Skip to main content

Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Reynolds, Peter

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Reynolds, Peter

Author

Peter Reynolds OAM is an architectural historian and author in Balmain, Sydney

Ballast Point as Author

Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic as Author

Callan Park Mental Hospital as Author

Glebe Island as Author

Lilyfield as Author

Mort Bay as Author

White Bay as Author

Search

Browse

Browse
- Artefacts
- Buildings
- Events
- Natural Features
- Organisations
- People
- Places
- Structures
- Entries
- Multimedia
- Subjects
- Roles
- Contributors

Footer

Home
About
Copyright
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Ballast Point

Named for the rocky outcrop that provided ballast for unladen ships, Ballast Point was never successfully subdivided. An oil terminal for much of the twentieth century, it was finally returned to the people as a harbour-side park.

Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic

Founded by Dr Sydney Evan Jones after World War I, the Broughton Hall psychiatric clinic was one of the first in Sydney to offer treatment to patients of modest means who were not certifiably insane. The grounds and gardens were part of the therapy to divert patients from neuroses to normality.

Callan Park Mental Hospital

Developed on the Garryowen estate built by John Brenan from the 1830s, Callan Park hospital was designed to treat insanity by the most modern methods available when it opened in 1884. During the twentieth century, overcrowding and ad hoc additions diluted the original intent and design, and by the 1960s the hospital was a place of squalor. The buildings are now used for other purposes.

Glebe Island

From abattoir to shipping terminal, Glebe Island has been an intrinsic part of the development of industrial Sydney.

Lilyfield

The name Lilyfield was chosen by local residents, possibly to try and obscure the memory of Lilyfield's stinking tanneries and boiling down works, along Whites Creek, which were later moved to Botany. With the smell gone, suburban development spread.

Mort Bay

First called Grose Bay, the area became known as Waterview Bay after a house built there in 1830. With the building of a dry dock in the bay in 1855, industry took over, and for a century Mort's Dock dominated the bay. When the dock closed in 1958, it passed through a number of hands, but was eventually redeveloped as housing and parkland.

White Bay

Long a centre of waterfront industry, including a saw mill, a power station, an oil terminal, and a container wharf, White Bay is now a more peaceful place, with Birrung Park preserving some industrial heritage.