Mosman, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Mosman is a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 on the Lower North Shore
North Shore (Sydney)
The North Shore is an informal term used to describe the primarily residential area of northern metropolitan Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The term usually refers to the suburbs located on the north shore of Sydney Harbour between Middle Harbour and the Lane Cove River, up to...

 of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...

 and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman
Municipality of Mosman
The Municipality of Mosman is a Local Government Area on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.- Demographics :According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics...

.

Localities

In February 1997, a notice was published in the Government Gazette by Mosman Council advising that they had assigned Mosman as the only suburb in the Mosman Local Government Area. However, Mosman Council decided that residents should continue to be allowed to use the following traditional locality names if they wished:
  • Balmoral
    Balmoral, New South Wales
    Balmoral is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmoral is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore....

  • Beauty Point
    Beauty Point, New South Wales
    Beauty Point is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.-History:...

  • Clifton Gardens
    Clifton Gardens, New South Wales
    Clifton Gardens is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Clifton Gardens is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore....

  • Georges Heights
    Georges Heights, New South Wales
    Georges Heights is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman, in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Georges Heights is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.-History:...

  • Spit Junction
    Spit Junction, New South Wales
    Spit Junction is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Spit Junction is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.-History:...

  • The Spit
    The Spit, New South Wales
    The Spit is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Spit is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.-Landmarks:...


History

Mosman is named after Archibald Mosman (1799–1863) and his twin brother George, who moved onto a 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) land grant in the area in 1831. They were involved in shipping, and founded a whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

 station on a bay in the harbour, which became known as Mosman’s Bay. George subsequently became involved in grazing, but Archibald continued with whaling activities. By 1838, he owned 108 acre (0.43706088 km²) along the Mosman waterfront.

Aboriginal culture

Mosman was originally inhabited by the Borogegal tribe. Bungaree
Bungaree
Bungaree was an Aboriginal Australian from the Broken Bay area, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader He became a familiar sight in colonial Sydney, dressed in a succession of military and naval uniforms that had been given to him...

 (c1775–1830) was a well known Aboriginal who joined British explorers on voyages, including circumnavigating Australia with Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

 when he was 26. He later became leader of his tribe, was given land at Georges Head, and enjoyed the patronage of Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

. He greeted newcomers whose ships entered Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

, and became acquainted with Russian and French explorers. His image was painted many times and shown in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

European settlement

In 1789 HMS Sirius
HMS Sirius (1786)
HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. Sirius was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean in 1790....

—the flagship of the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

—entered what is now known as Mosman Bay or Great Sirius Cove. Mosman has been the site of important maritime and defence installations for Sydney since 1801, especially when Sydney's Harbour defences
Sydney Harbour defences
Sydney Harbour was protected by coastal batteries and other fixed defences from the early 19th century until the 1960s. These defences were constructed to protect the Australian city of Sydney from attack by enemy warships and submarines....

 were expanded with the construction of Middle Head Fort
Middle Head Fortifications
The Middle Head Fortification is located at the end of Old Fort Road, Middle Head, Mosman, New South Wales. The fortifications at Middle Head formed part of Sydney Harbour's defences.-History:The fortifications were built between 1870 and 1911....

, Georges Head Battery
Georges Head Battery
The Georges Head Battery is located on Georges Head, in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Georges Head battery is one of three forts in the area that were built for the purpose of defending the outer harbour...

 and Bradleys Head Fortification Complex
Bradleys Head Fortification Complex
The Bradleys Head Fortification Complex is a small fort located on the northern side of Taronga Park Zoo that formed part of a total defence system for Sydney Harbour and recalls a period when the colony of New South Wales became increasingly aware of its isolation and wealth...

. In 1871 the Beehive Casemate
Beehive Casemate
The Beehive Casemate is an historical fortification located on the banks of Obelisk Bay, in Sydney Harbour. Construction began in 1871 and was completed in 1874. The fort was constructed under the supervision of colonial architect James Barnet...

 was constructed into the cliff side on Obelisk Bay.

A Submarine Miners’ Depot was constructed at Chowder Bay (Georges Head) in the 1880s. In 1888 the site was modified for the latest in harbour defences. The site was a strategic position and considered the best place to observe and fire mines which were laid underwater. Minefields were laid across the main shipping channels of Port Jackson from 1876 to 1922 and a base was built at Chowder Bay for the submarine miners (Clifton Gardens
Clifton Gardens, New South Wales
Clifton Gardens is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Clifton Gardens is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore....

). From Georges Head, miners watched for ships entering the harbour. Their job was to explode the mine closest to an approaching enemy ship. Each underwater mine was attached to an electric cable that ran up the cliff to the firing post.
During a demonstration in 1891, a crowd of several thousand people watched as a fatal accident killed four miners and injured another eight.
In the 1880s
1880s
The 1880s was the decade that spanned from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1889. They occurred at the core period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Most Western countries experienced a large economic boom, due to the mass production of railroads and other more convenient methods of travel...

  and 1890s
1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...

