Billy Blue – The Old Commodore of Blues Point – Convict, Ferryman and Macquarie's Harbour Watchman – c.1767 to 1834

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this page contains the names of people who have died.

Stand at the bottom of Blues Point Road on a summer evening, with the Bridge to your left and the city lit up across the water, and you are standing on Billy Blue's farm. He was a convict, a waterman, a harbour watchman, a smuggler when it suited him, and for thirty-odd years one of the best-known faces in Sydney. Governor Macquarie liked him so much he gave him this headland. The town called him "the Old Commodore". Nearly two hundred years after he died, the point, the road, a pub and a few other things still carry his name.

Billy Blue, painted by J. B. East in 1834. The Dictionary of Sydney says the painting shows him down at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, and it went on show soon after he died. The State Library thinks it is the portrait a Mr J. E. Blue of North Sydney gave the Library in 1933. J. B. East, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Where Did Billy Blue Come From?

Nobody is quite sure, and that is half the fun of him. His convict record called him "a Jamaican Negro sailor", aged 29 in 1796. Margaret Park, who wrote his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, thinks he was "born possibly in Jamaica, New York City", the old Jamaica district of Queens, rather than the island. He later claimed he had served with the British army in the American War of Independence, so he may have been a freed African-American slave from colonial New York.

The Dictionary of Sydney's Lisa Murray says the same: he was probably born in the suburb of Jamaica in New York City and may have been an ex-slave, and his army service "would explain how he got to the UK". When Blue petitioned Governor Brisbane in 1823, he gave his birthplace as New York.

He told some big stories about his army days. The Find a Grave memorial for him quotes his claims that he fought with the British at Quebec in 1759, was "at Little York in Virginia with Lord Cornwallis as a spy or guide for his army", was "twice wounded" and was "a considerable time a Serjeant of Marines". If even half of that is true, he was a lot older than 29 in 1796.

Chocolate, Sugar and the Thames

By 1796 he was living at Deptford, on the Thames in London, working as a chocolate-maker and as a lumper, a labourer unloading ships. The 2022 heritage interpretation plan for Blues Point, written by Margaret Betteridge for Sydney Metro, explains that lumpers were badly paid and were quietly allowed a bit of "spillage" from the cargo, up to about two per cent. Taking more than that was theft. Chocolate in those days was a drink, made from cocoa, sugar and spices, so a chocolate-maker had good reason to want sugar.

On 4 October 1796, at Maidstone in Kent, Blue was convicted of stealing raw sugar and sentenced to seven years' transportation. The Betteridge report says he faced four counts of stealing 20 pounds of raw sugar on one day in September 1796.

Deptford Dockyard on the Thames, painted by Joseph Farington in the 1700s. Billy Blue was living and working at Deptford when he was caught with the sugar in 1796. Joseph Farington, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Hulks and the Minorca

He then spent more than four years in the convict hulks, the old ships moored in the Thames that were used as floating prisons. The Betteridge report has him on the indent of the hulk Prudentia at Woolwich from October 1797 to 1801. Then he was put aboard the convict ship Minorca, which reached Sydney on 14 December 1801. By then he had less than two years of his sentence left to serve.

The Justitia hulk at Woolwich, with convicts at work on the shore, from the New Newgate Calendar. Blue spent more than four years on hulks like this before he was shipped to Sydney. Page, after Dodd, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Waterman at The Rocks

By July 1804 Blue was living at The Rocks with Elizabeth Williams, a 30-year-old English convict who had arrived from Hampshire the month before. They married at St Philip's Church of England on 27 April 1805 and had six children. Billy worked as a waterman and gathered and sold oysters. Catherine Warne's local history, as quoted on Wikipedia, describes him in the language of the day as "a very Hercules in proportion" with "a bright eye and a jocular wit". The ADB says he won over officials and ordinary people alike "with his whimsical style and banter".

A waterman rowed people around the harbour for a fare. Lisa Murray compares it to a water-taxi, taking passengers across the harbour and up rivers like the Parramatta. Wikipedia, citing Catherine Warne's Pictorial History, Lower North Shore, says that in 1807 Blue was the only person licensed to ply a ferry across the harbour.

Sydney Cove from the fort at Dawes Point, from a Joseph Lycett watercolour of 1817–18. This was Billy Blue's working harbour, and Dawes Point was the southern end of his crossing. Joseph Lycett, State Library of NSW, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Macquarie's Man

In 1808 Blue's name was on the list of citizens who backed the arrest of Governor Bligh. When Lachlan Macquarie arrived, Blue did even better. In 1811 Macquarie made him harbour watchman and constable. The job came with a house overlooking the harbour that became a local landmark, "Billy Blue's Cottage".

The sources describe the cottage a little differently. Lisa Murray calls it "a little octagonal building" in what we now think of as East Circular Quay. The Betteridge report calls it a stone hexagonal (six-sided) watch house on the eastern side of Circular Quay, and a caption in the same report puts it on Bennelong Point, in the grounds of the Governor's Domain. The Dictionary of Sydney's ferries entry says he watched boat traffic on Port Jackson "from a special tower where he also lived".

The Sydney Cove punchbowl, made in China before 1820 and now in the Mitchell Library. Lisa Murray points out that Billy Blue's watch house home at Sydney Cove is part of the panorama painted around the bowl. State Library of New South Wales, CC BY-SA 3.0 AU, via Wikimedia Commons

Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in a portrait attributed to John Opie. Macquarie made Blue harbour watchman in 1811 and gave him his North Shore farm in 1817. Attributed to John Opie, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Macquarie used Blue's boats himself. In 1817 he wrote in his diary that his wife and son had been taken up the river to Parramatta in Blue's boat. The Betteridge report adds that Blue rowed soldiers from Dawes Point across to the north shore to cut grass for their horses.

Northampton, His 80 Acres on the North Shore

In 1817 Macquarie granted Blue a farm of 80 acres (32.4 hectares) at the southern tip of the north shore of Port Jackson. Blue called it Northampton. The Betteridge report says the grant was conditional on cultivation, which can't have been easy, as some of it was steep cliffs running down to sandy foreshore. The headland soon became known as Billy Blue's Point. The report's timeline says it was called that from at least 1823, and sometimes "Blue's Bay".

Owning land on the far side gave him a reason to run boats there, and the ADB says he quickly built up a "fleet of ferries". Wikipedia, again citing Warne, puts it at 11 vessels. A track from his wharf up to St Leonards became Blues Point Road. The Betteridge report calls his ferry "the first and major transport link that helped open up the north shore for settlers".

Sydney from the North Shore about 1840, attributed to Conrad Martens. This was the view from Billy Blue's side of the harbour a few years after he died. Attributed to Conrad Martens, State Library of NSW, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Old Commodore

According to the ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney, Macquarie jokingly dubbed him "Commodore", and Blue became known as "The Old Commodore". Wikipedia says he ran his ferry wearing a blue naval officer's coat and a top hat.

The Betteridge report has a different story about where the nickname came from. It says Blue had also worked for the Navy Board back in Deptford, where press gangs grabbed men for the navy and handed them over to a receiving ship, HMS Enterprise. The man in charge of a gang was called the "Commodore", and the report says that is where Billy picked up the name. The Find a Grave memorial quotes Blue himself claiming he was "Commodore" in the Enterprise.

Rum, Rivals and the Courts

Living on the water had its temptations. In October 1818 Blue was arrested with two casks of rum. He said he had found them floating and lashed them to his boat to bring them ashore. Deputy Judge-Advocate Wylde urged him to plead guilty and name his mates. He refused, lost his job as harbour watchman and constable, and was locked up for a year. The Betteridge report notes that he kept his ferry, though.

Once Macquarie left in 1822, Blue had fewer friends at the top. In 1823 two big north shore landholders, Edward Wollstonecraft and William Gore, tried to push him off his land and out of the ferry trade. They said he was a law-breaker who smuggled goods and hid escaped prisoners. Blue petitioned Governor Brisbane, asking that after his long service he be allowed "in his old age the peaceable enjoyment of his premises and ferry". Brisbane agreed and let him keep "the Use and Occupation of his ferry, which he formerly occupied between his farm in Northampton and Sydney". The Betteridge report tells it a little differently: his rivals managed to shut the ferry down for a while, and he only got the right back in 1825.

A North Shore steam ferry in 1856, from S. T. Gill's Scenery in and around Sydney. By the 1850s steam ferries were working the run that Blue had once rowed. Samuel Thomas Gill, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Boy and the Stone

Elizabeth died in 1824, by the ADB's account. That same year a boy named Thomas Cox died after being hit by a stone. The ADB says Blue threw it at a boy who was tormenting him, and that he was found guilty of manslaughter but stayed out of prison. Its list of newspaper reports includes the Sydney Gazette of 27 May 1824 on the inquest and an editorial of 10 June 1824 retracting the claim that Blue threw the stone.

