“The Towers” - Lavender Bay - The Holtermann Gold Nugget

You won’t find “The Towers” on a North Sydney street walk anymore — Shore School sits on the ridge above Lavender Bay where Bernhardt (Bernard) Otto Holtermann’s mansion once punched the skyline. The money came fast: in October 1872 the Star of Hope mine at Hill End threw up the Holtermann gold specimen — the famous “nugget,” really a huge gold-in-quartz mass — and suddenly the German-born miner could build like a prince.

Around 1874–75 he put up an extraordinary house with a tall central tower that gave the place its nickname. That tower wasn’t just showing off. With photographer Charles Bayliss he turned it into a camera platform and shot vast harbour panoramas — plates exhibited internationally (including Philadelphia) and still among the sharpest records of 1870s Sydney and the north shore. Holtermann died in 1885. The house passed via Thomas Dibbs of neighbouring Graythwaite to the new Sydney Church of England Grammar School.

By the mid-1930s — roughly fifty years after it rose — Shore encased mansion and tower in modern brickwork and effectively demolished them as the campus grew. What’s left for the rest of us is the Holtermann photographic collection: the viewpoint survived as glass plates long after the tower came down.

Bernhardt Holtermann with the Star of Hope gold specimen — the fortune that paid for The Towers above Lavender Bay. (Holtermann Collection / State Library of NSW)

Sydney Harbour from Holtermann’s tower, 1875. (Holtermann Collection / SLNSW)

North Sydney and Sydney Harbour, 1875 — Charles Bayliss / B.O. Holtermann. (Holtermann Collection)

NSW Parliament - Macquarie Street - Sydney

When people say “Macquarie Street” in a political story, they usually mean this block: Parliament House, sitting in the northern wing of Governor Lachlan Macquaries “Rum Hospital,” completed in 1816. No Imperial cash for a permanent hospital, so Macquarie let the contractors import and sell spirits — hence the nickname that stuck. The colonnaded façade is among the oldest public building fabric still in continual governmental use in Australia. Further south, The Mint keeps the matching southern wing of the same hospital complex.

The Legislative Council of New South Wales — Australia’s first legislature — was created in 1823 and first met elsewhere, including Government House. From 1829 the Council used rooms in the hospital’s northern Surgeon’s Quarters; a session on 21 August 1829 marks the start of continuous parliamentary occupation of this site. As membership grew, Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis added a new chamber (1843). Responsible government in 1856 created a bicameral parliament: the Legislative Assembly took the older chamber while the Legislative Council moved into a prefabricated iron building shipped from Melbourne and erected on the southern side of the precinct — still part of the complexs layered fabric.

Walk the colonnade today and you are standing in a Rum Hospital that outlasted Francis Greenway’s complaints about shoddy work. Public tours and education programs tell the journey from infirmary to modern parliament.

200 Years Of Australian Democracy

 
THE GREAT SYDNEY COASTAL WALK 

The Great Sydney Coastal Walk follows about 80 kilometres of coastline between Bundeena and Otford. It passes through Royal National Park, with sandstone cliffs, beaches, headlands and heathland along the route. Walkers commonly complete the track in sections, rather than as a single day walk.

The Great Sydney Coastal Walk - Wall Street Journal

NSW BLUE PLAQUES - Lower North Shore - October 2022

 

NSW BLUE PLAQUES - OCTOBER 2022 

May Gibbs, Brett Whiteley & Sir Edward Hallstrom Plaques were installed in Neutral Bay, Lavender Bay & Mosman this week.
“The initiative is all about celebrating the wide-ranging & eclectic characters, personalities & important public figures that have made or become part of the history and fabric of our state,” Minister for Heritage James Griffin said

Sydney’s First Blue Plaques Installed On Lower North Shore - Mosmon Collective - October 2022

Blue Plaques - NSW

“Fenton” - 8 Albert Street - Edgecliff - NSW

Down Albert Street in Edgecliff, set back behind a brick driveway and a walled garden, sits “Fenton” — the house Robin Dods designed for himself about 1918–1919. The allotment came out of the old Orielton Estate subdivision; Dods took the largest of four lots and built what most people who care about Sydney domestic architecture still treat as his last major personal statement.

From the street it reads as a quiet Interwar Georgian / Colonial Revival villa: white rendered walls, sandstone plinth and dressings, deep green shutters, a steep terracotta-shingle roof, and a carefully ordered porch with leaded fanlight and sidelights. On the harbour (falling) side a lower storey opens behind a simple loggia — the sort of move that makes the house feel bigger once you are inside than the street elevation ever admits. Joinery and interior detailing survive to a high degree of integrity; the drawing room is often noted for maple panelling and plaster initials tied to the Dods household.

Fenton later passed in the family to Sir Lorimer Fenton Dods, the pioneering paediatrician. It remains privately owned and sits on the NSW State Heritage Register (item 00249), with an earlier Register of the National Estate listing as “Fenton and Garden.” Contemporaries including William Hardy Wilson admired it — and standing at the gate today you can still see why: restraint, proportion, and no need to shout.

