Lane 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
In Australia, Lower North Shore refers to the affluent northern suburbs of Sydney adjoining Sydney Harbour. The three bodies of water that surround the Lower North Shore are Lane Cove River on its western border, Sydney Harbour on its south side, ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
. Lane Cove is nine kilometres north-west 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 ...
and is the administrative centre for 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
Lane Cove Council
The Lane Cove Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located on the North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The administrative seat of Lane Cove is located north-west of the Sydn ...
.
Lane Cove West
Lane Cove West is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove West is located nine kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Munici ...
and
Lane Cove North
Lane Cove North is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove North is located 11 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the Munici ...
are separate suburbs.
Lane Cove occupies a peninsula on the northern side of
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
(Sydney Harbour), at the opening of the
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...
. The regional administrative and shopping hub of
Chatswood is located three kilometres away, along with
Macquarie Park
Macquarie Park () is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Park is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government ...
four kilometres away.
History
There are a number of possibilities of the origin of the name 'Lane Cove'. The first written use of the name was by Lieutenant William Bradley after he had just sailed along the river in 1788. Some have argued that it was named after Lieutenant Michael Lane, a respected cartographer, who had once worked with
Captain Cook
Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...
. Others say that it was in honour of John Lane, who was the son of the London Lord Mayor at the time as well as a good friend of the first Governor,
Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...
. In any case, the name stuck, and by the 1800s was being used to refer to all the land north of the river.
Aboriginal culture
Prior to the arrival of the
First Fleet
The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...
, the area in which Lane Cove is situated was inhabited by the
Cam-mer-ray-gal Group of the
Ku-ring-gai Aboriginal Tribe. The group, which inhabited the north shore of
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
, was one of the largest in the Sydney area.
European settlement
Lieutenant
Ralph Clark
Lieutenant (navy), Lieutenant Ralph Clark (30 March 1755 or 1762 – June 1794) was a British officer in the Royal Marines, best known for his diary spanning the early years of History of Australia (1788–1850)#Colonisation, British settlement ...
was the first European to land, a short distance from the entrance to the Lane Cove River on 14 February 1790. There were land grants in 1794 to some privates and non-commissioned officers in the
New South Wales Corps
The New South Wales Corps, later known as the 102d Regiment of Foot, and lastly as the 100th Regiment of Foot, was a formation of the British Army organised in 1789 in England to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied ...
, although few of these grants were actually settled as the steep, timbered land was not particularly habitable. However, Lane Cove was an excellent source for timber and other commodities that the settlers required. One early settler named William Henry (1778-1862) was granted 1,000 acres in an area which now includes much Lane Cove National Park. The grant was never confirmed due to the
Rum Rebellion
The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a ''coup d'état'' in the British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, its name derives from the ...
and Henry was thrown off the land. It is suspected that
John MacArthur had schemed to ensure that William Henry suffered because he had supported
William Bligh
William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Muti ...
during the rebellion. During the 19th century, farms and dairies were also established. There were also many industrial and manufacturing factories constructed around Greenwich. A detailed history of the early years of Lane Cove is found in Ball. John and Pam, ''Revisiting the early history of Lane Cove'', 2010, Oughtershaw Press, . 253 pages.
Most of the residential growth in the area however occurred after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
when returning soldiers were granted blocks of land around Lane Cove. The land value, which was relatively cheap during this time, surged during the 1980s and 1990s when the water views, large suburban blocks, ease of transport and quiet streets became popular.
From 1900 to 1979, St Joseph's Girls' Home operated on the
Pacific Highway. About 3000 girls passed through it.
In 2005, Lane Cove briefly caught the attention of the world's press when part of an apartment block (which is now classified as being in the new suburb of
Lane Cove North
Lane Cove North is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove North is located 11 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the Munici ...
) collapsed into an excavation for the
Lane Cove Tunnel
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by Transurban, It connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon and forms part of Sydney's ...
and a pet bird in the evacuated block was rescued by a robot.
