Hornsby Shire Historical Society

20/08/2026

HORNSBY’S NORTHGATE SHOPPING CENTRE

Approval for Northgate to be built was given in 1974.

However, a local protest group was formed, & the project was subject to a BLF Green Ban, with questions asked about it in parliament. The protest was spearheaded by Hornsby Councillor, Gordon Curby with the main concern being about traffic.

Eventually the project was scaled down from 400,000 square feet to 297,00 square feet. $825,000 was handed over to Hornsby Council for traffic works, which included the widening of Florence, Muriel, Burdett, Sherbrook, Albert, Linda, Hunter & Bridge Roads.

There was also a substantial financial contribution towards the original pedestrian bridge across George Street, linking the railway station with Florence Street. This opened in 1980, a year after Northgate opened.

The developers purchased from Council a car park in Albert Street & a Baby Health Centre for $596,000. Private land was also purchased which included flats, homes, a plant nursery & an office building.

Northgate was constructed by developers Multiplex, who employed 475 men on the site. The project started in July 1978 & when finally completed, 16 months later, it came to a total cost of $36 million. Once completed Northgate was the largest single shopping complex on Sydney’s North Shore. It was a four storey complex with seven levels of parking for over 1,400 vehicles.

A huge benefit to the community, with the opening of Northgate was a significant injection of local employment opportunities, particularly for younger workers. Jobs in Hornsby at that time were very scarce prior to the complex opening.

Northgate Shopping Centre in Hornsby opened for trade on Wednesday 14th November, 1979. The official opening was a few days later on Saturday, 17th November. It was a huge event with the official opening being performed by the Deputy Premier of NSW, Mr Jack Ferguson.

Hornsby Shire Council’s President at that time, Councillor Don Evans, called Northgate, “a splendid shopping amenity”.

During the planning & construction period, ownership of the project changed hands several times. When Northgate finally opened it was owned by, New World Property Developments Pty Ltd, who then sold to a Western Australian development group called Welscott Pty Ltd.

Shortly before opening, Bill Aitken was employed as Northgate’s Promotions Manager. Aitken had an extensive background in the theatrical industry and thrived in his new role. He created Northgate’s slogan, “More people meet more people at Northgate”.

As part of the official opening the “Northgate Express” was organized by Bill Aitken and the NSW Rail Transport Museum. The 3214 steam train departed Gosford at 9.10am packed with Hornsby residents as passengers, many dressed in 1890s period costumes. This was a great success and soon after the steam train pulled into Hornsby Railway Station, to waiting crowds there was a colourful procession marching across George Street and down Florence Street to the official opening of Northgate. Later Bill Aitken went on to establish a local newspaper, for the southern end of the Shire, called the Monthly Chronicle.

The original Northgate Shopping Centre principal tenants were K-Mart, Coles and Grace Bros, who were by far the largest. There were also 67 specialty stores.

Initially there was a minor controversy, as a pinball parlour with twenty machines opened in Northgate. However, within a week it was closed because of concerns about “the youth” negatively impacting on other Northgate retailers.

Westfield Hornsby originally opened in July 1961, as the first Westfield complex in the world. For 20 years the Westfield Shopping Complex operated beside its rival Northgate until Westfield bought out its competitor in 1999. In 2000 the Northgate complex was refurbished and the original Westfield rebuilt, all of which took two years to complete at a cost of over $360 million. Delivery of stage 1 in October 2000 saw the reopening of the former Northgate complex which had become part of a much larger Westfield Hornsby. It eventually dropped the Northgate name altogether.

Northgate’s largest tenant, Grace Bros, remained at its original site in the expanded Westfield. It changed its name to Myer in 2004, but after just over 40 years of trading in Hornsby, in January 2020, the retailer closed its operations and was replaced by Harvey Norman.

13/08/2026

BROOKLYN’ SALT PAN RESERVE

The Salt Pan on Brooklyn Road, took its name from the salt works that operated in the area. The creek used to run through the eastern side of the reserve that used to flood, particularly at high tide.

