NSWPlanned settlement
Palm Beach
A fishing isthmus sold off as Sydney’s far-north holiday estate.
1912Barrenjoey Company’s first land sale
WHAT STARTED IT
Palm Beach is the narrow sandy isthmus below Barrenjoey Head, with the ocean on one side and the sheltered waters of Pittwater on the other. For most of the nineteenth century it held a customs station and a few fishermen’s huts. In 1912 the Barrenjoey Company cut the land into residential lots and sold them to Sydney buyers who reached it by launch.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
James Napper was granted the land in 1816, and the government built a customs station in 1843 and a lighthouse on the headland after buying it in 1881. Grazing blocks offered in 1900 found no buyers, but the smaller lots of 1912 sold. With no through road, visitors came by tram and launch to the wharf, and most houses were second homes; the surf club formed in 1921.
TURNING POINTS
1816James Napper is granted 400 acres covering Palm Beach, Barrenjoey and most of Whale Beach.
1843A customs station is built at the foot of Barrenjoey to stop smuggling into Broken Bay.
1867A visitor finds a Chinese and European fishing station on the Pittwater shore, curing fish for export.
1881The government buys the northern end of the isthmus and builds a stone lighthouse on Barrenjoey Head.
1911The Barrenjoey Company is registered to buy land in the Bassett Darley subdivision.
1912The company’s first land sale is held on the estate on Friday 26 January.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small, wealthy beach and holiday suburb at the end of the Barrenjoey Peninsula. The lighthouse still stands on Barrenjoey Head.