Bexley, NSW: Many Postwar Californian and Art Deco Bungalows

Bexley, NSW, is a suburb in southern Sydney, located 14 kilometres south of the CBD. Many postwar Californian and Art Deco bungalows are found in this area.

Gweagal and Bidjigal People

The Bexley area is part of the traditional lands of the Gweagal and Bidjigal people.

The Gweagal were also known as the "Fire Clan". They are said to be the first people to make contact with Captain Cook, in 1770. (The British were searching for Terra Australis, a hypothetical southern continent)

The Gweagal lived on the southern side of the Georges River and Botany Bay, towards the Kurnell Peninsula.

They used barbed spears and fishing lines with hooks made from crescent-shaped shells to catch fish. Birds and their eggs, possums, wallabies and goannas were also a part of their diet.

Aboriginal Middens (rubbish heaps) have been found along tidal sections of the Georges River, full of shells and fish bones.

They are part of the Dharug language group. 

The Bidjigal clan were the first Indigenous Australians to encounter the First Fleet (Pemulwuy speared Governor Phillip’s gamekeeper John McIntyre on 10 December 1790 and hostilities broke out between the British and Aboriginal people).

Pemulwuy's left eye was "blemished" and one foot turned. The foot injury is said to have been made with a club showing that he was a “clever man”.
Painting of Pemulwuy, the leader of the Aboriginal resistance in the Bidjigal clan. Samuel John Neele (1758-1824) - State Library of Victoria
Aboriginal people had a mobile lifestyle, moving about according to the seasons and food sources.

1800s

Thomas Sylvester was granted land in about 1810. This land, “Sylvester’s Farm” was purchased by a free settler, James Chandler in 1822, who named the suburb after his birthplace, Bexley, in London, England.

Chandler soon afterwards, petitioned Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane and was granted 1200 acres (4km2) of land in “any part of the colony already surveyed” and four convict servants.

It was the land adjoining his existing property that Chandler acquired, and this later became Bexley. (also some parts of Bexley North, Rockdale and Kogarah). Chandler also established a shop at 99 Pitt Street, Sydney.

Chandler became known locally as the "Squire of Bexley", but bushrangers and escaped convicts occupied the property, so Chandler sold the land to Charles Thompson in 1836.

The estate was heavily timbered and a track through the centre used by timber-getters, is today called Forest Road.

Lydham Hall, the oldest surviving residence in the area, stands on part of the original land grant of 1822.

In the early days, most of the buildings were slab huts with bark rooves (1.)
Example of a slab hut built  by settlers in Australia
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 16 April 1847
Charles Tindell began subdividing the land by 1856 for home sites.

John Downey's Cottage on the corner of Downey Street and Mimosa Street West Bexley, was built in 1855, by the Irish immigrant John Downey.

Many inns opened in the area including the Man of Kent, the Robin Hood and Little John Inn and the Highbury Barn
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 30 August 1856

1880s

The railway line to Hurstville opened in 1884 and a two-tier wagonette and hansom cab conveyed train travellers to their home.
This double-decker steam tram, which operated for the <! y first time in 1879 between the old Red fern railway station !| ? and the corner of Hunter and Elizabeth Sts., Was the start ! y of Sydney's present transport system. Four steam enginesand six cars were imported from America to start the V I service, which was originally planned to convey passengers to the Exhibition being held in the Botanic Gardens, ? The double-decker cars were replaced by single-deckers '> ? about 1892, but the old steam engines were in use com- <! 5 paratively recently on the Baulkham Hills-Parramatta, J Arncliffa-Bexley, Kogarah-Sans Souci and other lines, SYDNEY'S FIRST TRAM (1949, September 13). Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955),
“Montrose” in Broadford Street, Bexley, built circa 1887.

1890s

A heritage-listed house, "St Elmo" on Harrow Road, Bexley, was designed by William Kenwood and built in 1897 in Victorian style, with some Federation features, for Joseph Palmer.

1900s

Bexley had its own council, known as the"'Municipality of Bexley" from 1900-1948. The council would later be amalgamated with the Municipality of Rockdale.

