North Shore Sydney Information

The North Shore district is situated "across the harbour", north of both Sydney City and North Sydney, and stretches a broad swathe of land from the northern edge of Sydney Harbour up to the Hornsby Plateau. Despite the name, North Shore suburbs are almost all located well inland from the ocean and only a very few have actual harbour frontage.

Suburbs

Upper North Shore

The "Upper North Shore" usually refers to the suburbs north of Chatswood, east of the Lane cove river and south of the uppermost border of the Ku-ring-gai council area. It is made up of the handful of suburbs encompassing the Ku-ring-gai council. The area is known for its clean leafy streets, stately homes and high property prices. Ku-ring-gai was rated as having the number 1 quality of life in Australia (there are 590 Australian Local Government Areas) in the BankWest Quality of Life Index 2008.

Lower North Shore

The Lower North Shore is over 80 square kilometers (20,000 acres) in area and encompasses all of the North Shore's northern shore of Sydney Harbour stretching from the Lane Cove River in the west to Middle Head (Mosman) in the east and includes Mosman, Kirribilli and Longueville.
The Lower North Shore usually refers to the suburbs adjacent to the harbour such as Neutral Bay, Waverton, Mosman, Cremorne, Lavender Bay, Milsons Point, Cammeray and North Sydney. The Lower North Shore has an eastern boundary adjacent to Middle Harbour, or at the Roseville Bridge at Castle Cove and Roseville Chase.

The term Lower North Shore can include the local government areas of Municipality of Mosman, City of Willoughby, Municipality of Lane Cove and North Sydney Council.

The region is home to hundreds of parks and reserves, including Sydney Harbour National Park and the Lane Cove National Park. Local sportsgrounds include North Sydney Oval, the region's largest in capacity, followed by Chatswood Oval and Christie Park. Major waterways in the region include Port Jackson, the Lane Cove River, the Parramatta River, Middle Harbour and the many creek systems that branch out from these main aquatic lifelines.

Landmarks

The Lower North Shore has many unique landmarks such as: The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Taronga Zoo in Mosman, Kirribilli House (Sydney residence of the Prime Minister of Australia), Luna Park and Balmoral Beach. At a Sydney or local level however, landmarks are more plentiful and include: The Lane Cove Azalea Beds, Blues Point Tower, Eden Gardens, the Balmoral Rotunda, the Stanton Library in North Sydney, Lane Cove Mall, Zenith Towers at Chatswood, Northpoint Tower in North Sydney, Cammeray suspension bridge at Cammeray, Echo Point Park in Roseville Chase, the Royal North Shore Hospital, the Hornsby Water Clock, the 'Forum' in St Leonards and North Sydney Oval.

Landmark churches in the area include St Mary's in North Sydney, Christ Church in Lavender Bay, the Gladesville-Macquarie Chapel and St Paul's in Chatswood.

Source: Wikipedia

North Sydney

North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council.

History

Aborigines on the southern side of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) called the north side warung which meant the other side, while those on the northern side used the same name to describe the southern side.[citation needed]

The first name used by European settlers was Hunterhill, named after a property owned by Thomas Muir (1765–1799), a Scottish political reformer. He purchased land in 1794 near the location of north pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is now located, and built a house which he named after his childhood home. This area north to Gore Hill became known as St Leonards. The township of St Leonards was laid out in 1836 in what is now North Sydney, bounded by what is now Miller, Walker, Lavender and Berry Streets. By 1846 there were 106 houses here and by 1859, the commercial centre had extended from Milsons Point to Miller Street. A bus service operated by Jeremiah Wall ran between Milsons Point and North Sydney Shops, and North Sydney thus developed its own identity.

The North Sydney municipality was incorporated in 1890 and after naming disputes, North Sydney was settled upon. The post office which opened in 1854 as St Leonards was changed to North Sydney in 1890. The first public school which opened in 1874 as St Leonards was renamed North Sydney in 1910.

North Sydney underwent a dramatic transformation into a commercial hub in 1971-72. In this period no less than 27 skyscrapers were built.

Trams

The history of the North Sydney tramway system can be divided into three periods - the first from the original opening in 1886 to 1909, when the McMahons Point line opened. The second period covers the time until the Wynyard line was opened across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, and the third from then until the general closure of the system in 1958.

The first part of the North Sydney tramway system was a double-track cable tramway which commenced at the original Milsons Point Ferry wharf, located where the north pylon of the Harbour Bridge is now. The line originally extended via Alfred St (now Alfred Street South), Junction St (now Pacific Highway), Blue St and Miller Sts to the engine house and depot in Ridge St. It used cable grip cars called "dummies" and un powered trailer cars.

