Jeffrey Street
Jeffrey Street or Jeffreys Street is a street located in Kirribilli, famous for being one of the most popular vantage points for views of the city skyline of Sydney, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. The street is located on the Lower North Shore of Sydney Harbour, directly across the harbour from Circular Quay and is a popular destination for tourists, particularly on Australia Day and New Year's Eve. The street leads uphill from the harbour in a northerly direction to the small shopping village of Kirribilli.
For many years the area was called the North Shore and the original land grant changed hands a number of times. Over the past 200 years the area has also been called Huntershill, St Leonards, North Sydney, "Kiarabilli", Milsons Point and "Kirribilli Point". The modern spelling Kirribilli was first used in 1853 and the use of Kirribilli as a locality is more recent.
There are 19 listed heritage properties along the street, one of the highest concentrations of listed heritage properties in Australia. All but one of the original structures on the east side of the street have been demolished, only "Wyalla" remains. But the west side of Jeffrey Street is notable because it contains a row of 17 terrace houses that have remained virtually unchanged for over 100 years. This is the longest row remaining on Sydney's North Shore and the second longest row in Australia. Most of the other terrace houses in the area were demolished in order to construct the approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
North Sydney Council favours the spelling of the street as "Jeffreys" as this correctly renders the surname of a 19th-century local landowner, Arthur Jeffreys. However, a Thomas Jeffrey was also a prominent early Kirribilli resident and the Wharf bears his name. Furthermore, some records report that a John Jeffreys was an early resident. Almost all historical references refer to Jeffrey Street so the provenance or derivation of the street name is uncertain.
On 16 December 2011 the NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure gazetted an amendment to the North Sydney Council Local Environmental Plan which established a heritage conservation area called the Jeffreys Street Conservation Area.
View and crowds
The view from Jeffrey Street is known to most Australians; indeed, it is well known internationally. The national Australian television station uses Jeffrey Street on an almost daily basis as their camera location or backdrop for the evening news bulletins. Thus, the view from Jeffrey Street is instantly recognisable to millions of people. Because Jeffrey Street is immediately across the harbour from the city, many Sydney-based professional photographers showcase photographs of the city that they have taken from the street.The lookouts adjacent to Jeffrey Street are popular tourist destinations. The size of the crowds that often gather here to watch celebrations on the harbour now necessitates strong police and security presence.
Jeffrey Street is also a celebrated location for weddings and wedding photographs. Ted Mack, at the time an Independent MP and formerly Mayor of North Sydney, was quoted as saying that it is one of the most important locations in Sydney.
History of Jeffrey or Jeffreys Street, Kirribilli
Pre-European history
The Aboriginal tribe "Cammeraygal" lived in the Kirribilli and Milson's Point area.The area was a fertile fishing ground and the name "Kirribilli" is the Aboriginal word for "good fishing spot".
Early European history
Samuel Lightfoot
Kirribilli was settled early in the history of the colony. One of the first records of land being granted on the "North Shore" was of on the "North side of the Harbour of Port Jackson opposite Sydney Cove" on 20 February 1794 to a convict, Samuel Lightfoot, whose sentence had expired.Lightfoot was born in about 1763 and was in his mid-twenties when he was transported to Australia for seven years for stealing clothing. He arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 on. The Colonial Secretary records that the land grant was cancelled and given to Robert Ryan in 1800 with no mention of the intermediate sale to Muir.
After serving his sentence, Lightfoot did not stay in Kirribilli for long. He returned to England soon after his sentence expired and petitioned to be allowed to return with his wife, who however appears not to have sailed. Lightfoot subsequently returned to Australia on as a free settler, participating in the effort to establish a settlement at Port Phillip, near the modern city of Melbourne. When the settlement was abandoned, Lightfoot travelled on from Port Phillip, arriving in Tasmania in 1804. Lieutenant-Governor David Collins subsequently appointed Lightfoot supervisor of the hospital in Hobart Town. Lightfoot died in 1818 aged 65.