Lane Cove North was split off to become a separate suburb on 20 January 2006.
Former tram line
A
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
service to Lane Cove opened as an electric line from
Crows Nest in February 1900, with trams connecting with other electric services at Ridge Street. It was initially opened as far as
Gore Hill
Gore Hill is an urban locality on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Gore Hill is located within the southern part of the suburb of Artarmon, and the north-west of the suburb of St Leonards.
History
It takes its ...
and extended to Lane Cove in March, 1909. Some through services operated to and from
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 ...
.
[D Keenan: ''The North Sydney lines of the Sydney tramway system''. Transit Press November 1987 ]
In September 1909, a new line was opened from
McMahons Point
McMahons Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. McMahons Point is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. ...
to Victoria Cross,
North Sydney
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council.
History
The Indigenous people on the s ...
and a new direct route was opened via what is now the Pacific Highway from Victoria Cross to Crows Nest. Services to Lane Cove and Chatswood were altered to operate to and from McMahons Point via the new direct route to Crows Nest, in conjunction with the construction of the
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...
.
In March, 1932 the Sydney Harbour Bridge with its associated railway and tramway tracks was opened and services from Lane Cove to the CBD were diverted to operate to and from
Wynyard station via the Sydney Harbour Bridge route. Trams entered Wynyard station via a tunnel entrance at the south-eastern pylon of the bridge.
From Lane Cove a cross regional service to
Balmoral was also available. Upon departure from the Lane Cove terminus opposite the council chambers, trams travelled north on Longueville Road turning right onto the Pacific Highway. At Crows Nest, separate lines branched left onto Falcon Street, travelling through
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 ...
,
Neutral Bay
Neutral Bay is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is around 1.5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.
Neutral Bay takes ...
, Cremorne Junction and
Mosman
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...
before joining
Military Road
A military road is a type of road built by an armed force
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily Weapon, armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and ma ...
. The line then split into two separate lines at the intersection of Middle Head Road and Bradleys Head Road. Turning left into Gordon Street off Middle Head Road, the line then entered on to its own off-road reservation, crossing several small residential streets as it wound its way down to Henry Plunkett Reserve, entering The Esplanade near the corner of Botanic Road and terminating near Hunters Parade.
Heritage listings
Lane Cove has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* 334 Burns Bay Road:
Carisbrook, Lane Cove
Carisbrook is a Heritage register, heritage-listed former private residence and now house and local history museum at 334 Burns Bay Road, Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia. It was built during 1884. The property is owned by Lane Cove Council.
Hist ...
Commercial area

Although Lane Cove contains residential, it contains some commercial and industrial.
Lane Cove has a shopping centre that includes a pedestrian
plaza
A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...
at the eastern end of Burns Bay Road, where it meets Longueville Road. There is a
Coles supermarket, a
Woolworths supermarket, a
Harris Farm, a pub and a number of small specialty stores in this area, as well as a large number of restaurants and cafes. At the end of Longueville Road is the Lane Cove Businessman's Club which is the only local Club in the Area.
Several large businesses are located in Lane Cove including the Australian headquarters of statistical software company
SAS, the recording house for
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
,
Festival Mushroom Records
A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...
, as well as
BlueScope
BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002.
History
BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueS ...
's marketing branch in Lane Cove West.
Lane Cove Library

Lane Cove Library is located at Library Walk, Lane Cove. The library received a major update with an extension/refurbishment which increased Library space from 1,203 sq m to 3,301 sq m - exceeding state benchmarks.
Greenwich Library
A small Branch Library is located at Greenwich.
Lane Cove Aquatic Leisure Centre
Lane Cove Aquatic Leisure Centre contains a 50-metre swimming pool, a 25-metre swimming pool, a shallow pool for toddlers and young children and a well-equipped gym. There are also water springs, a sauna, spa and a kiosk.
Transport
The
Gore Hill Freeway
Gore Hill Freeway is a divided freeway located in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network and Highway 1. The primary function of the freeway is to provide an alternative high-grade route from Lane Cove to and to r ...
