Greenwich, New South Wales

History

The suburb's name is derived from its namesake Greenwich, by the banks of the River Thames in London. Parramatta River had been known as the 'Thames of the Antipodes' and other nearby suburbs were also named after Thames localities of Putney, Woolwich and Henley.

The Cammeraygal clan of the Dharug-speaking people of the Eora Nation were the first inhabitants of the Greenwich area, and lived along the foreshores of the harbour, hunting in the hinterland and trading with other clans.

The first known occasion when a European went to the area was in 1788, when Lieutenant Henry Ball passed through the area while returning from a trip to the Middle Harbour area. Land grants began in 1794 and industries developed in the area during the 1830s.

Aboriginal people were still present in the 1820s, but disease and displacement had driven them out by the 1860s.

Early land grants were made to Samuel Lightfoot, a convict, in 1794, and William Gore, public servant, in 1813. Gore built a road from his farm at Artarmon to Gore Cove, which was the beginning of Greenwich Road.

In the 1830s George Green and his father Amaziah bought land in Greenwich, with access to the harbour, and along with others began a shipbuilding industry on the foreshore. When Green subdivided his land in 1840, the name 'Greenwich' was mentioned for the first time.

Greenwich House—a two-storey Georgian home made from sandstone blocks—was built on the 20 acre estate of George Green in 1836 and still stands on the corner of George and St Lawrence Streets. The house was eventually sold, by the mortgage holders, to Gother Kerr Mann in 1853, and remained in that family until 1949.

The eastern tip of Greenwich is called Manns Point, after Gother Kerr Mann (1809–1899). Mann was the first Chief Commissioner for Railways, the Superintendent of convicts at Cockatoo Island and the builder of Fitzroy Dock.

By the early 1880s Greenwich Point had a post office, general store, and school, with around 16 houses. Upper Greenwich took longer to develop, with most of the area still virgin bush. But with the improvement in north shore roads, and increasing subdivision in upper Greenwich, some grander houses were built near River Road, and new estates were subdivided as Greenwich became a commuter suburb.

Between the 1880s and the 1940s a number of successful dairies operated in Greenwich, run by the Anderson, Hogan, Mather and Clarke families. The milk from Anderson's was delivered by boat along the Lane Cove River and to the residents of Cockatoo Island. Hogan's dairy at Chisholm Street had 300 cows by the time it closed in 1928. Clarke's dairy was on the site of the current golf course.

Light industry was set up along the foreshores of Greenwich, including Shipbuilding, brickmaking, quarrying, and the Patent Asphaltum Company which refined bitumen and manufactured building materials. Shell opened a terminal at Gore Bay in 1901, importing and distributing petroleum products. It grew over time to include the sites of the Patent Asphaltum works, and several wharves, as well as the shale oil refining works of John Fell & Co. By the late 1930s, over 500 workers were employed at the Shell site.

Greenwich was the northern portal of the first tunnel under Sydney Harbour. The tunnel was dug by the New South Wales Government Railways to Birchgrove to provide a reliable way to get electricity from the Pyrmont Power Station to the tram network on the north shore. Cables had previously been laid on the floor of the harbour, but damaged by ships dragging their anchors. The tunnel was commenced in 1913 and excavated by hand, completed in 1924. Part of the tunnel is through the silt at the bottom of the river, so required constant pumping until it was allowed to flood in 1930 and abandoned from 1969.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-21/sydneys-first-harbour-tunnel-curious-sydney/9234518 |title=How Sydney's 'first' harbour tunnel has been forgotten in the century since it was built

Heritage listings

Greenwich has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• 95 River Road: Pallister, Greenwich
• Greenwich Infants School
• Sydney Harbour railway electricity tunnel

Education

Greenwich Public School is a local primary school with two separate campuses located 1.5 kilometres apart. It was opened in 1876 as a provisional school, after repeated petitions from residents, and became a public school in 1880, with a new building and site in Mitchell Street in 1881. In 1909 the school moved to the site of the current infants school in Greenwich Road, and the primary school moved to Kingslangley Road in 1950.

Transport

Greenwich Point ferry wharf on the Parramatta River is served by Sydney Ferries Cockatoo Island ferry services between Circular Quay and Cockatoo Island. A second wharf on the Lane Cove River is served by peak-hour Captain Cook Cruises services. Busways bus route 265 from Lane Cove to North Sydney operates via Greenwich. There are also regular buses on the Pacific Highway. The closest train stations are at Wollstonecraft and St Leonards.

