NSWPlanned settlement
Waverley
Named for a merchant’s house, it became Sydney’s second municipality.
1827Barnett Levey builds Waverley House
WHAT STARTED IT
In 1827 the merchant Barnett Levey built Waverley House, a two-storey Georgian residence near the site of later Bondi Junction, named, it is said, after Walter Scott’s novel. He began building cottages nearby in 1830, and the district took its name from his house. A small village later grew up at Charing Cross, a crossroads on the road south towards Coogee.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Residents petitioned for local government, and the Municipality of Waverley was proclaimed in June 1859, the second suburb of Sydney to become a municipality. Council chambers were built on Bondi Road by 1861. The council opened a public cemetery for the eastern suburbs on the clifftops in 1877, and trams from the 1880s brought steady suburban growth.
TURNING POINTS
1827Barnett Levey builds Waverley House, a two-storey Georgian residence.
1830Levey, one of Sydney’s first building promoters, puts up cottages in Waverley Crescent.
1859The Municipality of Waverley is proclaimed on 13 June; the first council meeting is held on 23 July.
1861The council’s chambers on Bondi Road are completed.
1877Waverley Cemetery opens on the cliffs as a public cemetery for the eastern suburbs.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A residential suburb centred on the Charing Cross shops on Bronte Road. Mary Immaculate Church still stands at the crossroads.