Ever wondered how a London namesake found its way to Sydney? Welcome to Greenwich. Greenwich is a suburb on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. It got its name from Greenwich by the River Thames in London. The Parramatta River was once known as the Thames of the Antipodes. Nearby suburbs share Thames-related names like Putney, Woolwich, and Henley.
The Cammeraygal clan were Greenwich’s first inhabitants. They lived along the harbour’s edge. They hunted inland and traded with other clans. Europeans first came here in 1788. Lieutenant Henry Ball passed through while exploring Middle Harbour. Land grants began in 1794. Industries began developing in the 1830s.
Aboriginal people still lived here in the 1820s. Disease and displacement drove them out by the 1860s. Samuel Lightfoot, a convict got an early land grant in 1794. William Gore, a public servant, got one in 1813. Gore built a road from his farm in Artarmon to Gore Cove. This became Greenwich Road.
George Green and his father Amaziah bought Greenwich land in the 1830s. They started a shipbuilding industry. When Green subdivided his land in 1840, the name Greenwich appeared for the first time. Greenwich House is a two-story Georgian home. It was built from sandstone blocks in 1836. George Green built it. It stands at George and St Lawrence Streets. Gother Kerr Mann bought the house in the early 1850s. His family owned it until 1949.
The eastern tip of Greenwich is Manns Point. It is named after Gother Kerr Mann. Mann was the first Chief Commissioner for Railways. He was also the Superintendent of convicts at Cockatoo Island. Plus he was the builder of Fitzroy Dock.
By the 1880s, Greenwich Point had a post office, a general store and a school. It also had about 16 houses. Upper Greenwich developed later. It was mostly virgin bush. Improved roads led to grander houses near River Road. New estates were subdivided. Greenwich became a commuter suburb.
Between the 1880s and 1940s, several dairies thrived in Greenwich. The Anderson, Hogan, Mather, and Clarke families ran them. Anderson’s milk was delivered by boat along the Lane Cove River. It also went to Cockatoo Island residents. Hogan’s dairy on Chisholm Street had 300 cows. It closed in 1928. Clarke’s dairy was located on the current golf course site.
Light industry also took hold. Shipbuilding, brickmaking and quarrying all operated here. The Patent Asphaltum Company refined bitumen. It made building materials. Shell opened a terminal at Gore Bay in 1901. It imported and distributed petroleum products. It expanded to include the Patent Asphaltum works. It also took over several wharves. Plus it included John Fell & Co’s shale oil refining works. By the late 1930s, over 500 people worked at the Shell site. Today, fuel products go from Gore Bay to the Clyde Refinery via an underground pipe.
Greenwich was the northern entry point for Sydney’s first harbour tunnel. It was built to supply electricity to the north shore tram network. Cables on the harbour floor were often damaged. Work on the tunnel started in 1913. It was dug by hand and finished in 1924. Part of the tunnel runs through silt. It needed constant pumping until it was flooded in 1930. It was abandoned in 1969. The tunnel was mostly dug from the Greenwich side. Residents of Long Nose Point objected to the noise. The tunnel passes between the harbour floor and the Balmain coal mine. At its lowest point, it is 236 feet below sea level. Greenwich Infants School is a heritage-listed site.
Greenwich Public School opened in 1876. It started as a provisional school. It became a public school in 1880. The school has two campuses 1.5 kilometers apart.
Today, Greenwich is a charming harbourside suburb. It beautifully blends its historical roots with modern life. As you wander through Greenwich, you’re walking through layers of history. You experience the stories of its original inhabitants. You’re walking the path of early European settlers. And you will experience the evolution of a bustling industrial area into a peaceful residential haven.