The "Old Chum" columns in Truth, which I have transcribed on this blog, tell it another way again. Old Chum says the inquest found that Thomas Cox, the son of a Princes Street chairmaker, was killed by a stone thrown by a son of Billy Blue, and that the Gazette then said it was all a mistake and Blue's boy was not even there. Old Chum knew John Blue personally. He wrote that John was born at Circular Quay in 1815 and was nine at the time, "and, I think, not given to stone-throwing".

A Sydney Sight

In his last ten years Billy became one of the sights of the town. In the 1828 census he gave his age as 80. Sir James Dowling called him "an eccentric, loquacious character". He wore what the ADB calls "a travesty of a naval uniform, with a top hat", and he would board ships as soon as they berthed to welcome the officers to Sydney as "commodore". The Betteridge report says he carried a cane, hung about George Street, and abused people who would not call him "the Commodore".

The newspapers listed in the ADB give the flavour. In 1829 the Australian put him on a walking tour of Sydney's sights. The same year the Sydney Monitor reported a John Piman paying his fine for harbouring a prisoner, and in 1830 the Gazette reported him fined again for harbouring a prisoner in his house. In 1830 an officer threatened to have him arrested if he spoke to him in the street again, and in 1833 someone wrote to the Gazette complaining about him haranguing passers-by. By 1833 he and his family were keeping a ferryboat and growing fruit and vegetables for the Sydney market.

Mrs Macquarie's Chair today. East's 1834 portrait shows Billy Blue standing here, in front of the inscription. Mitch Ames, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Old Commodore Dies

Billy Blue died at his home on the north shore in May 1834. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney give the date as 7 May. The Find a Grave memorial says he died on 5 May and was buried on 7 May, with the burial recorded in the register of St James' Church. It quotes the Sydney Herald of Thursday 8 May 1834:

"On Monday last, at his residence Blue Point, Billy Blue, (better known in Sydney as "The Commodore,") aged 95 years. Billy will long be remembered by Australians for his eccentric though inoffensive disposition. He has left a family of 5 children, who, by his Will, have become the inheritors of an estate on the North Shore."

That "Monday last" was 5 May. The Betteridge report says the Sydney Gazette notice the same day gave his age as 97, and that the obituaries praised his humour and said "We may never look upon his like again". His will, signed with a mark because he could not write, left his property to his three surviving sons, including William junior, and his two daughters.

He is remembered at St Thomas' Rest Park in Crows Nest, the old north shore cemetery, where there is a plaque for him and his family.

The plaque for William "Billy" Blue and his family at St Thomas' Rest Park, Crows Nest. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Headstones and monuments in St Thomas' Rest Park, the first cemetery on the north shore. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Portraits of Billy Blue

Sydney thought enough of him to have him drawn and painted. The Mitchell Library holds an etching by Charles Rodius, a lithograph of "The Old Commodore" by John Carmichael and the oil painting by J. B. East. The Australian of 9 May 1834 reported East's portrait on show at Cumming's Old Hotel in Macquarie Place, and the Sydney Gazette of 26 July 1834 praised the Rodius: "the likeness altogether is most remarkable."

The Blue Family

Billy and Elizabeth had six children, five of them christened at St Philip's, according to Wikipedia. A few of them are easy to follow:

• John Blue, born at Circular Quay on 4 July 1815, ran the Old Commodore Inn until he died on 21 August 1891 (Time Gents). Old Chum called him "my old friend John Blue, to whose memory I raise my hat".
• Susannah Blue married George Lavender, the officer in charge of the convict hulk Phoenix moored in the bay that now carries his name (Dictionary of Sydney). The Betteridge report says she owned the Billy Blue Inn near Blues Point.
• Mary Blue married Robert Tiffen, an early settler at Balgowlah (Dictionary of Sydney).
• William Blue junior was one of the three sons named in the will (ADB).

John Arthur Barry, in the history I have transcribed on this blog, says the daughter who married Lavender was given "that part of the original grant now known as Lavender Bay" by her father. A 1921 Sydney Mail piece, quoted by Time Gents, says one of Billy's daughters first married a waterman named Moxham who plied from Hulk Bay, and after he died she married Lavender.

Lavender Bay in the early 1900s. Billy Blue's daughter Susannah married George Lavender, whose name stuck to the old Hulk Bay. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lavender Bay and North Sydney from Balmain. Blues Point is the headland on the western side of the bay. Adam.J.W.C., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point, the Place

Blues Point is the southern tip of the peninsula that also takes in McMahons Point. Long before Billy, it was Cammeraygal Country. The Dictionary of Sydney's McMahons Point entry gives other Aboriginal names for the peninsula as Warung or Warrungarea, and says the big early land grants, Blue's among them, pushed the Cammeraygal off their land. Wikipedia notes that since 2005, under the dual naming policy, Blues Point has also been known by its Aboriginal name, Warungareeyuh.

The family held on to much of the land until the 1850s, and then it was cut up and sold. The Betteridge report says that within five years of Billy's death his son was already advertising waterfront lots for boatbuilders, shipwrights, coopers and timber merchants. A public wharf opened at Blue's Point in 1839. In 1867 a shipwright, John Stevens, bought part of the Blue estate, and his cottages and wharf stood on the foreshore for decades.

Blues Point about 1880. By then the Blue estate had been cut up into lots for houses, boatsheds and wharves. Unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Punts and the Horse Ferry

Billy's crossing outlived him by a century. The Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet I transcribed says that in 1845 the Gerrard brothers replaced the waterman's boat between Blue's Point and Windmill Street, Millers Point, with the Fairy Queen, "towing a punt on either side for the conveyance of vehicles". In 1897 the Minister for Public Works approved a proper "horse ferry" for carts and carriages between Blues Point and Dawes Point, and it was running by 1902. During the building of the Harbour Bridge from 1924 to 1932, Blues Point was the main cross-harbour terminal on the north side. When the Bridge opened, the vehicle ferry finished.

The Fairy Queen at Blues Point, possibly in 1844. The Gerrard brothers used her to tow vehicle punts across to Millers Point. Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The North Shore horse ferry about 1900, from the Tyrrell collection at the Powerhouse Museum. Powerhouse Museum, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The Dawes Point vehicle ferry docks in April 1932, a month after the Bridge opened. This was the southern end of the old Blues Point crossing. NSW State Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is left of the old vehicle ferry approach at Blues Point, photographed in June 2025. TrimmerinWiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The plaque at Blues Point about the old vehicle ferry. TrimmerinWiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

After the Bridge, the waterfront from Blues Point round to the McMahons Point ferry wharf became a parking spot for Sydney Ferries' idle boats. The Betteridge report says that by 1934 it had been used that way "for some years".

Blues Point Tower

You can't talk about Blues Point without the tower. In 1957 the County of Cumberland planners wanted the whole peninsula zoned industrial. Locals and North Sydney Council fought it, and the McMahons Point and Lavender Bay Progress Association asked Harry Seidler and a team of volunteer architects for help. Their answer, the McMahons Point Redevelopment Scheme, was to knock most of the old suburb down and fill it with apartment blocks, all with harbour views. The industrial zoning was beaten.

As the Dictionary of Sydney's McMahons Point entry puts it, after another round of resident action the big demolitions never happened, and "the only building approved for construction at that time was the Blues Point Tower". Dick Dusseldorp's Civil & Civic commissioned Seidler in 1958. Work started in 1960, and the first residents moved in in 1962. It is 83 metres tall with 144 apartments, and it was Australia's tallest residential building until 1970. It went up on the site of an 1870s villa, Bellvue. As I wrote in my Demolished Sydney post, the loss of that house helped spark the founding of the North Shore Historical Society.

Blues Point Tower, finished in 1962. Hpeterswald, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Plenty of Sydneysiders have called it the ugliest building in the city, and some have called for it to come down. Seidler never budged: "I've always thought Blues Point Tower is one of my best buildings and I stand by that. Anybody who can't see anything in it ought to go back to school." North Sydney Council put it on its local heritage register in 1993.

Blues Point Tower from a ferry in September 2012. Nick-D, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point, the tower and the Bridge seen from the west. Paulscf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point Reserve and Henry Lawson Reserve

The end of the point is now parkland, Blues Point Reserve, with Henry Lawson Reserve on its eastern side, named after the poet, who lived around North Sydney. That land came under North Sydney Council's care in 1971. On New Year's Eve the reserve is one of the most popular places in Sydney to watch the fireworks.

From 2018 to 2022 part of Henry Lawson Reserve was fenced off for Sydney Metro. A shaft 25 metres deep was sunk to lift out the tunnel boring machines after they had dug under the harbour. Before that, archaeologists dug the site and found the footings of a house built before 1857, which Sydney Metro linked to John Stevens, who bought the land from Billy Blue's estate. They also found toys, tea sets, buttons, jewellery, ink pens and copper boat nails. The reserve was handed back to the public in 2022, and the heritage plan for it included a "Blues Point/Warungareeyuh" sign telling Billy's story.

