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  3. Tempe - Cooks River, January 22 1838

Tempe - Cooks River, January 22 1838

From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[a996016 / PXC 295, 14]
(Mitchell Library)

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Bark huts and country estates
Subjects
Residential building Rivers and Catchments
Buildings
Tempe House
Natural features
Cooks River
Places
Tempe

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State Library of New South Wales

Bark huts and country estates

In their drive to establish country estates and thriving industries in the Cooks River valley during the nineteenth century, European settlers exploited the water, timber and fertile soils of the Cooks River with little appreciation of the impact of their 'improvements'

Residential building

Rivers and Catchments

Tempe House

Home built on the bank of Cooks River by Alexander Spark which became a social mecca for Sydney's merchants and bankers. It is a rare remaining example of Neo-Classical Georgian architecture in Sydney.

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Cooks River

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River that flows through south-west Sydney, starting at Graf Park, Yagoona, through to Botany Bay at Kyeemagh. The river was extensively polluted by industry and its course was changed to accommodate the runways of Sydney Airport.

Tempe

Inner-west suburb on the northern bank of Cooks River which grew from the workers camp established to build the Cooks River dam in 1839. By the 1850s it was also home to limeburners, woodsmen and fishermen.

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