As one of many initiatives in 2024 to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the formation of the Burwood Local Government Area (LGA), Council has commissioned Squid Morgan to deliver a series of public artworks across 13 benches throughout the LGA dedicated to 13 significant individuals who were connected to Burwood.
1. Sarah Nelson, 1768 – 1817
Bench location: The Strand and Paisley Road Croydon
Arriving into Sydney Cove on 9 July 1791 after 143 days at sea, Sarah Nelson was a free settler, who arranged her own passage to the colony aboard the Third Fleet female convict ship the Mary Ann, following her husband Issac who was transported to seven years’ servitude in Botany Bay. In November 1794, Sarah was granted 15 acres of land known as Nelson Farm sitting on what we know today as Malvern Hill Estate. The grant established Sarah Nelson as Burwood’s earliest recorded settler. Sarah and Issac lived at Nelson Farm for 15 years along with their daughters Isabella, Louisa, and Harriet. In 1809, the Nelson family moved to Prospect Creek. Sarah Nelson died in 1817, aged 49 years, and was buried at old Liverpool Cemetery, now known as Liverpool Apex Park.
2. John Thomas Toohey, 1839 – 1903 & James Matthew Toohey, 1850 – 1895
Bench location: Unity Place
John and James were brothers who started Tooheys Brewing Company. Both originally born in Melbourne, in the 1860s the brothers moved to Sydney where they eventually came to live in Jersey Road and Roberts Street Burwood. They started making beer in an old cordial factory in Darling Harbour until expanding into a Brewery in Surry Hills in 1875. Tooheys has been creating much loved beverages for over 150 years.
3. Sir George Reid, 1845 – 1918
Bench location: Burwood Park
Sir George Reid was a former Premier, Prime Minister of Australia and High Commissioner. He was Australia’s first federal leader of the opposition and lived in a series of locations throughout Burwood Local Government Area including Cheltenham Road Croydon and Rowley Street Burwood.
4. George Hoskins, 1847 – 1926
Bench Location: Outside Woodstock Community Centre,22 Church St, Burwood
George Hoskins was a wealthy industrialist and conceived the Appian Way in Burwood. Established at the start of the 20th Century, The Appian Way was a model estate with Federation houses built facing an oval shaped park in the centre of the street with a tennis court. The Appian Way still exists today with majority of the original features still present.
5. Quong Tart, 1850 – 1903
Bench location: Burwood Road
Quong Tart Lived in Ashfield but attended Burwood regularly to umpire the Burwood Council Cricket team matches, which were played at Wyatt’s Paddock. He was a prominent businessman, philanthropist and well known personality in Sydney. Tart owned a network of tearooms across various arcades in Sydney. His tea rooms were the site of the first meetings of Sydney's suffragettes. He also devised new and improved employment policies for staff, such as paid sick leave. Quong Tart was also known for providing dinners, gifts and entertainment to the Benevolent Society home at Liverpool to the newsboys of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon and Burwood. In 1902 Tart was murdered in his office in the Queen Victoria Building, believed to be a mugging. The crime shocked Sydney with thousands attending the burial at Rookwood Cemetery to pay their respects. A memorial bust is located in Ashfield to this day.
6. Maria Sanders, 1856 – 1935
Bench location: Sanders Reserve
Maria Sanders was the Deputy Matron at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown. In 1902, Saunders established and operated her own hospital in Burwood. Daughter and sister to two different Burwood Mayors, in 1911 Maria made a generous land donation to Burwood Council for a children’s playground at the corner of Oxford and Norwood Streets. Thanks to Maria’s donation the park is still in use today by the Burwood community and it is now known as Sanders Reserve.
7. Arthur Yates, 1861 – 1926
Bench location: In front of Enfield Aquatic Centre
Arthur Yates was the founder of Yates Gardening. Yates moved to Enfield after living in New Zealand and establishing a seed business. An active community member and philanthropist, Yates was well known for his charity work around the area, particularly his work around child welfare including his involvement with a boys’ and girls’ home in Burwood.
8. Robert Kaleski, 1877 – 1961
Bench location: Belmore Street
Kaleski was best known for developing the breed standard for the Australian Cattle Dog and Australian Kelpie. His family occupied properties in Chick Street (now Belmore Street, from Burwood Road to Conder Street) and Burwood Road.
9. Elsie Sheppard Cook, 1890 – 1972
Bench location: Burwood Park
Elsie Sheppard Cook trained as a nurse from 1911 to 1914 at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before enlisting as an army nurse in 1914 for WW1. Her name is listed as one of the nurses on the Burwood WW1 Memorial Arch in Burwood Park. Elsie was the daughter of Burwood Mayor Michael Sheppard and daughter in law of Joseph Cook, Australian Prime Minister. Elsie also attended MLC in Burwood and lived in Comer Street Burwood.
10. Eleanor Dark AO, 1901 – 1985
Bench Location: Crn Beaufort Street and Georges River Road
Eleanor Dark was born in Burwood with her childhood home in Ethel Street. Dark was an Australian writer whose novels included Prelude to Christopher (1934) and Return to Coolami (1936), both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and her best known work The Timeless Land (1941). In 1977 Dark was appointed AO and in 1978 was presented the Alice Award by the Society of Women Writers in Australia.
11. Miriam Hyde AO OBE, 1913 – 2005
Bench location: Crn Seymour Street and Georges River Road
Born in Adelaide, Hyde moved to Sydney in 1936 where she eventually lived in Kelso Street, Burwood Heights. After learning to play piano with her mother, Hyde won a scholarship to attend the Elder Conservatorium of Music in 1925. In 1931 Hyde won a further scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. Hyde composed over 150 works for piano, 50 songs as well as a range of other instrumental and orchestral works. She also performed as a concert pianist with notable conductors including Sir Malcolm Sargent, Constant Lambert, Georg Schnéevoigt, Sir Bernard Heinze and Geoffrey Simon. As well as composing Hyde also wrote poetry and was a teacher.
Miriam Hyde has also been recognised for her contributions to music in Sydney through the following awards: OBE (1981), AO (1991), International Woman of the Year (1991-92) for service to music, bestowed by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge and an Honorary Doctorate in Music bestowed upon her by Macquarie University in 1995.
12. Norman Hetherington OAM, 1921 – 2010
Bench location: Crn Railway Pde and Comer Street
Norman Hetherington grew up in Meryla Street in Burwood and attended Burwood Public Primary School. An artist, teacher and cartoonist he is best known for creating and being the Puppeteer of Mr Squiggle. Running for forty years on ABC from 1959 - 1999, Mr Squiggle was one of the longest running children programs on Australian television and was well loved by the Australian community entertaining generation of children.
13. Dorothy Cowie, 1921 - 1999
Bench location: The Strand Croydon and Malvern Avenue
Dorothy Cowie is the founder of the Dorothy Cowie School of Dancing, established in 1937 in Burwood. In 1957 Dorothy built her own dance studio in Burwood and presently the studio has expanded into a further three locations, two of which are located within the Burwood Local Government Area. These four studios offer over 100 classes a week for all ages.
