I was recently out and about visiting one of Sydney’s hidden gems that very few people know about. It is the splendid and historic Yaralla Estate in Concord, NSW.
The Yaralla estate has a colourful history and the site has been occupied by some famous Australians.
The next prominent owner was Sydney banker and philanthropist Thomas Walker acquiring the property from Nichols’s sons in the 1840s. He commissioned Sydney architect Edmund Blacket to design a large two-story Victorian mansion called Yaralla House. Walker died in 1886, leaving the estate in trust with his only daughter Eadith.
Thomas left a bequest of 100,000 pounds from his will to construct the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital in the western portion of the Yaralla estate.
Sydney architect Sir John Sulman was commissioned to extend the house in the 1890s. He extended the house’s second floor and designed several outbuildings, including the dairy and stable buildings.
Yaralla House and the grounds are strikingly English-in-style and layout. The Arts and Crafts influenced Sulman buildings in the idyllic setting of an English estate garden and park.
were sub-divided in 1908, 1912, and 1922, becoming estates of Federation and Californian bungalow homes built for soldiers after World War I.
Yaralla House was the ‘hub of Sydney society’ in the Interwar period, according to the Dictionary of Sydney. Eadith Walker, who lived at the house during this period, was a famous Sydney philanthropist and held many charity events on the property.
Yaralla House was a convalescent hospital after the Second World War and then fell into disrepair. Much conservation work has been carried out in recent decades.
Over the years, the property had many important visitors, from royalty to vice-regal.
A ‘secret’ walking trail
The area has a ‘secret’ walking trail along the Sydney Harbour Foreshore. Well known to locals. Little known to outsiders. The walkway includes the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway from Rhodes Railway Station to Concord Hospital (800 metres). It is all part of the Concord Foreshore Trail. This walk is described this way on the City of Canada Bay walks website:
This historic and peaceful walk stretches from McIlwaine Park in the Rhodes to Majors Bay Reserve in Concord. The route encircles the mangrove-fringed Brays Bay, Yaralla Bay and Majors Bay on the Parramatta River and goes around the former Thomas Walker Hospital ( a heritage listed building), Concord Repatriation General Hospital and the historically significant Yaralla Estate (one of the oldest estates in Sydney dating back to the 1790’s).
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