Boyle Street, Balgowlah: 1906-2004. - Manly Council

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approximately 1 acre of land with frontages to Boyle Street, Lauderdale Avenueand Willyama Avenue.The present Willyama Avenue was made originally as the driveway from A AKnight’s coach-house, now no.8 Boyle Street. Some of the houses in Boyle Streethave retained the stone wall from the original Lookout Estate as their front fence.On the north side of The Lookout, facing Sydney Road, between Boyle Streetand Rosedale Avenue-Hilltop Crescent, five other properties were identified in the1912 auction plan (from Boyle Street):• Arthur Railton’s “Hillcrest”• Arthur Griffith’s “Yanco-winna”• Miss J Mercer’s “Edinboro”• Mrs J E Hole and Earl Hole’s “Northcote”• [James] Verrall (listed in Sands’ 1910-12 as James Pearse’s “Carrington”)The Lookout’s “14 unparalleled sites” were sold with Torrens title, on 10 percent deposit with a further 10 per cent due in three months, and the balance intwelve equal quarterly payments at 5 per cent interest.The sales booklet described the locality as follows:“The residences in the vicinity are all of substantial and artistic structure, oneof the latest being that of the Hon the Minister for Public Works [Arthur GriffithMLA, senior Minister in successive McGowen and Holman Labor Governments,1910-16], whose grounds abut on the property for sale. Gas and water areavailable. Every lot faces and is within a stone’s throw of North Harbor, whichaffords safe anchorage for yachts and larger craft. It is also a favourite fishingresort. A movement was recently afoot to reclaim the upper reaches of thisharbor for recreation purposes, but the mere suggestion of altering the naturalconditions met with the almost unanimous disapproval of residents in thevicinity.Apart from its unquestionable natural beauty, North Harbor affords a safe andremarkably clean bathing space for those who may not be enamoured of thesurf, and children may gambol about in the water for hours at a time withabsolute safety, a width of sand of from 50 to 100 yards being covered at hightide to a depth of from 3 inches to 3 feet only, left absolutely clean by eachreceding tide.”It was also noted there was “Building stone of A1 grade on the land.”Sands’ 1912-14 listed only two households in Boyle Street, on the east side(from Sydney Road): George H Railton’s “Wallacia” and A S Knight’s “TheLookout”. In 1912-13, on the west side two new houses were constructed (fromSydney Road): H F Burnet’s “Tanah Tinggi”; and John Tonks’ “Shanbally”. TheseFederation cottages have names with international origins – “Tanah Tinggi” isIndonesian for “empty string”, but also associated with the coffee-growing area ofPapua; “Shanbally” is probably named after Shanbally Castle in Clogheen, Ireland,2
designed for Cornelius O’Callaghan, the first Viscount Lismore in about 1810 bythe famous English architect, John Nash. 3In 1913-14, a surge of new house construction occurred in Boyle Street on thewest side between Sydney Road and Griffith Street. Sands’ 1914 shows BoyleStreet as follows (from Lauderdale Avenue) 4 :East sideA S Knight, The LookoutGeorge H Railton, WallaciaSydney RoadVacantGriffiths StreetBoyle Street, 1914West sideJohn E Tonks, ShanballyH F Burnett, Tanah TinggiSydney RoadWilliam Johnson, The OaksHenry W Baum, HawthornW P O’Meagher, WoodlandsArthur W Vining, PinesGustav Scheinflug, AvondaleMiss L Le Pastrier, MioraGriffiths StreetSurprisingly, A S Knight is still shown as the householder of The Lookout in1916. Perhaps he remained renting the house after the 1912 auction, or TheLookout did not sell at auction. In 1916, George Railton renamed his houseWallacia as “Voruma”. The Lookout and Voruma remained the only homes on theeast side (now called north side) of Boyle Street until 1918, when the Railtonsappear to have subdivided part of Voruma’s estate (see Sands’ 1918.)On the west (now south) side, only two new homes were built during WorldWar One: P J G Mack’s “Ivydene” (1916); and Arthur Mann’s “Canberra” (1916),both between Sydney Road and Griffiths Street.Notably, there were few female householders in Boyle Street before 1918,which was unusual in Manly Municipality in this period. This may reflect both thelarge estates still predominating between Sydney Road and Lauderdale Avenue,as well as the solidly middle class character of the federation houses in BoyleStreet to this time. Between 1916 and 1918, only Mrs Frances Cole (TanahTinggi); Mrs Hammon (The Oaks); and Mrs Bull (Hawthorn) appear among thepredominantly male householders of Boyle Street.In 1918, Herbert Corry was shown at The Lookout, and in 1922, H H Rayward.By 1925, it had become the Woodhurst School for Girls, with Miss M Stockfield asPrincipal. In 1929, The Lookout became Fairlight Private Hospital, managed by theMisses Davis and operated by Dr Rosebery. After World War II, it became the newhome of Camden Grammar School (displaced from Dalley’s Castle by its demolitionin 1939). It was renamed “Camden” and is still owned and occupied by Frederick3In 1960, despite vigorous protests, the now derelict Shanbally Castle was blown up byorder of the Irish Land Commission and its stone used for local road base.4Sands’ 1914 mixes up the locations of Sydney Road and Lauderdale Avenue relative toBoyle Street. They are correctly shown in the table.3
Page 1: Boyle Street, Balgowlah: 1906-2004.
Page 5 and 6: MAN03008 G RobeyThe Robey family, o

Boyle Street, Balgowlah: 1906-2004. - Manly Council

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