, as a result of the enthusiasm for painting en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...

fostered by the Barbizon
Barbizon school
The Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...

 and Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

 movements in France, art colonies known as the Sydney artists' camps
Sydney artists' camps
Artists' camps flourished around Sydney Harbour in the 1880s and 1890s, mainly in the Mosman area making it "Australia's most painted suburb", but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century...

 flourished around the Harbour mainly in the Mosman area. As a result Mosman became known as "Australia's most painted suburb". Notable painters in this community included Julian Ashton
Julian Ashton
Julian Rossi Ashton was an Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney....

, Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...

, Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...

 and John Mather
John Mather
John Norman Mather is a mathematician at Princeton University known for his work on singularity theory and Hamiltonian dynamics...

.

In 1942 during the Second World War the Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net was constructed on Georges Head and was designed to prevent enemy submarines from entering into Sydney Harbour. The boom net spanned the entire width of Port Jackson and a boom net winch house was located on Liangs Point, Watsons Bay. On the night of 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines attempted to enter Sydney Harbour in what became known as the Attack on Sydney Harbour
Attack on Sydney Harbour
In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia...

. One of the Japanese midget submarines became entangled in the boom net and after unsuccessful attempts by the crew to free the submarine they detonated charges within the sub, killing themselves and destroying their sub in the process.

Chowder Bay was used in the late 1820s as an anchorage for visiting American whaling ships. In 1831 Archibald Mosman and John Bell were allotted grants of land in Mosman Bay to establish a whaling station. The only remaining building of the original whaling station is The Barn in Avenue Road. The Barn was a store and sail drying house. It is now the home of the 1st Mosman 1908 Scout Group.
A foot track ran from North Sydney to Middle Head in the 1840s. Avenue Road which ran from Mosman Bay to Mosman Junction was constructed in 1860 with Military Road, Middle Head Road, and Bradleys Head Road all constructed ten years later. From the 1870s, land development spread settlement east from Milson's Point
Milsons Point, New South Wales
Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council....

, including to the Mosman area, which was boosted with a regular ferry service around the same time. Richard Hayes Harnett Senior purchased Archibald Mosman’s original 108 acre (0.43706088 km²) in 1859 and in 1878 established a sandstone quarry at Mosman Bay. In 1871, he built a wharf and subsidised a ferry service between Mosman Bay, Neutral Bay, and Circular Quay. He promoted a land development known as the Mosman Bay Estate; when the land was sold, the ferry service was cancelled, much to the annoyance of the new landowners. His son, Richard Harnett Junior, was the first Mayor elected when Mosman became a municipality in 1893 with 1,600 residents, breaking away from the North Sydney municipality. Both men were major influences in Mosman and were responsible for building many roads, a horse drawn bus service and ferry services linking Mosman to the city. Mosman Public School opened in 1880.

At the turn of the century, rows of shops and Federation architecture
Federation architecture
Federation architecture refers to the architectural style in Australia, which was prevalent from around 1890 to 1920. The period refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of Australia...

 homes were built. Taronga Park Zoo opened in 1916, moving from a site at Moore Park
Moore Park, New South Wales
Moore Park is a large area of parkland in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of Centennial Parklands, a collective of three parks being Moore Park, Centennial Park and Queens Park. Centennial Parklands is administered by the Centennial Park &...

 that had been in use since 1884. Taronga is an Aboriginal word for 'beautiful view'. From the late 1950s, multi-storey flat
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 developments began and became a public concern, leading to controls and restrictions being introduced.

Landmarks

Mosman forms a peninsula between Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

 and Middle Harbour
Middle Harbour
Middle Harbour is the northern arm of Port Jackson in Sydney, Australia.Middle Harbour extends about to the northwest, from where it joins the main harbour near the Heads. Its shore is nearly everywhere rugged, barren and forested and for this reason Middle Harbour was almost entirely neglected...

. It features a number of harbour beaches, including Balmoral, Chinamans, Obelisk Beach
Obelisk Beach, New South Wales
Obelisk Beach is a nude beach in Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.The beach is on the southern side of Middle Head in Sydney Harbour.Coordinates: -The beach:...

 and Cobblers Beaches. Other attractions include Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Officially opened on 7 October 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman...

, Bradleys Head and sections of Sydney Harbour National Park.
Overlooking the harbour, in Rawson Park, is the Scotland Australia Cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

 comprising a stone sourced from every parish in Scotland. It is a memorial to the Scottish pioneers who contributed much to Australia and was a gift from Scotland at the time of the Bicentennial Celebrations in 1988. Highland games are held there, usually the day after St Andrew’s Day celebrations. On the eastern shore of Sirius Cove is the site of Curlew Camp
Curlew Camp
Curlew Camp was a camp established in the late 19th century on the eastern shore of Little Sirius Cove at Mosman in Sydney. It was home for some years to several highly respected Australian artists such as Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts and it was from here that some of their most famous...

 where artists such as Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts once resided. The Council has recently constructed the Curlew Camp Artists Walk.

Commercial area

Mosman shopping centre is located along Military Road, which features many boutiques, cafes and restaurants. The shopping centre extends from the intersection with Bradley's Head Road and Middle Head Road, continues north up past the intersection with Spit Road at Spit Junction
Spit Junction, New South Wales
Spit Junction is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Spit Junction is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.-History:...

