G’day James Sutton here and today I’m on Longford Street in Roseville with an interesting story that encompasses Longford Street, Shirley Road, Sugarbag Creek, the nearby Bromborough Road and Loyal Henry Park. Now as I’ve mentioned before the establishment of the Roseville railway station put this area on the radar of the growing Sydney population and was the main catalyst in the initial land subdivisions between 1900 and 1920. One such subdivision was called the Roseville Recreation Park Estate which offered for sale 118 blocks of land. This included the first stage of the establishment of Longford Street with 17 blocks offered here mostly around 1300-1500 square metres in size. The subdivision map refers to a natural watercourse flowing through the reserve meandering across the junction of Longford Street and what is now Abingdon Road. I say “what is now” Abingdon Road because at that stage it was
known as Westbourne Road, which would turn left into Abingdon Road.

The agents selling the blocks, Whitfield Murphy, stated “the estate occupies a commanding position with fine panoramic views of the surrounding country. Adjoining the estate are the Roseville Recreation Grounds and attractive homes of city businessmen are built right upto the estate.” The creek that meandered through Longford and Abingdon, was later named Sugarbag Creek after the gang of boys who lived on Bromborough Road. The boys were all sons of men who had served in World War 1 and were known as the Sugarbag Gang because they would roam the local bush playing games, all wearing sugarbags in a similar look to the modern hoody, tucking the sugarbag into their shorts. “Axle” Tarrant and his brother “Maggot”, Don Young and his brother Brian, Stu Doyle, Peter Turier and his brother “Squizzy” and Bruce Mitchell with his brother Nipper, made up the Sugarbag gang.

Loyal Henry Park at the end of Bromborough Road is so-named to commemorate the loyalty of the original landowner in this area, William Henry, who opposed the infamous Rum Rebellion coup in 1808 staying loyal to Governor Bligh, who was arrested by John McArthur’s rebels. Henry received 100 lashes for his stance and the park was named in commemoration of this act of bravery and loyalty. Back to today and we were delighted to sell 17 Longford Street at auction on June 3rd . Built in 1954 and retained in the same family for the last 69 years, this property offers a wonderful opportunity on its 1308 square metres
backing into the Sugarbag Creek Reserve. After we led 97 groups through the property, there were 19 contracts and 5 registered bidders, resulting in the hammer coming down at $2,902,000, which was $152,000 above reserve. I hope you enjoyed the story of how this area evolved, you can now find all past episodes of these stories at JamesSuttonStories.com.au. My name’s James Sutton, I’m the Principal at McGrath Wahroonga. If you’d like to discuss your property I’d be delighted to help you, you can reach me at 0422 704 370 or drop into my office at 17 Redleaf Avenue, Wahroonga. Bye for now.