Federation Day - January 1st 1901 - Centennial Park - NSW

 

Federation Day - January 1st 1901 -  Centennial

Park - New South Wales

On The 1^st January 1901

 A British Act Was Declared, Making Australia A Federation Of States Called The Commonwealth Of Australia, & Establishing It’s Constitution & Form Of Government 

On That Day, Australia’s First Head, it’s Governor General Lord Hopetoun Was Sworn In, As Was Its First Prime Minister, Edmund Barton & Australia’s First Federal Cabinet 

On That Day in 1901, A Procession Of Dignitries Bands Soldiers, & Horse Drawn Floats Passed Through Sydney City Centre & Marched 5 & A Half Miles To Centennial Park. The Streets & Balconies Were Lined With Thousands Of People. Buildings were elaborately Decorated Celebratring The Event 

The Slogan of The federation Was “ One People – One Destiny”
 
Special Arches Were Set Up for The occasion 
There Was An Arch From France. There was an Arch From The United States Of America There Was A Wool Growers Association Arch, There Was Coal industry Arch. There Was A Permanent Commonwealth Arch In Bridge Street 
 
The Procession Also Went Past The Statue Of Queen Victoria. 

 

In A Packed Centennial Park, Lord Hopetoun, The Governor General Elect, Primate Of Sydney’s Church of England, Arch Bishop William Smith, The New Prime Minister Edmund Barton & Other Dignitries Gathered In The Specially Constructed Pavillion 

The Choir Of St Andrews Church Sang The Hymn “O God Our Help In Ages Past”

The Crowd Stood With Beared Heads. With Deep Intonation, Arch Bishop Read The Prayers For The Commonwealth 

“O Lord God Almighty, High Above All Heights, Whose Lifetime Is Eternity

We Thine Unworthy Servants Give Thee Most Humble & Hearty Thanks For All Thy Goodness & Loving Kindness. We glorify Thee That Thou Has Been pleased In Thy Providence To Unite Australia In The Bonds Of Brotherly Love & Accord, & In One Commonwealth

Under Our Most Gracious Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria 

We Beseech Thee. Grant Unto This Union Thy Grace, & Heavenly Benediction That A Strong People May Arise, To Hallow Thy Name, To Do Justly, & To Love Mercy, & To Walk Humbly Before Thee In Reveranve & Righteousness Of Life

 

 

Furthermore We Pray Thee To Make Our Empire Always A Faithful & Fearless Leader Among The Nations, In All That Is Good, 

& To Bless Our Queen & Those Who Are Put In Authority Under Her, More Especially In This Land. Let Thy Wisdom Be Their Guide. Strengthen Them In Uprightness. Direct & Rule Their Hearts, That They May Govern According To Thy Holy Will, & Vouch Safe That All Things May Be Ordered & Settled Upon The Best & Surest Foundations 

That Peace & Happiness, Truth & Justice, Religion & Piuty May Be Deepened, & Increased Among Us, & That We Thy People May Perpetually Praise From Generation To Generation 

Blessed Be Thy Name Forever & Ever. Through Jesus Our Lord. Amen 

The Followed The Prayer For The Governor General, Then The Lords Prayer Followed

The Supreme Moment Had Arrived. As Guns Brought Fourth A Salute, As Lord Hopetoun Signed His Name, That He Had Assumed His Official Duties, & Was Vested With All The Powers Conferred 

A New Nation Had Been Born  

Ta Dam La Dammus – A Hymn Of Christian Praise And Affirmation Of God & Chirst 

After The Swearing In Of The First Prime Minister & Australia’s Federal Cabinet, The Ceremonies Came To An End.

The Celebrations Went On In Sydney For 2 Weeks, & There Was Celebrations Across All States. On The 9^th May 1901, The 1^st Federal Parliament Was Opened In Melbourne

 

So We Celebrate 

 

 St John's Anglican Church - Parramatta - New South Wales

Australia's First Official chirch was the original St John's At Parramatta. 
The oldest and most striking feature of the present building is the twin towers  which were erected between 1816 and 1820. it is said that they are based  on similar towers  of an ancient church at Reculver Kent England. By 18560 thw old building was in danger of falling down, and it was decided to erect a new church incorporating the original towers. 
A New nave was built in 1852 to a design by James Housion. Transepts were added in 1882 ad this time the Architect was Edmund Balckett. 
Closley associated with the building of St John's and its early history was the Rev Samuel Marsden, the controvertial but highly energectic  successor of Richard Johnson, Chaplain General Of New South Wales. Marsden served as Rector Of St John's until 1838 and was buried nearby in the St John's Cemetery
There are considerable gaps inthr history of the church doe to Marsden's failure to keep a complete register of services. 

Uniting Church - Prebyterian - Ebenezer - New South Wales

 Uniting Church - Presbyterian - Ebenezer - New South Wales

The quiet Hawkesbury River, North of Windsor, was hardly disturbed as a funeral cortege, in boats, proceede with muffled oars to the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church on the river bank. 


The Chapel is an elementary structure, with four thick stone walls and a gable roof. On the two long sides there are four windows, and two former central doors have been blocked up to provide an entrance at one end. 
Nevertheless, the simple chapel  survives today as the oldest standing church in Australia dating back to its completion in 1809