Noteworthy Sites

 

•  The old School site

• The World War I Memorial

• The Village Green and William Cowan Oval

• St Ives Progress Association Centenary Monument

• St Ives Blue Gum High Forest – A National Treasure

• St Ives Showground

• The Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden

 

 

The old School site:

 

The original St Ives Public School, and school residence opened in May 1889 and stands on the corner of Mona Vale and Rosedale Roads.

 

 

The World War I Memorial:

 

​This World War I memorial was erected in 1922 and consists of a sandstone obelisk located in St Ives Memorial Park on Mona Vale Road, and includes the names of 39 service personnel from the district.

 

 

The Village Green and William Cowan Oval

 

St Ives Village Green is recognized for its historical and social value, its streetscape and recreational value and it is an important component of the public identity of St Ives. The entire  area was the idea of St Ives residents who in the late 1940’s decided to build a modern  community centre as a War Memorial. Plans for the centre included: Tennis courts, a library, sports oval and village green, bowling green, hall and club-rooms, a kindergarten and a day nursery, a baby health centre, a children's playground and memorial gardens.

 

The community centre idea was originated by a St. Ives resident and veteran of World War I, the late Mr. James Maunder. He decided that social, cultural, and sporting amenities, which could be enjoyed by present and future  generations, were a more fitting tribute to the dead of both world wars than a monument or statue.

 

The Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council responded whole-heartedly to the plan. It donated a site of 20 acres and agreed to construct buildings and develop the land. “There's A Get-together Spirit In This Suburb” noted The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday 20th October 1950.

 

A Committee of residents was involved with fundraising, equipping and staffing the centre and with planting trees on the Green.

 

St Ives Progress Association was always represented on an advisory Village Green Committee until Council dissolved the committee in 2002.

 

Various memorial plaques dating back to the 1950’s are a reminder of Ku-ring-gai residents associated with The

Green’s establishment and ongoing maintenance such as:

• Annie Wyatt - founder of the National Trust in Australia

• her son Ivor Wyatt (also "Ivor Wyatt Reserve" at corner Mona Vale Road and Link Road)

• Ku-ring-gai Mayor Creswell O’Reilly known as “the Tree Mayor"

 

 

St Ives Progress Association Centenary Monument

 

The Inaugural Meeting of The St. Ives Progress Association was held at the Methodist Church Hall, Stanley Street and Pittwater (now Mona Vale) Road, St. Ives on 24th May, 1913.

 

Office Bearers and Members at the Inaugural Meeting

• P. Clark Chair/Pres Orchardist 24ac Horace Street

• W. Jones Treas Orchardist 9½ ac Pittwater Road

• J. Oag Vice Pres Orchardist 16 ½ac Warrimoo & Ayres Roads

 

One hundred years later, with the assistance of a grant from the Ku-ring- gai Municipal Council, a centenary monument was erected on the Village Green on which a plaque states:

"ST IVES PROGRESS ASSOCIATION

A Century of Community Service

1913 - 2013

The Association has an unbroken record of service

to promote, enhance and protect

the natural and built amenity of St Ives

and to make it a better place for all to live"

 

St Ives Village Green is their legacy to the Community.

 

 

St Ives Blue Gum High Forest – A National Treasure

 

Located at Rosedale Road, St Ives, this tall distinctive forest with tree heights between 40 to 50 metres  formed the basis of Australia’s first timber industry and was a vital timber resource for the early buildings in the colony.

Remarkably, of the original 3,700 hectares of BGHF in Sydney 18 hectares of forest along the high ridge of St Ives, although selectively logged, was never cleared and it has regenerated with its original vegetation. With over 200 native plant species and 80 bird species this remnant is the largest, most complete and representative example of BGHF in existence. Less than 5% of the original Blue Gum High Forest exists today.

In 2002 the BGHF was classified as "critically endangered”.

 

The rarity and outstanding significance of the St Ives BGHF was recognized in the 1920s.  During the Great Depression of the 1930s Annie Wyatt (founder of the National Trust in Australia) led the community campaign to save the forest and some 4.6 hectares (Brown’s  Forest) was purchased with the covenant "forest for all time". It adjoins the 10.768 hectare Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve named after Richard Dalrymple-Hay, the first Commissioner of Forests in NSW, who proposed the acquisition of the land for a demonstration forest in the 1920’s.

 

In the early 2000s as a result of persistent lobbying by a coalition of community groups (Including St Ives Progress Association Inc.), the Blue Gum High Forest Group, a strategic lot of privately owned land at 102 Rosedale Road land lying within the forest core was stopped from development and in 2006 purchased by the NSW Government. A continued campaign led to the purchase of a second lot at 100 Rosedale Road in 2008 with financial contributions from the community, Ku-ring-gai Council and the Commonwealth Government.

​

The Blue Gum High Forest in St Ives is the largest, most viable remnant of Blue Gum High Forest in existence.

It consists of:

• Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve (National Parks estate, 10.8 ha)

• Browns Forest (Ku-ring-gai Council, 4.6 ha)

• Water Reservoir (Sydney Water, 1.5 ha)

• 100 Rosedale Road (NSW Government, 0.5 ha)

• 102 Rosedale Road (Ku-ring-gai Council and Commonwealth Government, 0.5 ha)

 

Acknowledgement:

Dr Andrew Little, information and editing.

The Historian Vol 33 No. 1, Elizabeth Hartnell, The Blue Gum High Forest at St Ives page 49.

 

 

St Ives Showground

 

Located on Mona Vale Road to the north of the St Ives centre, the St Ives Showground is Ku-ring-gai's largest sports and recreation venue with equestrian and dog training rings, football field, BMX riding  facilities, BBQs and picnic tables. It plays host to numerous events throughout the year, from community markets to dressage competitions, and is also the venue for the annual St Ives Show.

 

The site has been used as a showground since 1927, when the St Ives Show Society held their  fifth annual show at what was then the Northern Suburbs Showground. It was used solely for the annual show and horse events until 1941 when the 18th Battalion, known as the Ku-ring-gai Regiment, occupied the site for the duration of World War II.

 

An army relief map was constructed at the Showground site in 1942 and was used to display the  sites of mines along Mona Vale Road to be activated if invading forces landed on the northern beaches.

 

Reference: https://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/

The showground now includes the Ku-ring-gai Community Workshop "The Shed" a member of the Australian Mens' Shed Association.