Hunters Hill, New South Wales

Hunters Hill is a suburb of the lower north shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Hunter's Hill.

Hunters Hill is situated on a small peninsula that separates the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. It can be reached by bus or by ferry.

History

The area's Aboriginal name is 'Mookaboola' or 'Moocooboola', which means ''meeting of waters.

Hunters Hill was named after John Hunter, the second Governor of New South Wales, who was in office between 1795 and 1800.

The area that is now Hunters Hill was settled in 1835. One of the earliest settlers was Mary Reibey, the first female retailer in Sydney. She built a cottage—later known as Fig Tree House—on land that fronted the Lane Cove River; Reiby Street is named after her. During the 1840s, bushrangers and convicts who had escaped from the penal settlement on Cockatoo Island would take refuge in Hunters Hill.

Many of the suburb's early houses were built from the local sandstone. A number were built by Frenchman Didier Numa Joubert (1816–1881), who bought of land from Mary Reiby from 1847 and used seventy stonemasons from Italy to construct solid artistic houses. Hunters Hill was proclaimed as a municipality on 5 January 1861. The first Gladesville Bridge constructed in 1881 linked the area to Drummoyne and the southern side of the Parramatta River.

In the early 20th century, there was an industrial area in Hunters Hill. One of the industries was a radium and uranium refinery operating from 1911 to 1915. The concentrated ore was transported over from Radium Hill in South Australia, 100 km west of Broken Hill. At the time, uranium was considered a byproduct, but very small quantities of radium (which had been discovered in 1898) were very valuable. The refinery could produce about 5 milligrammes of radium bromide from a ton of ore, worth £20 per milligramme in 1912. The area is now residential, Nelson Parade, and demands to remove it saw a plan developed to transport it to an old quarry area besides Badgerys Creek that was licensed to receive low level radioactive waste; however all such planning ceased as Badgerys Creek International Airport was decided upon to proceed.

Heritage listings

Hunters Hill has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* 38-40 Alexandra Street: Vienna, Hunters Hill
* 12 Crescent Street: Milthorpe, Hunters Hill
* 14 Crescent Street: Hestock
* Ferry Street: The Garibaldi
* Nelson Parade: Kellys Bush Park
* 46 Ryde Road: Marika, Hunters Hill
* 2 Yerton Avenue: '' The Chalet''

In addition, the following buildings are heritage-listed:


* Public School including Eulbertie, Alexandra Street
* Post Office, Alexandra Street
* Town Hall, Alexandra Street
* St Ives, Crescent Street
* Anglican Church of All Saints, corner Ferry and Ambrose Streets
* Kyarra, Madeline Street
* Fig Tree House, Reiby Road
* Clifton, Woolwich Road
* Waiwera, Woolwich Road
* St Claire, Wybalena Road
* Woolwich Dock, Franki Avenue, Woolwich

Houses

Hunters Hill has an area of including some of parks and reserves. Developments are mostly residential.

Hunters Hill has a number of heritage-listed buildings and is positioned near the confluence of the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, as well as the headwaters of Sydney Harbour, which provides river and harbour views. Previously having a number of residents of French extraction, it was known as the "French Village" and shares a friendship with a sister city near Paris, Le Vésinet.

Population

Demographics

In the 2016 census of Population and Housing, the population of Hunters Hill stood at 9,528 people. 69.1% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 4.0%, China 2.7%, New Zealand 1.4%, South Africa 1.2% and Italy 1.2%. The most common ancestries were English 22.7%, Australian 20.3%, Irish 11.2%, Scottish 6.8% and Chinese 5.3%. 76.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 3.0%, Italian 1.9%, Cantonese 1.8% and Greek 1.7%. The top responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 37.4%, No Religion 23.1% and Anglican 13.7%.

The median household weekly income was high at $2,700. Monthly mortgage payments were also high, with a median of $3,500 compared with the national figure of $1,755. According to the Australian Taxation Office statistics for the financial year of 2016-2017, the postcode of 2110 (Hunters Hill & Woolwich) had an average taxable income of $156,069 making it the 10th wealthiest suburb in Australia.

Notable residents

* Halse Rogers Arnott, chairman of Arnott's
* Henry Budden, architect
* Cate Blanchett, actress; and spouse, Andrew Upton, writer
* Stanley Gibbs, shipping clerk and George Cross recipient
* Delta Goodrem, singer and actress
* Hugh Hipwell, filthiest human being award winner 2019
* Kristina Keneally, politician
* Ben Keneally, politician
* Brian McFadden, singer
* Eddie Obeid, a former Labor politician
* Ann Sanders, journalist
* Gil Wahlquist, journalist and winemaker
* Lang Walker, property developer

Politics

Hunters Hill is in the federal electoral division of North Sydney. The former Treasurer of Australia Joe Hockey, held this seat from the 1996 federal election to 2015.

North Sydney is one of only two original divisions in New South Wales, along with Wentworth, which have never been held by the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

For NSW state elections, Hunters Hill is in the Electoral district of Lane Cove. As of 2003 this seat is held by Liberal MP Anthony Roberts, who was last re-elected in the 2007 state election.

Transport

Several bus routes run through Hunters Hill, consisting of:
*252: King Street Wharf to Gladesville via Pacific Highway
*505: Town Hall Station to Woolwich (peak only)
*506: The Domain to Macquarie University