Kingsclear Books

Kingclear Books is a small but diverse Sydney based publisher. Our catalogue covers a wide spectrum from photographic histories of Sydney suburbs to health books, crime books and tourist books.

Pictorial History Ryde

In this pictorial history of Ryde by Megan Martin the suburbs Putney, Gladesville, Meadowbank, Marsfield, Rhodes, West Ryde, Kissing Point, Ryde, Top Ryde, North Ryde and Eastwood are represented in a wide range of photographs.

The Aboriginal occupants of the Parramatta River, the first convict and soldier settlers and land grantees map out their terrritory in the beginnings of white land use. The aggressive Pemulwuy fought white settlers and Bennelong had his origins in Ryde. Blaxland, of Blue Mountains crossing fame, tilled land at Brush Farm and bred stock.

Travelling by boat from Parramatta to Sydney, gentry could view the brewery and fine farms and marine villas on this fertile land. By the 1860s substantial mansions could be seen surrounded by native bush. The Field of Mars subdivision and construction of De Burghs Bridge advanced land sales as did a tramway, and later a trainline. Joining the rest of Sydney, large mansions gave way to suburban subdivision in the 1920s or were converted into homes for the infirm or insane.

As a riverside settlement, Ryde was famous for shipbuilding, sculling and swimming. Institutions became a feature of Ryde and Gladesville in the twentieth century and CSIRO, Ryde TAFE and later Macquarie University were located there. Pictorial History Ryde is a new book in the famous series of pictorial histories which cover the suburbs of Sydney.

Written by Megan Martin. 144 pages, black & white. A4 format. $24.95 plus $5 postage (includes GST).

ISBN 0-908272-54-5

Pictorial Histories List