Middle Cove is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

on the Lower North Shore of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

9 kilometres north of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the

City of Willoughby The City of Willoughby is a Local government in Australia, local government area on the North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located north of the Sydney central business d ...

. Middle Cove is bounded to the north, east and south by Middle Harbour and to the west by Eastern Valley Way. Middle Cove shares its postcode, 2068, with the surrounding suburbs of Castlecrag and Willoughby North. In 2016 Middle Cove was ranked in the top 30 of Sydney's most liveable suburbs.

History

Middle Cove takes its name from its location between two

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

s, Castle Cove and Crag Cove. The suburb was undeveloped bushland until 1957 when Dick Dusseldorp bought most of the land from the NSW government and subdivided Middle Cove as we know it today. Dusseldorp was the founder and the largest share holder of Lend Lease, GPT and MLC. The Dusseldorps lived in Middle Cove until the patriarch death in 2000, the house which Dusseldorp built in Middle Cove is one of the top five house designs in Australia: it is based on Frank Lloyd Wright's inspirational honeycomb house design and is a good example of Organic Architecture. More recently, record prices have been seen for properties within Middle Cove which have sought to take advantage of its unique location and vista by combining it with exemplary architectural design. Examples include the Glynn Nicholls (son of Eric Nicholls who was a partner of the renowned Walter Burley Griffin) designed house along The Quarterdeck and architect James Pedersen's designed house on Highland Ridge Road. The latter set a new price record for the suburb in 2016 when it sold for more than A$4.3 million.New Middle Cove price record
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Aboriginal culture

Before European settlement, this area was populated by the Aboriginal tribe

Cammeraygal The Cammeraygal, variously spelled as Cam-mer-ray-gal, Gamaraigal, Kameraigal, Cameragal and several other variations, are one clan of the 29 Darug tribes who are united by a Australian Aboriginal languages, common language, strong ties of kins ...

, which lends its name to the nearby suburb of

Cammeray Cammeray is a residential suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Northern Sydney and is part of the North Sydney Council local government area. History Aboriginal culture Cammeray takes its name from the Cammeraygal people, an Aboriginal ...

. Governor Phillip in a dispatch of 1790 reported: "...About the north-west part of this harbour there is a tribe which is mentioned as being very powerful, either from their numbers or the abilities of their chief. This district is called Cammerra, the head of the tribe is named Cammerragal, by which name the men of that tribe are distinguished. Of these Bands, we know more about the Cammeraygals. They are recorded as being a very powerful people and by far the most numerous. They were also the most robust and muscular and had the extraordinary privilege of extracting a tooth from the natives of other Bands and Tribes inhabiting the sea-coast."

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 1,327 people in Middle Cove. 63.1% of people were born in Australia and 76.7% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 43.0%, Catholic 24.9%, Anglican 13.6% and Buddhism 2.1%.

Commercial area

Middle Cove has a small shopping centre on Eastern Valley Way that features small businesses. however Middle Cove's proximity to Chatswood, makes the suburb one of the best serviced suburbs in

Parks

Harold Reid Reserve is a large park overlooking Sugarloaf Bay, and brings many visitors to the area. It is named in honour of Harold J. Reid (1896-1984), a town clerk for the Municipality of Willoughby for over 50 years. The park includes lookouts, walking trails and picnic facilities. It has also been declared a protected area for wildlife, which includes goannas, sugar gliders, buff-banded rails, swamp wallabies, snakes and eastern spinebills.

Transport

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The origins of Busw ...

and

CDC NSW CDC NSW is a bus operator in New South Wales, Australia. It is an umbrella brand of ComfortDelGro Australia established in 2017 to cover the latter's New South Wales operations, some of which had been owned by ComfortDelGro since 2005. It was sub ...

provides bus services which run along Eastern Valley Way. Busways Bus routes 206 (via freeway, peak hour only), 207 and 208 (via Northbridge) operate via Castlecrag and

to Gresham Street bus stop in the

. Peak hour bus route 209 run along the same route to

Milsons Point Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located three kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney. Milsons Point is also the geo ...

via Miller Street. Limited bus service 275 goes to

Chatswood railway station Chatswood railway station is a rapid transit and suburban railway station located in the City of Willoughby suburb of Chatswood. It is served by Sydney Trains services; the T1 North Shore & Western Line and the T9 Northern Line, and Sydney ...

which is on the North Shore line. CDC NSW Route 194 provides all day services to

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-19th-century building located at 429–481 George Street, Sydney, George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. D ...

via Northbridge Junction and

Warringah Freeway Warringah Freeway is a divided freeway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. The primary function of the freeway is to provide an alternative high-grade route from the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and B ...

Gallery

Image:1Kookabura1.JPG, Kookaburra in North Arm Road Image:1CastleCove2.JPG, View of Innisfail Castle from North Arm Road Image:1SugarloafBay3.JPG, Sugarloaf Bay seen from Harold Reid Reserve

References

External links

Castle Cove/Middle Cove, Willoughby City Council
– community profile {{Sydney Willoughby suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Willoughby