The Bridge and the Opera House from Blues Point Reserve. Cloh4153, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

McMahons Point in 2023. All of this was once part of Billy Blue's 80 acres. Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How Billy Blue Is Remembered

The Old Commodore Hotel

The best-known memorial is a pub. On the corner of Blues Point Road and Union Street, John Blue opened a two-storey sandstone inn and named it after his father. Time Gents says he was granted a new licence for it on 7 March 1854. That first pub was pulled down about 1901 and replaced with a two-storey Victorian hotel with a balcony and a squat tower. It was "modernised" in the 1930s and rebuilt in the 1970s with a tavern licence.

At some point the "Old" fell off the sign. One story passed on by Time Gents is that new owners thought "Old" meant the building, not Billy. The pub's own history says that after a renovation in October 2025 the "Old" went back on, so it is the Old Commodore again, at 206 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point.

The Commodore Hotel on Blues Point Road in 2010, before the "Old" went back on the name. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Blue's Point Hotel at McMahons Point in 2023, another pub carrying his name. Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Is There a Billy Blue Statue?

I went looking for a statue of Billy Blue at Blues Point, and I couldn't find any record of one. If one has gone up, I haven't found it. What he does have is the St Thomas' Rest Park plaque, the heritage signs at Henry Lawson Reserve and a lot of names. Blues Point, Blues Point Road, Blues Point Reserve and Blue Street in North Sydney are all named after him, along with the Billy Blue College of Design.

One of Sydney's First Black Settlers

Historians now see Billy as part of a bigger story. The Dictionary of Sydney counts him among the earliest Americans in Sydney. In 2021 Santilla Chingaipe made the SBS documentary Our African Roots about people of African descent who were here from the start. When the Sydney Morning Herald wrote about it, Billy Blue and his friendship with Macquarie were among the stories it picked out.

The old sexton's cottage at St Thomas' Rest Park, now a museum. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• About 1767 – Born, possibly in Jamaica, New York (ADB). The Find a Grave memorial argues for about 1738.
• 4 October 1796 – Convicted at Maidstone, Kent, of stealing raw sugar. Sentenced to seven years' transportation.
• 1797–1801 – Held in the hulks, including the Prudentia at Woolwich (Betteridge).
• 14 December 1801 – Arrives in Sydney on the Minorca.
• 27 April 1805 – Marries Elizabeth Williams at St Philip's.
• 1807 – The only person licensed to ply a ferry across the harbour (Wikipedia, after Warne).
• 1808 – Signs in support of the arrest of Governor Bligh.
• 1811 – Macquarie makes him harbour watchman and constable. He moves into "Billy Blue's Cottage".
• 4 July 1815 – Son John born at Circular Quay.
• 1817 – Granted 80 acres, "Northampton", on the north shore. Macquarie notes that his wife and son went up to Parramatta in Blue's boat.
• October 1818 – Arrested with two casks of rum. Loses his posts and is jailed for a year.
• 1823 – Wollstonecraft and Gore try to oust him. Governor Brisbane rules in his favour (ADB).
• 1824 – Elizabeth dies (ADB). Thomas Cox inquest.
• 1828 – Gives his age as 80 in the census.
• 1829–30 – Fined for harbouring a prisoner.
• 5 or 7 May 1834 – Dies at Blues Point.
• 1839 – Public wharf opens at Blue's Point.
• 1845 – The Gerrard brothers' Fairy Queen starts towing vehicle punts from Blue's Point.
• 7 March 1854 – John Blue licensed for the Old Commodore inn (Time Gents).
• 1867 – Shipwright John Stevens buys part of the Blue estate.
• 1897–1902 – Horse ferry approved, then running between Blues and Dawes Points.
• 1932 – Harbour Bridge opens and the vehicle ferry ends.
• 1957–58 – Fight over industrial zoning. Seidler commissioned to design Blues Point Tower.
• 1962 – First residents move into Blues Point Tower.
• 1971 – Henry Lawson Reserve placed under North Sydney Council.
• 1993 – Blues Point Tower goes on North Sydney's heritage register.
• 2005 – Blues Point dual-named Warungareeyuh.
• 2018–2022 – Sydney Metro dig and shaft at Henry Lawson Reserve.
• October 2025 – The Commodore becomes the Old Commodore again.

Where the Sources Disagree

• Where he was born. His convict record called him "a Jamaican Negro sailor", and Barry wrote that he was "a native of the West Indies". The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney think Jamaica, New York, is more likely, and Blue himself gave New York in his 1823 petition. The Find a Grave memorial says there is "no evidence that he was from Jamaica".
• How old he was. The 1796 record made him 29, so born about 1767. He told the 1828 census he was 80. The Sydney Herald said he was 95 when he died and the Sydney Gazette said 97. The Find a Grave memorial goes with about 1738.
• When he died. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney say 7 May 1834. The Herald's "Monday last", quoted on Find a Grave, points to 5 May, and Time Gents also says 5 May. The 7th may have been his burial day.
• Where "Commodore" came from. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney say Macquarie gave it to him as a joke. The Betteridge report says it came from his London days as head of a press gang serving HMS Enterprise.
• When the ferry started. Wikipedia (after Warne) says he was the only licensed ferryman in 1807. The Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet says the service started "in about 1790", which is before he even arrived. The ADB has him building his "fleet of ferries" after the 1817 grant.
• How big the grant was. The ADB, the Dictionary of Sydney and the Betteridge report say 80 acres. Barry says "some 90 acres".
• His watch house. Lisa Murray calls it octagonal, at East Circular Quay. The Betteridge report calls it hexagonal and puts it on Bennelong Point.
• Losing the ferry. The ADB says Governor Brisbane found for Blue in 1823. The Betteridge report says his rivals shut the ferry down for a time after 1822 and he got it back in 1825.
• When Elizabeth died. The ADB says 1824. The Betteridge report says 1827.
• Who threw the stone. The ADB says Billy threw it and was found guilty of manslaughter. Old Chum says the inquest blamed Billy's son, and the Gazette then took it back.
• How many children. The ADB says six, with five surviving to inherit (three sons and two daughters). The Herald notice said "a family of 5 children".
• When the Old Commodore opened. Time Gents gives John Blue's licence as 7 March 1854, and the pub says 1854. The Betteridge report says 1850.
• Who Lavender married. The Dictionary of Sydney says George Lavender married Susannah Blue. The 1921 Sydney Mail says she was first Mrs Moxham. Barry has Lavender given the bay land by his father-in-law.
• How tall the tower is. Wikipedia says 144 apartments over 24 levels, with 25 floors in its summary. The Dictionary of Sydney says 25 levels.

My Earlier Posts

• Hellespont – Lavender Bay – NSW (Historic Sydney Mansions, with the story of Billy Blue the poacher turned poacher-catcher)
• Hellespont – Lavender Bay – North Shore – New South Wales
• The City Of Sydney – The Story Of its Growth – John Arthur Barry (William Blue's grant and Lavender Bay)
• Sydney Past & Present – Chapter XIII – Some Early Suburbs & Islands
• Sydney Harbour Panorama Magazine (Billy Blue, "the Old Commodore")
• Sydney Showboat Harbour Panoramas
• Old Sydney – 'Old Chum' – The Truth Newspapers (Billy Blue's boy)
• Demolished Sydney (Bell'vue and Blues Point Tower)
• Sydney Trams – From Horse Trams to Light Rail
• Luna Park Sydney – Milsons Point
• "The Towers" – Lavender Bay – The Holtermann Gold Nugget
• Black Caesar – John Caesar, First Fleet Convict and Australia's First Bushranger – c.1763 to 1796
• Sydney Ferries and the Harbour – From the Rose Hill Packet to the Manly Ferry, the Greycliffe, the Rodney and the Kuttabul – 1789 to Today

Sources

• Margaret Park, "Blue, William (Billy) (c. 1767–1834)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2005 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blue-william-billy-12804
• Lisa Murray, "The old Commodore, Billy Blue", Dictionary of Sydney blog, 29 March 2017 – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/blog/the_old_commodore_billy_blue
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Blue, Billy" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/blue_billy
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Blues Point" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/blues_point
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Commodore Hotel" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/commodore_hotel
• Dictionary of Sydney, "McMahons Point" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/mcmahons_point
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Ferries" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/ferries
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Americans" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/americans
• Margaret Betteridge (Betteridge Heritage), Heritage Interpretation Plan for Henry Lawson Reserve at Blues Point, for Sydney Metro, 12 September 2022 – https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/2024-09/Blues-Point-HIP.pdf
• Sydney Metro, "Life in 1800s Sydney unveiled on Harbour foreshore", 14 September 2018 – https://www.sydneymetro.info/article/life-1800s-sydney-unveiled-harbour-foreshore
• State Library of NSW, "Call me 'Commodore' – or else!" (Billy Blue learning resource) – https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/learning/billy-blue/call-me-commodore-or-else
• Wikipedia, "Billy Blue" (citing Cassandra Pybus, Black Founders, 2006, and Catherine Warne, Pictorial History, Lower North Shore, 1984) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Blue
• Wikipedia, "Blues Point" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Point
• Wikipedia, "Blues Point Tower" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Point_Tower
• Find a Grave, "William 'Billy' Blue" (quoting the Sydney Herald, 8 May 1834) – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/189095771/william-blue
• Time Gents, "Commodore Hotel named after Billy Blue, Sydney puntman and 'first American migrant' to Australia", 6 June 2018 – https://timegents.com/2018/06/06/commodore-hotel-north-sydney/
• The Old Commodore Hotel, "Our History" – https://theoldcommodorehotel.com.au/our-history/
• Carolyn Webb, "Australia's first bushranger – he may not be who you think", Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, 24 September 2021 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/australia-s-first-bushranger-he-may-not-be-who-you-think-20210922-p58tzj.html
• John Arthur Barry, The City of Sydney – The Story of its Growth (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-city-of-sydney-story-from-its.html
• "Old Chum", Truth (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/09/old-sydney-old-chum-truth-newspapers.html
• Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/09/sydney-harbour-panarama-magazine.html
• My Australian History Journey, "Demolished Sydney" – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/07/demolished-sydney.html
• Images: Wikimedia Commons, with credits under each picture.

