Spare The Rodd
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday June 4, 1998
The residents of this tiny waterfront suburb are spoiled by amenities and harbourside parks.
Rodd Point, between Five Dock and Drummoyne, is one of Sydney's smaller suburbs. Nestled by the waters of Iron Cove, it has less than a dozen streets, seven of which run north-west off Henley Marine Drive. One of its most prominent residents is State ALP member and Speaker of the House, John Murray, who has a home in First Avenue.
Local real estate agent Gail Foster, who has lived in Rodd Point for the past 14 years, describes the community as close knit. She says there are a lot of retired elderly folk and young families living here.
"People are attracted to this quiet little pocket because of the proximity to the water and the city centre," she says.
Other big drawcards are the waterfront parks of Iron Cove - Neild, Rodd, Timbrell and Leichhardt - which provide excellent outdoor venues for watersports such as sailing, rowing and windsurfing.
According to local residents, the foreshores around Rodd Point and Rodd Park may be incorporated into the Olympic marathon course. Rodd Park, the site of the Dobroyd Aquatic Club, is being upgraded by Drummoyne Council - the foreshore beautification will improve the park's recreational facilities, gardens and barbecue areas.
Rodd Point was originally part of Five Dock Farm, a 600 hectare parcel of land granted to John Harris - a military surgeon and colonial magistrate - in 1806 by Governor King.
In 1836, Harris sold the property to Samuel Lyons for #4,000. When Five Dock Farm was subdivided about a year later, Bruce Clements Rodd bought Lot 130, which had waterfrontage to both Iron Cove and Iron Creek, plus what was described in the original auction advertisements as "a remarkable tongue of land", now Rodd Park.
The Rodd family was buried here in a mausoleum carved out of rock, giving the point its alternative name - Vault Point. Their remains and the vault's massive sandstone cross were later removed to Rookwood cemetery.
(The stone cross was returned to the original site on Vault Point in 1977.)
Brent Clements Rodd and his wife, Sarah Jane, raised eight sons and four daughters at Barnstaple Manor, the home they built in Five Dock in about 1845. Many streets and features in the area are named after the Rodd Family: Brent, Brisbane, Burnell, Clements, Janet, Lenore, Rodd, Barnstaple, Trevanion, Undine. One of the Rodd sons, Stapleton Trevanion, was mayor of Five Dock in 1898.
Most of Rodd Point's houses are made of brick and tile and were built during the 1930s and '40s on blocks of land ranging in size from 370 to 410 square metres. Most are modest two- or three-bedroom character semis. Some, such as Esperance, on the corner of First Avenue and Arthur Street, have been beautifully restored; others have been renovated in recent years to include a second-storey.
In the past two years, demand for houses in Rodd Point has seen prices rise dramatically. In June last year, an original two-bedroom brick cottage in Duchess Avenue sold for $370,000; nine months later an almost identical home sold for $446,000.
And a single-storey, P&O-style house in First Avenue sold last November for $511,000.
One of the highest prices for the suburb was achieved in March when Lee and Maxine Chua sold their Arthur Street home, Rumah Ki-Ja, for $600,000.
Last week, a Princess Avenue home due to be auctioned this Saturday was sold by Gail Foster for $630,000. The three-bedroom house has an in-ground swimming pool and views over Iron Cove.
RODD POINT
Style: Modest 1920s and '30s brick bungalows on level blocks.
Price range: From $350,000 to about $600,000.
Transport: Buses.
Facilities: Dobroyd Aquatic Club, Rodd Park, Neild Park, Iron Cove's 8km "Bay Walk".
Amusements: Rowing, running, power walking, renovating houses.
© 1998 Sydney Morning Herald
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