NSWPort & river
Davistown
Named for a family of shipwrights who launched dozens of ketches here.
1851Ben Davis buys Burramun
WHAT STARTED IT
Davistown occupies a low peninsula ringed by Cockle Creek, with sheltered tidal shore for slipways and timber close at hand. Settlers later dug its shell banks and middens for Sydney’s lime.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Shipwright Ben Davis bought the Burramun property in 1851 and sold portions to his brothers Thomas, Rock and Edward, and Davis yards went on to launch dozens of vessels on Cockle Creek. By the 1920s ferries from Woy Woy station, boarding houses and fishing had made the shipbuilding village a popular holiday resort.
TURNING POINTS
1851Shipwright Ben Davis buys Burramun and sells portions to his brothers.
1854Rock Davis builds eight vessels here before moving his yard to Blackwall by 1863.
1869A. W. M. Settree launches the ketch Day Dawn at Davistown.
1921Kincumber Growers’ ferries begin calling at Davistown on the run to Woy Woy.
1940The keel of the trawler Patricia Cam is cut on the Davistown waterfront.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A quiet waterside suburb with a small shopping centre and an RSL club. Ferries still link it to Woy Woy across Brisbane Water.