Bernhardt Holtermann and the Holtermann Nugget – Hill End, The Towers and the Glass Plates – 1838 to 1885

Bernhardt Otto Holtermann was a young Hamburg lad who came out in 1858 to dodge the Prussian army, spent years scratching away on Hawkins Hill at Hill End with his mate Louis Beyers, and then, in October 1872, saw their Star of Hope mine turn up the biggest single lump of reef gold the world has ever seen. The money built "The Towers" on the heights of St Leonards, put him in Parliament and paid for thousands of glass plate photographs that sat in a Chatswood garden shed until 1951. Today those plates are on the UNESCO Memory of the World register, and they're the reason we can still walk the streets of 1870s Hill End and Gulgong.

I've done a few posts over the years using the Holtermann glass plates and the views from his tower, but I'd never sat down and told the man's own story from start to finish. So here it is, from Hamburg to the goldfields, the famous "nugget", the mansion, the Exposition that never happened and the shed in Chatswood.

Holtermann beside the giant gold specimen. This famous print is an albumen print from a composite negative, made at North Sydney between 1874 and 1876. Charles Bayliss & Beaufoy Merlin (attributed), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Hamburg to Sydney

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Holtermann was born in Hamburg on 29 April 1838, the son of John Henry Holtermann and his wife Anna, née Nachtigall. He didn't fancy three years of military service, so in 1858 he left Germany, sailed from Liverpool in the Salem and reached Melbourne on 7 August. Wikipedia puts that voyage at 101 days. He didn't stay in Melbourne. He came straight on to Sydney in the City of Sydney, landing on 12 August 1858.

He'd hoped to meet his brother Herman here, but Herman had already gone off to the goldfields. Holtermann had very little English and couldn't get work on land, so on 13 September he shipped out as a steward in the schooner Rebecca for the Pacific Islands, coming back to Sydney on 20 January 1859. He then worked as a waiter at the Hamburg Hotel, where a lucky miner nearly talked him into heading for Adelong.

Hill End, Hawkins Hill and Louis Beyers

A few months later Holtermann met Ludwig Hugo Louis Beyers, a Polish miner (the ADB's description), and went with him to the Tambaroora district, the area we now know as Hill End. In 1861 the pair started prospecting on Hawkins Hill. For about five years they got very little out of it. To hang on to the claim, Holtermann took on whatever work he could find, and once he nearly died when blasting powder went off early.

By 1868 he held the licence of the All Nations Hotel. On 22 February that year, at Bathurst, he married Harriett Emmett, and on the same day Beyers married her sister Mary. So the two partners became brothers-in-law.

The All Nations Hotel in Clarke Street, Hill End, about 1872. By then J. Williams was the proprietor, but Holtermann had held its licence in 1868. American & Australasian Photographic Company, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hill End came good in the early 1870s. Wikipedia's Hill End article says Hill End overtook Tambaroora as the main town after rich gold reefs were found at Hawkins Hill, and it puts the population at its peak at around 8,000, with two newspapers, five banks, eight churches and twenty-eight pubs (it flags that figure as needing a citation).

A horse and cart bogged in an old gold digging outside William Meares' flooded Criterion Store, Clarke Street, Hill End, in the winter of 1872. American & Australasian Photographic Company, State Library of NSW, no known restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Two men and a horse beside a gold mine whim and shaft house going up at Hill End, about 1872. Charles Bayliss, National Library of Australia, no known restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The warning letter

Holtermann wasn't one of the boom's cheerleaders. On 20 November 1871 he wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald warning people against rash investment. The ADB says that when copies reached Hill End he was burnt in effigy. He won people back, though, and the ADB says he became a founding member of the first Hill End Borough Council. Wikipedia gives the date the council was constituted as 6 August 1873, with Holtermann elected an alderman.

The Star of Hope and the Holtermann Nugget

The ADB tells the lead-up like this. In 1871 some rich veins were found in the Star of Hope, but they petered out. The next year one of the eight owners sold his share to Mark Hammond. Without authority, Hammond sealed off the shaft and started a new drive to the west. He hit rich veins straight away, but he'd sold out at a tidy profit before the night of 19 to 20 October 1872, when the night shift uncovered the biggest specimen of reef gold ever found. The ADB gives its weight as 630 lb (286 kg) and says it was later brought to the surface almost intact.

Reef gold from the Star of Hope mine in 1872, with Holtermann second from left, Richard Ormsby Kerr in the centre and Beyers second from right. Attributed to Henry Beaufoy Merlin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It wasn't really a nugget at all. Wikipedia describes it as a gold specimen, a mass of gold set in quartz. It gives the size as 59 inches (1.5 metres) long and 630 pounds (290 kg), with an estimated gold content of 3,000 troy ounces (93 kg). The Hill End article calls it the "Beyers-Holtermann Specimen" and says it is still the largest specimen of native gold ever found. It adds that, once crushed, it produced more gold than the Welcome Stranger, the biggest true nugget, from the Victorian goldfields.

Crushed for its gold

Holtermann wanted to keep the thing whole. Wikipedia says he offered the company £1,000 over its estimated value of £12,000. He was knocked back, and the specimen was sent away to have its gold extracted. The Hill End article says it was "shipped out for crushing", and that a bigger mass was reportedly found in the same mine a few days later but broken up underground. According to Wikipedia, Holtermann resigned from the company in February 1873, disheartened.

The famous photograph

The State Library of NSW says Merlin and Bayliss were able to record the specimen above ground before it was crushed. The famous picture of Holtermann with his hand resting on the gold is a bit different, though. The Commons record, drawn from the State Library's catalogue, describes it as an albumen print from a composite negative, made at North Sydney between 1874 and 1876. That's a good while after the specimen had gone to the crushers. Holtermann also had himself and the specimen put into a stained-glass window in his new house.

Shops at Home Rule, New South Wales, about 1872, another goldfields town in the Holtermann Collection. Beaufoy Merlin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Merlin, Bayliss and the Holtermann Exposition

The State Library says Henry Beaufoy Merlin had started out as a photographer in Victoria in 1864, and by 1869 he was working with his young assistant Charles Bayliss under the rather grand name of the American and Australasian Photographic Company. Drawn by reports of Hill End's gold, they moved there in March 1872 and opened a studio in Tambaroora Street. Through 1872 they photographed the town and its people shop by shop. Merlin's trick was to get the owners, the staff and anyone passing to stand out the front.

Henry Beaufoy Merlin, 1872 to 1873. American and Australasian Photographic Company, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Merlin in the American and Australasian Photographic Company's studio at Hill End, 1872. Unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Four men outside Condell's Great Western Boot Mart in Clarke Street, Hill End, about 1872, the classic Merlin and Bayliss shopfront shot. Charles Bayliss, National Library of Australia, no known restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Inside Weir & Embleton's cordial factory at Hill End in 1872, where the workers are filling soda water bottles. State Library of NSW, no known restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The State Library says a meeting between Holtermann and Merlin at Hill End in November 1872 set off the big idea. Holtermann was proud of how he'd done as a migrant and wanted to use his money to bring more people out. The plan was "Holtermann's great International Travelling Exposition", with Merlin travelling the colonies to build up a photographic gallery to show the world. The ADB describes it as a great series of 10 by 12 inch photographs of the settled districts of New South Wales and Victoria, to be sent abroad to advertise the colonies.

Merlin died of pneumonia in September 1873. The State Library gives the date as 27 September. Bayliss carried on, touring the Victorian towns in 1874 before coming back to Sydney in 1875.

Merlin’s “coating” caravan near Gulgong in 1872. Wet plates had to be coated, exposed and developed on the spot. Unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mayne Street, Gulgong, looking east, about 1872. American & Australasian Photographic Company, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A minehead on the Gulgong goldfields, 1872 to 1873. Attributed to Henry Beaufoy Merlin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

"The Towers" at St Leonards

The ADB says that in 1874 Holtermann finished a palatial house with a tower on the heights of St Leonards, and that the tower held the stained-glass window of him standing beside the "nugget". Wikipedia calls the house "The Towers" and places it near Blue and William streets in North Sydney. Wikipedia's Holtermann Collection article, citing North Sydney Council, says the central tower stood some 27 metres (90 feet) above a ridge that was already high.

