Rozelle
Background
Originally inhabited by the Wangal people, Rozelle was part of 500 acres granted to William Balmain, the colony’s principal surgeon in 1800. Road transport was limited until the toll bridge from Glebe Island to Pyrmont was built in 1857. The Postmaster-General declared Rozelle as the new name for Balmain West post office in 1892.
After a coffee kickstart at The Old Rosebud, we met our wonderful guide, Hall Greenland, to explore Callan Park, a major part of Rozelle.
Callan Park
Initially purchased by Crown Solicitor and Police Magistrate John Brenan in 1839 and named the Garry Owen estate and residence. Apparently Garryowen means ‘St John’s acre’ in Irish and was also an Irish melody. Bankruptcy in 1864 forced him to sell to John Gordon, a businessman who renamed the property Callan Park, after Callan river in Ireland. He subdivided the land in readiness for auction in 1873. The Sir Henry Parkes Government bought the whole site for a new humane ‘lunatic asylum’, with the Colonial Architect James Barnett collaborating with Dr Frederick Manning, Inspector of the Insane, to create the hospital in Garry Owen house and add a cricket pitch, farm, orchard and zoo to house 666 patients (over a 1000 patients resided there in later times). The site is 61 acres, ‘a third of the size of Centennial Park and three times as beautiful’ (Hall Greenland).
An added attraction of the site was patients could be transferred via water as ‘Mentally Ill people were not allowed on the King’s Highway’.
Our first stop was the sports field near Balmain Rd. At a cricket match in Callan Park in 1932, Donald Bradman (who scored 143 runs) broke two windows of a house across the road. In one "mighty stroke" he sent the ball sailing over a high fence, crashing through one window and rebounding through the other. Legend says the indignant householder confiscated the ball and refused to return it until they received an autograph or "when the damage is paid for".
The Kirkbride Complex (named for Dr Thomas Kirkbride, considered to be the father of the modern American practice of psychiatry throughout the 19th century) held
We head back to Botany Rd via Reserve St with its bustling newsagent and pass two clothing outlets, Industrie and Assembly. No one is shopping but they’re both air conditioned!
Around the corner to Collins St and into Beaconsfield Park, which was officially opened in 1938. The boundaries were defined by an ornamental stone fence and entrance. Part of the area was devoted to a children’s playground equipped with swings and ‘other pleasing devices’. A tennis court was constructed and the design completed by the planting of shade trees and the installation of garden seats and toilets. A number of the trees are old Moreton Bay figs and provide great shade.
On to O’Riordan St for a wander through the Australian Meat Emporium, Sydney’s largest fresh meat market, taken over by the Greenhalgh family in 2019. You can grab a jacket and experience Sydney’s largest walk-in cool room where you’ll find all cuts of meat. Super cold and such a range of meat, carnivore heaven. In the same complex, we had a quick visit to the Beer Bar, with 42 beers on tap. They support independent Australian breweries and change the beers every month - what a find! Finally the Liquor Emporium, an independent and family owned bottle shop in the same complex. Nothing better than one stop shopping!
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It’s freezing inside
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Yes, 42 of them!
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Welcome to The Beer Bar
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The inviting Beer Bar
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The Liquor Emporium
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The Meat Emporium
Into Bourke Rd, past Perry Park, home of the Alexandria Basketball Stadium, named after Alderman Arthur Reginald Horatio Perry JP who was Mayor of Alexandria in the 1930s. It was originally a garbage tip until 1957. In 1967 the basketball courts were built. Finally, off to lunch at The William Angliss Institute.
References
https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/rozelle#:~:text=As%20remnants%20of%20Aboriginal%20middens,Balmain%20peninsula%20west%20to%20Auburn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozelle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garryowen_(air)
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/in-the-herald-january-20-1977-20170117-gtsuzb.html
