Harrington Park, New South Wales
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Harrington Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
History source: [1] The history of Harrington Park is almost as old as the colony itself.
As early at 1788, four cows and two bulls strayed from a Government Farm at Rosehill and were later found in a rich expanse of lush land.
Governor Hunter surveyed the region in 1795 and appropriately named it Cowpastures. The region was declared a Government reserve.
In 1815, 2000 acres were granted to trader Captain William Douglas Campbell as compensation for the loss of his brig Harrington which was captured by convicts off the Philippines and destroyed in crossfire.
This land was named Harrington Park in remembrance of the brig.
When Captain Campbell died in 1827, he left Harrington Park to his two nephews, Murdock and John from Scotland, both of whom worked on the land.
In 1833, young Murdock was tragically shot on the property by bushranger James Lockhardt.
Abraham Davy bought Harrington Park from James Rofe in June 1853 for 2000 pounds. The property was sold by Jane Davy in 1875, after the death of her husband and eldest son, Daniel in 1874. There are interesting photos of Harrington Park and the family taken in 1871 in descendants possession.
While the Davys lived at Harrington Park it was frequently visited by Quakers from around the world, and a sketch from 1854 by Frederick Mackie (a visiting Quaker) is in the Nan Kivell collection in Canberra (National Library).
Harrington Park was then leased for several years before being sold to Mr Abraham Davy in the 1859s, who later sold the property to Mr. and Mrs. William Rudd in 1875.
After Mrs. Rudd's death in 1902, their grandson, William Britton and his sister Mrs. Dunlop took control of the estate. They then sold the property in the 1920s as a dairy farm to the Giddins family who in turn sold it to Mr Arthur Swan.
It was in 1944 that Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax (at that time Director of John Fairfax Ltd) bought Harrington Park and the adjacent property (which was land granted to Lieutenant Edward Lord on June 10 1815) from Mr Swan.
Sir Warwick Fairfax carried out renovations and additions to the homestead and set up a nursery in the 1950's specialising in camellias, roses and imported flowers.
Until 1976, Sir Warwick ran a Poll Hereford stud where he bred many show winning champions.
Sir Warwick spent much time at Harrington Park with his family and dogs.
It was a place where he enjoyed writing, country walks, picnics and devoting time to his family.
The Harrington Park property is still owned by the Fairfax family.
[edit] External links
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- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
| Suburbs and localities within Camden Council | South-western Sydney | Sydney |
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Bickley Vale | Camden | Camden South | Catherine Field | Cobbitty | Currans Hill | Elderslie | Ellis Lane | Grasmere | Harrington Park | Kirkham | Leppington | Mount Annan | Narellan | Narellan Vale | Oran Park | Smeaton Grange | Spring Farm |
| List of Sydney suburbs |
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