NSWRail & telegraph
Wahroonga
Pearce’s Corner, high on the ridge, renamed for the railway.
1890Railway station opens at Pearce’s Corner
WHAT STARTED IT
Pearce’s Corner, where the road to Pennant Hills met the ridge road, took its name from Aaron Pierce, a timber-getter who built a slab hut there in 1835. The North Shore railway put a station near this point in 1890, the highest on the line at 621 feet, and it soon took the name Wahroonga, said to mean ‘our home’.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Timber-getting and then orchards came first. The railway from 1890, and especially the extension to Milsons Point in 1893, let businessmen commute, and orchardists sold land for large houses; Pearce’s Corner Township was auctioned with a special train from Milsons Point. A progress association formed in 1895 and later established Wahroonga Park.
TURNING POINTS
1835Aaron Pierce, a convict turned timber-getter, buys land and builds a slab hut at what becomes Pearce’s Corner.
1881A stone St Paul’s Church replaces the 1862 timber church at Pearce’s Corner.
1890The station opens on 1 January as Pearce’s Corner and is renamed Wahroonga in August.
1892The Universal Nursery is reported at ‘Wahroonga, late Pearce’s Corner’.
1893Pearce’s Corner Township is auctioned in May, with a special train from Milsons Point.
1895The Wahroonga Progress Association is formed in June.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A leafy residential suburb on the Upper North Shore, known for its large Federation houses and bushland gardens.