Where the creek runs through the Salt Pan Reserve today, there was a road that was formed up in 1919. The works only operated briefly when it was leased to Owen Blackett of Lindfield, who applied for the establishment of an “evaporative” saltworks there. This appears to have involved allowing the salt water to cover trays when the tide came in & using sunlight to evaporate the water, leaving salt.

The lease appears to have lasted for only five years. However, there was a reference at that time to the “Old Saltworks” in the area suggesting a previous operation prior to 1919.

The salt pan was used as a rubbish tip from the 1960s until 1978 & this filled the area above the tidal limit.

At the back of Salt Pan Reserve is a huge railway embankment, built in 1887. In its original form, it carried a single line on a wooden viaduct that was replaced by more stone when the line was duplicated around 1908.

At the time of its construction this railway embankment was the largest in Australia. It was constructed with manpower, horses, drays & some use of explosives. The stone was taken from the tunnels further up the line.

The creek that descends from the reservoir, south of the railway line, passes through the railway embankment via a beautifully constructed sandstone tunnel. This was quarried from the cliff face at the back of the Salt Pan Reserve. From the tunnel’s exit the water cascades down into a lovely bush-pool, before a small creek takes it behind the RFS station, under the road bridge and into the Hawkesbury River.

Having originated in the unpolluted hills behind Brooklyn, the water is very clean and it used to provide excellent drinking water. It also served as a place to wash clothes before town water was connected to Brooklyn in the 1930s. Clothes were soaked in the bush-pool before being hung on a makeshift clothesline nearby. Local families would take turns to use the area for their weekly wash.

The station house for Brooklyn’s Rural Fire Service, located in front of the Salt Pan Reserve, opened on Brooklyn Road, in 2002.

From 2016, Hornsby Shire Council remediated Salt Pan Reserve, vastly improving the area. Today it is a wonderful place to visit.

07/08/2026

06/08/2026

CONCRETING THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY AT ASQUITH, Sept. 1928

Hornsby Council completed the difficult job of the clearing and forming of the Highway’s carriageway between Hookhams Corner & the Hawkesbury River. When this work was completed, the road initially operated unsealed for light traffic.

Concreting the Highway proved to be challenging & this work was undertaken by the Department of Main Roads. Large quantities of water were needed along the entire route which required various water storage means to be employed. This included temporary elevated water tanks with piping systems, water trucks & even the creation of concrete dams in some areas.

For stockpiling required materials, large depot sites were established along the route with stacks of metal reinforcing, massive mounds of sand & piles of cement.

Using the materials depot established where Asquith Bowling Club is located today, the concreting work commenced at Hookhams Corner & moved northwards, in September 1928.

These photos are from the concreting at Asquith on the road where Hornsby High School (formally Asquith Boys High School) is located today.

In September 1929, concreting commenced from the Hawkesbury River southward.

They met in the dip just south of Mt Kuring-gai, where the concreting work was completed.

The fully sealed Great Northern Highway, between Hookhams Corner and Kangaroo Point (Hawkesbury River), officially opened for traffic on 2nd June 1930. It was renamed as part of the Pacific Highway on 29th May 1931.

30/07/2026

HORNSBY SHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY APPEALS FOR OLD ADVOCATE NEWPAPERS

The Hornsby Advocate newspaper commenced with its first issue printed for Saturday, 1st April 1919.

The last issue of a printed Advocate newspaper was distributed on 8th April 2020, with the Editor stating “unprecedented economic pressures from the Covid 19 crises” as the reason to “suspend” the print edition of the newspaper soon after it celebrated its centenary.

The Advocate banner continues by publishing occasional stories online only. Despite the Editor’s word of only “suspending” the publication (in April 2020), after 6 years out of print, it looks like our oldest local newspaper will not return in the format we were familiar with for over a century.