Stone’s Slaughterhouse in Stoney Creek Road began operations in the 1890s.
Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 24 November 1900,

The Arncliffe to Bexley steam tramway officially opened on the 13th October 1909 and operated until the 1st January 1927. It ran from Arncliffe Station along Wollongong Road to a terminal loop located between Preddy's Road and Mimosa Street in Bexley.

The Arncliffe to Bexley steam tramway officially opened on the 13th October 1909 . Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 October 1909
 "The foundation stone of Christ Church, Bexley, Parish of St. George, was laid by theRight Rev. Dr. Barry, LL.D., D.D., Primate of Australia, on the 17th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1886. St George Call (Kogarah, NSW : 1904 - 1957), Saturday 22 December 1906. (Anglican services at Bexley commenced in the open air, under a large tree, near White's brick kiln, and were conducted by Rev. R. Kelly,
In 1900, Hurstville Council ceded its Bexley ward which became Bexley council. Bexley Council was merged with Rockdale Council in 1948 to form the Municipality of Rockdale.

An upsurge in development began after the installation in 1909 of a steam tram that ran between Bexley and Arncliffe. 

WWI (1914-1918)

Bexley Public School, NSW, 330-354 Forest Rd,Bexley in 1914.
St George Call (Kogarah, NSW : 1904 - 1957), Saturday 6 November 1915
Family, who last 8atu'day entered .Into 'possession of the cottage erected for tnem by the Bexley hraneh of the Voluntary Workers' Association. The land on wh|ch the cottage wan built was a gift from the branch, and. a cheque for' £33 towards the homo- was received from th» ?? ? ' . Rockdale Congregational Guild.Mirror of Australia (Sydney, NSW : 1915 - 1917), Saturday 16 September 1916
Bexley Boys' Home was a Salvation Army home that was located on the corner of Kingsland Road and Barnsbury Grove at Bexley North. It commenced as a Probationary Home for Boys in 1915, taking boys referred from the courts. It became a boys' home in 1931. Some boys were abandoned or relinquished by their families. However, abuse was rife. See here
BOYS OF THE' SALVATION ARMY HOME AT BEXLEY, NEAR SYDNE. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Monday 3 April 1916
SERGEANT A. E. ALLSOPP. ... who was within a month of registering his 24th birthday, enlisted at Helensburgh, and left for the war on 20th December, 1915, as a Private. He went to Egypt and France and received promo-tion to corporal in France and was made sergeant five months before he was killed. He was also awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery. He leaves a wife and child, who reside at Bexley. Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate (Parramatta, NSW : 1888 - 1950), Saturday 24 November 1917
N.S.W. Soldiers Killed in Action. Pte. G. Maltby (OF BEXLEY). Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 22 May 1918

1920s

BEXLEY GOES TO WORK "Bexley's front door" known locally as "the slippery slide," "Bexloy's Alps," and "the goat walk." About 2000 people climb this steop dump daily. Tho alternative is a walk of over a quarter of a mile. In tho wot weather the route has its points. The dump is clay, and it sticks so nicely to boots and shoes when it is wet. The procedure is interesting. You take one step upwards and slide three steps backward. By the time you reach " the top you are climbing on your hands and knees, while on your clothes is a deep layer of clay, and in your heart is a deep, undying hate of the powers that be. Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Wednesday 22 August 1923
The former Masonic Lodge on Forest Road was built in 1923.
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Thursday 1 November 1928
St Elmo, house in Harrow-road, Bexley, where three women and a man were shot dea , and another man was critically wounded. Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Thursday 1 November 1928
1930s
Propeller (Hurstville, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 13 July 1934. ABORIGINAL / FOOTBALLERS.
In the Soccer grounds of Prince Edward Park, Carlton, next Sunday afternoon, commencing at 3 o'clock, a team of Aboriginal . footballers from La Pe-rouse will play a $10 challenge match against Bexley Waratahs "A" grade team The early match 2 o'clock will be between "Sun" Newspapers and the
Bexley Wanatah "B" Grade team. During the afternoon tho aboriginals will give. an exhibition of boomerang throwing supplemented by music from a gum-leaf band.
Santa Claus and children at the I.O.O.F. Christmas party, Bexley, 22 Dec 1934 / by Sam Hood https://www.flickr.com

EARLY BEXLEY:

Resident's Reminiscences.

