Randwick and The Art Deco Ritz Cinema

Randwick is part of the country of Kameygal/Gameygal people.

In 1833, the first horse race was held at Randwick Racecourse. (A race track was first laid out in Randwick using convict labour and called the Sandy Course)

The first stone house at Randwick was built in 1848, called Blenheim House, which still exists.

Hooper Cottage at 17 Gilderthorpe Avenue, Randwick, was also built around 1848. It also survives and is still in good condition.

Randwick was Sydney's first municipality outside the CBD in 1859. In the same year, Coogee Bay Road was constructed between Carrington Road and Coogee Beach.

An asylum for Destitute Children was built at Randwick in 1858 to house 400 children on 60 acres. A new wing was built in 1863 for 400 more children.
The oldest house in Randwick, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 29 September 1900
GATHERING OF THE CARS IN FRONT OF THE INSTITUTION FOR A HOLIDAY EXCURSION. RANDWJCK ASYLUM, SYDNEY. FOR THE RELIEF 0F- DESTITUTE CHILDREN. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 21 December 1907
The old council chambers at Randwick, NSW, built  in 1866, Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930)
Allison Road, Randwick, NSW, in the 1870s. SLNSW
In 1880, Randwick Tramway Workshop was established.

Randwick District Rugby Union Football Club was established in 1882.
Derby Day, Randwick, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 21 September 1895
 Grand Stand, Randwick, NSW, Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), Thursday 17 September 1903
The Randwick Theatre opened in 1921 and donated the opening night takings to the Eastern Suburbs District Ambulance Service.
Everyones. Vol.2 No.68 ( 22 June 1921) 
An "R" type model in course of construction at the Randwick tramway workshops. This model wasinspected by the Minister for Transport (Mr. Bruxner) and officers this week. Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 18 November 1932
General Store owned by Mrs Humphrey Nichols, at 20 Wentworth Street, Randwick, NSW. It is known that the store had the first ever public telephone in the neighborhood
The Ritz Theatre on Saint Pauls Street in Randwick, built in the Art Deco style, opened in 1937.

The Ritz was designed by Aaron Bolot, the same architect who designed other Art Deco buildings in Potts Point. This theatre was nearly demolished in 1993 until interventions by the Randwick Council saved it. The building is now protected by a Permanent Heritage Order.

Around Randwick and The Randwick Ritz
 
The Randwick Ritz, Randwick, NSW
Randwick Ritz, Randwick, NSW
Randwick Ritz, Randwick, NSW
Hooper Cottage at 17 Gilderthorpe Avenue, Randwick was built around 1848.
Hooper Cottage at 17 Gilderthorpe Avenue, Randwick was built around 1848.
The Spot is located in the south-eastern part of the suburb of Randwick, NSW, around the intersection of Perouse Road and St Pauls Street
The Spot is located in the south-eastern part of the suburb of Randwick, NSW, around the intersection of Perouse Road and St Pauls Street
Superintendent's Cottage, Prince of Wales Hospital, built (The Prince of Wales Hospital was initially part of the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, which was established on its current High Street Randwick site in 1858)
Randwick Town Hall, NSW, opened, 3rd February 1882
Corana and Hygeia, also known as Randwick Lodge, Avoca Street, Randwick, NSW. They were built from 1893 to 1894.
Tayar, The Avenue, Randwixk, NSW,  a two-storey Victorian Italianate house built in c1900
St Jude's Church, Avoca Street, Randwick, NSW ( built 1865 to design inspired by St John's Church, Randwick, Gloucestershire, England)
Venice is a heritage-listed apartment building and residence in Randwick, City of Randwick, NSW, built from 1884 to 1885 by Stephen Gee.
Former Randwick Post Office, NSW, built in 1898 is Federation Freestyle
"Aston Lodge" was built for John Watkins in 1865. Randwick, NSW. Now a private school, the Emanuel School
Ventnor Avoca Street, Randwick Built 1858 by Edward Dawson. Bought c. 1876 by George Kiss, auctioneer of Kiss' Horse Bazaar, George Street, Sydney. Mayor of Randwick 1878. Family resided there until 1963 when sold to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church.