The Hornsby Shire Historical Society (HSHS) is appealing to the community for donations of any old Advocate newspapers that residents may have in storage. The idea is to collate as many as possible, before the newspapers are digitalized to record as part of our local history.

Some Advocate newspapers are available in Hornsby Library in microfilm & can be viewed in the library by booking use of the microfilm machine located in the Local History area.

If you have any old Advocate newspapers that you are willing to donate, you can contact the HSHS using [email protected] or 0403 227 560. We are happy to organize pick up.

In the meantime, we have selected a few Advocate newspaper issues over the years & included their front pages here.

23/07/2026

THE FIRE IN CORONATION STREET, HORNSBY IN 1911

On the evening of 6th March 1911, a small fire broke out in a pile of empty wooden packing cases at the rear of McDonald’s grocery store located on the southern side near the Railway Hotel of what was then Burdett Street (renamed three months later to Coronation Street to commemorate the coronation of King George V).

Quickly the fire took hold & by the time the alarm was raised the roof of the store was ablaze. Senior Constable Wade who was on duty near the Railway Hotel soon realised he had no hope of saving the store, so he turned his attention to the adjoining building occupied by the Bank of North Queensland.

Upstairs he found the bank clerk overcome by fumes and rescued him. Nearby shops & houses were evacuated & willing bystanders carted out furniture into the street away from the fire.

The closest fire brigade, Willoughby Fire Brigade, was called but they refused to attend claiming that Hornsby was outside the boundary of their area. For three hours residents toiled with buckets of water, but it was a losing battle. Finally, some relief came when a fire hose was brought from the Railway Station & tapped into the Council water main.

A large crowd gathered nearby & scattered when the walls of the grocery shop gave way & collapsed. By 1am the fire was under control.

The grocery shop & bank were destroyed although the bank’s safe was salvaged. Other adjoining shops were damaged. The dressmaker lost her sewing machines as well as one dress that was going to be worn by an affluent local for the Coronation of King George V.

Estimated damage was between £4,000 to £5,000.

The buildings were rebuilt & Coronation Street, Hornsby looks very similar 115 years later.

These events inspired the Hornsby community to fund the establishment of the Hornsby Fire Brigade that was ready for operations in August 1914.

20/07/2026

ICONIC PAINTING DONTATED TO THE HORNSBY SHIRE COMMUNITY

In May this year, the Hornsby Shire Historical Society received a letter from a Mrs Gladys Stewart offering a very large oil painting that was painted by her late Father-in-law, Bruce Stewart, in 1987. The framed artwork is four metres in length, a metre high and took many months for Bruce to complete.

The painting depicts the second Hawkesbury River railway bridge being built in the early 1940s and shows one of the spans being floated across the river, where it would be prepared to be lowered into position with the falling tide.

Before becoming a talented artist, Bruce Stewart was a carpenter working on the construction of the bridge project. He lived on Dangar Island with his family and rowed a small boat across to his work every morning.

After the bridge’s construction was completed the Stewart family continued to live on Dangar Island and Bruce was instrumental in the island’s residential development. He constructed many buildings, including the island’s shop and also served as an early Dangar Island RFS Brigade Captain.

In 1988, Bruce Stewart donated his iconic painting to the State Rail Authority as a Bicentennial gift. It was initially hung in their boardroom, before being relocated to Central railway station and publicly displayed.

Around 2000, the painting went into storage during a refurbishment. It was rediscovered by a Sydney Trains Heritage team and underwent some conservation restoration, before being gifted back to the Stewart family in 2020.

Since then, the painting has hung in Stewart family home in Western Australian. They recently decided to once again offer this magnificent painting for display in a more public location.

While the Historical Society were keen to accept it, they had nowhere to display it.

The Stewart family generously paid for the painting to be professionally transported to Hornsby with a suitable location found in the Hornsby Council chambers building and it is now displayed on the wall of the ground floor hallway.

If you visit the Hornsby Chambers building it is well worth taking the time to have a look at this impressive oil painting that depicts a significant time in our local history.