Mr. and, Mrs. W. Richardson, of Bayview Street, Bexley, recently celebrated their golden wedding, being married at Bexley in 1886. Howling dingoes in the Bexley gullies and piggeries where the main shopping centre now stands were recalled by Mrs. Richardson in looking over fifty years of progress.

She was born in a large house on the site now occupied by the St. George Bowling Club, which was adjacent to what was then known as "Spring Creek." This water was so pure, owing to the springs, that chemists used to come from Newtown to take the water for medicinal purposes.

Her grand-mother, Mrs. Isaac Parkes, was known throughout old Bexley as old "Granny Parkes, " who acted as nurse and doctor to many people. She made her own ointments and medicines, and was a great boon to the workmen of that time, mostly timber-getters in Gannon's Forest.

Mrs. Richardson's grandfather was the toll-collector on the old toll bar gate in Gannon's Forest Road, where Clarence Street now is. This was the main route to Sydney from Bexley, although the road then was mostly quagmire in a dense forest.

Bexley residents could not see Botany Bay then, owing to the large trees, but they could hear the waves
beating on the shore. The area was wild and real bush, and Mrs. Richard-son said she could well remember on many occasions when dingoes would howl at night in the gullies, although they never gave any trouble by attacking people. These animals seemed content to remain in the gullies away from the little growing suburb.

Other early visitors to Bexley were (A)boriginals, who often looked in on their way from Tom Ugly's Point. They secured provisions and were quite friendly with the new settlers, leaving in large companies with donkeys to carry the loads.

Propeller (Hurstville, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Thursday 2 April 1936

PIONEER DAYS OF BEXLEY

......... the whole of these districts was blanketed under a vast primeval forest—broken only by the rare clearings of the very first pioneers. Across the landscape there snaked the thin scraggly lines of Gannon's Forest Road, Rocky Point Road, and a rough track which ran out towards Canterbury. Of course, they were nothing like roads as known to-day, but just dusty divisions between the eternal trees, and slushy boggy channels in wet weather. To the first settlers—in days before radio, telephones, railway or even a postal ser-vice—these tracks were the only means of access to and from the out-side world. Carts and horses were the only vehicles—otherwise one simply walked. 
In her young womanhood Mrs. Carey thought little of walking from Bexley to Cook's River, and miles on to the old St. Peter's Church of England at Tempe, for Sunday service. That was the nearest chapel of her denomination in those times, and thenearest stores and shops were at Newtown........

When I was a girl we used to carry our washing down the hill and do it beside the creek. In those days it was nothing unusual for me to have to carry nine buckets of water from the spring up to our house on Forest Road each morning before breakfast.”
At that time there were not even such things as kerosene lamps—just candles, and my mother used to make her own by pouring ordinary house-hold fat into the six-in-one candle moulds, using string for the wicks. When set hard the candles were taken out of the mould, and these served as our only means of light. 
Many an hour I have seen my mother sewing with needle and thread beside the flickering light of a home-made candle. There were no sewing machines then, and we made all our own clothes by hand. Mother used to make all our school hats, from the leaves of the cabbage-tree palms which grew wild in Bardwell Creek gully.
PIONEER DAYS OF BEXLEY. (1939, November 30). The Propeller (Hurstville, NSW : 1911 - 1954), p. 8.

The St. George Theatre opened in July, with a plain facade. In 1939, it was re-modeled in a Streamline Moderne style. It was re-named Odeon in August 1952 but closed on 12th September 1959. 

