Hunters Hill postcode, population and history

I

Mookaboola and the name Hunters Hill

Mookaboola and Moocooboola are given as Aboriginal names for the area, meaning "meeting of waters".

The suburb takes its name from John Hunter, who was the second Governor of New South Wales. He held office between 1795 and 1800.

II

Settlement and the French village

Settlement in the area now called Hunters Hill began in 1835. Mary Reibey was among the earliest settlers and the first female retailer in Sydney. Her cottage, later called Fig Tree House, stood on land beside the Lane Cove River. Reiby Street takes its name from her. In the 1840s, bushrangers and escaped convicts from the Cockatoo Island penal settlement took refuge in Hunters Hill.

Local sandstone was used for many early houses in the suburb. From 1847 Didier Numa Joubert, a Frenchman, acquired 81 hectares from Mary Reiby. He employed seventy stonemasons who came from Italy to build substantial, artistic houses. Because many residents were of French extraction, it was called the "French Village". It has a sister city near Paris, Le Vésinet.

III

Municipality, bridge and industry

On 5 January 1861, Hunters Hill was proclaimed a municipality. The Municipality of Hunter's Hill is the local government area, and the suburb is its administrative centre. In 1881 the first Gladesville Bridge was built. It connected the area with Drummoyne and the southern bank of the Parramatta River.

An industrial area existed in Hunters Hill in the early 20th century. One industry was a radium and uranium refinery that operated from 1911 to 1915. The concentrated ore travelled more than 1,200 kilometres from Radium Hill in South Australia, 100 kilometres west of Broken Hill. Uranium was then seen as a byproduct, while radium existed in tiny amounts and was highly valuable: the refinery could turn 1,016 kilograms of ore into roughly five milligrams of radium bromide.

The area is now residential, at Nelson Parade. In 2021 Hunters Hill Council received approval to remediate the site and to send the contaminated material for disposal at a facility in the United States that is licensed to receive it. Remediation works began in September 2021. Later the waste was sent to Western Australia, where a facility had been licensed in 2023. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation oversaw the work, which was finished by August 2024.

IV

Heritage and later years

A number of buildings in Hunters Hill are heritage-listed. They include Fig Tree House in Reiby Road, the public school, post office and town hall in Alexandra Street, and Kellys Bush Park on Nelson Parade. Other listings include the Anglican Church of All Saints at the corner of Ferry and Ambrose Streets, and Woolwich Dock in Franki Avenue, Woolwich. The historic town hall sits close to the post office.

In 2003 a computer mapping application was developed in a Hunters Hill bedroom by Where 2 Technologies. It later became Google Maps. The Great North Walk runs from Sydney to Newcastle and crosses Boronia Park. Boronia Park is a large waterfront reserve. It contains Aboriginal drawings that are thought to predate the colony.

Hunters Hill lies between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, near where they meet, and close to the headwaters of Sydney Harbour, giving river and harbour views. Developments are mostly residential. The area includes some 650,000 square metres of parks and reserves. The suburb covers 5.75 square kilometres.

V

Living in Hunters Hill

Hunters Hill occupies a peninsula between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, near the headwaters of Sydney Harbour. The position gives river and harbour views. The suburb covers 5.75 square kilometres, including some 650,000 square metres of parks and reserves. Developments are mostly residential. The Great North Walk crosses Boronia Park, a large waterfront reserve.

There is a private hospital in Alexandra Street. In High Street there is the Sir Moses Montefiore Home, a Jewish nursing home and synagogue. The historic town hall and post office are in Alexandra Street. Bus and ferry both reach the suburb. It was once known as the "French Village" and has a sister city near Paris, Le Vésinet.