A feature of these lines was the underground tram terminus at Wynyard railway station (the only one in Australia), and the tracks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Trams ran from Blue St, North Sydney over a now-demolished steel arch bridge over the Harbour Bridge Roadway, then over the eastern side of the harbour bridge (now road lanes), through a tram platform at Milsons Point railway station, before descending underground into platforms 1 and 2 of Wynyard station.

Heritage

The following buildings are on the Register of the National Estate:

Christ Church, Walker and Lavender Streets
Church of England Rectory, Lavender Street
St Francis Xavier's War Memorial Church, Mackenzie Street
St Francis Xavier's Presbytery, Mackenzie Street
St Francis Xavier's Church School Hall, Mackenzie Street
Chinese Christian Church, Alfred Street
Former North Sydney Technical School (now Greenwood Hotel), Blue Street
St Peter's Presbyterian Church and Manse, Blues Point Road
Graythwaite, Union Street
St Thomas's Church of England, West and Church Streets
St Thomas's Kindergarten Hall, Church and McLaren Streets
St Thomas's Church Rectory, McLaren Street
Don Bank, Napier Street
North Sydney Post Office, Pacific Highway and Mount Street
Houses: 11-37 Walker Street and 20-30 Walker Street
Mercedes, 9 Walker Street

Commercial Area

The commercial district of North Sydney includes the second largest concentration of office buildings in New South Wales, with a large representation from the advertising and information technology industries. Advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades such as printing have traditionally dominated the business life of the area though these have been supplanted to a certain extent by information technology businesses. Corporations whose offices are in North Sydney include Cisco Systems, Novell, Sun Microsystems, AGL, AAMI and until October 2007, Optus. Unlike other major suburban hubs within the Sydney metropolitan area, North Sydney has limited shopping facilities and almost no Sunday trading. There are only two medium sized supermarkets (Aldi & IGA). The main shopping complex is the Greenwood Plaza, which is connected to North Sydney station. Berry Square is another shopping centre in Berry Street, formerly known as North Sydney Shopping World.

Transport

North Sydney is directly linked to the Sydney CBD by road and rail across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. North Sydney railway station is on the North Shore Line and the Northern Line of the City Rail network. The Warringah Freeway links North Sydney south to the Sydney CBD and north to Chatswood, New South Wales. High Street, North Sydney is a wharf stop on the Neutral Bay ferry service, which is part of the Sydney Ferries network.

Schools

Primary schools include North Sydney Demonstration School and St Marys Primary School. High schools include the public North Sydney Boys High School and North Sydney Girls High School, the Catholic Marist College North Shore and Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College and independent schools Wenona School and Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore).

St Aloysius' College of Milson's Point and Loreto Kirribilli are also within the confines of the North Sydney Local Government Area. Post-secondary education providers include the Australian Catholic University, Raffles College of Design and Commerce and Billy Blue College.

Places of Worship

Churches include St Mary's Catholic Church on Miller Street, St Francis Xavier's War Memorial Church in Mackenzie Street, St Thomas Anglican Church on West and Church Streets, Christ Church on Walker and Lavender Streets, St Peter's Presbyterian Church and Manse on Blues Point Road and Chinese Christian Church on Alfred Street.

A Hare Krishna temple is located on the corner of Falcon Street and Miller Street.

Landmarks

Museum at Mary MacKillop Place, which tells the story of Australia's leading candidate for canonization as a Catholic saint
Don Bank Museum, devoted to the history of the local area
Greenwood Plaza shopping complex, built under the historic Greenwood Hotel (formerly a public school, founded 1878 and renamed after its Principal)
North Sydney Railway Station
North Sydney Oval
Stanton Library
Walker Street Cinema

Sport and Recreation

St Leonards Park which includes North Sydney Oval No 1 and 2 is the suburbs major recreation area, popular among joggers and those wishing to walk their dogs. North Sydney Ovals are notably cricket pitches during the summer and the home ground for the Northern Suburbs Rugby Union Club and the North Sydney Bears Rugby League Club during the winter.

The Norths Pirates Junior Rugby Union Club, is North Sydneys local junior village rugby union team who play all home games at Tunks Park in the adjoining suburb of Cammeray together with North Sydney Brothers, a junior rugby league club and the rugby league teams of Marist College North Shore.

North Sydney Bears (rugby league team based in the area)
North Sydney Cricket Club
Norths Pirates Junior Rugby Union
Northern Suburbs Rugby Club
UTS Northern Suburbs Athletic Club
Gordon-North Sydney Hockey Club
During the 2000 Summer Olympics, the city was the starting point of the marathon course that would end 26.2 mi (42.2 km) later at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.

source: Wikipedia