NORTH RYDE, NEW SOUTH WALES

'North Ryde' is a suburb in the north of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the region of Lower North Shore, the state electorates of Lane Cove and Ryde and the federal electorate of Division of Bennelong. It is located approximately 17 km from the Sydney CBD in the City of Ryde, nearby suburbs include Epping, East Ryde, Eastwood, Pymble, Chatswood, Lane Cove and Marsfield.
Although now officially separate suburbs, East Ryde, Marsfield and Macquarie Park are considered by many to be part of North Ryde as the whole area was officially part of the suburb until the 1960s when it was rezoned. Macquarie Park and North Ryde share the same postcode of 2113 (as does East Ryde), and many businesses and residences (despite being in Macquarie Park) still advertise their address as being in North Ryde.
Macquarie University, situated north of Macquarie Park, was also once officially referred to as being located in North Ryde, and shared its 2113 postcode. This was changed in the late 1980s-early 1990s when Australia Post issued Macquarie University with its own postcode, 2109, though to most the entire area is still referred to as being North Ryde.

Contents

History

Local landmarks

Transportation

References

See also

External links

History

North Ryde was established in the mid 19th century in what was a heavily vegetated area, as a farming district next to the already established district of Ryde. Originally known by white settlers as the Field of Mars, (Ryde is the third oldest settlement in Australia, after Sydney and Parramatta. Originally, known by its Aboriginal name Wallumatta, the whole area between Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers became known as the Field of Mars). The aboriginal name survives in a local park, the Wallumatta Nature Reserve, located at the corner of Twin and Cressy roads, North Ryde. This Reserve is one of the last remnants of the remaining 0.5% (as at 2007)^[1] of original (and endangered)^[2] turpentine-ironbark forests on Wianamatta shale soil in Sydney.^[3]
Ryde was used from the 1840s and adopted as the name of the municipality in 1870.
It is not known when the district became known as North Ryde, however the earliest reference appears to be 1877 when the district's first public school (opened 25th January 1876) changed its name from 'City View Public School' to 'North Ryde Public School' a year later. It was called City View as you could see the city of Sydney from the roof. The original building in Cox's Road now houses 'The NSW Schoolhouse Museum of Public Education'.[2]
A second primary school, 'Truscott Street Public School' opened 21 May, 1958. In 1988 the school incorporated a "Special Unit P" for children with special needs.[3]
A large and modern high school 'North Ryde High School' was built on land between Epping and Waterloo Roads, and opened around 1962. It was later re-named 'Peter Board High School' which many residents felt took away its local identity. The school was subsequently phased-out and closed down around 1998-9. It has been said that demographics justified the decision to close the school. This move left North Ryde without a High School, Malvina High School (Ryde Secondary College) being the nearest alternative.^[4]. NRHS's most famous student was unquestionably Shane Gould, Olympic Swimmer who won Gold at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
The 'North Ryde Post Office' in Cox's Road was opened in 1885, and despite relocating premises at least six times, is still located in Cox's Road.
The 'North Ryde School of Arts', built in Cox's Road in 1901, became the venue for community meetings, fetes, art exhibitions, dances, physical culture and the like. Extensions were built in 1907. The North Ryde Library Branch was also located within. The original building was demolished in the late 1970s and a new Community Centre and Library complex was built. The Cox's Road Shopping Centre was destroyed by a suspicious fire around 1990 and a new shopping mall was built with improved amenities. Thompson's Shop (1904) in Cox's Road was the General Store and Post Office for many years, and apart from the Schoolhouse is the only remaining original building still standing from those early years. The rapid development of North Ryde in the 1950s and 1960s saw many of the older dwellings and buildings demolished, which, if considered today, would likely have been heritage listed.
Three gas street lamps were installed in Cox's Road in the 1920s. One has been restored and is in front of the Schoolhouse.
The Frew family operated the only service station in the area which was situated halfway down Wicks Road, and was a familiar stop on the way to the Fairygrounds Pleasure Park.
Main farming activity included orchards, market gardens and poultry. A migrant hostel was located on the south side of Blenheim Road. An 'Army Vehicle Park' was located in North Ryde, bounded by Epping, Wicks, Cox's and Blenheim Roads. A pig farm was located in Wicks Road and was operational until the late 1960s. The 'House of David' operated for many years on Lane Cove Road, and included a general store, picnic grounds, tennis courts, a miniature train ride, and a small zoo, later adding a VW car dealership to the complex. (A Volkswagen car assembly plant was located behind the House of David in Waterloo Road before being moved to Mexico.) The North Ryde Skyline Drive-In Theatre was opened in 1956 on the southern corner of Waterloo and Lane Cove Roads, adjoining the newly-built North Ryde High School, and operated until the mid-1970s.
North Ryde remained rural until after World War II when the state government purchased and subdivided much of the land for Defence Homes and public housing. Although there is still some public housing in the area, most of the residential properties have transferred into private hands, which has transformed the area into an upper-middle class suburb.
The mid 1960s saw the combined establishment of the North Ryde Industrial Area and Macquarie University, an idea originating from the industrial areas surrounding Stanford University near San Francisco. Industries were originally limited to being light, science related and include research activities. Many major hi-tech corporations have established their Australian headquarters in the area most notably the information technology sector including Toshiba, Microsoft, Oracle, Honeywell, CSC, Sony, Phillips, Optus, Avaya and also the pharmaceutical sector with such companies as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