Turning the tower into a camera

This is where Bayliss and Holtermann did something nobody had done before. The State Library says Bayliss turned the tower windows into a giant camera, and that the venture cost Holtermann over £4,000. The ADB says that, after great difficulties, Bayliss took the view of Sydney from the tower on two single negatives, each over 5 feet by 3 feet (150 by 90 cm). These were the largest photographs ever taken by the wet-plate (collodion) process, at a time when nobody could yet enlarge a photograph.

They also made a panorama. Wikipedia describes it as 23 albumen silver photographs joined into a continuous view of Sydney Harbour and the suburbs, 978 centimetres long. The State Library just says it measured 10 metres.

Glass plate negatives from the 1875 panorama of Sydney Harbour and its suburbs, taken from the tower of Holtermann's house at St Leonards. Charles Bayliss, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Berrys Bay and Goat Island, 1875, from one of the giant collodion negatives, 136 by 95 cm. Charles Bayliss and Bernhardt Holtermann, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Philadelphia, Paris and the road

In the end, the State Library says, the Exposition itself never took place. The photographs still got out into the world. The ADB says some were lent to the government for the international exhibitions at Philadelphia in 1876 and Paris in 1878, where they won medals. Another set was mounted on a roll of cloth, and Holtermann took it to America and Europe, where it was shown in pleasure gardens and at special gatherings. According to Wikipedia's Holtermann Collection article, citing a Grafton paper of 12 September 1876, the Photographers' Art Society of the Pacific Coast saw one of the negatives in 1876, called it the largest negative ever produced, and thanked "B. O. Holterman" for it.

Holtermann's shooting party at a bush camp in New South Wales, 1875 to 1876. Charles Bayliss, State Library of NSW, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Holtermann's Life Preserving Drops

Holtermann had always been interested in medicine. The ADB says he came back from abroad with a number of agencies, which he pushed hard, and that his "Life Preserving Drops", made up from a German doctor's formula, were very popular. Wikipedia adds that he was proud of curing fellow passengers on the 1858 voyage out, and that after he left mining he wrote papers and worked out formulae for medicines.

Member for St Leonards

Wikipedia says that in October 1874 he was elected an alderman for the Belmore Ward of the Borough of St Leonards at a special election. He had two goes at the Legislative Assembly and lost both. On the third try, in 1882, he won the seat of St Leonards. The ADB quotes him calling himself "a man of indomitable energy and perseverance" and "the staunch friend of the working man". He turned up to Parliament regularly until 1885 and took a keen interest in immigration and in the progress of North Sydney. That included a "North Shore Bridge", and the ADB says he was willing to put £5,000 of his own money towards it. That was almost fifty years before the Harbour Bridge opened.

His death in 1885

Holtermann died on his 47th birthday, 29 April 1885, according to the ADB biography and Wikipedia. He was buried in St Thomas's cemetery at North Sydney. Wikipedia gives the cause as "cancer of the stomach, cirrhosis of the liver and dropsy". He left his wife, three sons and two daughters, and the ADB says his estate came to £54,000, mostly in local land.

What happened to the house

Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) was founded on 4 May 1889. Wikipedia says the first headmaster chose Holtermann's mansion as the site, that Holtermann's sons were among the first boys enrolled, and that the house is now a Shore boarding house.

Shore's own magazine, Shore Reports, told the full story in March 1988 in an article by Roderick W. Glassford. Holtermann's executors sold The Towers to his next-door neighbour, T. A. (later Sir Thomas) Dibbs of Graythwaite. The tenant, Edward Chisholm, stayed on until 1888, and then Dibbs subdivided the estate. On 26 March 1888 he sold "3 acres, 3 roods, 29½ perches … including Holtermanns Tower" to the Church of England Property Trust for a church school.

The house became the school's first building. At first it was adapted with internal changes and some new building, and the McCaughey Bequest paid for two lower dormitories in 1920–21. By the end of the twenties there had been so many makeshift additions that it needed a complete rebuild, and that was done in 1934. In Glassford's words, "Not only was the building remodelled and enlarged, but it was also encased in brick, including the Tower which was stripped of its ornamentation." The architect was Rupert Villiers Minnett, an Old Boy of the school.

So the tower didn't come down. Glassford wrote that "it is architecturally incorporated in School House", and that Holtermann's stained-glass window of himself and the nugget was by then in the school library. School House opened in 1889 when the school was founded, and it's still Shore's oldest and biggest boarding house, with room for up to 75 boys.

The shed in Chatswood

The State Library tells it like this. In 1951 Keast Burke, editor of the Australasian Photo-Review, wrote to the Mitchell Librarian, Phyllis Mander Jones, asking about Holtermann, a name he'd seen on some nineteenth-century panoramas in the Library. She told him that Holtermann's daughter-in-law, Mary Holtermann, lived in Chatswood and might have his plates. Burke's own account, on a website dedicated to his work, says her letter was dated 22 November 1951 and gave the address as 15 Thomas Street, Chatswood. It also says Mrs M. C. Holtermann was the widow of Holtermann's youngest son, Leonard, and that the garden room had been locked for years until her son Bernard got hold of a key.

"It was an incredible sight: neat stacks of cedar boxes of various dimensions, each with slotted fittings which had held the large negatives in perfect preservation. And there were the actual negatives of the huge 1875 Harbour panorama, noted in all the records of photography as being the largest ever taken by the wet-plate process." Keast Burke

Inside were about 3,500 glass plate negatives in cedar boxes and lacquered tins, which had sat untouched for nearly 80 years. Holtermann's grandson Bernhard gave them to the Mitchell Library in 1952, and they became the Holtermann Collection. Burke worked out that the small plates were Hill End, then spent the next 20 years identifying them. The State Library says the negatives were cleaned, rehoused and rescanned in 2011 and 2012, and they're now online for anyone to look through.

UNESCO Memory of the World

The Australian Memory of the World register lists the Holtermann Collection as inscription number 43, added in 2013, and the State Library says that was in May 2013. Wikipedia's Holtermann Collection article, citing the State Library's SL Magazine, says three giant views of Sydney Harbour from the collection were added to UNESCO's International Memory of the World Register in November 2017. In 2015 the Gulgong Holtermann Museum was launched to tell the story using the high-resolution scans, and according to Wikipedia it officially opened on 26 October 2019.

The restored facade of the Gulgong Holtermann Museum. Ginni649, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• 29 April 1838: Born in Hamburg.
• 1858: Sails from Liverpool in the Salem, reaches Melbourne on 7 August and Sydney on 12 August in the City of Sydney.
• 13 September 1858 to 20 January 1859: Steward in the schooner Rebecca to the Pacific Islands, then a waiter at the Hamburg Hotel.
• 1861: Starts prospecting on Hawkins Hill with Louis Beyers.
• 22 February 1868: Marries Harriett Emmett at Bathurst, on the same day Beyers marries her sister Mary. By then he holds the All Nations Hotel licence.
• 20 November 1871: His warning letter in the Sydney Morning Herald. He is burnt in effigy at Hill End.
• March 1872: Merlin and Bayliss open their studio in Hill End.
• 19 to 20 October 1872: The night shift uncovers the giant specimen in the Star of Hope.
• November 1872: Holtermann and Merlin plan the International Travelling Exposition.
• February 1873: Resigns from the Star of Hope company (Wikipedia).
• 6 August 1873: Elected an alderman of the first Hill End Borough Council.
• 27 September 1873: Merlin dies.
• 1874: The St Leonards mansion and tower are finished. In October he is elected an alderman for Belmore Ward.
• 1875: Bayliss makes the giant negatives and the panorama from the tower.
• 1876 and 1878: The photographs win medals at Philadelphia and Paris.
• 1882: Elected MLA for St Leonards on his third attempt.
• 29 April 1885: Dies on his 47th birthday and is buried at St Thomas's.
• 26 March 1888: Dibbs sells the house and tower to the Church of England Property Trust.
• 4 May 1889: Shore is founded, with the mansion as its site.
• 1934: The house is remodelled and encased in brick, tower and all, to Rupert Minnett's design.
• Late 1951: Keast Burke traces the plates to the Chatswood garden shed.
• 1952: The plates are given to the Mitchell Library.
• May 2013: The collection goes on the Australian Memory of the World register.
• November 2017: Three giant harbour negatives go on the International Memory of the World Register.
• 26 October 2019: The Gulgong Holtermann Museum officially opens.

