Throw in former NSW governors Bligh,Hunter,King,Phillip and – naturally – Macquarie,and the map is a who’s who of early Sydney. Even Macquarie’s wife,Elizabeth,received her own thoroughfare (no,it’s not named after the queen).
As time went on,some street names came to give clues as to what was – or used to be – in the area. In inner-city Chippendale for example,Rose,Myrtle,Vine and Pine streets stand on the site of the Darling Nursery,a patch of green established to beautify the odorous area in the 1820s but subdivided by the 1880s.
A hundred years later and 40 kilometres west,the residential development of the former Penfolds Wines vineyard at Minchinbury led to more than a dozen viticultural rues in the suburb’s new streets,including Pinot Place and Barossa Drive.
But in some pockets of Sydney,the names have more curious histories. Here are the stories behind four suburbs’ themed neighbourhoods.
Castlecrag’s fortitude
The road to Castlecrag,on Sydney’s lower north shore,is flanked by two gothic sandstone towers on either side of an arch bridge,complete with turrets.
The Willoughby suburb leans heavily on its fortress theme – the residential streets have been named after parts of a medieval fortified castle.
Castlecrag resident Frankie Nicklin,with Roman Ellis,1,says the castle-themed Long Gully Bridge is charming.Dion Georgopoulos
Frankie Nicklin and her partner were captivated by the old-world charm of the suburb and moved into the area in 2022 preparing for the birth of their son Roman Ellis,who is now 18 months old.
“Driving here,it feels like you’re coming into a completely different space,” she said.
Nicklin said the medieval street names were not only “charming”,but made it easy to get around.
An aerial shot of the planned streets of Castlecrag.Nick Moir
“The names are very unique,so you remember them,” she said.
The fortified development was envisioned by US architect Walter Burley Griffin. While he’s best known for designing the nation’s capital,Griffin was reportedly on his arrival in Australia in 1913 after winning the Canberra design competition.
Castlecrag’s streets have castle-themed names.Dion Georgopoulos
In 1919,Griffin and his wife,architect Marion Mahony Griffin,founded the Greater Sydney Development Association. Two years later – as the state government considered tenders for a long-stalled plan to construct a bridge from Dawes Point to Milsons Point – they purchased land in North Sydney,which they developed over two decades into the Castlecrag and Haven estates. That long-awaited bridge opened during the development.
Griffin chose both the suburb name Castlecrag – a towering cliff overlooking Middle Harbour – and the street names.
First,there was the Parapet and the Postern,both named in 1922. The Barbette,Barbican,Barricade,Bartizan,Bastion,Battlement,Bulwark,Citadel,Outpost,Palisade,Parapet,Postern,Rampart,Redoubt and – breath! – Scarp followed.
Rockdale:Sydney’s second CBD?
They have been known to confuse a tourist or two,who input what they assume is the address of their CBD hotel into a hire car’s GPS,only to find themselves deep in Sydney’s southern suburbs. But the George Street,Pitt Street,Market Street,King Street and Kent Street in Rockdale are no coincidence.
The streets were named by Thomas Saywell,who owned the land where the suburb now stands and sold it as the “Rockdale Township Estate” in 1884.
In his history of the suburb,former mayor Ron Rathbone wrote that in the same year,the first stage of the Illawarra Railway Line opened,connecting Hurstville to the city.
Market Street and Pitt Lane in Rockdale take inspiration from Sydney’s CBD.Janie Barrett
Saywell deliberately named the streets after central Sydney streets in the hope that Rockdale would also develop into a prominent commercial district with its new train station. There was also an Elizabeth and Park street,although these were later changed to Bestic and Bryan streets.
It should be noted that Rockdale’s copycat names are a different situation to the George,Pitt and Elizabeth streets which run through Redfern. Those were,historically,continuations of the same streets in the city centre. Not disrupted by the development of Central Station,Elizabeth Street still runs unbroken from Hunter Street opposite Chifley Square all the way south to Zetland.
The US presidents of Bonnet Bay
The small suburb of Bonnet Bay,between Como and Jannali in Sutherland,has a certain presidential feel.
Indeed,former US heads of state honoured with a roadway on the northern banks of the Woronora River include Washington (Drive),Wilson (Place),Johnson (Close),Coolidge (Crescent) and Jefferson (Crescent).
Former US presidents have inspired names around Bonnet Bay.Janie Barrett
According to local historian Colin Burgess’ text,The Bonnet Bay Story,the developer Parkes Development asked Sutherland Shire Council propose a naming pattern for the streets of a new subdivision in “west Jannali”. The decided theme was presidents of the US,starting with Lincoln Crescent.
There are no real details about why council chose US presidents,although you might speculate what was going on in world news at the time had something to do with it.
The creation of Bonnet Bay was proposed in early 1964,only a few months after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The four US presidents who have been assassinated – Kennedy,Lincoln,Garfield and McKinley – all received streets.
Seven Hills’ many mountains (and rivers,composers…)
Across the large north-west Sydney suburb of Seven Hills you may find yourself in no fewer than four themed neighbourhoods,not including its numbered First to Eighth avenues,named when former housing commission was subdivided in the 1950s.
In its north-east corner,there’s a pocket of composers:Beethoven,Brahms,Mozart and Chopin streets,among others. The suburb’s south-west is named for rivers (Amazon and Mississippi roads,Thames Place,Hudson Street,Limpopo Crescent),lakes (Erie Place,Michigan Road) and a range of mountains (if you turn off Vesuvius Street at Everest Street,you can find the entrance to Himalaya Crescent).
What inspired such cohesive names? Alas,there’s no great story here. According to Blacktown Council records,the different districts of Seven Hills were all just named by their developers in the 1960s and 1970s.
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