Local landmarks

Local landmarks of North Ryde include the Macquarie Centre, Macquarie Hospital, which adjoins the 'North Ryde Common', where annual Australia Day Concerts and Candles by Candlelight are held each year, (the grounds are open now after the removal of the original hospitals gates and fences), the North Ryde Golf Club (motorcycle racing was held there in the late 1920s), North Ryde R.S.L. Community Club ,CSIRO Laboratories, Global Television Studios (formerly the TEN-10 studios), Mix 106.5 Radio Station, Macquarie University and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
Macquarie Hospital, bounded by Cox's, Wicks, Twin & Badajoz Roads, originally known as the North Ryde Mental Asylum (as shown in early street directories of Sydney), was then re-named as North Ryde Psychiatric Centre, then again re-named Gladesville-Macquarie Hospital as an amalgamation with Gladesville Hospital. Upon closure of Gladesville Hospital, the hospital was again re-named, this time as Macquarie Hospital. Macquarie Hospital is an important 195 bed specialist mental health facility offering acute admission, non-acute recovery and extended care programs for adults with a mental illness/disorder who reside within the Northern Sydney Central Coast Health catchment area. The hospital works collaboratively with a range of community mental health and specialist non-government organisations and has a catchment population of approximately 1,110,000 residents. The hospital is gazetted under the New South Wales Mental Health Act 1990.^[5]
North Ryde has many parks and reserves, including the adjacent Lane Cove National Park, The Field of Mars Reserve, and access to the Great North Walk and the Lane Cove River, once home to the famous 'Fairyland' picnic grounds.
North Ryde's main street, historically, has always been 'Cox's Road'.
The Lane Cove River Bridge linking the City of Ryde and the Municipality of Lane Cove is one of Lower Northern Sydney's historical precincts, was widened to accommodate increased traffic on Epping Road, and then widened once again to provide access to the Lane Cove Tunnel motorway.
In addition to the Macquarie Park developments, Delhí Road's Riverside Corporate Park is home to organisations such as CSIRO, Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, FOXTEL,and Revlon.

Transportation

The M2 Hills Motorway passes through North Ryde on route to Sydney city (first becoming the Gore Hill/Warringah freeway).
Metroad 3 (named in this area Lane Cove Road (although it does not lead to Lane Cove), traverses North Ryde from north to south and links with the M2 Hills Motorway and Epping Road.
The intersection of Epping and Pittwater Road was once destined to be a major junction of part of "Sydney's Missing Roads" until the cancellation of the North Western and Lane Cove Valley Expressways in the late 1970s.^[6]
The Eastwood County Road (also referred to as Silverwater-North Ryde route and Ermington-Epping Rd link) may be built one day, the corridor remains reserved.^[7]
During the steam era, there was a proposed railway station to be built at North Ryde near the intersection of Cox's and Wicks Road, but the line was never built.[4]
North Ryde will soon have an underground railway station called North Ryde with the completion of the Epping to Chatswood rail link in 2008.

References

1. City of Ryde Council website, "NATIVE VEGETATION: Sydney Turpentine - Ironbark Forest", dated 1 January 2007. Accessed 1 July 2007.
2. National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales), "Sydney turpentine-ironbark forest - endangered ecological community listing", 16 October 1998. Accessed 1 July 2007.
3. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Wallumatta Nature Reserve (information page). Accessed 1 July 2007.
4. Parliament of NSW - Legislative Council Hansard (Friday, 19 June 1998)
5. http://www.nsh.nsw.gov.au/services/amh/services/003682251.shtml
6. http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/Special/Unbuilt/F3/lcv.htm
7. http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/Special/Unbuilt/Eastwood/eastwoodcountyroad.htm

See also

★ Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest

External links

★ City of Ryde - Council site

★ Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (Ryde Council website, with list of local endangered plant species that residents should give preference to when making new plantings in their gardens).