NSWPlanned settlement
Randwick
An English-style village on the heights above Coogee.
1847Simeon Pearce buys land and names it Randwick
WHAT STARTED IT
In September 1847 the bounty immigrant Simeon Pearce bought four acres of market garden on the heights above Coogee Bay and named them Randwick, after his birthplace in Gloucestershire. He and his brother bought and subdivided more land, pressed for a road from the city to Coogee, and set aside sites for a church, school and parsonage. The Destitute Children’s Asylum, opened in 1858, brought further attention to the district.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
A petition from 70 householders led to the Municipality of Randwick in February 1859, with Pearce as first mayor. St Jude’s Church was completed in 1865, horse racing settled at the Randwick course from the 1860s, and a statue of Captain Cook was unveiled at the High Cross in 1874. Trams from the 1880s turned the village into a suburb of terraces and, between the wars, flats.
TURNING POINTS
1847Simeon Pearce buys four acres above Coogee Bay and names the land Randwick.
1858The Asylum for the Relief of Destitute Children opens; St Jude’s temporary church and school opens on 23 May.
1859Governor Denison proclaims the Municipality of Randwick in February, after a petition stating 400 inhabitants.
1865The permanent St Jude’s Church is completed.
1874Commodore Goodenough unveils a statue of Captain Cook at the High Cross on 27 October.
1882Randwick Town Hall opens on Avoca Street.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A busy eastern suburb of flats and shops, with the Prince of Wales Hospital on the old asylum site. St Jude’s Church and the 1874 Cook statue stand near the High Cross.