1940s and WW11

Postwoman Mary Davenport delivering mail. Mary wears a Postmaster General's (PMG) uniform and peaked cap and worked at the Bexley Post Office.1942, AWM
A special A.I.F. broadcast interview of families who live near Bexley Park, Bexley, NSW, ABC weeklyVol. 4 No. 1 (3 January 1942)

Bexley man reaches 100

Thunderbolt stole, returned his watch

MR. JOHN GROTH, of 61 Stoney Creek-road, Bexley, who has just celebrated his LOOth birthday, had his gold walch stolen and returned lo him the next day by Thunderbolt, the bushranger, in 1863.

Mr. Groth was 20 and a shepherd in the Narrabrl district. He had arrived from Denmark the year before, and when held up somewhere betweenArmidale Armidale and Narrabrl. He could only protest in Danish. The next day, the mail-man told Thunderbolt, with whom he was friendly, that he had taken from a poor shepherd. Thunber-bolt returned the watch, saying: "I don't want to take things from these people. Give it back to hint."

Bexley man reaches 100 (1943, October 10). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954),
London, England. 1945-03-05. Portrait of 420284 Flight Lieutenant H. J. Shipley, of Bexley, NSW. AWM
“Wanslea", at Bexley, was a residence for around 18 homeless girls of working age that was opened by the Women's Australian National Services (WANS) in New South Wales in 1944. (Wanslea was at 28 Harrow Rd, Bexley, NSW)

In 1946, Wanslea, the Victorian mansion, became Rachel Forster Hospital for Women, and operated until 1971,
Lady Wakehurst wore brown shoes and gloves instead of regulation black with her W.A.A.N.'S. uniform yesterday when she opened Wanslea, the Women's Australian National Services' new home at Bexley. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Sunday 20 May 1945 (WOMEN'S AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SERVICE WAS AN ORGANISATION OF WOMEN THAT WAS ESTABLISHED DURING WORLD WAR II TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING ON THE HOME FRONT)
Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), Wednesday 25 September 1946
 Baby Health Centre, Bexley, Sydney, 1946, Building and engineering.No. 11 (25 November, 1946)

1950s

Dawn Anzac Service At Bexley. Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Wednesday 25 April 1951
Forrest Inn, Bexley, NSW, 1950s, ANU
New School at Bexley North, NSW, (11 March 1953)
New School at Bexley North, NSW, (11 March 1953)

1970s

DGT Leyland OPD2-1 2497 with a body built by Clyde in 1951 on an HCVA Special Hiring showing Route 472 Bexley North Station in Bexley Road, Bexley North. City of Sydney Archives, 1972
DGT Leyland OPD2-1 2497 with a body built by Clyde in 1951 on an HCVA Special Hiring showing Route 492 Rockdale Station in Forest Road at Bayview Street, Bexley. City of Sydney Archives, 1972

1980s

PTC Leyland Atlantean 1192 with a body built by PMC in 1972 showing Route 494 Drummoyne on an HCVA Tour in Frederick Street, Bexley. City of Sydney Archives, 1980-
00938CT Historic Commercial Vehicle Association Leyland OPS4-1 003 (ex MTT Perth fleet No 3) converted from ex MTT Perth UQB-268 ex M&MTB 332 showing Caution Towing Bus And Truck Museum towing South Pacific Electric Railway AEC 664T Trolley Bus 19 ex DRT&T No 19 with a body built by Ritchie Brothers of Auburn in 1937 showing Special in Forest Road at Bayview Street, Bexley. City of Sydney Archives, 1988

2000s

State Transit Authority Scania L113CRL 3793 with a body built by Austral pacific Group in Tamworth in 9-1997 on Route 493 Rockdale Via Kingsgrove turning from Shaw Street into Bexley Road, Bexley North. City of Sydney Archives, 2010-

2024

502 Forest Road, Bexley, named “Forest Manor”, is scheduled for demolition.
502 Forest Road, Bexley, NSW, named “Forest Manor”

