Walkabout with Ruth Darling Point (Part One)

Ruth

In this Ed 54, my walk takes me around Darling Point (two part series).

I begin my walk in Darling Pt Rd at Ranelagh apartments built in 1967. In Dec 14, 1969 this was the tallest residential unit building in Australia with $2.5 million views, towering 122m above sea level and 85m above the road.

Heading down the road I turn right into Octagon Rd to the site of Ascham. The Ascham school property is based on a consolidation of two major nineteenth-century estates : recently been occupied by the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. In 1892, the estate was sold to grazier Michael Campbell Langtree. Langtree subdivided it and sold part of Greenoaks to the Church of England in 1910 for 6,750 pounds.

A plaque dedicated to Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816 – 1878) is situated here. Locally he is remembered as the generous benefactor of St Mark's Darling Point, and for his own landmark house Greenoaks. 5

Across the road in Greenoaks Ave is a plaque dedicated to Jessie Lady Street (1889-1970) who lived at 2 Greenoaks Ave, for over forty years, spent her life campaigning for equality and peace. Street travelled the globe advocating socialism, and lobbying for women’s and Aboriginal rights. At No. 3 Greenoaks Ave, there is plaque dedicated to Dr Max Herz (1876-1948) who was a German-born, Sydney-based medical specialist who introduced treatments new to Australia in his Sydney clinic, and has been recognised as the first fully-trained orthopaedic surgeon to have practiced in Australasia.