NSWPort & river
Mosman
A whaling cove that became a harbourside suburb.
1831Whaling station grants at Mosman Bay
WHAT STARTED IT
Deep, sheltered Great Sirius Cove, where HMS Sirius was careened in 1789, suited ships needing a quiet anchorage. In 1831 Archibald Mosman and John Bell were granted land there for a whaling station, and the bay took Mosman’s name.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Mosman sold his whaling business in 1838, and for decades the land was mostly farms and orchards. From 1859 Richard Hayes Harnett bought Mosman’s 108 acres and spent 30 years building roads, a horse bus and ferry links to the city. In April 1893 the district, then home to about 1,600 people, separated from North Sydney as the Borough of Mosman, and Harnett’s son became its first mayor.
TURNING POINTS
1789HMS Sirius, flagship of the First Fleet, is careened in the cove later called Mosman Bay.
1831Archibald Mosman and John Bell receive grants for a whaling station; it is finished in 1833.
1838Mosman sells his whaling interests at Sirius Cove.
1859Richard Hayes Harnett senior begins buying Mosman’s original 108 acres.
1893Mosman becomes a separate municipality; on 9 June the first council elects R. H. Harnett junior mayor.
1916Taronga Zoo opens on the harbour shore.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A large residential suburb on the lower North Shore. The stone store built for the whaling station survives at the head of Mosman Bay as a scout hall.