Puck's Wharf
Lost Sydney: Lauriston Park Estate
Lauriston Park was a small village located at the mouth of the Cooks River on the northern shores of Botany Bay. In 1921 the Commonwealth Government resumed a number of swampy, grassy paddocks close to the few houses which formed part of the Lauriston Park estate. This area was to become the site of Sydney Airport. As the Airport expanded, the people of Lauriston Park ceded more and more land until the village eventually disappeared entirely.
The setting in which the estate of Lauriston Park, and more recently, Sydney Airport, lies would have been an ideal location for Aboriginal habitation, prior to European arrival. With nearby water sources, such as the Cooks River and Botany Wetlands, and a diverse range of habitats for food on the coast and adjacent hinterland, it is believed that the area was well utilised by Aboriginal communities. However, airport-wide heritage studies indicate that there are no aboriginal archaeological sites or areas of potential archaeological sensitivity within Sydney Airport.
In 1813, the former convict and then successful businessman and trader, Simeon Lord, dammed the Mill Stream to the south of the site of the future estate to establish a water-powered woollen mill and a flour mill. This created what are now called the Engine Ponds East and West. The woollen mill is claimed to be the first successful private manufacturing industry in Australia (Doring, 1996). The mills operated until the Government acquired the land in 1855, and were demolished around 1862.
Botany Water Pumping Station ruins
The Botany/Lachlan Swamps subsequently became Sydney's third water supply (after the Tank Stream and The Tunnel, or Busby's Bore). The steam-powered Botany Water Pumping Station was built within the airport site in around 1858 to pump water from the swamps up to the Crown Street Reservoir (which is still in use today). In the late 1880s, Botany was replaced by the Upper Nepean Scheme. Remains of the pumping station, including ruins of the Engine House and Boiler House and the lower part of the chimney, are still present on the airport site today.
Lauriston Park grew out of a rambling collection of houses to the north of the Pumping Station around where the southern end of Old Botany Road (O'Reardon Street) - beyond the railway line it became Melrose Street (later Tenth Avenue) - met Lord's Road (now Vickers Avenue). The establishment of Ascot Racecourse in 1902 led to the subdivision of land in the area to the north of it, which became the Lauriston Park estate. Due to its proximity to Ascot Racecourse, many in the Lauriston Park community worked in the horse racing industry. Lords Road had a tramline from Botany Road to Lauriston Park and the Racecourse that terminated just before the road turned over the sewer line. Racing ceased at the course in August 1942 but training activity continued until the airport took the area in 1947.
Sixth Street today
Ross Smith Avenue today circles the residential area of the lost suburb of Lauriston Park. In the 1950s the government renamed the local streets. Government Road became Eleventh Street, Melrose/Tenth, Roslyn/Ninth and Lord's Road/Vickers Avenue. This block of streets were part of the suburb and their layout is all that remains of Lauriston Park.
There were three entrances to Lauriston Park; two from Mascot - Lord's Road and O'Riordan Street (previously Old Botany Road) and the third from Brighton Le Sands over the original Cooks River Traffic Bridge. Lord's Road commenced at Botany Road, Mascot just to the south of Hollingshed Street. The first 150 metres still exists as a thoroughfare as it leaves Botany Road and crosses the Botany-Sydenham Railway Goods line. The road continued in a south westerly direction along the line of Perimeter Road. Alongside the road was the high timber perimeter fence of Ascot Racecourse, interspersed with the brick walls of its grandstands.
The only surviving physical evidence of the racecourse is fifteen fig trees which formerly lined the racecourse entrance, and some Norfolk Island Pines, Canary Island Date Palms and a Chinese Redwood, located near the helicopter precinct. The fig trees are located near the airport's long-term carpark, and are the subject of heritage preservation.
Standing at the airport perimeter fence of today it is also possible to see sections of the old Lord's Road. The pedestrian pavement was bitumen and hugged the racecourse boundary. The road made a right turn over an artificial hill created by the Southern Outfall Sewer pipeline. Lord's Road had tramlines beside it which led from Botany Road to the Racecourse. Beyond Lord's Road was a large open paddock and Wimble's Ink factory. At this point the airport perimeter fence turned north. In earlier days there were Chinese market gardens and a dairy farm here. The farm was later used for live pigeon shooting by the NSW Gun Club. Nearby were tall timber towers used by radio stations to broadcast descriptions of races in progress on the racecourse.
Before the 1950s expansion of Sydney Airport, at which time Cooks River was diverted to enter Botany Bay on the westen side of the airport, the river entered the bay to the south of Lauriston Park estate. Pucks Wharf, near the original mouth of the river, was a well known and popular swimming spot, especially with the residents of Lauriston Park. A traffic bridge with a raisable span was opened in 1927 across the river alongside Puck's Wharf. Along the river bank adjacent to Puck's Wharf and towards the redundant sewer were a number of corrugated iron and board shacks used by fishermen. Across the bridge the road became General Holmes Drive which led through coastal sand hills beside shell middens to Brighton Le Sands.
During the early years of World War II, the area beyond Lords Road/Vickers Avenue was resumed by the Govenment and a number of buildings were erected in which Bristol Beaufort Mk VIII aircraft were constructed during the war. Component parts were sub-contracted out to about 600 firms, and seven factories handled the major sub-assemblies that were then fed into the main workshops at Fishermens Bend and Mascot. After the war, they became the maintenance area for Trans Australia Airlines.
By the early 1940s the airport occupied all the land on the south side of the section of Lord's Road now named Vickers Avenue. In the 1950s, Qantas Empire Airways and its associates like BOAC began to test its Constellation aircraft engines in temporary facilities near to Lords Road. The noise was incredibly loud and a test would run for many hours. Locals speculated it was all part of the plan to get the residents to move out.
The construction of an international terminal in the 1950s where the main Qantas domestic facility now stands heralded the beginning of the end for Lauriston Park. Whenever local houses went on sale, there were purchased and converted to business use. Others were demolished and replaced by airport-related buildings. The last resident of Lauriston Park departed in 1990.
