Pymble, New South Wales

Pymble
Sydney, New South Wales

Ku-ring-gai Town Hall, formerly the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Population 10,582 (2011 census)[1]
 • Density 1,625.5/km2 (4,210/sq mi)
Established 1823
Postcode(s) 2073
Area 6.51 km2 (2.5 sq mi)
Location 16 km (10 mi) north-west of Sydney CBD
LGA(s) Ku-ring-gai Council
Suburbs around Pymble:
Turramurra Turramurra St Ives
South Turramurra Pymble Gordon
South Turramurra West Pymble Gordon
Grave of James Selwyn Pymble (St John the Baptist Church, Gordon), a member of the pioneering Pymble family
Heritage-listed Sacred Heart Presbytery
Walter Burley Griffin home Coppins
Heritage-listed home Grandview
Macquarie Cottage

Pymble is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pymble is 16 kilometres (10 mi) north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council.[2]

West Pymble is a separate suburb, surrounded by Lane Cove National Park.

History

Based on settlers' accounts the land that came to be known as Pymble was traversed by, and at least periodically inhabited by, what was by that time the "remains" of the Cammeraigal clan or tribe of the Kuringai (also known as Guringai) Aborigines. The Cammeraigal had occupied the land between the Lane Cove River, Hawkesbury and east to the coast. They would travel from grounds at Cowan Creek to the Parramatta River via Pymble - passing west through the land where Pymble Ladies' College now stands, through the Lane Cove Valley and North Ryde.[3] En route they would reportedly hold corroborees at the current site of the Pymble Reservoir on Telegraph Rd and "camped on the hill...at the junction of Merrivale Rd and Selwyn St." [4] According to Robert Pymble II "the Aborigines had faded out by about 1856, mainly because of smallpox." [3]

Pymble is named after Robert Pymble (1776–1861), an influential early settler whose 1823 land grant comprised some 600 acres, around half the land of the region. The other half (plus a large part of St Ives) was granted to Daniel der Matthew's, another influential settler who established the first sawmill in the area.

The region was important to the early Sydney colony as a major supplier of timber for a wide variety of uses. The main timber varieties were blackbutt, stringybark, iron bark and blue gum. In later years it was also an important supplier of agricultural produce. It became widely known for the high quality of its produce and especially for its oranges which had been introduced to the area by Robert Pymble sometime around 1828 and which by later years were grown extensively throughout the region by numerous different growers following land sub-divisions.[5]

Eventually agriculture and small farming gave way to residential development with residential sub-divisions commencing around 1879. The first bank - the Australian Joint Stock Bank - was established in 1888 in a then prominent house known as Grandview built on Pymble Hill ca 1883 by the son of local hotelier Richard Porter.[6] Porter had opened the Gardener's Arms Hotel, also on Pymble Hill, in 1866. From this time the centre of commercial activity came to be at the top of the hill around the Pacific Highway and Bannockburn Road area, but with the railway station being located by necessity at the bottom of the hill development began to shift towards the new railway station at the foot of the hill. Pymble Post Office opened there on 6 August 1890.[7]

Today Pymble is a predominantly residential area with tree-lined streets, many substantial homes and gardens, numerous parks, nature reserves, and active pockets of commercial activity.

Landmarks

Prominent landmarks include Pymble Station and Pymble Hill (Pacific Highway). The station is the centre of transport, shopping and social activities whilst Pymble Hill affords a view of the distant Chatswood skyline.

Buildings

Significant buildings include:

Significant houses include:

Transport

Pymble railway station is on the Sydney Trains North Shore, Northern & Western Line.

Transdev NSW buses operate route 579 from Pymble Station (departing Grandview St) to East Turramurra (peak hours only) and route 560 from Gordon Station to West Pymble (half hourly service).

Route 575 also operates along the pacific highway past the train station (half hourly service). It goes to West Pymble & Macquarie southbound & to Turramurra & Hornsby northbound.

There is a taxi stand on the eastern side of the station in Grandview Street.

At the 2011 census, 24% of employed people travelled to work on public transport and 54% by car (either as driver or as passenger).[1]

Commercial areas

Schools

Parks and recreation

Places

Walter Cresswell O'Reilly lookout, Pacific Highway, Pymble.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, the suburb of Pymble recorded a population of 10,582. Of these:[1]

Notable residents

Past

Present

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Pymble (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  2. Gregory's Sydney Street Directory (Gregory's Publishing Company) 2007
  3. 1 2 North Shore Sydney, Les Thorne, pg 39
  4. Ku-ring-gai Oral Histories, reprinted in "Focus on Ku-ring-gai", pg 13 "The Ku-ring-gai Tribe" by Dr J Kohen
  5. 1 2 3 "Pymble" by Zany Edwards, 2010: http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/pymble
  6. "Old Pymble Town" by Max Farley, Ku-ring-ai Historical Society Newsletter, June 2009, pg. 4
  7. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  8. State Heritage Website
  9. The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.2/33
  10. State Heritage Website
  11. State Heritage Website
  12. The Heritage of Australia, p.2/33
  13. State Heritage Website
  14. State Heritage Website
  15. State Heritage Register
  16. NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage website: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0424
  17. Ku-ring-gai Council website: http://www.kmc.nsw.gov.au/www/html/1116-sheldon-forest-track.asp

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pymble, New South Wales.

Coordinates: 33°45′47″S 151°08′05″E / 33.76313°S 151.13481°E / -33.76313; 151.13481

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