Sport and recreation

The Greenwich Village Games are held every four years featuring numerous sports and competitions held mainly at Bob Campbell Oval (Gore Creek Oval) and Lane Cove Aquatic Centre. Greenwich Sports Club, which was founded in 1936, organises football (soccer) for men, women and children and netball for girls. There are two sailing clubs as well. One is situated at the mouth of the Lane Cove River and the other off Greenwich Point.

A Scout Hall is located in the eastern side of Greenwich, and is the usual meeting place for the Greenwich/Wollstonecraft Scout group, as well as for other local organisations.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, there were 5,469 residents in Greenwich. 62.7% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 5.6%, China 2.9%, India 2.3% and New Zealand 2.2%. 77.2% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 3.4% and Cantonese 1.8%. The top responses for religious affiliation were No Religion 43.5%, Catholic 20.4% and Anglican 14.0%.

Greenwich's population has a median weekly household income of $2,946, compared with $1,746 in Australia. The most common types of occupation for employed persons were Professionals 46.1%, Managers 20.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.1%, Community and Personal Service Workers 6.2%, and Sales Workers 6.0%, . Of all households, 67.8% were family households, 27.7% were single person households and 4.5% were group households.

Religion

The Catholic Church maintains Mary Help of Christians Chapel and the adjacent Clancy Terrace retirement village, and there are Anglican, Presbyterian and LDS Churches.

Politics

For elections to the Australian House of Representatives, Greenwich is part of the Division of Bennelong since 2024. Prior to that, Greenwich fell within the now-abolished Division of North Sydney, last represented by independent Kylea Tink, who defeated Trent Zimmerman, a member of the Liberal Party in the 2022 Australian federal election. The seat was held by Joe Hockey from 1996 federal election until 2015.

For NSW state elections, Greenwich is in the electorate of Lane Cove, presently held by Anthony Roberts, a member of the Liberal Party, who has held the seat since 2003.

Notable people

• Norman Hetherington (1921 – 2010), artist, cartoonist, teacher, and puppet designer (Mr Squiggle)
• Antonia Kidman, journalist and sister of actress Nicole Kidman
• Andrew Olle (1947 – 1995), ABC radio and television presenter
• Ruth Park (1917 – 2010), author

Gallery

File:GreenwichLCRiverfromLonguevilleWharf.JPG|Greenwich, view from Longueville Wharf File:Sydney cityscape mannspointpark.jpg|View of Sydney from Manns Point Park File:Greenwich Point Ferry Wharf.jpg|Greenwich Point ferry wharf File:GreenwichHome2.JPG|Home, Lower Serpentine Road File:(1)Federation Bungalow in Greenwich.jpg|Home in Federation Bungalow style, Albert Street

References

References

1. [https://auspost.com.au/postcode/2065 Greenwich Postcode] Australia Post
2. [http://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au Lane Cove Council Website:retrieved 21 October 2009]
3. Macleod, Prudence. (2012). "Greenwich". Dictionary of Sydney Trust.
4. ''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollon, [[Angus & Robertson]], 1990, Published in Australia {{ISBN. 0-207-14495-8, page 116
5. Today fuel products unloaded at Gore Bay are transferred by an underground pipe to the [[Clyde Refinery]].[https://web.archive.org/web/20141110000514/https://www.vivaenergy.com.au/operations/gore-bay/about-us About Us] [[Viva Energy]]
6. "Tunnel Under The Harbour". Sydney Architecture.
7. "Lost and Abandoned Tunnels". Australia For Everyone - Sydney.
8. I.P. Forster. "Sydney's First Harbour Tunnel". Australian Geomechanics.
9. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045388. Pallister
10. "Greenwich Infants School {{!}} NSW Environment, Energy and Science".
11. {{cite NSW SHR. 5012228. Railway electricity tunnel under Sydney Harbour
12. [https://www.captaincook.com.au/sydney-harbour-cruises/ferries/lane-cove-ferry/ Lane Cove Ferry] [[Captain Cook Cruises, Australia. Captain Cook Cruises]]
13. [https://transportnsw.info/documents/timetables/27-265-Lane-Cove-to-North-Sydney-via-Greenwich-20240422.pdf Route 265] [[Transport for NSW]]
14. "Greenwich/Wollstonecraft Scout Group {{!}} Scouts Australia NSW".
15. {{Census 2021 AUS. 50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].
16. "Churches".
17. (10 October 2024). "Profile of the electoral division of Bennelong (NSW)".
18. (2007). "Curriculum Vitae". The Hon. Joe Hockey.
19. (2007). "Mr Anthony John ROBERTS, MP". Parliament of New South Wales.
20. Pitt, Helen. (16 December 1995). "The ABC: a family in mourning". The Sydney Morning Herald.