Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cial affairs. The present portico
dates from 1893. The interior
is furnished to reflect Macleay's
occupancy from 1839-45, and
is based on inventories drawn
up in 1845 for the transfer of
the house to Macleay's son,
William Sharp. He took the
house in return for payment
of his father's debts, leading
to a rift never to be resolved.
Macleay's original 22-hectare
(54-acre) land grant was sub-
divided for flats and villas
from the 1880s to 1927. In the
1940s, the house itself was
divided into 15 flats. In 1942,
the artist Donald Friend, while
standing on the balcony of
his flat - the former morning
room - saw the ferry
Kuttabul
hit by a torpedo from a
Japanese midget submarine.
The house was restored and
opened as a museum in 1977.
El Alamein Fountain, commemorating the World War II battle
El Alamein
Fountain
1
Fitzroy Gardens, Macleay St, Potts
Point.
Map
2 E5.
@
311.
development. Juanita Nielsen,
publisher of a local newspaper
and heiress, vigorously took
up the conservation battle. On
4 July 1975, she disappeared
without trace. A subsequent
inquest into her disappearance
returned an open verdict.
As a result of the actions of
the union and residents, most
of Victoria Street's superb old
buildings still stand. Ironically,
they are now occupied not by
the low-income residents who
fought to save them, but by
the well-off professionals who
eventually displaced them.
This dandelion of a fountain
in the heart of the Kings
Cross district has a reputation
for working so spasmodically
that passers-by often murmur
facetiously, “He loves me, he
loves me not.” Built in 1961, it
commemorates the Australian
army's role in the siege of
Tobruk, Libya, and the battle
of El Alamein in Egypt during
World War II. At night, when
it is brilliantly lit, the fountain
looks surprisingly ethereal.
Elizabeth Bay
House
3
7 Onslow Ave, Elizabeth Bay.
Map
2 F5.
Tel
9356 3022.
@
Sydney
Explorer, 311.
#
9:30am-4pm Fri-
Sun.
¢
Good Fri, 25 Dec.
&
6
www
.hht.net.au/museums
Victoria Street
2
Potts Point.
Map
5 B2.
@
311,
324, 325.
The sweeping staircase under the
oval dome, Elizabeth Bay House
At the Potts Point end, this
street of 19th-century ter-
race houses, interspersed with
a few incongruous-
looking high-rise
blocks, is, by inner-city
standards, almost a
boulevard. This gracious
street was once at the
centre of a bitter
conservation struggle,
one which almost
certainly cost a
prominent heritage
campaigner's life.
In the early 1970s,
many residents, backed
by the “green bans”
(see
p31)
put in place by the
Builders' Labourers' Federation
of New South Wales, fought
to prevent demolition of old
buildings for high-rise
Elizabeth Bay House
(see
pp24-5)
contains the finest
colonial interior on display in
Australia. It is a potent
expression of how the
1840s depression cut
short the 1830s' prosper-
ous optimism. Designed in
the fashionable Greek
Revival style by
John Verge, it was
built for Colonial
Secretary Alexander
Macleay, from
1835-9. The domed
oval saloon with its
cantilevered staircase is
recognized as Verge's
masterpiece. The exterior
is less satisfactory, as the
intended colonnade and por-
tico were not finished owing
to a crisis in Macleay's finan-
Beare Park
4
Ithaca Rd, Elizabeth Bay.
Map
2 F5.
@
311, 350.
Originally a part of the
Macleay Estate, Beare Park is
now encircled by a jumble of
apartment blocks. A refuge
from hectic Kings Cross, it is
one of only a handful of parks
serving a densely populated
area. In the shape of a natural
amphitheatre, the park puts
Elizabeth Bay on glorious view.
The family home of JC
Williamson, a famous theatrical
entrepreneur who came to
Australia from America in the
1870s, formerly stood at the
eastern extremity of the park.
Juanita
Nielsen
