Lane Cove

Lane Cove is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Lane Cove is a suburbon the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove is nine kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Lane Cove Council. Lane Cove West and Lane Cove North are separate suburbs.

Lane Cove occupies a peninsula on the northern side of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), at the opening of the Lane Cove River.The regional administrative and shopping hub of Chatswood is located 3 kilometres away, along with Macquarie Park 4 kilometres away.

There are a number of possibilities of the origin of the name 'Lane Cove'. The first written use of the name was by Lieutenant William Bradley after he had just sailed along the river in 1788. Some have argued that it was named after Lieutenant Michael Lane, a respected cartographer, who had once worked with Captain Cook. Others say that it was in honour of John Lane, who was the son of the London Lord Mayor at the time as well as a good friend of the first Governor, Arthur Phillip. In any case, the name stuck, and by the 1800s was being used to refer to all the land north of the river.

Prior to the arrival of the First Fleet, the area in which Lane Cove is situated was inhabited by the Cam-mer-ray-gal Group of the Ku-ring-gai Aboriginal Tribe. The group, which inhabited the north shore of Port Jackson, was one of the largest in the Sydney area.

Lieutenant Ralph Clark was the first European to land, a short distance from the entrance to the Lane Cove River on 14 February 1790. There were land grants in 1794 to some privates and non-commissioned officers in the New South Wales Corps, although few of these grants were actually settled as the steep, timbered land was not particularly habitable. However, Lane Cove was an excellent source for timber and other commodities that the settlers required. One early settler named William Henry (1778-1862) was granted 1,000 acres in an area which now includes much Lane Cove National Park. The grant was never confirmed due to the Rum Rebellion and Henry was thrown off the land. It is suspected that John MacArthur had schemed to ensure that William Henry suffered because he had supported William Bligh during the rebellion. During the 19th century, farms and dairies were also established. There were also many industrial and manufacturing factories constructed around Greenwich.A detailed history of the early years of Lane Cove is found in Ball. John and Pam, Revisiting the early history of Lane Cove, 2010, Oughtershaw Press, ISBN 978-0-9593420-7-9. 253 pages.

Most of the residential growth in the area however occurred after World War II when returning soldiers were granted blocks of land around Lane Cove. The land value, which was relatively cheap during this time, surged during the 1980s and 1990s when the water views, large suburban blocks, ease of transport and quiet streets became popular.From 1900 to 1979, St Joseph's Girls' Home operated on the Pacific Highway. About 3000 girls passed through it.In 2005, Lane Cove briefly caught the attention of the world's press when part of an apartment block (which is now classified as being in the new suburb of Lane Cove North) collapsed into an excavation for the Lane Cove Tunnel and a pet bird in the evacuated block was rescued by a robot.Lane Cove North was split off to become a separate suburb on 20 January 2006.

The tram service to Lane Cove opened as an electric line from Crows Nest in February 1900, with trams connecting with other electric services at Ridge St. It was initially opened as far as Gore Hill and extended to Lane Cove in March, 1909. Some through services operated to and from Milsons Point.In September 1909, a new line was opened from McMahons Point to Victoria Cross, North Sydney and a new direct route was opened via what is now the Pacific Highway from Victoria Cross to Crows Nest. Services to Lane Cove and Chatswood were altered to operate to and from McMahons Point via the new direct route to Crows Nest, in conjunction with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

In March, 1932 the Sydney Harbour Bridge with its associated railway and tramway tracks was opened and services from Lane Cove to the CBD were diverted to operate to and from Wynyard Station via the Sydney Harbour Bridge route. Trams entered Wynyard station via a tunnel entrance at the south-eastern pylon of the bridge.

From Lane Cove a cross regional service to Balmoral was also available. Upon departure from the Lane Cove terminus opposite the council chambers, trams travelled north on Longueville Road turning right onto the Pacific Highway. At Crows Nest,separate lines branched left onto Falcon Street, travelling through Cammeray, Neutral Bay, Cremorne Junction and Mosman before Joining Military Road. The line then split into two separate lines at the intersection of Middle Head Road and Bradleys Head Road. Turning left into Gordon Street off Middle Head Road, the line then entered on to its own off road reservation, crossing several small residential streets as it wound its way down to Henry Plunkett Reserve, entering The Esplanade near the corner of Botanic Road and terminating near Hunters Parade.