NSWRail & telegraph
St Leonards (NSW)
A railway terminus on Gore Hill that grew into a hospital and office hub.
1890North Shore line opens with its terminus at Gore Hill
WHAT STARTED IT
The ridge road from the harbour ferries to Hornsby crossed Gore Hill, land first granted to Provost-Marshal William Gore in 1810. When the government built the North Shore railway it began the line on a Government Reserve at Gore Hill, and the terminus kept the old district name of St Leonards.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The line opened to Hornsby on 1 January 1890 without ceremony, and North Shore people complained that it stopped about two and a half miles short of the ferries. The extension to Milsons Point in 1893 turned the terminus into a through station. In 1903 the Royal North Shore Hospital opened on government land a few hundred yards from the station, and the hospital and the highway shaped the suburb from then on.
TURNING POINTS
1810Governor Macquarie grants Provost-Marshal William Gore 150 acres, which he names Artarmon; Gore Hill later takes his name.
1887Annie Parkes, daughter of Sir Henry Parkes, turns the first sod of the St Leonards to Pearce’s Corner railway at Gore Hill on 10 August before about 500 guests.
1890The line opens on New Year’s Day with no minister present; trains take about half an hour from Gore Hill to Hornsby.
1893The railway is extended south from St Leonards to Milsons Point.
1903Premier Sir John See opens the Royal North Shore Hospital near the station on 10 June.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A district of office towers and apartment blocks along the Pacific Highway, shared by North Sydney, Willoughby and Lane Cove councils. The Royal North Shore Hospital is still its largest institution.