"Earlwood" is a southern suburb of Sydney. 

I was born at Arncliffe, a nearby suburb, and grew up in Earlwood. It was a nice quiet little suburb, where it was safe to go anywhere and everyone knew each other, if not all by name, but by sight. 

"Nannygoat Hill"

The house I grew up in, backed onto a small park which was at the base of "Nannygoat Hill" and is a part of Girraween Park ( Wolli Creek Valley). In those days it was like virgin bushland, there were no tracks to follow as such, you made your own. It made an interesting trek. I remember as a child we would sneak over into the bush and go for a walk to check out the caves. Of course, our parents never allowed us to go there as they said it was too dangerous, but kids being kids, we wanted to find out what was so dangerous. As we found out, the bush had snakes, which scared us all, because we didn't know if they were poisonous or not. But that wasn't the thing that really scared us though lol. We kept climbing and searching for these caves until we finally came across one, the first cave was ok, it wasn't too scary but then we came to the second cave and found clothing and cooking utensils etc, and knew someone was living in that cave, and then heard some rustling in the bushes and remembered what our parents had told us, that boogey men lived in the caves there, lol.  Well, that did scare us. I don't think we ran so fast in our lives lol. We tried a few times after that to find out who lived in that cave but each time we went near there we were scared off by something or someone rustling around in those bushes lol. Although later on we did discover that Aborigines did still live in that Valley and also some white men. 

It wasn't until later on in years that the local Council decided to protect this Valley as there were plans to build highways through the Valley which would have ruined that area. Today, they are still fighting to keep that area as natural and beautiful as possible. They have now built lookouts and picnic areas throughout this Valley, making it a very pleasant and relaxed outing. 

While I was growing up in Earlwood it still had that country feel to it, although we had all the shops any other suburb had and it's pubs, clubs, library, schools and churches etc. It is close to the City and the Airport and today Earlwood is an elite suburb. When I was born, my grandfather sold the house in Homer Street and bought the house I grew up in for something like 800 pounds and sold it in 1979 for $42,000 and now that same house is worth in the vicinity of $250,000. I went back there a few years ago to have a look at the house, the new owners had renovated it in the medateranean style. It saddened me to see the house that was my life, had changed so much over those years, and wondered if my little cubby holes under the house were still there, or the neighbours in the street I grew up or the umpteen dogs in the neighbourhood that would follow me home for a feed each day. But, like everything, changes take place and all we are left with are the memories.

Following is a short history on Earlwood and  some facts about Girraween Park.

Girraween Park is a large Valley. This park is one of the few surviving areas of bushland so close to the city. The park contains a variety of types of vegetation, from eucalypt woodland to rainforest remnant to mangrove. The park and adjoining bush is an important remnant of the forest which once covered the region, and provides a link between the northern and southern distribution of these species. Wolli Creek marks the border of the park and is the largest tributary of Cooks River, forming part of the Cooks River catchment. This is the main area of bushland in the river system retaining natural vegetation. The park was dedicated in two sections, in 1935 and 1957. As well as bushwalks, it also offers grassed areas with picnic and playground facilities. 

Some areas of the bush in Girraween Park have been degraded by introduced species (weeds), which have invaded the bush since houses were built nearby. Since 1984 Canterbury City Council has funded the National Trust to conduct a bush regeneration program control these weeds and so to preserve the bush. By preserving the bush, the conservation of native animals and birds is encouraged. 

The local Aboriginal people were of the Daruk tribe, probably of the Bediagul clan. Girraween Park, with its diverse range of flora and fauna, including sea food, must have provided an important food source for the local people, and the overhanging rocks would have provided shelter. Girraween is an Aboriginal work meaning place of flowers. 

The cliffs in the park are formed of Hawkesbury sandstone. A local quarrying industry developed nearby, and the sandstone in this region was used for building. Many local houses are built of sandstone quarried from along the Wolli Creek Valley. 

"You could be a million miles from anywhere here!" is the reaction of most first-time visitors to the Girrahween forest. The area abounds with bush birds and wildflowers.