Around Bexley

“Montrose” in Broadford Street, Bexley, NSW, built circa 1887.
St Gabriel's Catholic Church on Stoney Creek Road, Bexley, NSW, was built in 1952 in the Post-War American Colonial architectural style
The Bexley Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church, built 1825, Bexley, NSW
Heritage house, Bexley, NSW
Victorian Style building, in Bexley, NSW
Heritage house, Bexley, NSW
The Building in Bexley, NSW, dates back to the 1920s (Art Deco) (Ex Bank of NSW, the Commonwealth Bank Building)
Bexley School of Arts, foundation stone laid, 1924, NSW
The former Masonic Lodge on Forest Road, Bexley, NSW, was built in 1923
John Downey's Cottage on the corner of Downey. Street and Mimosa Street West Bexley, NSW, built in 1855, by the Irish immigrant John Downey
St Elmo” in Harrow Road, Bexley, NSW, designed by William Kenwood for Joseph Palmer in 1897
Federation house at 580 Forest Rd Bexley known as "Brandlesome" was owned by the Formby family for four generations
Art Deco-style at Bexley, NSW

Things To See and Places To Go

The Heritage of Bexley

The Salvation Army Museum

Lydham Hall Historic House and Museum

Hurstville Museum & Gallery

Artarmon, NSW: Was Known as “The Bush”

Artarmon is a suburb located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney, on the lower North Shore.

Cammeraygal people

Cammeraygal is variously spelled as Cam-mer-ray-gal, Gamaraigal, Kameraigal, Cameragal and several other variations.

Living as hunter–fisher–gatherers in extended family groups, the Cammeraygal, were severely impacted by Smallpox to which they had no immunity, with the arrival of the British.

British officer David Collins, who spent eight years in New South Wales in An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, published in London in 1798, wrote the women sang together as they fished and kept time with their paddles when they rowed.

Evidence of Aboriginal occupation can be found in caves, hand prints on stone, rock art, weapons and middens. 

Barangaroo was a woman from the Camaragal people during the early days of the British arrival. She, unlike her husband, Bennelong, refused to wear clothes and had a pierced nasal septum.
An account of the English colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August 1801
Read: AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY IN NEW SOUTH WALES

1786

Polmont Farm (144 acres) on the western side of today’s Pacific Highway, was developed by James Williamson on land granted by Governor Hunter in 1796. 

1800s

William Gore came to Australia with William Bligh who appointed him Provost Marshal. Gore was given a land grant in 1810, where Artarmon exists today.

Gore’s family lived in Ardthelmon Castle (pronounced Art-e-mon), in Ireland, which dates from the 1640s.

During the Rum Rebellion, William Gore arrested John Macarthur. Then the Rum Corps arrested Gore, and he served two years in the Newcastle coalmines.

In 1818, Gore defaulted on his mortgage and lost most of his land, except for a plot where he built Artarmon House in which he lived.

The first house, built by Gore at Artarmon in 1820 by Gore, was replaced by a grander building in 1869 by Richard Hayes Hartnett.

Bricks were first made in the area in 1828.
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Friday 23 August 1822
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Tuesday 15 December 1829

1830s

In 1830 there were no Aboriginal people living a traditional lifestyle in the area.

1850s

Orchards and market gardens were established.
 
1860s

In 1865, the Municipality of North Willoughby was proclaimed.

The land for Gore Hill Cemetery was first dedicated in May 1868.

1880s

The southern part of Artarmon developed several industries from the 1880s.

1890s

Artarmon Station was opened in 1898. On 25 April 1898, the Willoughby tram service was officially opened as an extension of the North Sydney network.

1900s

The BUTCHER BROTHERS AND CO.'S NEW BRICKWORKS, GORE HILL. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 13 May 1903
A mailbox was established at Artarmon railway station in 1907.
Valetta House, Artarmon, NSW, PD. (Valetta, the original home of William Gore, is now known as Trelowarren) More info
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Monday 9 September 1912
Cleland Park was declared a public park in 1908.
Artarmon Railway Station, NSW, 1908, SLNSW
Artarmon Railway Station, NSW, 1908, Willoughby Library.
Looking towards Chatswood from Artarmon Railway Station, NSW, 1908. The northbound Sydney train track was first built in 1890. Artarmon Railway Station was opened, 6 July 1898 but it wasn't until 1916, that a brick station building was built.
New infants school at Artarmon, NSW, All the children from Artarmon had formerly to either walk to
the ChatBwood School, a distance of a little more than a mile, or travel by the train. The latter method often caused a good deal of anxiety to parents, as many of the children are only 6 or 7 years of age. The new school. Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Thursday 6 October 1910,
Artarmon Railway Station , NSW, 1915
 
