Glimpses of the Past: Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Glebe Point Road, Corner St Johns Road, c 1908

(Click on photograph to enlarge)

The view in the above pic is towards Parramatta Road. The road surface is dirt, stabilised by crushed stone, and it appears to have been recently watered, probably to subdue the dust.

Most of the buildings in the photograph remain, although without the collonaded awnings. Note the sign outside the office of W.T. Tate & Dive, estate agents and "valuators", these days known as valuers.

In medieval Europe, a glebe was an area of land, either belonging to a parish church or being part of the manor and set aside for the use of the church, whose revenues contributed towards the parish expenses.

The inner city suburb of Glebe derives its name from the fact that the land on which it was developed was a glebe, originally owned by the Anglican Church. 'The Glebe' was a land grant of 400 acres given by Governor Arthur Phillip to Reverend Richard Johnson, Chaplain of the First Fleet,  in 1790.

There was an active tramway on Glebe Point Road between 1892 and 1958 until the trams were replaced by buses. Roadworks near the Bridge Road cross in late 2009 uncovered a section of the original tram tracks. The City of Sydney Council has left these exposed to serve as a historical reminder.