Heritage Festival 2024: The Highest Hill

A house on high land was automatically considered healthy and desirable in the days prior to 1890 when sewerage pipes were connected.​

This hill, south of Petersham Railway Station, is the highest in the inner-west so the new village of Norwood, created in 1854 was eminently desirable.​

Local historian Mark Matheson takes us on a walking tour to show the remnants of that village and tells of those families who were connected by marriage and finance (and murder).​

Tour meeting point: 285 Trafalgar Street, Petersham.

The image below depicts a scene from the sale of Norwood land:

The auctioneer provided champagne to persuade customers to buy land on the hill in 1854.

But they didn’t need persuasion as the land in the new village named Norwood, just south of Petersham Railway station, was well-connected and healthy.