Selsdon – a short history of our home

Built in 1934, “Selsdon” was the first high rise apartment building at the lower end of Macleay Street.  It is listed on the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Buildings.The first recordings of the land on which it stands date back to the Cadigal people, a tribe of the Eora nation, whose tribal lands spanned from South Head (Burrawana) to Darling Harbour (Gomora). They named the area “Carrageen” or “Kurragheen”.Earlier settlers called it “Paddy’s Point”. The area was formally named “Campbell’s Point” in Governor Phillip’s survey of 1792.

In 1822 Governor Macquarie established a native village in present-day Elizabeth Bay and named it “Elizabeth Town”. Bungara was the tribal elder and the area became a significant contact site between the Cadigal people and Europeans.

The land west of Elizabeth Town was undeveloped until Governor Macquarie, in that same year, issued the first land grant of 11 acres to Judge Advocate John Wylde. 

Macquarie’s successor, Governor Darling, was focussed on development. The Rocks and Sydney Cove were overcrowded and prominent merchants and officials of Sydney lobbied for better living conditions. 

In eight years, Judge Wylde had done little with his land grant and in 1830, under pressure from Governor Darling, he sold 6.5 acres to Joseph Hyde Potts, an officer of The Bank of New South Wales. Mr Potts then sold the land in various portions and the area became known as Potts Point.

Around the same time, Governor Darling had the surrounding land subdivided into large allotments to allow for grand residences. They were given as land grants to select members of colonial society, in particular high-ranking civil servants.  

Alexander Macleay, Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, received the Elizabeth Bay Estate land grant and he commenced building Elizabeth House in 1832 and landscaping its 54 acres.

While today the land on which “Selsdon” stands is considered Potts Point, it was in fact part of the grounds of the Elizabeth Bay Estate.

The colony’s first serious financial crisis in the 1840’s led to sub-divisions of many of those original land grants. Another wave of subdivisions took place in the 1870’s as a result of the heavy land taxes imposed by Sir Henry Parkes. The Elizabeth Bay Estate was subdivided by the Macleay family in 1841, 1875 and 1906………….