MHS Blog

Plaques in Mosman – The Parmentier Bench
Plaques in Mosman – The Parmentier Bench
As you walk around Mosman, you will notice many plaques, some commemorating events and well known people, some on buildings and some with unfamiliar names. The Society has been collecting... Read more...
Mosman's Houseboats
Mosman's Houseboats
Houseboats have been a feature at Pearl Bay, The Spit, since the early 1900s. The earliest of them were owned by the wealthy who could afford to convert assorted craft... Read more...
Student's Anzac History Prize 2018
Student's Anzac History Prize 2018
As part of the commemoration of the centenary of Armistice Day 1918, the Mosman Anzac Memorial Hall Trust held a literary competition. Mosman school students were invited to research the... Read more...
Venice at Mosman Bay
Venice at Mosman Bay
Postcard of Mosman Bay villas, from Mosman Local Studies collection. In December 1907 the Mosman, Neutral and Middle Harbour Resident newspaper advertised “Something Fresh”. Organised by the Cremorne Club, a Grand... Read more...
William Geary – North Shore Bushranger
William Geary – North Shore Bushranger
In 1868 there was an advertisement referring to Geary’s Cave at Pearl Bay. Empire (Sydney, NSW: 1850-1875) Saturday 11 April 1868 p 1 Advertising EASTER MONDAY – Annual GUILD PICNIC to Middle Harbour. GEARY, the... Read more...
The Garrison and its Model Soldiers
The Garrison and its Model Soldiers
The Garrison Retirement Village is situated in a prominent position at the corner of Spit Road and Punch Street. The provenance of its title and of its very unusual and... Read more...
Letter from Norfolk Island
Letter from Norfolk Island
Letter from Mosman Historical Society visit to Norfolk Island 230th anniversary of the wrecking of the Sirius. Read more...
HMS SIRIUS - The Mosman Connection
HMS SIRIUS - The Mosman Connection
Mosman has a number of Sirius placenames – Sirius Cove, Sirius Cove Road, the Sirius memorial near the wharf, but what is the connection of the First Fleet flagship HMS... Read more...
Balloons Aloft
Balloons Aloft
The first known ascent of a gas balloon was made in Paris in 1784, and many further attempts followed. After numerous failures, the first successful flight in NSW was made... Read more...
The Roads to the Spit
The Roads to the Spit
From 1850 a punt service, operated by Peter Ellery, transported passengers across the harbour at The Spit. Rough tracks enabled pedestrian and mounted travellers to reach the area, but not... Read more...
"bloodcurdling screams": Shark Attack in Middle Harbour
"bloodcurdling screams": Shark Attack in Middle Harbour
I visited Waverley Cemetery in March 2018 and Walter C German’s headstone caught my eye. ‘Killed by shark, Middle Harbour’ it announced. Who was Walter C. German and what were... Read more...
Athol Hall
Athol Hall
The picnic and pleasure ground known as Athol Gardens, near the Zoo at Athol Bight, was originally a grant of 4 acres made to Joseph Kay in 1831, then passing... Read more...
Mosman Golf Club
Mosman Golf Club
On 15 February 1922 the Sydney “Sun” announced that part of the Military Reserve on Middle Head, recently opened to the public by the Defence Department, was to be leased... Read more...
Mosman Municipal Band
Mosman Municipal Band
Band music was very popular in the early 1900s, with regular newspaper music columns advertising who was playing where. Mosman had no band of its own, but other suburban and... Read more...