Camperdown

This collection contains a small selection of archives relating to Camperdown.

The present-day suburb of Camperdown was originally part of William Bligh’s 240-acre Camperdown Estate granted in 1806. It was named for after the 1797 naval Battle of Kamperduin (Camperdown) in which Bligh was involved. Bligh’s land grant extended north from King Street, in Newtown, across Parramatta Road to the junction of Johnstons and Orphan School creeks in the vicinity of Forest Lodge. It was bounded to the west by Thomas Rowley’s Kingston Estate and to the east by Grose Farm.

When Bligh returned to England in 1810, the Camperdown Estate was passed on to his daughter Mary Putland and son in law, Maurice O’Connell. The O’Connell’s left Australia soon after Bligh but returned to Sydney in 1838. The Camperdown estate was subdivided for sale into 50 allotments in 1841. These allotments were further subdivided into ‘Gentlemen’s Estates’ through during the 1840s. These included O’Connell Town, O’Connell Crescent and Yorkville in the vicinity of Newtown, and Georgetown on the northern side of Parramatta Road.

The gentlemen’s estates were further subdivided into the late 19th century, and the area was developed with an array of modest working-class housing overlaid with light industrial and commercial uses.

The University of Sydney, established in 1850 at Sydney Grammar School, moved to the site of Grose Farm in 1855. The Main Quadrangle was designed by Edmund Blacket with the Great Tower completed in 1862. The university soon expanded beyond its original allotted boundaries into both Darlington and Camperdown. By the end of the 19th century, the University of Sydney dominated the suburb of Camperdown. in particular. Its presence in the area led to the emergence of a new middle-class population because some of the lecturers lived there.  The university and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, established on Missenden Road in 1882 with a capacity for 146 patients, continued to expand from the 1920s, and later the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown was built.

The municipalities of Cook and Camperdown was established in 1862, with the first elections held in 1863. Cook was in financial straits because Sydney University was not rateable and in 1870, it combined with Camperdown. In 1908, Camperdown municipality was absorbed into the Municipality of Sydney, becoming a separate ward named Camperdown. Today the suburb contains high-density dwellings full of workers’ terraces and apartment buildings, as it is now a popular and diverse inner-city hub.

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