NSWPort & river
Kincumber
Timber, ketches and two 1840s churches at the head of Cockle Creek.
1829Sawyer promised a land grant
WHAT STARTED IT
Kincumber grew at the head of navigation on Cockle Creek, beyond Kincumber Broadwater, where a freshwater creek met a water route to Sydney. Sawyers cut the timbered valleys around it, and timber and produce left from a wharf at the creek head.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Shipbuilding followed timber-getting: Jonathan Piper built 24 vessels between 1844 and 1879, and in 1867 four yards were building sailing vessels of up to 200 tons. George Frost launched the last, the SS Rock Lily, in 1906, after which orchards, produce ferries to Woy Woy and, from the 1980s, retirement villages shaped the town.
TURNING POINTS
1829Sawyer Joseph Spears is promised a 60-acre grant at the head of Kincumber Broadwater.
1844Holy Cross Church is completed, and Jonathan Piper begins building vessels.
1885Kincumber is proclaimed a village.
1906George Frost launches the SS Rock Lily, the last ship built on Kincumber Creek.
1982Brentwood Village is approved, beginning Kincumber’s role as a retirement centre.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A suburb with schools, a shopping centre and a library, between Kincumba Mountain Reserve and Kincumber Broadwater. Its sandstone Holy Cross Church and St Paul’s cemetery recall the shipbuilding village.