There is no other known record of Lightfoot's time in Kirribilli. Nor is the exact location of the land grant known. The size of the grant of corresponds to an area of approximately one quarter the area of the Kirribilli peninsula but boundaries on early maps do not correspond to a grant of this size. The area of Jeffrey Street was probably the most attractive area, being a fertile alluvial area leading to a small beach near the current wharf at Jeffrey Street. Thomas Muir and James Milson subsequently farmed in this general vicinity, but whether their farms included the area of Lightfoot's grant is uncertain.
Thomas Muir
, a Scots Martyr accused of religious subversion, acquired Lightfoot's grant in 1794, the same year in which he arrived in the colony. Muir stated in letters that he purchased a "small hut and several acres of land", and accounts indicate that the land was located in the immediate vicinity of Jeffrey Street.Muir's life is well documented in several books but there is little information about his home in on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour. The accounts vary:
- Most accounts state that the hut was "on the opposite side of the bay" to the early settlement.
- A modern source states that his hut was located on Milsons Point, which is very close to Jeffrey Street.
- A little farm across the water.
Some sources allege that Muir purchased the land illegally. The reason for the allegation is that the Colonial Secretary's records have no record of the sale transaction; the record notes simply that the land grant passed from Lightfoot to Ryan. However, it is likely that Muir, who had studied law at Edinburgh University and had passed his bar examinations in 1787 at the age of 22, had arranged a private contract for the sale of the land. If so, this was almost certainly one of the first contracts for the sale of property in Australia.
Muir is recorded as having periodically lived in the area. He also owned a house at Sydney Cove. In 1794 he wrote to a friend in London and said that he had two houses, one here and " another two miles distant, at a farm across the water, which I purchased".
Muir called the area "Huntershill". The spelling as a single word appears on a number of early maps and books.
Muir escaped Australia in 1796, aboard an American ship. A good account of his escape from the colony appears in several books and Pierre François Péron chronicled Otters voyage across the Pacific. After Muir escaped, the government retracted the land grant and the land reverted to the government. Muir died in France two years later.
Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan was an Irish marine on the First Fleet assigned to guard the convicts on board the Prince of Wales, a 334-ton transport. Ryan established a relationship with Frances Williams, born circa 1760 in Wales. Williams first appeared before the courts in 1783 in Mold Wales accused of stealing clothing and cloth valued at 1 pound 17 shillings and 5 pence. Frances was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to 7 years transportation. Frances met Ryan on the Prince of Wales on the voyage to Australia.Soon after the establishment of the settlement at Port Jackson Frances gave birth to a daughter Sarah. It is known that early in 1790 the impending starvation at Sydney Cove led to the transportation of convicts and marines to Norfolk Island. Williams and Ryan arrived in Norfolk Island in March 1790 on board.
In January 1792 Robert Ryan received a discharge from the New South Wales Marine Corps and a land grant of located at Mount Pitt Valley, Queenborough Norfolk Island. Frances Williams gave birth to daughter Jane in August 1793. Some sources state that Convict John Cropper is thought to be the father.
The 1794 victualling List for Norfolk Island records Frances Williams and 2 children being supported by Robert Ryan. Later in 1794 Robert Ryan abandoned the land and returned to Sydney. He enlisted in the New South Wales Corps, later returning to Norfolk Island with a contingent of soldiers. In December 1796 a son James was born. No name for the father was given. After Robert Ryan left the Island records state that the Norfolk Island community cared for the children. The children eventually moved to Tasmania.
Back in Sydney in 1800, the 30 acres of Lightfoot's Grant was cancelled and included in a 120-acre grant to Ryan for his service in the marines and the NSW Corps. The corresponding entry in the Register of Land Grants states Cancelled, and a New Grant given to Robert Ryan for 90 acres in addition to this Allotment, by Governor Hunter. See the third Register, Folio 37. This grant surrounded what is now Jeffrey Street and later maps referred.
It is reported that Ryan knew nothing about farming so the land was sold to Robert Campbell in about 1806. Other reliable accounts state that the land was sold to Charles Grimes, the Surveyor General who then quickly on-sold to Campbell.