Peeks Point

(Gosford walkies #33, East Gosford)

My records say the last time I walked in Gosford was November 2006. Bollocks! More like November 2007.



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View from Caroline Street. Lovely clear day for photography today. Now that summer's over the rain has gone away.

Left to right: Rocky Point, Green Point/Kincumba Mountain behind it, Killcare in the distance, and Saratoga's Bayview Wharf area on the right.




The sign reads:

"East Gosford
Samuel Peek's Township
at Brisbane Water

The population of Brisbane Water in 1828 was 99 [white people],
of whom 56 were assigned servants [convicts], with only 11
women living on the estates of 14 large landholders.
There was no urban development, no township
or village, no provision for young couples to buy
an allotment where they could build a cottage and
raise a family while practising an independent trade
There was no road, no bridge, no shop, baker
butcher or general store.

Samuel Peek was a Sydney businessman of many
interests and achievments. The population of the colony
had much increased since 1831 & he saw the need
for a township, and seized the opportunity offered.
He bought a vacant area of 500 acres of land at
Brisbane Waters and commissioned a proficient
surveyor to lay out a proper township with provision
for public amenities: Court House Churches,
Marketplace, and Pound.

The first allotment was offered for sale in Sydney on
13 February 1838.
The Census of 1841 informs us that already 178 people
lived at east Gosford:
95 men, 33 women, 50 children in 21 dwellings.

Sponsored by
EAST GOSFORD PROGRESS ASSOCIATION
ROTARY CLUB of EAST GOSFORD".

Bugger all remains to be seen of the original township. The houses there now are mostly 1940s and '70s with an occasional Federation cottage like this.



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View from the park in Caroline Street.

Left to right: Ironbark Point (pair of yachts), Rocky Point, Green Point/Kincumba Mountain behind, Saratoga, and the water tank of Woy Woy Peninsula's Mount Ettalong on the right.

The water views were taken within an hour of each other and at pretty much the same angle from the sun, but check out how different the colour of the water is.



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Looking across the water to Ironbark Point from Russell Street. Another quiet little bay in an estuary full of quiet little bays.



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Red-tipped leaves on some sort of eucalyptus tree. Don't ask me what sort. I ain't no botanist.

Extra photo, didn't quite make the grade.