, which brings traffic from the city, the airport and southern suburbs connects to two major roads at Lane Cove - the
Pacific Highway which travels north and
Epping Road
Epping Road is a is a major arterial road linking the lower North Shore and Sydney central business district to the north western suburbs of the upper North Shore and Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, being a major access ...
which goes north-west. The traffic problems at these intersections led to the construction of the
Lane Cove Tunnel
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by Transurban, It connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon and forms part of Sydney's ...
, which takes vehicles straight from the Gore Hill Expressway to the
M2. Cars can now travel from the
Baulkham Hills Shire to the
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
without having to pass a single set of traffic lights (although there are tolls to pay in each direction). Since the opening of the
Lane Cove Tunnel
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by Transurban, It connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon and forms part of Sydney's ...
, two lanes of Epping Road between Mowbray Road and Lane Cove have been removed, with the left lane in each direction becoming a bus lane, reducing Epping Road in some sections to one lane in each direction for general traffic and increasing congestion. Getting in and out of Lane Cove can take 20 – 30 minutes in a car in peak hour.
Lane Cove was the terminus of one of Sydney's northern tram lines, which closed in the late 1950s. Trams operated to
Wynyard in the city and
Balmoral via
Crows Nest. The current 254 bus route largely follows the city route from Longueville Road to Wynyard via Crows Nest and
North Sydney
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council.
History
The Indigenous people on the s ...
. A new major bus interchange constructed at the intersection of Epping Road and Longueville Road, as part of the Lane Cove tunnel works, opened in March 2008 with approximately 25 separate bus routes (including school routes) operating from here.
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 ...
operates services to
King Street Wharf
King Street Wharf is a mixed-use tourism, commercial, residential, retail and maritime development on the eastern shore of Darling Harbour, an inlet of Sydney Harbour, Australia. Located on the western side of the city's central business distri ...
,
McMahons Point
McMahons Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. McMahons Point is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. ...
,
Riverview,
Gladesville
Gladesville is a suburb in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 10 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde a ...
,
Epping and
Macquarie Centre
Macquarie Centre is a shopping centre in the suburb of Macquarie Park in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney and is located opposite the main campus of Macquarie University.
History 20th Century 1960s: purchase of land
In 1968, Grace Bro ...
.
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 ...
operate services to
Castle Hill,
Rouse Hill
Rouse Hill () is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rouse Hill is located in the Hills District, 43 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 19 kilometres north-west of the Parramatta cent ...
and the
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 ...
.
Transit Systems NSW
Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems.
History
In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport fo ...
operate services to
Chatswood and
Westfield Burwood
Westfield Burwood is a large shopping centre in Burwood, Sydney, Australia.
History
The original Westfield Burwood first opened on 11 October 1966 by Premier of New South Wales Robert Askin, and was one of the first shopping centres in Austr ...
.
A cyclepath has been constructed along the southern edge of Epping Road from the
Pacific Highway to the
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...
. This cyclepath links to the
Gore Hill Freeway
Gore Hill Freeway is a divided freeway located in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network and Highway 1. The primary function of the freeway is to provide an alternative high-grade route from Lane Cove to and to r ...
Cyclepath. Connecting cyclepaths allow cyclists to journey to
Chatswood,
North Sydney
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council.
History
The Indigenous people on the s ...
, Willoughby and the Macquarie Park area.
A
Captain Cook Cruises ferry
A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
service that travels someway down the
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...
, stops at
Longueville,
Northwood and
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
.
The nearest train stations are about 3 kilometres away at
Chatswood and
Artarmon
Artarmon () is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Willoughby.
History
In ...
. According to the , 22.7% of the population travelled to work by
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
alone. Other methods of travel included by walking (3.9%) or via car as driver or passenger (48.9%). In 2021 during the second
COVID lockdown in New South Wales this statistic included 56.4% of people that
worked at home, 23.8 that drove to work either as a passenger or driving themselves, walking was at 3.2%, bus was at 2.9% and
train
A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
and bus was at 0.6%.
