| Historical notes: | The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora Country". Within the City of Sydney local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the Dharug language. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters.
With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today.
The stairs stand on land that was part of the original grant to the first Surry Hills landowner, Captain Joseph Foveaux, who was assigned 105 acres in 1793 and later increased his holdings to encompass most of Surry Hills. By 1800 the farmer and grazier, John Palmer, had acquired more than 200 acres of Surry Hills and become Commissary General. Although by 1814 Palmer had fallen into financial trouble and lost his position in the colony, resulting in his estate being divided by surveyor James Meehan and sold at public auction.
Edward Riley attempted to reassemble the Palmer Estate during the 1820s, although after his suicide in 1825 the holdings were once again subdivided according to Meehan’s original plan and sold to the public. The economic boom of the 1830s acted as the necessary catalyst for residential development in Surry Hills with the original allotments being initially subdivided into villa estates.
With much of the Riley Estate still locked up in a legal battle much of the early development focused on the lands around Albion and Bourke Streets. It wasn’t until the gold rush boom of the 1850s did the Riley Estate finally become available, and along with the Fosterville Estate, provided a glut of land for housing the working class populations.
The stairs were constructed to link Albion Street with the lower lying Street. They traversed an area known as Frog Hollow which was a creek that crossed Riley Street and one of several swampy and poorly drained hollows in the area.. Despite being poorly suited to housing the gully was developed by speculative builders and, unfettered by the city council, was crammed full of small tenements built on top of one another. The housing was substandard, dark , damp and overcrowded, accessed by steep stairways including the O' Hears Stairs, and with poorly lit and narrow lanes. Until the 1920s these rental properties were a haven for the very poor and social problems were rife including gabling, gang flights, murders, illegal drinking and prostitution.The Frog Hollow was eventually considered unfit for human habitation after some 89 notices were served on the residents between 1920 and 1925 under the Public Health Act. The land was resumed by Council for the purpose of eradicating a slum area. By 1930, most of the Frog Hollow housing had been demolished and it was slowly converted to parkland (The City Council’s slum clearance came to Frog Hollow, with the first houses at 295-315 Riley Street being demolished in 1925. Part of the site was later used as a council depot, and part as a park named Hills Reserve after Pat Hills, alderman in 1948-56, Lord Mayor in 1953-56 and NSW MP from 1954 to 1988).The O' Hears Stairs is a rare survivor of the slum clearance of Frog Hollow.
O’Hears Steps are named after local baker James O’Hear who lived opposite at 129 Albion Street, on the future site of Crown Street hospital, until his death in 1891. |