. It continues for some distance along both Spit Road and Military Road and extends down some of the side streets. Mosman Council has identified the early twentieth century shopping strip along Military Road as a conservation area. The awnings along the street were originally column-supported.

A small shopping mall called Bridgepoint is located at Spit Junction. It features a supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

, grocery shops, bookshop, gift shop
Gift shop
A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....

s, café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

s, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

 practitioner
Practitioner
A practitioner is someone who engages in an occupation, profession, religion, or way of life.Practitioner may refer to:* Medical practitioner* Justice practitioner* Solitary practitioner, in Wicca and Paganism...

s, and offices. Mosman's entertainment spots include the Mosman Hotel located on Military Road and the Buena Vista Hotel located on Middle Head Road.

Houses

Mosman is primarily a residential suburb. Federation era houses
Federation architecture
Federation architecture refers to the architectural style in Australia, which was prevalent from around 1890 to 1920. The period refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of Australia...

 predominate but there are also other styles ranging from Californian Bungalow to modern townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...

 and apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 buildings.

Mosman’s first large home—'The Nest'—was built in 1833. Oswald Bloxsome built 'The Rangers' in 1844—a mansion on 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) overlooking Mosman Bay. Boronia House, built in 1885 has had a variety of uses including as the former municipal library. Monterey, a large federation house, was built above Mosman Bay and in the 1980s was divided into a number of upmarket units.

The Manor
The Manor (Mosman, NSW)
The Manor is a mansion in the Sydney suburb of Mosman. Built circa 1911 loosely in the Federation style, it stands in the harbour front street of Iluka Road, in the Mosman locality of Clifton Gardens....

, at a habourside location in Clifton Gardens, is a large mansion loosely in the Federation style. Built circa 1911 by a Mr Bakewell as an eight-room cottage, it grew to over thirty rooms, most of which were lined with beaten copper. It was known locally as Bakewell's Folly. In the 1920s, the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...

 rented and then purchased The Manor, which was regarded as a great "occult forcing-house". It became an important centre for the Society and is still used by them today. The English writer Mary Lutyens
Mary Lutyens
Edith Mary Lutyens was a British author who is principally known for her authoritative biographical works on the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.-Early life:...

, who stayed at The Manor in the 1920s, described it as "a huge and hideous villa."

Education

Schools in Mosman include:
  • Mosman High School
  • Mosman Public School
  • Beauty Point Public School
  • Middle Harbour Public School
    Middle Harbour Public School
    Middle Harbour Public School is a public primary school in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It has an enrolment of 387 students.-Achievements:...

  • Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School
  • Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School
  • Mosman Church of England Preparatory School
  • Queenwood School for Girls
    Queenwood School for Girls
    Queenwood School for Girls is an independent, non-denominational, Christian day school, located in the suburb of Mosman, on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

     (four campuses)

Churches

Churches in Mosman include:
  • Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church
  • Mosman Uniting Church
  • Mosman Baptist Church
  • Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church
  • St Clement's Anglican Church
  • St Luke's Anglican Church
  • St Thérèse of the Child Jesus Roman Catholic Church
  • Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church
  • Sydney Life Church

Sport and recreation

Sporting Clubs serving the Mosman community include:
  • Mosman Football Club
  • Mosman Rugby Club
    Mosman Rugby Club
    Mosman Rugby Club is an Australian rugby union club. It is based is Mosman on the Lower North Shore of Sydney. Home games are played at Rawson Oval and Balmoral Oval...

  • Mosman Cricket Club
  • Mosman Rowing Club
    Mosman Rowing Club
    The Mosman Rowing Club is the only still water rowing club on the North Shore in Sydney, Australia, an area known for having some of the best rowing water in Sydney, albeit, early in the morning....


Australian Test cricket captains Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...

 and Ian Craig
Ian Craig
Ian David Craig is a former Australian Test cricketer who represented Australia in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A slightly built right-handed batsman, Craig holds the record for being the youngest Australian to make a first-class double century, gain Test selection and captain his country...

 grew up in Mosman and played for the local club.

Culture

  • Shakespeare By The Sea (Australia)
    Shakespeare By The Sea (Australia)
    Shakespeare by the Sea is a summer outdoor event held at Balmoral Beach in Sydney's northern suburbs, using a band rotunda as a backdrop.Started in 1987 by David MacSwan, 2006 marked Shakespeare by the Sea's 20th anniversary....

     is a summer outdoor event that is held at Balmoral Beach.

  • The Mosman Art Prize
    Mosman art prize
    Mosman art prize is an art award in Australia held in Mosman, a suburb of Sydney. It has been running since 1947.- List of winners :*Margaret Olley won the inaugural Mosman art prize in 1947*Tom Gleghorn 1958*Henry Salkauskas 1963, 1964, 1965...

     is held annually.

  • Nancy Phelan
    Nancy Phelan
    Nancy Phelan was an Australian writer who published over 25 books, including novels, biographies, memoirs, travel books and a cookbook...

    's memoir—A Kingdom by the Sea (1969)—vividly recalls Mosman circa 1920.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK