Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Berowra Waters

2008
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Berowra Waters

[media]Once known as Dust Hole Bay, [1] Berowra Waters lies in the parish of Cowan and the shire of Hornsby.

Berowra Waters was marked on Captain John Hunter's chart, dated 1789. [2] The assistant surveyor WR Govett traced the length of Berowra Creek in 1829.

The earliest Europeans to live in the area, arriving in the early 1820s, were lime burners, who obtained lime from Aboriginal middens, timber-getters and fisherman.

One of the early settlers was John Crumpton, who received a land grant of 40 acres (16 hectares) at Peats Bight in 1867. In 1876 he built the church on Bar Island, remains of which still stand.

Granny Lewis, who lived with her family at Marra Marra Creek on Berowra Waters, was believed to be the last of the original Aboriginal people in the area. She was either a Dharug or a Ku-ring-gai woman, and arrived in the Berowra Creek area in the 1820s.

The road from Arcadia to Berowra railway station via Berowra Waters, built in 1902, enabled farmers to deliver their produce quickly from Arcadia to the station for transport to the city markets. Jack Smith, who owned a boat shed, operated the [media]ferry that linked the road from the eastern to the western shore of Berowra Creek.

Rex Jones owned a thriving boat hire service from 1925 until his death in 1936, and was responsible for the development of a public wharf, parking area and swimming pool on the western side of the water. At Berowra Waters in 1927 the first motorboats in Australia were available for hire. [3]

Berowra Waters, with its restaurants, marina, car ferry, scenic walks and salt water pool, is a popular tourist destination.

Notes

[1] L Geelan, Galston and Arcadia memories of value, Galston Centenary Committee, Sydney, 1986, p 25

[2] L Geelan, Galston and Arcadia memories of value, Galston Centenary Committee, Sydney, 1986, p 25

[3] Ken Anderson, Sydney's suburbs : how and why they were named, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1989, p 15

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