Education, culture and religion
Schools in Lane Cove are:
*
Currambena School - an independent primary and preschool.
Lane Cove Public School- a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, established in 1876, that educates around 800 students.
St Michael's School- a Catholic primary school, originally run by the
Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...
, who began teaching there in 1922.
*
Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys located in Riverview, New South Wales, Riverview, a small suburb on the Lane Cove Rive ...
- a
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
high school for boys, founded in 1880.
Cultural groups and services include th
Lane Cove Youth OrchestraLane Cove Concert BandLane Cove Art SocietyLane Cove Dance AcademyLane Cove Historical SocietyLane Cove Theatre Companyan
Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society The Rio Theatre and cinema operated until sold in 1951.
Annual festivals are th
Lane Cove Autumn Harmony Festivaland th
Cameraygal Festival
Places of worship in Lane Cove are:
St Michael's Catholic ChurchSt Andrew's Anglican ChurchLane Cove Uniting Church* Th
Christian City Churchmeets each Sunday In Longueville Rd
Shinnyo-en Buddhist Temple
Sports
The Lane Cove Aquatic Leisure Centre provides excellent facilities and is situated adjacent to Pottery Green Oval, which is used for cricket in summer and soccer and baseball in winter. For
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
, Lane Cove is in the catchment area of the
North Sydney Bears
The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...
, officially the North Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, the only Sydney rugby league team without NRL representation to have a junior rugby league district. The local team is the Lane Cove Tigers. For rugby union, Lane Cove is in the catchment area of the
Gordon Rugby Club. The local junior team is the Lane Cove Junior Rugby Club. There is also a senior team called the
Lane Cove Rugby Club. These teams share Tantallon Oval in the Winter, whilst it is home to the Lane Cove Cricket Club in the Summer. The cricket club was established in 1893 and the Rugby Club in 1949. The Longueville Bowling Club, now known as the Longueville Sporting Club, has a
lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
green and is located close to the Lane Cove Country Club 9 hole golf course.
Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys located in Riverview, New South Wales, Riverview, a small suburb on the Lane Cove Rive ...
is an active participant in the
, and has fielded cricket and rugby sides in this sporting competition for over a century. It also hosts the historic
Riverview Gold Cup Regatta on the
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...
. The rowing race day began in 1882.
Lane Cove also has Junior sporting clubs.
* Lane Cove Junior Rugby Union Club - U-5 to U-16
* Lane Cove Junior Rugby Club - Minis, U-10 to U-16
* Lane Cove Tigers Junior Rugby League Club
* Lane Cove Cats AFL Club - Auskick, U-9 to U-11
* Lane Cove Football Club - U-6 to U-18
* Lane Cove Cricket Club - U=9 to Seniors
Parks

Around 16% of the area is devoted to public recreational areas including Burns Bay Park, Tambourine Bay Park, Pottery Green, Blackman Park and Tantallon Oval. As well as this there is a large amount of bushland surrounding the river's edge especially near Riverview and Lane Cove West. Lane Cove also has many small creeks and rivers that flow through it and therefore has many expanses of bushland. The
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...
is the largest river in the area.
Lane Cove National Park
The Lane Cove National Park is a protected national park that is located within metropolitan Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The national park is situated about north-west of the Sydney central business district and features various v ...
is located close to the suburb. The
Lane Cove Bushland Park
''Lane Cove Bushland Park'' is located in suburban Lane Cove, 5 kilometres from the centre of Sydney, Australia. It is regarded as one of the more interesting areas of fungi in the country. In the year 2000, Bushland Park was placed on the Re ...
is home to an endangered species of fungus,
Hygrocybe
''Hygrocybe'' is a genus of agarics (gilled fungi) in the family Hygrophoraceae. Called waxcaps in English (sometimes waxy caps in North America), basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are often brightly coloured and have dry to waxy pileus (mycology), cap ...
lanecovensis, which is found nowhere else. The species was discovered in the 1990s.