Where the Sources Disagree

• Weight of the specimen: The ADB and the State Library give 630 lb or 286 kg. Wikipedia converts the same 630 lb to 290 kg. Gold content isn't settled either. Wikipedia gives an estimated 3,000 troy ounces (93 kg), the Hill End article gives "an estimated 3,000 troy oz (205 lbs or 93 kg)", and the caption on the Hill End article says the rock contained "more than 75 percent gold". Those figures don't sit easily together, since 93 kg is nowhere near 75 per cent of 286 kg, so treat the gold content as an estimate.
• Date of the find: Most sources say 19 October 1872. The ADB says the night shift found it on the night of 19 to 20 October.
• Holtermann's role: The State Library calls him the mine's manager. The ADB says there were eight owners, and Wikipedia and the Hill End article make him and Beyers partners or founding directors.
• The photograph: The State Library says Merlin and Bayliss photographed the specimen above ground before it was crushed. The well-known portrait of Holtermann with it is catalogued as a composite made at North Sydney between 1874 and 1876.
• Date of birth and death: The ADB biography and Wikipedia give 29 April for both. The ADB's own life summary page gives 28 April 1838 and 28 April 1885.
• Where he landed: Wikipedia mentions only his arrival at Melbourne in August 1858. The ADB adds that he went on to Sydney, arriving on 12 August.
• Medals: The State Library says bronze at Philadelphia in 1876 and silver at Paris in 1878. Wikipedia mentions only the Philadelphia bronze, and the ADB just says "medal awards".
• Size of the giant negatives: The ADB says two negatives, each over 5 by 3 feet. Wikipedia's Holtermann Collection article identifies four, two at 160 by 96.5 cm and two at 136 by 95 cm. The Australian Memory of the World listing describes the largest as 0.9 by 1.6 metres.
• Who found the plates: The State Library and Burke's own account credit Keast Burke. Wikipedia credits Burke and Vyvyan Curnow, and says it was Curnow who visited the house in Chatswood.
• The house today: North Sydney Council's "The Towers" page says the house and tower were "encased in modern brickwork and essentially demolished" in the mid-1930s. Shore's own 1988 account agrees about the brick but says the tower is "architecturally incorporated in School House", which is still a boarding house.

My Earlier Posts

• "The Towers" - Lavender Bay - The Holtermann Gold Nugget
• Glass Negatives from the Holtermann Collection & Holtermann Mansion, North Sydney
• Hellespont - Lavender Bay - North Shore - New South Wales

Sources

• Keast Burke, "Holtermann, Bernhardt Otto (1838–1885)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 4, 1972: adb.anu.edu.au, and the ADB life summary: adb.anu.edu.au
• State Library of NSW, "The Holtermann Collection" (story): sl.nsw.gov.au
• State Library of NSW, Holtermann Collection (significant collections): sl.nsw.gov.au
• State Library of NSW, "Bernhardt Otto Holtermann c 1872-85", collection item: sl.nsw.gov.au
• Australian Memory of the World, "The Holtermann Collection", inscription #43: amw.org.au
• Keast Burke, Gold and Silver, opening chapter: photo-web.com.au
• Roderick W. Glassford, "From a Golden Mountain to a Golden Rose", Shore Reports, March 1988: kipdf.com
• Sydney Church of England Grammar School, "Boarding at Shore": shore.nsw.edu.au
• North Sydney Council, "The Towers", At Home in North Sydney: athomeinnorthsydney.com.au
• Wikipedia, "Bernhardt Holtermann": en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, "Holtermann collection": en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, "Hill End, New South Wales": en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, "Sydney Church of England Grammar School": en.wikipedia.org
• Image descriptions and catalogue details from the Wikimedia Commons file pages linked under each picture.

Luna Park Sydney – Milsons Point – From Bridge Workshops to the Ghost Train Fire and Back

In short: Luna Park has grinned across the harbour at Milsons Point since 4 October 1935. It was built on the old Dorman Long yard where the steel for the Harbour Bridge was made, and its rides came by ship and rail from a failed Luna Park at Glenelg in Adelaide. It was packed through the war years and loved by generations of Sydney kids. Then on the night of 9 June 1979 the Ghost Train caught fire and seven people died, six of them children. After that came a long run of closures, rebuilds, fights with the neighbours and battles with developers. The park finally reopened for good in April 2004, and in 2010 it went onto the NSW State Heritage Register.

Before the Fun: Ferries, Trains and Bridge Steel

Long before anyone thought of a fun park, this was Cammeraygal country. The Cammeraygal people are the traditional owners of the North Sydney area and have lived there for at least 5,000 years.

After 1788 the land between Lavender Bay and Careening Cove was granted to a private soldier, Robert Ryan. It passed through surveyor-general Charles Grimes to Robert Campbell by 1805, and James Milson settled there in the 1820s. That's where the name Milsons Point comes from. Billy Blue, the Jamaican ex-convict, started the first ferry across the harbour in 1830. By 1837 there was a regular wharf and waterman's service at the point. A vehicle ferry was running by 1860, a tram line ran up to North Sydney from 1886, and the North Shore railway was pushed down to Milsons Point in 1893.

From 1924 the foreshore became Dorman Long's workshops, where the steel for the Sydney Harbour Bridge was fabricated and assembled. Once the bridge opened in 1932 the yard wasn't needed any more, and North Sydney Council called for tenders to develop the site.

Clearing the Milsons Point site for Dorman Long's Harbour Bridge workshops, where the steel was fabricated. This is the ground Luna Park now stands on. Ted Hood, State Library of New South Wales, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Working the angle crimping machine in the Milsons Point workshops, August 1926. Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fabricated bridge members loaded on a barge at the Milsons Point workshops, 28 October 1926. Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From St Kilda to Glenelg to Milsons Point

The first Luna Park opened at Coney Island in New York in 1903. Australia's first opened at St Kilda in Melbourne on 13 December 1912. It was built by the American showman J.D. Williams with the Phillips brothers, Harold, Leon and Herman, and Melbourne's park still has its famous mouth entrance.

The Phillips connection is the key to Sydney's story. In October 1929 David Atkins was granted a lease to build a scenic railway (the Big Dipper) on Colley Reserve at Glenelg, the Adelaide beachside town. In 1930 the lease was widened to take in a Ferris wheel, a Noah's Ark, the River Caves and a Goofy House. Atkins and Herman Phillips set up Luna Park Glenelg Ltd, and the park opened on 8 October 1930.

Glenelg never really worked. Crowds fell away, the council wouldn't cut the rent, and it unanimously refused requests to open rides on Sundays. Locals also complained that the park drew undesirable types. Atkins went looking elsewhere and in 1934 found the old Harbour Bridge construction site on Lavender Bay. The Glenelg company went into voluntary liquidation late in 1934. When its assets were auctioned on 8 April 1935, Atkins and Phillips bought the lot.

Colley Reserve and the newly opened Luna Park at Glenelg, Adelaide, in 1930. Many of these rides later came to Sydney. Government Photolithographer (S.A.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The front of the Big Dipper at Glenelg, 29 December 1930. This coaster was later pulled down and rebuilt at Milsons Point. State Government Photographer (SA), State Library of South Australia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Luna Park Glenelg seen from its Ferris wheel. W.H. Bamford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Phillips and his associates won the North Sydney tender and formed Luna Park (NSW) Limited, on a 20-year lease that Wikipedia dates from 11 September 1935. Over three months the Glenelg rides were pulled down and carted to Sydney. Stuart Brothers did the job under David Atkins, Ted Hopkins and Arthur Barton. Wikipedia says the build employed almost 1,000 engineers, structural workers, fitters and artists. The original plans and drawings are held at the State Library of NSW.

Not everyone wanted it, and the complaining started early. As far back as April 1935 there were protests from North Shore residents. Members of the "Parks and Playgrounds Movement" called it the result of "a deplorable lack of aesthetic taste" and likened it to "Coney Island under the Tower of London". Those sorts of complaints have followed the park ever since.

Opening Night, 4 October 1935

Luna Park opened on 4 October 1935 and was a hit from the first night. The big drawcard was the Big Dipper, the wooden coaster brought over from Glenelg. Built in 1930, it was a copy of Melbourne's Big Dipper designed by Miller & Baker. It was 800 metres long, ran for three minutes, could reach 84 km/h and, with all three trains running, carried 72 people.

After that first season the park shut for the winter so the rides could be overhauled and repainted and new ones added, and that winter break stayed part of the routine until 1969. The North Sydney Olympic Pool opened next door in 1936.

Finalists in a bathing beauties competition at Luna Park, Sydney, 1937, photographed by Sam Hood. Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

"Hollywood Hotel" girls at Luna Park, 29 September 1938, photographed by Sam Hood for Fuller's Theatres. Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Face

You can't think of Luna Park without the face. The original idea came from Melbourne's entrance and from the "face" mascot of Steeplechase Park at Coney Island. The first Sydney face was made for the 1935 opening by the Melbourne scenic artist Rupert Browne. It was modelled on the Man in the Moon and called Mr Moon. It sat between two 26-metre Art Deco towers whose scalloped spires copied the top of New York's Chrysler Building. The whole entrance was lit by what was then the largest neon display in Australia, and Mr Moon's eyes lit up and moved from side to side.