Places To Go

The Ritz Cinema, also known as the Ritz Theatre, is a heritage-listed cinema located at 43 St Pauls Street, in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, NSW



The La Perouse Museum is located at 1542 Anzac Parade, La Perouse, NSW

Collingwood House, Liverpool, Once The home of Captain Eber Bunker

Collingwood House at Liverpool, NSW, dates to 1810 

Cabrogal clan of the Dharug people

Aboriginal tribes have lived near the Georges River for a long time. Around Liverpool, are the traditional lands of the Cabrogal clan of the Dharug people.

An area in the vicinity of Collingwood House was a meeting place for Dharug, Dharawal and Gandangara Aboriginal people.
ABORIGINAL RELICS. LIVERPOOL, Monday. While ploughing along the George's River,near the Quarries, Mr. C. Giles unearthed a stone axe and part of a spear and boomerang. Mr. R. Tapping, an old resident of the town, recalled that the George's River tribe had a camp there, and that the aborigines made frequent hunting trips in the country between George's River and the Nepean.Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 13 February 1934

Collingwood House 

Collingwood House at Liverpool dates to 1810 and is one of a few surviving buildings that adhere to the building code set out by Governor Lachlan Macquarie on Boxing Day, 1810.

In 1817, Governor Macquarie had a road built from Sydney to Liverpool and Campbelltown called "the Great Southern Road".

Collingwood House was built by Eber Bunker, a Nantucket whaling captain, who arrived in Australia as captain of a convict ship in 1791. 
Captain Eber Bunker, ca. 1810 - miniature portrait State Library of NSW
Captain Bunker was granted 500 acres of land, named it Collingwood Dale and built Collingwood homestead, which still stands on Birkdale Crescent today. This Georgian-style homestead is the oldest in Liverpool and is the fifth oldest building in NSW.

The Collingwood area developed into a village and was absorbed into greater Liverpool.

On 6-7 January 1858, the Exhibition of the Cumberland Agricultural Society, was held in the grounds of J H Atkinson, Collingwood. Much later, in 1882, the show moved to Moore Park and became known as the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1891.

Saul Samuel, a Jewish businessman and member of the Legislative Assembly, who also established a wool-scouring factory, owned Collingwood from 1869, until his death.
Collingwood Scouring Works, Liverpool, NSW, The Australasian pastoralists' review : a monthly journal and record of all matters affecting the pastoral and landed interests throughout Australasia. Vol. 8 No. 10 (15 December 1898)
Collingwood has also been the site of an alpaca farm, and golf clubhouse.

In 2009, on public land owned and managed by Liverpool City Council and zoned as Community Open Space, the Collingwood Precinct Aboriginal Place was officially declared. 

Also in The Area

Rosebank

Also located in Liverpool is Rosebank Cottage, on Speed Street. The building is one of a few remaining heritage buildings on this street. as others were demolished in the 1970s to build apartment buildings.

Rosebank was completed in 1883, designed by Varney Parkes (son of Sir Henry Parkes) and later became Queens College, school for girls.

Rosebank is the only large Victorian house remaining of the former historic Liverpool Township and is owned by Liverpool City Council. 
 Rosebank Cottage, on Speed Street, Liverpool, NSW,  was completed in 1883, designed by Varney Parkes 

Glenfield Farm

Glenfield Farm homestead dates from the original land grant of 1810. The farm house was built in 1817 by Dr. Charles Throsby, who arrived in New South Wales in 1802, as a surgeon on the transport "Coromande".

Governor Macquarie made Throsby a magistrate of the territory in March 1821, with main jurisdiction over the new County of Argyle. The property on Leacocks Lane, is the oldest continuously worked farm in Australia.
Glenfield Farm homestead dates from the original land grant of 1810. The farm house was built in 1817 by Dr. Charles Throsby, who arrived in New South Wales in 1802, Liverpool, NSW

Places To Go

Collingwood House can be found on the Hume Highway, about 20 minutes walk from Liverpool Railway Station. Ample free parking is available.

Tours of Collingwood House are by appointment only.

Collingwood House Birkdale Crescent, Liverpool, NSW

Rosebank, 17 Speed Street, Liverpool, NSW

Read newspaper item, Aboriginal Fables
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