Gday, James Sutton here and today I’m on Thomas Avenue to talk about the fascinating evolution of this wide, leafy, quiet beautiful cul-de-sac. Now as I’ve talked about in previous episodes, the Henry family were granted one of the original parcels of land that eventually became Roseville back in the early part of the 19th century.. In 1868 this parcel was then bought by Thomas Jenkins, who was a specialist in developing orchards for both fruit and timber and could see the potential in this area. Sydney’s growing population was developing an insatiable appetite for both of his core products. In fact he added an adjoining 100 acres to the original parcel, extending the operation known as Millwood Farms. He built a wharf on the Upper Lane Cove River at Chatswood from where he would transport the fruit and timber using a steamship called Nellie. Thomas and his wife, Maria also established a wholesale fruit business at the York Street markets in Sydney. Nellie would bring the Jenkins produce down the Lane Cove River and through the Paramatta River into what is now known as Barangaroo Wharf, where it would be taken a short distance to York Street to be sold.

So when Thomas Avenue was eventually named as part of a later subdivision of this huge estate, it commemorated Thomas Jenkins, though Jenkins Street in Chatswood was also named in his honour. So that’s where Thomas Avenue got it’s name. In 1921 The subdivision of the Jenkins Estate known as “The Garden of Roseville – Estate Number 2” established 15 blocks on Thomas Avenue and I had the great pleasure of handling the sale of one of the them over the last few weeks. 31 Thomas Avenue, set on 841 square metres, almost certainly included some trees planted by Thomas Jenkins as part of his fruit and timber operation. We took the property to auction on June 10 and after some tense negotiations we were delighted to bring the hammer down at $3.502 million, which was $202,000 above the guide price. I hope you enjoyed the story of how Thomas Avenue evolved, you can now find all past episodes of my stories about Roseville 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.