WWI

Lieutenant D E Wilson (Artarmon), wounded. Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 16 June 1915
 Private W. Roy Pugsley, Of the 18th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcements. He has been missing since August 22, and his parents, who live at Hampden-road, Artarmon, would be grateful If any returned soldier has news of him. Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Saturday 11 December 1915
Comrade-in-Arms. The group was photographed in Cairo beforet he Gallipoli campaign. On the Ieft is Pte Collins, who was killed in action at Anzac, in thee centre is a Bengal lancer, who was wounded at the Suez Canal; and on the right is Sergt, Garnet R. Downer of Artarmon, near Sydney, who, after serving through the whole Gallipoli campaign, was last month killed in action in France. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 2 August 1916
Fete at Artarmon, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 21 February 1917
Before the Harbour Bridge was built to the North Shore, the area was known as “the bush”.

1920s
 
This snapshot was taken In Broughton-road, Artarmon, In tho Willoughby municipality, a thoroughfare leading from the railway station to the Lane Cove-road. Some of the local boys make quite a good thing by hiring out planks to motorists in trouble.Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Friday 13 January 1922
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Friday 24 October 1924
The wireless weekly : the hundred per cent Australian radio journalVol. 4 No. 26 (10 October 1924) 
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Friday 12 February 1926
Wilkes Ave, Artarmon, NSW, 1924 (viewed from Artarmon Railway Station. Behind the gardens is Artarmon Road)
Mr. Harnett says that, when his father first took over the Gore Hill property from the wood-carter Sims, he found the remains of William and Mrs. Gore, and those of a daughter, in a portion of thick scrub. The coffins had originally rested on very low trestles, above ground, but Mr. Harnett says that when he saw them, the wood was almost all dust, through which showed the whitened bones of the pioneers. It is stated that the reason William Gore had his remains left above ground was because of an old belief regard- was "in aerial."
Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Sunday 28 August 1927
Artarmon's New Public School Officially Opened, Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 17 September 1929

1930s
 
The Great Northern, at Artarmon, NSW, Building : the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant.Vol. 47 No. 277 (12 September 1930)
GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL, ARTARMON, SYDNEY. A Link With Early Days. The site of this hotel, the Great Northern, Artarmon, which has just been co’m-pleted, is that of one of the first hotels on the north side of the harbour, and is the third to occupy this position. Situated at the junction of Gordon and Mowbray Roads, it was originally the centre of a sporting circle, an old race-course being- located to the west of it, and many a race, sports meeting or even cock-fight, has been celebrated or deplored over its foaming tankards. The second hotel, and predecessor to
the present one, was opened some 51 years ago (1879) and was the excuse for much revelry, say the oldest inhabitant informs us, an ox being roasted whole in the yard and free beer being dispensed to all and- sundry; no wonder he remembers the incident clearly and says “times ain’t what thev were.” This hotel ended up bv being called The Artarmon Hotel, altered several times) but the new occupier of the site has styled itself the “Great Northern” in view of the fact that it flanks the new Great Northern Road to Newcastle (Pest’s Ferry permitting). Building : the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant.Vol. 47 No. 277 (12 September 1930)
Gardens at Artarmon Railway, NSW, 1930s (Charles Henry Wickham (1869-1936). The gardener in the photo was a resident who designed and managed the railway station gardens on behalf of the Artarmon Progress Association from 1928 until 1936.
Artarmon Village, NSW, 1935. Artarmon Progress Association
Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 25 January 1933
Clarke Bridge, Artarmon, NSW, Building : the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant.Vol. 48 No. 283, (12 March, 1931)
Clarke Bridge, Artarmon, NSW, Building : the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant.Vol. 48 No. 283, (12 March, 1931)
Repainting Artarmon police station with yellow and black bands yesterday. The new colour scheme will attract attention to the "pill-box," and so assist the police.Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 4 February 1933
Construction (Sydney, NSW : 1938 - 1954), Wednesday 1 June 1938

