Bytes: SYDNEY SUBURBS

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DUFFYS FOREST

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Location:

Duffys Forest is a suburb of northern Sydney 28 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. Duffys Forest is considered to be part of the Northern Beaches region and the Forest District.

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Name origin:

Duffys Forest is named after Peter Duffy, whose father received a land grant there in 1857. He became a timber cutter and cleared a road through the bush to Cowan Creek, where he built a stone wharf for transporting timber. The wharf is still known as Duffys Wharf and the road is Duffys Track.

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History:

Peter Joseph Duffy (1814-78) was the son of district constable Patrick Duffy who sailed into Sydney on the ship Eliza in 1822, with his wife Bridget and their four children. Patrick received a grant of 100 acre (40.5 hectares) in the Parramatta-Pennant Hills area, a portion of which he cleared and established as an orchard.

Peter Duffy and his associates built a wharf of stone and timber, widened the road and commenced felling the trees. Some were slid down the steep ridges and into the water to be loaded on to the barges, some were hauled down by bullock teams and almost overnight, the gentle forest was a hive of activity.

The men did not live there permanently but remained in the bush for months at a time - some took their families with them - living in makeshift huts, some of wattle and daub with stringy-bark and slab roofs, others with sapling and hessian walls sealed with manure. All lived under the most primitive conditions but with plenty of fresh running water from the creeks or springs, and fish or game for the pot. The remains of the old wharf, built on an Aboriginal midden, are still there, partly submerged but still visible about one kilometre up Cowan Creek from Bobbin Head in an inlet known as Sledgehammer because of its shape.

Duffy's track became Booralie Road and the road to the old wharf is now a fire trail. The remains of an old wooden fence just above the old wharf are believed by some old timers to be part of Duffy' s boundary, others say it was a fence to keep in the bullocks and horses or the deer, pigs and goats that may have provided food for the hungry timbergetters.

Duffy's Wharf on Cowan Creek, circa 1900.

1894 saw the declaration of the Ku-ring-gai National Park, which eventually faced Duffys Forest on three sides. The period from 1890 through to the end of WW1 saw a degree of development of orchards and small farmlets. There was a conditional sale of land by the NSW Government in 1907, involving minimum lots of 2 hectares.

With the end of WW1, soldier settlements were introduced both at Forestville and Duffys Forest. Unfortunately, this was not a success due to the returned servicemen not having enough capital to develop their lots and also lacking expertise. Many ex-servicemen walked off their lots. The population was still not much more than 100 people.

The whole area of Duffys Forest and Terrey Hills was still known at this time as Duffys Forest.

Some more Dufffys -

Sarah Duffy, Jack Duffy, Elvy Duffy and John F Duffy

John Duffy was the mayor (then called President) and served in the first Warringah Shire Council from 1906, he was re-elected in 1908, 1911, 1914 and 1917. He served as the 5th Warringah Shire Council President from 1 March 1915 – 1 March 1918. He married Sarah Martha Horn in 1894 and they had a son, John Fredrick, who served in WWI and a daughter Elvy Margaret Duffy.

In 1924, both the Spit Bridge and Roseville Bridge were opened and private and commercial vehicles were being seen but not in great numbers.

The Depression of the 1930s made life hard and there was a transient population of unemployed men who slept rough and had a wash in the surrounding pools off the ridge line. In those days, the water was clear and pure, compared to the sad polluted state of these pools and creeks now.

The next period started with the end of WW2 and proceeded to the mid 1980s. Increased car ownership meant that more and more people were becoming familiar with the area but roads and streets in the city outskirts, such as Duffys Forest, were only slowly becoming tar sealed. The Sunday afternoon drive was becoming part of suburban family life. Roadside stalls started to appear catering to the suburban tourist.

Electricity eventually came to the area in 1967.

The proposal to create an airport at Duffys Forest created a furore from the local residents and a fight after 4 years, which they won.

Waratah Park was opened in 1967 and became famous for the television series “ Skippy the Bush Kangaroo “ which ran for 3 years. Much of the set and props are still there, although since being closed in August 2009 all of the animals including descendants of the kangaroos used in the series have now been removed.