The face is about 9 metres high. The early ones were only chicken wire, plaster and paint, and the weather wore them down, so every repair job changed the expression a bit. In broad strokes, here are the versions Wikipedia lists:

• 1935: Rupert Browne's Mr Moon.
• 1938: the first facelift, again designed by Browne.
• 1947: another facelift after faulty neon caused a fire that damaged the left spire. The neon was replaced with incandescent globes.
• 1950s–1960: by the late fifties the face had sagged and distorted so badly it looked grotesque. Arthur Barton, the park's artist, redesigned it as the first "happy" face, inspired by Old King Cole. Every face since has followed it.
• 1973: pop artist Martin Sharp, working with Peter Kingston, repainted it with a new expression, a clown-like mask and strong primary colours.
• 1979: the spires were taken off because the structure had deteriorated.
• 1982: a new fibreglass face, modelled on the 1973 one. After the 1988 closure the whole entrance came down, and the 1982 face was given to the Powerhouse Museum in May 1994.
• 1993–1995: a new fibreglass face by Natureworks, based on Barton's 1960 design. The towers were rebuilt in the style of the 1935 originals, and that's the entrance you walk through today.

The entrance face and towers, photographed for the State Heritage Register listing. Patricia Hale, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The War Years and the Atkins & Hopkins Era

During the Second World War Luna Park was a magnet for servicemen out with their girlfriends or looking to meet someone. That brought sex workers to the area too, and big brawls were common, usually between Australian home defence troops and American sailors on leave. Because non-essential electricity was cut back, the neon was switched off and the ride fronts were dimmed. The outside lights were also browned out in case of a Japanese sneak attack.

In 1950 Atkins and Hopkins bought out the Phillips brothers. The two travelled the world looking at parks in the Netherlands, the United States, Germany and Britain, and brought ideas home. One was the Rotor, the spinning drum that pins you to the wall, which was first installed in 1951. Atkins died in 1957 and Hopkins took over as manager. Through the 1960s television and the car took people elsewhere, and the park fought back with new attractions. The best known was the Wild Mouse coaster, first opened in 1963.

Luna Park in 1968. wilford peloquin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Luna Park in April 1969, the year Ted Hopkins retired and sold the lease. wilford peloquin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rides People Remember

The Big Dipper

The old wooden Big Dipper ran at Milsons Point from 1935 to 1979. On 26 April 1946 a 33-year-old man from New Caledonia was killed after sitting on the edge of a car against instructions and being thrown into a support pole on a corner. On 16 April 1979 a steel runner came loose and stopped one train, and the next train ran into it. Thirteen people were hurt and the Dipper never reopened. It was knocked down and burnt with most of the old park in 1981. Two of its cars were bought at auction: one is on show at Luna Park and the other is in the Powerhouse Museum collection.

The River Caves

The River Caves was an Old Mill-style boat dark ride. It had been part of the Glenelg lease, came to Sydney with the rest, and was demolished in 1981. Its "Toyland" section was caught by the Ghost Train fire in 1979.

Coney Island

Coney Island, also called Funnyland, dates from 1935. Wikipedia describes it as the only operating 1930s funhouse left in the world. It has giant wooden slides, a joy wheel, revolving barrels, moving walkways and obstacle courses, and its layout is almost the same as on opening day. Arthur Barton's restored murals hang inside. In 1981 the Friends of Luna Park bought the amusements for $9,200, on condition they stayed in the building, and that saved them from demolition.

Inside Coney Island, with its slides and murals. Patricia Hale, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Coney Island from outside. Merbabu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wild Mouse

The Wild Mouse first opened in 1963. It has been pulled down and moved off the site several times, but it has stayed put since 1995. Wikipedia says it is one of only three wooden Wild Mouse coasters left in the world. It shut in August 2022 for a big rebuild and reopened in March 2025.

The Wild Mouse, which first ran at Luna Park in 1963. Saberwyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An old Wild Mouse car on display inside Coney Island. Tamgarat, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ferris Wheel

There was a Ferris wheel at Glenelg, but the 35-metre, 24-gondola wheel at Milsons Point today came in with the 1982 Harbourside rebuild.

The Ferris wheel, which came to the park with the 1982 Harbourside rebuild. Jeremy from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace began in 1935 as a dodgem hall and offices. It has since been a dance hall, a BMX track, a games arcade, and a restaurant and bar, and now it holds function rooms.

The Crystal Palace, built in 1935 as a dodgem hall and offices. Patricia Hale, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1969 to 1979: New Owners, Martin Sharp and the Slide

Hopkins retired in 1969 and sold the last six years of the lease to World Trade Centre Pty Ltd. Barton retired in 1970, the last of the original showmen. The new owners dropped the winter closures, so there was no longer a regular break to maintain the rides. They also applied to put a $50 million trade centre on the site, with seven high-rise buildings and a heliport, but the State Government rejected it. Old rides were scrapped for American thrill rides. For a while the slogan changed from "Just for Fun" to "The Place Where Happiness Is", and there was a short-lived mascot, "Luna Bear – the Space Age Koala".

From 1973 Martin Sharp and Peter Kingston, and later Richard Liney and Garry Shead, did major artwork throughout the park. Sharp said: "It took us a while to realise that Luna Park was an artwork in itself, a city state of illusion, a brilliant feat of engineering with imagination, created and maintained by men." The lease ran out in 1975 and the park kept going on a week-to-week basis. Wikipedia's fire article says the lessees by then were the developers Leon Fink and Nathan Spatt. Talks over a new lease went nowhere after Neville Wran became Premier in 1976.

The Ghost Train Fire, 9 June 1979

The Ghost Train was one of the 1935 opening-day rides. Its building, between the Big Dipper station and the River Caves, had first been a storeroom for gear arriving from Glenelg. Cars went in through a door marked "Hell's Doorway" and were pulled along about 180 metres of track, mostly in pitch dark, past dancing skeletons, an ape monster, a dragon's head and Dracula in a graveyard. There was also a fake fireplace with paper "flames", and witnesses said that is where the real fire started.

That Saturday night John and Jennifer Godson and their sons Damien and Craig were down from Warren on holiday. The boys had already been on the Ghost Train once and wanted another go. Jennifer went to buy an ice cream and came back to find John and the boys had gone on without her. Five Waverley College boys were on the ride too: Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson, Seamus Rahilly and Jason Holman.

The fire broke out at about 10 pm, with around thirty-five people believed to be on the ride. The fake fireplace confused some riders at first. Once people realised the fire was real, the operators began pulling riders out as the cars came through the doors, and Jason Holman was one of them. The fire brigade was called at 10:14 pm. The crews had to fight their way in on the one road while thousands of people were leaving, then found "no water pressure whatsoever" from the hydrants and hoses that "leaked like sieves". They had to pump water out of the harbour. The ride had no sprinklers and burnt fiercely, spreading into the River Caves' Toyland before it was out at 11:17 pm. At 11:30 pm the bodies of John, Damien and Craig Godson were found, and Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson and Seamus Rahilly were found in another section. Seven were dead, six of them children. Luna Park shut that night.

The Inquest

Police at first put it down to an electrical fault and ruled out arson. The firemen who photographed the scene noticed that the switchboard area was untouched, which, according to Wikipedia's fire article, "wasn't consistent with an electrical fault". The coroner's inquest began on 13 August 1979 and reported in September. The coroner, Anderson, found the cause "cannot conclusively be stated". He thought the most probable cause was litter lit by a cigarette or match from a rider, but said the evidence "does not allow me to say". He found management had failed to bring in proper fire protection, despite warnings from North Sydney Council and the fire brigade eighteen months earlier, and that the owners had failed in their duty of care, though not to the level of criminal negligence. It also came out that a design consultant had advised fitting sprinklers to the Ghost Train in December 1977 and the advice wasn't followed. New laws on fire exits followed.

The Saffron Claims

This is where the story gets murky, and it's best to say who claims what. About a quarter of the 80 witnesses called to the inquest were let go without giving evidence. Decades later several of them said they had seen "bikies" in the park that night and smelt kerosene on the ride, and some said police pressured them to change their stories. Martin Sharp spent more than thirty years arguing that the fire was deliberately lit on the orders of the underworld figure Abe Saffron so he could get hold of the site.

A National Crime Authority inquiry in the mid-1980s found that Harbourside Amusements, the company that took the lease after the fire, employed two of Saffron's cousins and a nephew, but it didn't find him directly linked to owning the park. It couldn't fix a cause either, but said the police investigation and the inquest had been ineffective. Saffron denied any role and died in 2006. In 2007 his niece Anne Buckingham was quoted in the Herald as calling it "a bad accident that was meant to be a warning", then publicly denied the quote. His son Alan called it "a straight-out accident". A 2021 ABC investigation, Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, concluded that Saffron was responsible and that police covered it up. As Wikipedia puts it, there were court hearings in late 2024 about a possible second inquest, and in 2026 anonymous police sources were quoted as saying one was unlikely. No court has ever found who or what started the fire.

