White City - 1971

Here is an old photo from the City of Sydney archives.  It is pretty easy to search the archives but you have to be a little creative.  The above photo is described "Victor Trumper Oval: view across the oval to the harbour in the distance".  Hopefully the date is correct!  It is listed as January 1971. 

It is a pretty nice shot of White City, taken from an apartment building in Rushcutters Bay by the looks of it.  Whites apartment building on Glenmore rd is quite prominent.  Across the road from that, to the left of White City in the photo is what I understand was the old Firestone tyre factory.  The big green awning of White City is sporting a nice Ampol banner and then behind that you see Cambridge street snaking up the hill.

Cambridge Street sketchbook ...

In their 1975 book, "Paddington Sketchbook", the artist Cedric Emanuel and author Patricia Thompson devote a couple of pages to Cambridge Street.  The illustrations come from that book as does the following extract:

"Paddington is surrounded on three sides by first-class parks and sportsgrounds.  Its own municipal council created, or helped to create, those to the north and east - Weigall Ground, White City, and Trumper Park. There was also Sydney Stadium which, until it was demolished to make way for the Eastern Suburbs railway, stood at the corner of Neild Avenue and New South Head Road.

In the early days, terra firm began at Lawson Street and lower Glenmore Road. Then New South Head Road was built and the land between came into use. A family named Ridley cultivated vegetable gardens very successfully. For a time Paddington was Sydney's main supplier of fresh vegetables. Later the land was leased to Chinese market gardeners, who were gradually dispossessed as the council pressed forward with its reclamation programme.

Near the foot of Cambridge Street, which runs into Glenmore Road behind White City, was a dairy. During the great storm of 1900 there was an abnormally high tide and the unfortunate cows were washed into the bay, bellowing mournfully."

Corner of Cambridge street and New South Head road ...

That address might not have been so fanciful if the government had acceded to the requirements of Paddington Council back in the day.  Published in the SMH of 1 October 1887 (copied above) was an article reporting that the Mayor of Paddington was looking to resume the Chinese market gardens in Rushcutters Bay (now White City) so that he might let Cambridge street run down and join up with New South Head rd.

For anyone with a passing interest in government decision making it would be no surprise that this very issue kept going for a number of years.  On February 10, 1894, Mr J. C. Neild MLA took the case to the Minister of Lands who didn't have the cash for it and suggested the railways department, as they had the power to make resumptions. 

The issue was still hot years later in 1896.  By that time the Chinese market gardens had been resumed and given to the Water and Sewerage Board for that dirty big stormwater drain that still exists today.  The 20 November SMH reported that Paddington Council still wanted the land given to it and still didn't want to pay the State Government. 

New South Head road was the big attraction due to the cable tram that operated along it.  The cable tram's main stop was down at Rushcutters Bay, you can see a sign about this near Reg Bartley oval. The Paddington councillors had a grand plan to get the Rushcutters Bay tramline extended into the heart of Paddington (via Cambridge street!) and then on towards Centennial Park.  As an aside, the Bellevue Hill Tramway (which ran along Hargrave street and Gurner street) was not announced until 1908.

For those interested in the price of what became White City (and more) back in 1896?  7,000 pounds baby.  The interwebs tells me that would be about $1,027,666 in 2010 money.  Substantially less than the cost of a single terrace.  Not a bad deal really.

Rushcutters Bay c1900

Here is a great old photo of Rushcutters Bay with Cambridge street visible in the top right (if you click on it I think it takes you to the larger version).  This photo is from the City of Sydney archives (file 067\067290) via the Sydney Water Corporation (who as the Water Board resumed the Chinaman's gardens around the 1890's).  The estimated date, c1900s, is from the archives.  That said, you can clearly see 81 Cambridge Street which was one of the last houses built on the street around 1895, so it is after that.  The White City amusement park was not built until 1913 so it is not later than that.   Glenmore Road Public School is visible in the top corner and I think the height of that building is the original bell tower which was later demolished.  Later school buildings were added in 1902 and 1910, and I think that double story one is one of those.  So I would guess this was taken between 1902 - 1912.

This was sent to me by someone who thought I might be interested in it.  Thanks to Ruth for digging it up and Darren for sending it over!  This is tagged as "View looking south showing the stormwater channel that empties into Rushcutters Bay from Paddington area".  The key is knowing that Cambridge Street is visible from Rushcutters back in the day and so looking at old photos of Rushcutters can turn up sneaky views of Cambridge Street, as seen here previously.

Cambridge Street had a great view over Rushcutters Bay at this time and another thing you notice is the absence of trees.  Not just because it is a new suburb, this street would've been laid out for nearly 20 years by the time this photo was taken, but the Victorian style of the time was quite ordered so they didn't like street trees detracting from the ornamentation of the facades of the houses.

Cambridge street in the 1890s

The State Government archives has a bunch of uncatalogued old photos that they put up on Flickr to let amateur historians decipher for them.  That was how I came across these two photos after some supersleuth had correctly identified the houses on the corner of Cambridge street and Glenmore road in the top right of this image (the flickr page is here). 

The photos show the chinese market gardens that originally occupied all of Rushcutters Bay.  These were cleared in the 1890s.  Also prominent in the photo is the quarry on Cascade street and the clock tower of Paddington Town Hall. 

The link to the government archives for the photos are here and here so you can download and zoom in to see Cambridge street a little better.

White City

At the bottom of Cambridge street you can see the back of the White City tennis complex.  Tennis has been played here since 1922.  Before the NSW Lawn Tennis Association moved in there was an altogether different White City here.  An amusement park.  Apparently "White City" was a style of amusement park common throughout the US, UK and Australia at the turn of the 20th century.  The enterprising chaps at the NSWLTA figured the park had done enough advertising so they kept the name when they took out the roller coaster and put the courts in.

The National Library of Australia has a pretty good digital collection of White City postcards from the time (link here), a selection of which I have posted above and below.  The scenic railway shots show some houses in the background but to my eye they aren't detailed enough to make out the corresponding streets. 

White City ran from 1913 to 1917 when the site was wrecked by a freak storm.  It had canals, a lake, fountains, a Japanese village, roller-skating, rides, high-wire artists, brass bands and side show.  Apparently the original White City carousel is now at Melbourne's Luna Park.