Mosman: A History

by Gavin Souter

The Sydney suburb of Mosman, a peninsula between Port Jackson and Middle Harbour, is in a class of its own. It has been renowned in the past for whaling and careening, pleasure grounds, artists' and bohemians' camps, and army fortifications; and to the present day it is distinguished from other communities by a continuing military presence, Taronga Zoo, bush, beaches, ferry travel and sailing.
Gavin Souter traces a two-centuries course of change from Aboriginal habitation to convict farming, wharfage, residential subdivision, quarrying, and eventually what Henry Lawson called Mosman's 'red-tiled roofs of comfort'. The history begins with the Borogegal, a clan first encountered by Europeans near Middle Head in 1788, and ends with the centenary of Mosman Council, controversies about environmental planning, and the rampage of a serial murderer.
Souter's narrative is composed of many elements peculiar to a bushfire that once burnt all the way from North Sydney to Middle Head, gales and shipwrecks, shark attacks, theosophy, Japanese submarines, the artists Arthur Streeton and Margaret Preston, and such other residents as Christopher Brennan, Ethel Turner and Dr. H. V. Evatt. But it also serves the more general purpose of showing how one middle-class suburb came into being and defended itself against industry, foreshore development, heavy traffic and high-rise building.
a history deals with all the essentials of its subject (politics, schools, churches, sports, crime rates, garbage and sewerage), but more importantly it is an illuminating case study from the wide-spread but sparsely documented social class of which Mosman is a microcosm. This life story of a remarkable suburb is notable for its extensive research, vivid detail and engrossing narrative - a combination not always encountered in the genre of local history.
The painting reproduced on the jacket is Beach of Dreams, a view of Edwards Beach, Balmoral and Middle Head from above Burran Avenue in the 1960s, by Paul Delprat.

392 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Born in Sydney in 1929,Gavin Souter is a former assitant editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. He was also a Visiting Fellow in the Departments of History and Political Science at the Research School of Social Science, Australia National University.