Freshwater 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 ...

of northern

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 ...

. Freshwater is located north-east 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 ...

Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the a ...

and is part of the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

region.

History

Aboriginal culture

The area was once fished and utilised by overlapping clans of the Garigal people to the north and the Gayamaygal to the south, and evidence of their habitation remains today in the form of the

indigenous Australian art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving, rock ...

such as rock engravings, open campsites, and rock shelters.

European settlement

The first Crown grant of land in the area was to Thomas Bruin on 27 September 1815, and consisted of directly opposite the beach. The Manly Land Company subdivided and named the property Freshwater Estate in December 1884. In 1886 W M Gordon surveyed the subdivision named Harbord Estate. The land, divided into two sections, north and south of

Curl Curl Curl Curl is a suburb of northern Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It is part of the ...

Lagoon (now named Manly Lagoon) was offered for sale in August 1886.

History of the suburb name

The Harbord Estate was named to honor the wife of New South Wales Governor

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...

(gov. 1885–90). Before her marriage, Lady Carrington was the Honorable Cecilia Margaret Harbord. For many years, the beach and the district behind it was known as Freshwater which was probably named after the stream of fresh water that ran down to the beach (now Oceanview Road). However, some time after the naming of Harbord Estate, a number of residents began to believe that the holiday image of Freshwater should be upgraded by a name change to Harbord. The change of name attracted much controversy and debate and occasionally became quite heated. When the first local district school was built in 1912, a petition was sent to the Minister of Education requesting it should be called Harbord Public School. The Minister declined and officially opened the school as Freshwater Public School. Pressure was then directed towards renaming the post office. The

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government officia ...

finally accepted the views of those who wanted a residential image and Freshwater officially became Harbord on 1 September 1923.''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia . ''Freshwater Bay'' Post Office opened on 20 April 1909 and was renamed ''Freshwater'' in 1912. In 2003 the Harbord Chamber of Commerce submitted a request to

Warringah Council Warringah Council was a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the W ...

to support an application to the

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or stat ...

to rename the suburb of Harbord to Freshwater. In public consultation 774 voted in favour and 161 voted against with the results recorded in council minutes on 8 March 2005. The suburb of Harbord was officially named Freshwater on 12 January 2008.

Council

Along with all the suburbs of the Northern Beaches, Freshwater became part of the

on 12 May 2016. This followed the amalgamation of Manly,

Pittwater Pittwater is a semi-mature tide dominated Ria, drowned valley estuary, located about north of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separate greater Metropolitan Sydney from th ...

and

Warringah Warringah ( ) is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: * Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 * E ...

Councils.

Australian home of surfing

In December 1914,

Duke Kahanamoku Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was a Hawaiian competition swimmer, lifeguard, and popularizer of the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born three years before the overthrow of the ...

, the world sprint swimming champion, was touring

. He selected timber from a

firm to fashion a board modelled on those used in his native

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and gave a demonstration to the press of surf board riding at Freshwater Beach on Thursday 24 December. It was the second recorded time that anyone had surfed the clean waves beyond the break in Australian waters using this Hawaiian-style surfing technique. The first known surf board rider was Manly local Tommy Walker who rode a board at the 1912 Freshwater surf carnival. Dukes_Day_2015_surfboard

It was so popular that a second spur of the moment demonstration was given on a Sunday in January 1915 at Dee Why beach. Duke topped the performance by taking a local young girl, Isabel Letham on the board with him to surf the waves. Isabel went on to become a pioneer of Australian surfing. The board has been kept on display in the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club since 1952. There is now a statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku on the headland at Freshwater. The statue was sculpted by artist Barry Donohoo, one of the last works by the artist before his death. In 2012,

in partnership with Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club signed a Goodwill Beach City Agreement with the coastal community of Waikiki in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. The ceremony came as part of an annual celebration of

, who introduced surfing to Australia at Freshwater beach in 1915. The signing by Warringah Mayor, Michael Regan and Honolulu Mayor, Peter Carlisle was a celebration and strengthening of historic ties between the two regions.

Population

At the , there were 9,186 residents in Freshwater. 67.6% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 9.1%, New Zealand 2.2%, United States of America 1.7%, Brazil 1.4% and South Africa 1.2%. 84.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Spanish 1.8%, Portuguese 1.6%, Italian 1.1%, German 1.0% and French 1.0%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 50.3%, Catholic 22.8% and Anglican 12.5%. The median weekly household income of $2,726 was higher than the national median of $1,746. 53.1% of occupied private dwellings were flats or apartments, 41.7% were separate houses and 4.7% were semi-detached. The median monthly mortgage payment was $3,055.

Schools

Freshwater is home to 2 primary education schools. Harbord Public School caters for students from years K-6 was established in 1912 and St John the Baptist Catholic School. In neighbouring suburb

, Freshwater Senior Campus which is part of Northern Beaches Secondary College, caters for year 11 and 12 students.

Landmarks

Freshwater Beach is between

and Queenscliff and lies on the Manly to Curl Curl Beach walk. The Harbord Beach Hotel, which opened in 1928, is 200 metres from the beach and is known to locals as the "Harbord Hilton", due to its previous state of disrepair prior to renovations.Harbord Diggers
an RSL club, used to have bowling greens and views of the ocean, although recently was re-developed by the Mounties Group into a largely expensive over 55s seniors living complex with an RSL club underneath with limited views.

Twin/sister cities

Waikiki Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

References

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/manly-daily/gamble-breaux-from-rhom-reveals-sydney-summers-with-a-rhos/news-story/f1afe6c92b9726f22bf9ac1132848e51

External links

Harbord Diggers
{{Sydney Northern Beaches suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Beaches of New South Wales Northern Beaches Council