Demographics
According to the , the suburb of Lane Cove had a population of people. Of these:
* Age distribution: The median age was 38 years, compared to the national median of 38 years. Children aged under 15 years made up 19.4% of the population (the national average was 18.2%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 15.1% of the population (national average is 17.2%).
* Ethnic diversity : 58.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(excluding
SARs
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...
and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
) 5.6%,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
4.9%,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
2.7%,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
1.9% and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
1.6%. 67.7% of people spoke only
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
at home. Other languages spoken at home included
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
6.3%,
Cantonese
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
3.2%,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
1.4%,
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean
**Korean dialects
**See also: North–South differences in t ...
1.4% and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
(excluding
Dari
Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...
) 1.4%.
* Religion : The most common responses for
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
were
No Religion 40.7%,
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
24.6%,
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
10.5 and
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
3.2%.
* Finances: The median household weekly income was $2,539. This difference is also reflected in the high real estate prices, with the median mortgage payment in Lane Cove being $2,905 per month, compared to the national median of $1,863.
* Housing: 62.4% of dwellings in Lane Cove were flats or apartments, 30.3% were separate houses, and 7.0% were semi-detached (row or terrace houses, townhouses). The average household size was 2.4 people.
Notable residents

;Writers:
*
Christopher Brennan
Christopher John Brennan (1 November 1870 – 5 October 1932) was an Australian poet, scholar and literary critic.
Biography
Brennan was born in Haymarket, an inner suburb of Sydney, to Christopher Brennan (d. 1919), a brewer, and his wife ...
, poet who boarded at Riverview
*
Robert Dessaix
Robert Dessaix (born 1944), also known as Robert Jones, is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist.
Early life and education
Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney, Australia, and was adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after w ...
's autobiography, ''A Mother's Disgrace'', contains a memoir of growing up in Lane Cove in the 1950s.
*
Robert Hughes, art critic. His memoir ''Things I Didn't Know'' discusses his high schooling as a boarder at
St Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys located in Riverview, a small suburb on the Lane Cove River on the Lower North Shore of Sydney.
Established in ...
.
;Artists:
*
Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Frederic Rees (17 March 18952 December 1988) was an Australian landscape Painting, painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings.
Most of Rees's works are preoccupied with depicting the effects of light and emphasis ...
, notable landscape artist
*
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley Order of Australia, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize, Archibald, Wynne Prize, ...
, artist and twice winner of the Archibald Prize
;Politicians:
*
Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...
, later Prime Minister, built 'Osborne Park' (later called 'Kermadec') in Osborne Rd in 1906
*
Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who was the leader of the National Party of Australia from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2021 to 2022. Joyce was the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia during both ...
, former
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...
; boarded at Riverview
;Sportspeople:
*
Brett Lee
Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representin ...
, Australian cricketer and Bollywood star. Lived in Lane Cove for a time, leaving in 2013.
*
Sam Newman
John Noel William "Sam" Newman (born 22 December 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
A talented and athletic player who served his apprenticeship unde ...
,
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
player and television presenter
;Entertainers:
*
Natarsha Belling
Natarsha Belling (born 29 May 1970) is an Australian journalist, television and radio presenter.
Belling currently presents '' Seven National News at Noon.''
Belling has previously worked at Network 10 as a television presenter, news prese ...
, journalist
*
Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson (19 March 191313 February 2008), born as Herbert Henry Brown, was an Australian singer-songwriter and musician, who performed western and folk music with a tinge of country, he was a radio and television presenter and entertainer. ...
, actor, singer, television, film and radio star
*
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 ...
, vocalist of
INXS
INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...
(1960-1997)
*
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...
, actress
In popular culture
In 2009, the shopping centre on Longueville Road was used in the filming of ''
Underbelly: The Golden Mile'' depicting Darlinghurst Road,
Kings Cross.
References
External links
Lane Cove Council*
Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...
]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane Cove
Suburbs of Sydney
Lane Cove, New South Wales
North Shore (Sydney)