The Rotunda is located in Balmoral Beach Reserve at Balmoral Beach, Sydney. It was built in 1930 as part of the beach improvement program undertaken by Mosman Council. [1] Overlooking the bay and close to Rocky Point Island, it is set in a very picturesque area. After its completion it was a very popular venue for brass band concerts for many years throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Today it is used for festivals, events and weddings and is an important historical landmark in Balmoral.
Hunter Park was originally part of the land on which Captain John Edwards built his stone house in 1839. [2] A painting exists of the ruins of the stone cottage by artist Donald Commons. A link to the painting on the internet is given at this reference. [3] The house was located at the bottom of what is now Mandalong Road. [4] Captain Edwards lived there with his wife Elizabeth [5] until his death in 1861. [6] Edwards was a seaman in the whaling industry. In the early 1820s he had command of a ship called the Mercury. [7] The Sydney Gazette tabulates his voyages on whaling expeditions throughout the 1820s. In 1825 his brig the Mercury was shipwrecked in New Zealand when he called in for provisions. A colourful narrative of the shipwreck and subsequent rescue is in the Sydney Gazette. [8]
In the early 1860s his son John Edwards established a "pleasure ground" which he called Balmoral Gardens and it was from this that the present area was named. [9] Balmoral Gardens was used by many people as the destination for a Club or group excursion. Numerous descriptions are found in the Sydney Morning Herald during the 1860s of a typical fun day that was enjoyed in the gardens. For example, in 1862 a social group describes a forthcoming event in which they will take a steam boat to Balmoral Gardens and participate in activities such as foot races, cricket, jumping, throwing weights and quoits. They said that "Mr Edwards, the proprietor of the gardens will supply refreshments of all kinds at very moderate prices.". [10]
The Balmoral Gardens also catered for the general public and had a dance pavilion with a hired band. An advertisement was placed in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1864 [11] (see picture on right) for an Easter Monday picnic. Unfortunately John Edwards died in 1871 at the age of 39 [12] and there is little mention of Balmoral Gardens in the newspapers after this time.
In the early 1880s Livingston Hopkins established the Artist's Camp at the northern part of Balmoral Beach near what now is Awaba Street. Other famous artists who were also at the camp during its forty-year existence were Julian Ashton and Henry Fullwood. [13] In 1924 a large white building was erected at the northern end of Balmoral Beach called the Star Amphitheatre for the Order of the Star in the East, an offshoot of the Theosophical Society. It was demolished in 1951 and Stancliff flats (at 8 Wyargine Street) which is now a Heritage Listed building was constructed on the site. [14]
During the 1920s major developments occurred at Balmoral. In 1922 the tramline was extended to the suburb bringing large crowds of people to visit the beach. The Council responded by undertaking the Balmoral Beautification Scheme. In 1924 the Esplanade was constructed and in 1929 the Balmoral Bathers Pavilion was completed. [15]
In 1930 the Council decided to make more improvements to the beach. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald. [16] outlines in detail the changes to be made. A shark proof net was to be introduced, the esplanade was to be extended and lit and a bridge was to be constructed at Rocky Point which "was to make the Point accessible at all states of the tide". In addition a rotunda was to be erected. When mentioning the rotunda the newspaper stated.
Numerous notices were placed in the newspapers during the 1930s and 1940s for band concerts to be held at the Balmoral Beach Rotunda on Sunday afternoons and sometimes the evenings. A picture of an audience listening to one of these concerts is on the right.
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| Bridge to Rocky Point Island circa 1930 | The Bathers Pavilion built in 1929 | The Star Amphitheatre circa 1925 demolished in 1951 |
The North Shore is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, generally referring to suburbs located on the northern side of Sydney Harbour up to Wahroonga, and suburbs between Middle Harbour and the Lane Cove River.
Balmoral is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.
The Division of Warringah is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.
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Manly Council was a local government area on the northern beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, first incorporated in 1877. On 12 May 2016, the Minister for Local Government announced that Manly Council would be subsumed into the newly formed Northern Beaches Council. The last mayor of Manly Council was Cr. Jean Hay, a member of the Liberal Party.
Mosman Council is a local government area on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
North Sydney Council is a local government area on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, established on 29 July 1890 through the amalgamation of three boroughs.
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Mosman Park is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River in the local government area of the Town of Mosman Park. It was historically known as Buckland Hill (1889–1909), then Cottesloe Beach (1909–1930) and again Buckland Hill (1930–1937). From 1937 it was named Mosman Park, derived from Mosman in Sydney, the birthplace of Richard Yeldon, a member of the Buckland Hill Road Board. Mosman Park is now considered an affluent suburb, but prior to the 1970s was one of Perth's major industrial centres.
Artists' camps flourished around Sydney Harbour in the 1880s and 1890s, mainly in the Mosman area making it "Australia's most painted suburb", but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century. They developed as a result of the enthusiasm for painting en plein air fostered by the Barbizon and Impressionist movements in France in the second half of the 19th century, and were modelled on the artists' colonies which grew up in France and parts of the British Isles. In them, free-spirited young men gathered to live cheaply together in the open air, trying to capture the beauty of their surroundings in paintings and drawings. Financial stringency during the depression of the 1890s made life in the camps even more attractive for Australian artists trying to establish themselves in a difficult market.
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 government area of the Municipality of Mosman.
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Mosman Bay is a bay of Sydney Harbour adjacent to the suburb of Mosman, 4 km north-east of the Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Three ferry wharves, Mosman Bay, South Mosman and Old Cremorne, are within the bay, all being served by the F6 Mosman Bay ferry service.
Boronia House is a heritage-listed former residence located at 624–632 Military Road, Mosman in the Mosman Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Sheerin & Hennessy (1885) and Clive Lucas & Partners, and built during 1885. The property is owned by Mosman Council. The property is also called Boronia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Balmoral Burn is an annual foot race in Sydney, Australia.
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Henry Austin Wilshire was an architect and prominent member of Sydney society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was an active and innovative architect, and a contributor to the community through interests in town planning and transport issues.
The Balmoral Bathers Pavilion is a heritage-listed former bathers' pavilion and now retail building, cafe and restaurant located at The Esplanade, Balmoral in the Mosman Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Alfred H. Hale, the Mosman Council Architect and Building Surveyor and built from 1928 to 1929 by Girvan Brothers, Master Builders. The property is owned by Mosman Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Kaludah was a K-class ferry on Sydney Harbour, Australia. Commissioned in 1909, the timber-hulled steamer was built for Sydney Ferries Limited during the boom in cross-harbour ferry travel prior to the 1932 opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Like the other "K-class" ferries, she was double-deck, double-ended, steam-powered screw ferry. However, she and the larger but otherwise similar Kookooburra (1907), were the only two K-class ferries designed by naval architect Walter Reeks and not Sydney Ferries Limited's Captain Summerbell.