographic Pattern of Sett1ement 3 2.1 Phase I 1788 - 1880 4 2.2 Phase 11 1880 - 1920 5 I 2.3 Phase III 1920 - 1950 7 2.4 Phase IV 1950 - 1988.....•......................... 8 2.5 Conelusions 9 I 3.0 The Development of the Built Environment 11 3.1 Phase I 1788 - 1880 12 3.2 Phase 11 1880 - 1920 13 3.3 Phase III 1920 - 1950 13 I 3.4 Phase IV 1950 - 1988..............•.....•.........14 3.5 Conelusions 15 4.0 The Development Mode1 ...........•.................17 I 4.1 Factors Influencing the Survival of Archaeological Sites 18 4.2 The Data Base...................................•.20 4.3 The Model 21 I 4.4 Conelusions 23 5.0 The Survey 24 5.1 Early Nineteenth Century Evidence....•............25 I 5.2 Later Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Evidence 25 5.3 Later Twentieth Century Evidence........•......... 25 5.4 Conelusions....................................•.. 25 I 5.5 Implications for Management P1anning 25 I I I I I I ,I I I I I 1 I 1.0 PREFACE I 1.1 PARAMETERS OF THE STUDY This study is concerned with the land encompassed by Barrenjoey to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the I east, Pittwater to the west and an artificial boundary on the south which approximately follows the lines of Mona Vale Road, Vineyard street, Samuel I Street, Cabbage Tree Road, Torumba Avenue, Gilwanga Drive and McCarrs Creek Road. Scotland Island is also included in the study area as are a number of I parcels of land on the western shore of Pittwater. I 1.2 INITIATIVE FOR STUDY This study is one component of a heritage study being undertaken for the Warringah Shire Council by I Brian McDonald Architect Pty Ltd. I 1.3 OBJECTIVES Three major objectives have been defined for this work. 'These are: I 1.3.1 To define a predictive development model for the study area. I 1.3.2 To assess the archaeological potential of the study area. 1.3.3 To survey the study area both as a means of testing I the predictive model and to record any archaeological sites located during the work. I 1.4 METHODOLOGY The development of the area has been defined in the I separate archival analysis. Detailed site survey was not considered to be a viable tool for the heritage study. This is common to all heritage studies. I Instead, a predictive model based on the historical development of the area, as defined from the archival resource, has been prepared. This outlines areas of potential archaeological significance. The I site survey was used to test this model as well as to investigate specific sites referred to in I historical literature. The archaeology of standing buildings is not a I feature of this report. It is considered that any I I I I 2 I extant nineteenth century buildings have the potential to provide important archaeological data i£ properly investigated as do many twentieth I century structures. I I I I I ,I I I I I I I I I I I I I1 I 3 I 2.0 THE GEOGRAPHIC PATTERN OF SETTLEMENT 1788 - 1988 I Within this section the chronological periods of settlement, defined in the historical analysis, are considered in terms of a geographic pattern. This analysis determines where the earliest impact of the I built environment has occurred and where successive phases of activity have developed. The site types associated with this pattern are discussed in the I succeeding section. The historical phases used in this discussion are as I follows: Phase I: 1788 - 1880 I Settlement and Consolidation Phase II: 1880 - 1920 The Influence of the Real Estate Ventures I -A Resort for the Wealthy Phase Ill: 1920 - 1950 I Holiday and Recreation Phase IV: 1950 - 1988 I A Commuter Suburb - Exclusivity I I I I I I I I I I ----------_.~.. _-_. --- I I 4 I 2.1 PHASE I: 1788 - 1880 I SETTLEMENT AND CONSOLIDATION The study area was discovered and initially explored during the earliest months of European settlement in I Australia. However it was not settled until some years later, the beginning of the nineteenth century. Earliest settlement appears to have begun I in the northern portion of the study area, to take advantage of the Hawkesbury River/Green Hills trade. At least one farmer was located at Barrenjoey by 1808. Soon after, settlement had spread to the I southern portions of the study area and Scotland Island. I All early settlement was defined by the constraints of the landscape. Steep slopes and small areas of arable soil limited agrarian based settlement to the lower slopes which could be cleared for farming and I grazing. Exploitation of the natural resources also played a factor in the pattern of early settlement. For example, Thompson's holdings on Scotland Island I exploited the maritime surroundings to establish a boat-building business and salt works. Until the later years of the century the I inter-related problems of topography and transportation precluded intensive settlement in the district. Large grants were made, for example I Napper's and Therry's which, when combined, encompassed most of the Barrenjoey Peninsula. But settlement on these was sparse. In 1861 it was said of the district that "farms were few and far I between" . By the later years of this phase settlement, along I with communications, had spread out and improved. Land in Mona Vale,'McCarrs Creek, Lovatt Bay and Church Point was settled in small, isolated pockets. I Roads had been established, steamers took people to Newport and a post office and telegram station had been established. However, the distance, difficulty of access, lawlessness and uncertainty of the I district combined to retard settlement and confine it to those small pockets of agriculture established during the early years of the phase and the tiny I proto-urban centres established during the latter. I I I 'I I ~--~- ---------------------------------~--------- I 5 I 2.2 PHASE II: 1880 - 1920 I THE INFLUENCE OF THE REAL ESTATE VENTURES - A RESORT FOR THE WEALTHY I During the last decades of the nineteenth century more land on the peninsula was developed for settlement but population still remained low I density. Additional land at McCarrs Creek, Towlers Bay, Lovatt Bay and Church Point (all established areas of settlement) was granted .and large estates I were surveyed and offered for sale at Careel Bay and Bay View. Earlier grants, including Therry's and Napper's, were sold and subdivided. I However, the problems of communication experienced during the preceding phase continued to hamper intensive settlement. Only at places where regular I transportation was available, primarily Newport, did some form of development take place and this remained low key as visitation was seasonal. I. At the turn of the century it could be said that the greater areas of settlement were towards the southern portion of the study area. The slight I growth here was encouraged by the tourist trade and the availability of transport for local residents. During the early years of the twentieth century this I situation was nearly reversed. The land speculation of these years at first focused on the northern area around Palm Beach. After a slow start land sales I escalated and houses and cottages for the wealthy were developed on places such as Sunrise Hill and "Pill Hill". But land in this location was, at that time, only for the wealthy through a combination of I circumstances mainly devolving, again, on the restrictions of transportation. The resultant settlement, therefore, while luxurious, remained I spaciously arranged. Following the success of the speculation at Palm Beach later sales encompassed land further south I along the peninsula; Whale beach, Newport, Mona Vale and Church Point. A similar socio-economic and spatial pattern of development occurred in these I subdivisions. A feature of this phase of development was the move away from the lower slopes to the steeper areas where spectacular views could be I exploited of the Ocean and Pittwater. By the end of this phase settlement in the peninsula I had escalated and moved out of the confines of I I I I 6 I nineteenth century development. Land over most of the study area was alienated and development occurred higher on the plateaux than had been I feasible for earlier settlers. However the constraints imposed by the terrain and transport ensured that, while settlement was more widespread than in the preceding phase, it was selective and I still relatively low key. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 7 I 2.3 PHASE III: 1920 - 1950 I HOLIDAY AND RECREATION The developments of this phase changed the direction of development within the study area and opened up I new areas of land for more intensive settlement.