1940s and WWII

SOME WHERE I IN AUSTRALIA. — Flying - Officer A. P. Goldsmith, D.F.C., D.F.M., and Malta Cross, of Artarmon, celebrated his return to operational flying on Tuesday by shooting down one of the five Jap Zero fighters destroyed over Darwin by Spitfires.Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Friday 10 September 1943
REPATRIATED prisoners of war from Italy, who arrived in Sydney yesterday. From left to right: Sergeants Walter Martin, of Artarmon, and Russell Kelly, of Strathfield, and Privates Thomas Carter, of Scone, Stan Whitehead, of Young, arid Lance Ward, of Glebe. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Saturday 17 July 1943
Grace Bros, Repository at Pacific Highway, Artarmon, 1947, SLNSW. Originally built in 1932 for Grace Bros as a furniture repository
Two members of Artarmon Junior Red Cross circle, JEANETTE HUTLEY and YVONNE CARTER, admiring gifts which have been made by members for the JRC Exhibition opening in the Town Hall on Wednesday. Clothing and toys will later be sent to children of invalid ex-servicemen.Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Tuesday 17 August 1948
Midday Meals in Schools Is A New Deal Objective. Daily meal service at Artarmon is typical
of the best being provided in this State. Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation.Vol.30 No.4 (25 April 1949) (The Oslo lunch was devised by Norwegian physician and professor Carl Schiøtz in 1932 to improve the health of poor children. By 1950 it was in schools throughout Australia)
 
1950s

Artarmon tram, NSW, 1950s
Corner of Wilkes Ave and Elizabeth St, Artarmon, NSW, 1950s
St. John Ambulance Officer E. O. Perrot, of Artarmon, wearing medaIs belonging to himmself as well as some which belonged to his forefathers who took part in the .Battle of Waterloo. Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Wednesday 25 April 1951
Sister Patricia Hadley, of Artarmon, N.S.W., climbs the rope ladder to the R.A.A.F. air-sea rescue launch in Port Phillip Bay. With other R.A.A.F. nurses she has been training with the R.A.A.F.'s Aviation Medicine Section at Point Cook. The nurses had first hand experience of survival when they were set adrift inthe Bay in a rubber dinghy. Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 17 November 1954
WOMEN DRIVERS can heat Junior's bottle or make a "cuppa" in the sun-bathed snack room, or have a freshening shower and brush-up in the plastic-curtained shower-room, which are facilities provided in a new Rest-Room service especially planned for the growing army of women motorists on the highways. First one of a nation-wide network of new service stations was opened on the Pacific Highway at Artarmon this week. Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 2 July 1954
“Speedo” knitting mill, known as “The House of Speedo”, opened in February 1957, at Artarmon.
Windsor and Richmond Gazette (NSW : 1888 - 1965), Wednesday 14 August 1957

1960s
 
Three television transmission towers are constructed in an area collectively known as the Artarmon Triangle. 

In 1969, the western side of the railway line was rezoned, and is now mostly apartment buildings.

1990s

The Gore Hill Freeway opened in 1992 through Artarmon.

 2000s
 
Chatswood and Artarmon from Forrestville, NSW, 2008, https://www.flickr.com/photos/tolomea/

Around Artarmon


The former Artarmon Uniting Church property, NSW, opened 1926 (now library)
246-260 Mowbray Road, Artarmon. NSW. Built in 1888 for American journalist Frank Coffee, and named Iroquois.
Artarmon, NSW
Artatmon, NSW
Artarmon Train Station, NSW
Federation house, Artarmon, NSW
1920s house, Artarmon, NSW

Things To do


Aboriginal Sites: Northern Suburbs and Hawkesbury

The Kennards Hire Museum

Bexley, NSW: Many Postwar Californian and Art Deco Bungalows

Bexley, NSW, is a suburb in southern Sydney, located 14 kilometres south of the CBD. Many postwar Californian and Art Deco bungalows are fou...