Bronte, New South Wales
| Bronte Beach Sydney, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bronte Beach | |||||||||||||||
| Population | 6,827 (2011 census)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2024 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 8 km (5 mi) east of Sydney CBD | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Waverley | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Coogee | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Wentworth | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Bronte is a beachside suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bronte beach is located 8 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the Waverley Council local government area of the Eastern Suburbs.[2]
Bronte Beach sits on Nelson Bay, surrounded by Bronte Park. Bronte offers scenic cliff-top walking paths south to Coogee via the Waverley Cemetery and north to Tamarama and Bondi Beach. The cliff-top path offers views which extend from Ben Buckler in the north to Malabar in the south. Bronte is located about 2.5 km south of Bondi Beach.
The suburb has been declared the best of 641 Sydney suburbs by the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Suburbs Guide.[3]
History
Robert Lowe who later became Viscount Sherbrooke, bought 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land from Mortimer Lewis (1796–1879), the Colonial Architect who owned most of the frontage in the area in the 1830s. His home was completed in 1845 and was named Bronte House, for Lord Nelson, who was the Duke of Bronte, a place in Sicily, Italy. The house, a single-storey stone bungalow located in Bronte Road, is owned by Waverley Council and leased to private tenants who hold open days a few times a year. It is now listed on the Register of the National Estate.[4]
Lowe became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He later moved back to England where he became a writer with The Times.
Trams
The former Bronte tram line branched from the North Bondi via Bondi Junction line at Bondi Junction, running down Bronte Road and MacPherson Street to Bronte Beach. A feature of this line was the final approach to Bronte Beach in a rock cutting parallel to the Pacific Ocean. The line opened to Waverley in 1890, then to Bronte in 1911. Electric services started to Waverley in 1902, then Bronte in 1911. Through services ran from Circular Quay or Railway Square. The line was closed in 1960 and replaced by a bus service that follows the current route of bus 440.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census of Population, there were 6,827 residents in Bronte. In Bronte, 62.1% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 7.6%, New Zealand 2.3%, Ireland 1.4%, United States of America 1.3% and South Africa 1.1%. 77.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Greek 1.6%, French 1.5%, Italian 1.4%, German 1.2% and Spanish 1.1%. The most common responses for religion in Bronte (State Suburbs) were No Religion 30.0%, Catholic 25.7% and Anglican 15.8%.[1]
Culture
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Sport and recreation
Bronte has an important surfing culture. The Bronte Surf Lifesaving Club was founded in 1903 and claims to be the oldest surf lifesaving club in the world. An annual long-distance ocean swimming event is held in December each year between Bondi Beach and Bronte.
Bronte is represented in one of the most popular sporting competitions across Australia, the National Rugby League competition, by the local team the Sydney Roosters, officially the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club (ESDRLFC).
The Bronte Splashers Winter Swimming Club claims to be the oldest Winter Swimming club in the world founded in 1921[5] compete against Bondi Icebergs Winter Swimming Club, South Maroubra Dolphins Winter Swimming Club, Cronulla Polar Bears Winter Swimming Club, Maroubra Seals Winter Swimming Club, Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club, Clovelly Eskimos Winter Swimming Club, Coogee Penguins Winter Swimming Club, Wollongong Whales and Cottesloe Crabs in the Winter Swimming Association of Australia Championships[6]
Notable residents
- Dave Brown (1913–1974) described by football historians as ‘the Bradman of Rugby League’ was raised near Bronte Beach where his parents operated the dressing sheds. His father, Denis ‘Dinny’ Brown was Waverley Council’s first lifeguard.[7]
- Ryan Clark, former child actor best known for playing Sam Marshall in Home and Away, was raised in Bronte and still lives there with his family. He left the show in 2001 and is now a Waverley Council lifeguard.
- Heath Ledger, Academy Award-winning actor, lived in Bronte from 2004 until 2006 when he sold his house due to intense bombardment from paparazzi.[8]
- Lachlan Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
- Peter Dodds McCormick (1834–1916) was the composer of the national anthem "Advance Australia Fair". He lived at Clydebank, 5 Virgil Street (now 20 Yanko Avenue) in Bronte and was an elder at Grahame Memorial Presbyterian Church.[7]
- Mia Wasikowska - actress
Gallery
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Uniting Church, Leichhardt Street -
Heritage-listed house, Bronte Road -
Grave of Henry Lawson, Waverley Cemetery -
Waterfall, Bronte Gully
Uniting_Church_Leichhardt_Street.jpg)
Bronte_Road_heritage-listed_house.jpg)
References
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Bronte (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Gregory's Sydney Street Directory, Gregory's Publishing Company, 2007
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 2008
- ^ The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981,p.2/121
- ^ http://www.brontesplashers.com.au/
- ^ http://www.wsaainc.com/
- ^ a b http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/8728/FamousWaverleyLocals.pdf
- ^ "How a triumphant return turned sour". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 2008.
External links
- Bronte surf lifesaving club
- Bronte Beach Guide
- Bronte House Web Site
- Sculptures By The Sea
- Stan Vesper (2008). "Bronte". Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 25 September 2015. [CC-By-SA]
