2001: When Queenscliff lost its suburb status

In 2001, residents of Queenscliff were outraged when their suburb (which had been a locality since 1984) was assigned as an urban place within Harbord, meaning that those who resided there were officially residents of Harbord.

Source: Connolly, F. 2001. "Queenscliff: beautiful one day, gone the next". The Daily Telegraph, June 18: 7.

It was formally regazetted as a suburb on July 12, 2002, by the NSW Geographical Names Board, which was welcomed by residents.

Source: Skelsey, M. 2002. "Suburb recovers its lost identity". The Daily Telegraph, July 17: 4. 

1965: Sylvania Waters Feature

Above: Sylvania Waters as photographed in 1965. Full citation below. 

The Daily Telegraph published in 1965, a feature on Sylvania Waters, which was being promoted as Sydney's "first marine suburb". It focused on the planning and design approach towards the suburb. Over 200 acres of land was being reclaimed from Gwawley Bay, formerly home to mangroves and oyster leases.

While much of the land had been reclaimed from Gwawley Bay, sand from the Kurnell Sandhills was mixed in sections. The curved shorelines were designed to ensure that water could circulate with the rise and fall in tides.  The roads also reflect the curved nature of the shoreline. This aerial sourced from Google Earth depicts the suburb today with the street layout.

 

For the developers - Sylvania Waters Pty. Ltd. (now known as Sylvania Waters Ltd.), it was estimated that the 800 homesites would have a combined value of 10 million pounds (or $20 million) when the development was completed by 1968. This did not eventuate they were still selling vacant housing sites into the 1970's. 

The full article appears below.

   

Source: Anon. 1965. "Marine estate from swamp". The Daily Telegraph, January 25, 20. 

I have enlarged the aerial photograph at the top of the entry to highlight progress at the time of publication. Murray Island (towards the bottom of image or northern end of the suburb) was completed (1964). James Cook and Barcoo islands were under construction. 

Normally, I would reserve real estate advertisements for Saturday's but the advertisement complements the article and hence have included it in this entry. The attached map does exclude streets and cul-de-sacs that were built either to the west or south of Belgrave Esplanade. 

1987: Roselands gazetted as a suburb

Below is an article from The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader relating to the gazetting of Roselands as a suburb. No residents objected to the naming and were in support of the idea.

Source: Anon. 1987. "Roselands - officially". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, February 5: 16.

Property Advert of the Week: Wattle Grove (1991)

This week, I share another advertisement promoting the suburb of Wattle Grove dating from 1991.

Source: Wattle Grove. 1991. "Wattle Grove" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph Mirror, October 19: 9.

Feel free to view advertisements from 1992 and 1995.

1967: Kareela is gazetted

To our followers from Kareela, find out below how your suburb was gazetted and even why its streets got their names. The suburb was developed by Stocks and Holdings.

  

Source: Anon. 1967. "Multi-million dollar estate to be called Kareela". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, November 8:27. 

1972: The area with no name becomes Monterey

For eighteen years, I was raised in the suburb of Monterey (approximately 13km south of the city). Even in 2015, many Sydneysiders wouldn't have a clue of where it is nor its existence. The development of the area dates back to around a century ago when the area was subdivided into what it is today. My childhood home in Robinson Street (no 22) I believe dates back to this time. But for this area, there was the question to be asked, where did they belong?

For decades people were giving their address as either Brighton-Le-Sands, Kogarah or Ramsgate. The first edition of the Gregorys Street Directory in 1934 would list streets like Robinson (Annie Street as it was known) as being in Rockdale.

But there were signs of a possible name - Monterey. A section of the suburb when subdivided was referred to as the Monterey Estate. The streets within the estate had Californian names like Pasadena Street. A small shopping centre developed in Chuter Avenue between Scarborough and Monterey Street. This included a post office (now a Pizza Cafe) which was known as the Monterey Post Office
So Rockdale Council in 1972 had to put the matter to rest. It surveyed people in what would become Monterey but also Ramsgate. 250 submissions were made from residents and Rockdale Council at a meeting in February settled on what is now the current boundaries. There were proposals to include parts of Kogarah and Ramsgate.

   

Source: Anonymous. 1972. "Monterey Name for New Suburb of Rockdale".  The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, February 23: 15.

 In November, it was officially gazetted by the Geographical Names Board.

Source: Anonymous. 1972. "Area of No Name Will Now Become Monterey". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, November 8: 42. 

Monterey to this day still remains a quiet suburb, even as Sydney changes around it. Many of the older homes have been knocked down and replaced with large modern homes. Just this year, it attained a median house price of $1 000 000. It certainly has won favour with people, especially families and easy access to local shops, services, Sydney Airport, City and Botany Bay.

The suburb did achieve some fame in 1987 when Mental as Anything filmed the video clip He's Just No Good for You in Scarborough Street, in which the residents were invited to all take part.

 

Plus Solander Street is home to the first villa complex built in NSW back in 1967, even before the suburb got its name.