Henry Halloran

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For the poet and public servant, see Henry Halloran (poet).
Henry Halloran c. 1924

Henry Ferdinand Halloran (9 August 1869 – 22 October 1953) was a major property owner and developer in New South Wales, in the early part of the twentieth century.

Halloran was born in Sydney. His father was a bank clerk and architect named Edward Roland Halloran and his mother was Adeline Burgess, née Reuss. His grandfather was also called Henry Halloran and his great-grandfather was Laurence Hynes Halloran, who arrived in Australia as a convict, transported to Sydney.[1]

Halloran attended Sydney Boys High School and Newington College.[1][2] He qualified as a surveyor in 1890 and became a conveyancer and valuer. After establishing Henry F. Halloran & Co. in 1897, Halloran became a significant figure in property development and urban planning in New South Wales, from the 1880s until the 1950s.[1] His developments included Seaforth and Warriewood in Sydney in 1906, and the unsuccessful Environa, near Canberra, in 1930.[3] There were other Halloran subdivisions at Stanwell Park,[4] near Orient Point,[5] and at Currarong.[6]

He also built structures at Tanilba Bay in 1931.[7] He attempted to create a development called Pacific City, near Jervis Bay.[8] The site of Pacific City was to have been west of Hyams Beach and would have extended west to the St Georges Basin shoreline.[9] He also initiated a development he called Port Stephens City, at present day North Arm Cove,[10] but, despite a significant area of land outside the present-day village being subdivided and sold, only a small village eventuated.[11]

Halloran began the revival of the ghost town of South Huskisson, on the western shore of Jervis Bay. He renamed the deserted "Old Township", Vincentia, in 1952.[12][13] He did not live to see it reborn as a holiday destination, following land sales for holiday homes, also known as "weekenders", which occurred in the 1950s[14] and 1960s.[15]

Halloran died on 22 October 1953, at the age of 84.[1]

Legacy[edit]

Advertisement for the Port Stephens City development

The University of Sydney, established the Henry Halloran Trust, aimed at promoting scholarship, innovation and research in town planning, urban development and land management.[16][17] Several collections of Halloran's papers, including maps and survey notes detailing land and property subdivision throughout New South Wales, are held at the State Library of New South Wales.[18]

Part of his legacy are significant portions of undeveloped marginal land, now owned by his heirs or the Halloran Trust, that are proposed for development from time to time.[19][20][21]

Another legacy is a subdivision at North Arm Cove, planned by Walter Burley Griffin in 1918, which Halloran sold after subdivision. Much of it is now a "paper subdivision", being currently zoned non-urban, with a prohibition on the erection of permanent dwellings.[11] The 2020s saw an effort by a community of land owners to realise the original Griffin plan as a sustainable development, through the North Arm Cove Initiative.[22][23][24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Atchison, John (1983). "Halloran, Henry Ferdinand (1869 - 1953)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  2. ^ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 81
  3. ^ Mortlock, Allan J.; Anderson, Bernice (1978). Undiscovered Canberra. Canberra: Australian National University Press. pp. 42–47. ISBN 0-7081-1579-9.
  4. ^ "Topical Taps". St George Call. 1908-02-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  5. ^ "Advertising". Daily Telegraph. 1929-01-19. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  6. ^ "History". Currarong Community Association. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  7. ^ Tim the Yowie Man (8 June 2019). "Mailbag". Canberra Times. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  8. ^ Jennifer Horsfield (2005). "Environa: Marketing a Life-Style Near Canberra 80 Years Ago" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Part of Pacific City and Jervis Bay, St. George's Basin [cartographic material] : for private sale". Trove. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  10. ^ Henry F Halloran (1920). "1st subdivision, Port Stephens city estate".
  11. ^ a b "Some early history of the Cove". North Arm Cove.
  12. ^ "Shoalhaven Family Local and Cultural History Fair NSW". Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  13. ^ "Nowra council May Reject Road Finance Offer". South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus (NSW : 1900 - 1954). 1952-09-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  14. ^ "Advertising". Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910–1954). 1954-01-06. p. 13. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
  15. ^ Vincentia Jervis Bay : formerly known as the Deas-Thomson Estate or South Huskisson, Sydney : Realty Realizations Ltd, 1963, retrieved 2019-02-27
  16. ^ "Henry Halloran Trust". University of Sydney. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  17. ^ Crawford, Robert (2020-01-29). "Generous Shoalhaven benefactor dies". South Coast Register. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  18. ^ "Henry F. Halloran survey roughs, New South Wales, 1880-1925 M ser 4 810/16/Halloran Survey Roughs". State Library of NSW. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  19. ^ Honey, Ian (2021-05-14). "Culburra Beach Speaks Up Against Halloran Trust Housing Development". New Bush Telegraph. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  20. ^ "Housing supply may be at 'crisis point', but not everyone at seaside Culburra village wants this new development". ABC News. 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  21. ^ "Firm's role in city's development". Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). 1974-03-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  22. ^ "North Arm Cove Initiative". Desim Arch. DESIM Pty Ltd. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  23. ^ Power, Julie (17 February 2023). "A block of land called Hope: The fight to revive Walter Burley Griffin's lost city". Sydney Morning Herald.
  24. ^ Simovic, et all (12 March 2023). "Back To the Future – North Arm Cove Initiative". DESIM Pty Ltd.
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