Remembering Them

Waverley College held a memorial service for its four boys at St Mary's Cathedral on 15 June 1979, and another service for the Godsons was held in Warren. A memorial tree and bench went in at the park in 1995 but were lost in the 2003 redevelopment. In 2004 a plaque with the victims' names was put on the outside wall of the Big Top, which stands on the site of the Ghost Train. In August 2007 a memorial designed by Michael Leunig and carved by Peter Kingston was unveiled in Art Barton Park, just behind Luna Park.

The memorial to the seven people who died in the 1979 Ghost Train fire, designed by Michael Leunig and carved by Peter Kingston, in Art Barton Park. Thisbe Schultz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The memorial plaque at Luna Park for the victims of the Ghost Train fire. TheGRVOfLightning, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Closed, Opened, Closed Again

1979–1982: Save Luna Park

The government called for tenders at the end of July 1979. A "Friends of Luna Park" group formed, and a Save Luna Park march went from the Opera House to the face, finishing with a free concert headlined by Mental As Anything. The National Trust classified the face. Australian Amusements Associates won the tender in September 1980 and took over in June 1981. Everything except the face, the Crystal Palace, the Rotor and Coney Island was bulldozed and burnt. The rebuilt park opened on 29 April 1982 as the "Harbourside Amusement Park". A dispute with the previous owners meant it couldn't use the Luna Park name until August that year.

1988–1990: The Lease Fight

In 1988 independent engineers said several rides needed urgent repair and the park closed again. The face was moved inside and the towers came down. The lease passed to Luna Park Investments Pty Ltd, which did little to reopen the park while plans for apartments and hotels on the site kept surfacing. The government gave it a deadline of 1 June 1990 to reopen. When that passed, the lease was terminated and the Luna Park Reserve Trust took over. The Luna Park Site Act 1990, gazetted on 12 October 1990, set the site aside for amusement and public recreation.

1995–1996: The Big Dipper Noise War

After a restoration that began in January 1993, Luna Park reopened in January 1995. Its star ride was a new steel Big Dipper, a 40-metre looping coaster designed by Arrow Dynamics. The Environment Protection Authority approved it only with strict noise limits, soundproofing for affected neighbours and set times when it couldn't run. Neighbours still took legal action over the noise, and Wikipedia says they were backed by business figures whose redevelopment bids had been knocked back. Bad weather kept crowds down, and the new Carr government withdrew its guarantee of a $14 million loan and replaced the Trust's board with an administrator. The park closed on 14 February 1996. The steel Dipper went to Dreamworld in 2001 and runs there as The Gold Coaster.

2004: Open for Good

Metro Edgley won the redevelopment tender in July 1999, and work finally got going in 2003. Over 14 months the rides were restored, the Crystal Palace was turned into function rooms, and the Big Top, a 2,000-seat hall, was built on the old Big Dipper site. Luna Park reopened on 4 April 2004 and has stayed open since. Even then the neighbours went back to court in 2005 and again in 2007, and the Supreme Court dismissed the second case on 6 February 2009.

The Big Top, built in the 2003–04 redevelopment on the site of the old Big Dipper. Saberwyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The new Big Dipper in October 2021, just before it opened. Tamgarat, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Heritage Listing

Luna Park went onto the NSW State Heritage Register in 2010, listed as the Luna Park Precinct, entry 01811, at 1 Olympic Drive, Milsons Point. Several of its buildings and rides had also been on the old Register of the National Estate. On top of that, the Luna Park Site Act 1990 means the land is set aside for an amusement park and can't be turned into anything else, which is exactly what the Friends of Luna Park fought for.

The park still changes. A new single-rail Big Dipper opened on 26 December 2021, and in June 2024 Brookfield sold the lease, which runs to 2044, to the Oscars Group.

The entrance to Melbourne's Luna Park at St Kilda, the 1912 park that started the Australian family of Luna Parks. Nicholas Cole, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Melbourne's Luna Park, Briefly

Sydney's park is the younger sibling. Melbourne's Luna Park at St Kilda opened on 13 December 1912 and has run almost continuously ever since. It was built by J.D. Williams and the Phillips brothers, the same Herman Phillips who later helped bring Luna Park to Glenelg and then Sydney. Its Big Dipper was the model for the coaster that crossed from Adelaide to Milsons Point.

Luna Park and the towers of Milsons Point seen from the harbour, December 2013. Saberwyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• 1830: Billy Blue starts the first ferry across the harbour.
• 1893: North Shore railway extended to Milsons Point.
• 1903: The first Luna Park opens at Coney Island, New York.
• 13 December 1912: Luna Park opens at St Kilda, Melbourne.
• 1924: Dorman Long begins using the Milsons Point site to fabricate Harbour Bridge steel.
• 8 October 1930: Luna Park Glenelg opens in Adelaide.
• 1932: The Harbour Bridge opens and the workshop site is freed up.
• Late 1934: The Glenelg company goes into voluntary liquidation.
• 8 April 1935: Atkins and Phillips buy the Glenelg assets at auction.
• 4 October 1935: Luna Park opens at Milsons Point.
• 1936: North Sydney Olympic Pool opens next door.
• 1938: First facelift for the face.
• 1947: Neon fire damages the face and the left spire.
• 1950: Atkins and Hopkins buy out the Phillips brothers.
• 1951: The Rotor is installed.
• 1957: David Atkins dies and Ted Hopkins becomes manager.
• 1960: Arthur Barton's "happy" Old King Cole face.
• 1963: The Wild Mouse first opens.
• 1969: Hopkins retires and sells the lease.
• 1973: Martin Sharp and Peter Kingston repaint the face.
• 16 April 1979: Big Dipper collision, 13 injured.
• 9 June 1979: Ghost Train fire, seven killed, and the park closes.
• September 1979: The inquest finds the cause can't be conclusively stated.
• June 1981: Most of the old park is bulldozed and burnt.
• 29 April 1982: Reopens as Harbourside Amusement Park, and gets the Luna Park name back in August.
• 1988: Closes again after engineers' reports.
• 12 October 1990: Luna Park Site Act 1990 gazetted.
• January 1995: Reopens with the new steel Big Dipper.
• 14 February 1996: Closes after the noise fight.
• 2001: The steel Big Dipper goes to Dreamworld.
• 4 April 2004: Reopens for good.
• 2010: State Heritage Register listing.
• 2021: ABC's Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, and the new Big Dipper opens on 26 December.
• June 2024: Lease sold to the Oscars Group.

Where the Sources Disagree

• Who brought Luna Park to Sydney. Wikipedia's Luna Park Sydney article names the Glenelg owners as Herman Phillips, his brothers and A.A. Abrahams. Its Luna Park Glenelg article puts David Atkins up front: Atkins held the first lease, founded the company with Herman Phillips, and went scouting for the Sydney site himself.
• When Barton's happy face went up. One section of the Wikipedia article puts Barton's Old King Cole redesign after the 1950 buyout, among the 1950s changes. The section on the face itself dates it to 1960.
• When the face's towers were rebuilt. The Wikipedia history says the towers were rebuilt during the 1993 restoration, while its section on the face says 1995.
• What started the Ghost Train fire. Police said an electrical fault. The coroner said the cause couldn't be conclusively stated, and the most probable cause was a cigarette or match in litter. The NCA couldn't fix a cause. Martin Sharp, later witnesses and the 2021 ABC series point to arson linked to Abe Saffron. Saffron denied it, and his son called it an accident. None of this has been tested in court.
• How many have died on the Big Dipper. Wikipedia's Big Dipper article lists a fall on New Year's Eve 1932. That was at Glenelg, three years before the ride came to Sydney, so I've left it out of the Sydney story.

My Earlier Posts

• Sydney Harbour Bridge 80th Anniversary (2012)
• Bradfield - The Harbour Bridge - The Trains - Water
• Sydney Trams – From Horse Trams to Light Rail
• Sydney Harbour Panorama Magazine
• Carabella House - North Sydney
• Glass Negatives from the Holtermann Collection & Holtermann Mansion, North Sydney
• North Sydney Post Office and Courthouse

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Luna Park Sydney": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park_Sydney (includes CC BY 4.0 text from the NSW State Heritage Register entry 01811, Luna Park Precinct)
• Wikipedia, "Sydney Ghost Train fire": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Ghost_Train_fire
• Wikipedia, "Big Dipper (Luna Park Sydney, 1935)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dipper_(Luna_Park_Sydney,_1935)
• Wikipedia, "Luna Park Glenelg": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park_Glenelg
• Wikipedia, "Luna Park, Melbourne": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park,_Melbourne
• Sam Marshall, Luna Park – Just for Fun, 2nd ed., Luna Park Sydney Pty Ltd, 2005 (main printed source cited by the Wikipedia articles)
• Godden Mackay, Luna Park Conservation Plan, 1992 (cited by Wikipedia)
• Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, including State Library of NSW (Sam Hood and Ted Hood), State Library of South Australia and the NSW State Heritage Register photo set. Individual credits are under each picture.