| Historical notes: | The original owners of the land within the Marrickville Council area were the Cadigal and Wangal clans of the coastal Eora people. They spoke Eora, which may have been a dialect of the Dharug (Darug) language, though sources differ on this point. With the establishment of the penal colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 the dispossession of the original inhabitants was begun. In 1789 a smallpox plague decimated the Aboriginal population, though descendants of the Cadigal and Wangal people still reside within the Sydney metropolitan area.
In May 1793 Captain George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps was granted 100 acres south of Parramatta Road (in the area now known as Stanmore, which became known in the late 19th century as South Annandale), which he named Annandale Farm. Adjacent to what is now Johnstons Creek, it was supplemented by two smaller grants in 1794. Johnston was granted an additional 290 acres in 1798, which extended Johnston’s land north to the shores of Sydney Harbour (covering the area now known as Annandale, known in the late 19th century as North Annandale). It is believed that Annandale House, which was built south of Parramatta Road in the vicinity of Macaulay Road, Stanmore, was constructed in about 1799. The 430 acres of Annandale Farm became the nucleus of extensive farming interests for the Johnston family, which stretched as far as the Monaro.
Annandale Farm was one of the most important sites in Australian colonial history. Captain George Johnston played key roles in the suppression of the Vinegar Hill uprising and in the Rum Rebellion. He and his family played a significant part in the development of pastoralism in Australia.
When George Johnston died in 1823 his common-law wife Esther Abrahams was left a life interest in Annandale Farm, which would ultimately be inherited by their son Robert Johnston. Esther attempted to lease the property and court proceedings taken against her in 1829 found her to be "not of sound mind". Esther moved to another family property, "Lockwood" while Robert Johnston occupied Annandale Farm, from where he superintended his extensive squatting interests.
A map of the "Estate named Annandale situate in the Parish of Petersham and District of Sydney the property of Robert Johnston Esq R.N", dated 1843 Surveyed by Goodall and Bemi (Mitchell Library M3 811.182 1843 4) shows that Annandale south of Parramatta Road was divided into paddocks, ranging from 2 to 50 acres. From Johnstons Creek as the east boundary it extended to White’s grant in the west. Annandale Road, south of Parramatta Road is shown as a tree-lined drive to Annandale House. No gatehouse is shown on Parramatta Road at this time. The route for the railway, which opened in September 1855, is shown south of Johnstons Creek on the southern edge of the grant.
As Sydney developed, Annandale Farm, with its stately avenue of Norfolk Island pines (the earliest avenue of Norfolk Island pines in mainland Australia " these were seedlings sent by Captain Piper to the Johnstons in 1804) and attractive gardens, was a notable landmark on Parramatta Road. Gates and a gatehouse were constructed on Parramatta Road - probably in the 1850s or 1860s " (architectural analysis of the sandstone of the surviving gate pillars now at Annandale Public School estimates their age as 1850s, an 1870s photograph of the Parramatta Road entrance to the Annandale Farm shows the gatehouse) and there were numerous wings and store buildings adjacent to the house, which had become the centre of what was almost a small village. Like the Macarthur’s Elizabeth Farm House at Parramatta, the Annandale Farm House was extended throughout the 19th century.
By the 1870s much of the land surrounding Annandale Farm had been subdivided. A railway station opened at Stanmore in 1878. With Robert Johnston’s death in 1882 the way was clear for wholesale subdivision. The first subdivision, the "South Annandale Estate" was auctioned on Saturday 20 September 1884. It included the area bounded by Bruce Street, Gordon Crescent, Stanley Street and Albany Road. In 1886 Fanny Johnston, Robert Johnston’s widow, donated £3,000 for the construction of an elaborate station building at Stanmore railway station to attract purchasers to the South Annandale subdivisions.
"South Annandale Estate", the blocks south of Salisbury Road (to the north of the 2nd Subdivision West Kingston Estate) and east of Bridge Road were sold on November 30 1901. This left only the area around Annandale House itself unsubdivided at this time.
On 24 March 1906 the remainder of the South Annandale Estate was subdivided. The area was bounded by Percival Road, Macauley Lane, Bridge Road and Salisbury Road. It included the site of Annandale House, which had been demolished in 1905 and its cedar doors, shutters, fittings and bricks had been auctioned.
By 1907 the Johnston Estate retained 330 feet of frontage to Parramatta Road around the gateway to Annandale Farm. About this time the gates were re-erected at Liverpool Show Ground (where they remained until the 1960s, and they were relocated to Annandale Public School in 1978), while the gatehouse was moved to a site in Corunna Road, one of the few relics from the Johnston holdings still extant on the estate.
Between 1908 and 1911 William Edward Prigg, a builder who lived nearby in Leichhardt Street, Leichhardt, purchased a number of blocks (now 190-200 Parramatta Road) from the Johnston Estate. These blocks were on the former site of the gates and gatehouse of Annandale Farm. Prigg built a skating rink at 192-200 Parramatta Road by 1911. Prigg built a billiard room at 190 Parramatta Road in 1912, which he sold in 1913 to Charles Walter Freeman, a clerk, who lived at 35 Corunna Road. Freeman leased the billiard room to George Margison (or Margieson), who sublet the front portion to bootmaker William Smith. Prigg leased the skating rink to Simmons & Hedges, but about 1915 it was converted to become the Olympia Picture Theatre. The theatre was leased to Helen & James Sheerin of 43 Johnston Street Annandale. About 1918 Freeman moved to Addison Road Marrickville.
In 1920 local builder Arthur Ernest Packer purchased the Olympia Picture Theatre. 190 Parramatta Road remained as a billiard room, run by George Margeson until at least 1924. By 1933 it was an ironmongery shop leased by William George Whiteley. In October 1938 Arthur Ernest Packer bought 190 Parramatta Road from Charles Freeman. Plans were approved for a new shop front (6 December 1938) and interior alterations (7 February 1939) each for £150. It is thought that the Olympia Milk Bar opened early in 1939.
The Olympia Picture Theatre closed in the early 1960s and was replaced in the early 1970s by the Stanmore Twin Cinema. The Stanmore Twin closed in the late 1990s. It was demolished in 2001 and replaced by the current apartment building at 192-200 Parramatta Road. The Olympia Milk Bar has a substantial current community interest. Webpages and blogs devoted to the Milk Bar (2009) include: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzhead/17376040
http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=154970
http://jacketmagazine.com/12/macris-olympia.html
http://forums.farkin.net/showthread.php?t=156653
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~howodd/iamacamera.htm |