A Sydney red gum (Angophera costata) in the relic forest in Girrahween Park. The Wolli Valley contains the last significant samples of the original bushland of inner south-west Sydney. Botanists and ecologists consider that the valley has high conservation value.

The valley's heaths and woodlands also form an important migration corridor for birds such as yellow-faced honeyeaters and silvereyes.

  "Sydney Red Gum Tree"             "Banksia"

"Daphne Heath"

The wildflowers of the Wolli Valley
Over 260 species of native plants have so far been identified in the bushland areas of the Wolli Valley.
Because the valley contains the last sizeable sample of the original bushland of inner south-west Sydney, its genetic stock is of great interest to botanists.
Whatever the season, something's in flower, but late winter or early spring are the best times to see wildflowers.

Above: A boobook owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae) at its daytime roost below Nannygoat Hill. Annually, more than 90 species of native birds are recorded in the Wolli Valley.

"History of Earlwood"

"Cook's River before 1900"

Since white settlement the district of Earlwood has been known by four names. The earliest name was "Parkes Camp" derived from the Parkes family's name and an inference to the profession of John and his sons - at this time "camp" denoted the headquarters of a group of sawyers.

John Parkes was a convict transported on the Bardwell in 1797 for seven years for stealing "a great coat, called a beaver coat, worth sixteen shillings". In 1803 he married Margaret Southern and during 1816 was granted 50 acres in the Botany Bay District. On receipt of this grant, he crossed Cooks River, looked around, and selected his 50 acres at the top of a ridge, surrounded by ironbarks, red mahogony trees and gullies full of ferns, flannel flowers and gymea lillies.

John Parkes' property was situated in the centre of Earlwood. The western boundary was the top end of Woolcott Street and the southern boundary was along William Street from Woolcott Street to Homer Street.

Prior to the 1830s there was a feud in the district regarding right of way across properties to reach the bridge and punt over Cooks River. Once this crossing was established, the Parkes family could earn a good living as sawyers, cutting down the ironbarks and other eucalypts to supply Sydney with building timber and firewood. John then moved his family to the land granted in 1816. By this time the elder of John and Margaret's eleven surviving children were married and the population of the district increased substantially once they moved. The grant became commonly known as Parkes' camp, although the family used the more picturesque names of "Parks Folly" and Mount Clear".

By about the 1870s the name of the district had changed from Parkes Camp to Parkestown, as the timber was cut out and the local people changed their occupations to suit the resources. Some people from this vicinity gave their address as Forest Hill, a name not associated with any particular family, but described the landscape as it had once been.

The first known use of the name Earlwood, or at least a close version of it, was when Mrs Jane Earl subdivided her land before she sold it in 1884. "The Earlewood Estate" was used as the name of the property when it was surveyed to bring it under Torrens Title later that year. Most of this land was re-subdivided in 1905. This appars to explain the origin of the name, but over the years, there have been a number of suggestions as to how Earlwood got its name.

One was that it was named after Earl (alleged incorrectly to have been a one time Mayor of Bexley living on the Bexley side of Wolli Creek) and the Wood Brothers (who had a pig and poultry farm in the locality). The Hocking family say that, when a new name for the suburb was being sought, Walter Henry Hocking thought that, as the brothers had been members of the Earlswood Cricket and Recreation Club at Waterloo, this would be as good a name as any, but the Secretary of the Progress Association wrote down Earlwood. A descendant of Mrs Earl claimed she opened a tavern in the Earlwood area in the late 1880s and called it Earl's Wood, which had been the name of her family's property in England, from which she had migrated. In any case, the Progress Association continued to use the name Forest Hill for many years.

A person who came to Forest Hill in 1905 said many years later: "This hill was then a veritable beauty spot, abounding in giant trees, green valleys and wild flowers. In the bushland, Christmas Bush, Flannel Flowers, Rock Lilies and Native Fuchsias grew in profusion, while fields of maize waved in the breeze and the songs of the birds added to its charm;...".

Round about 1910 most of the area was covered with scrub and forest. Homer Street was a mere track and a little group of people lived at Undercliffe. There was a dairy on Wolli Creek and one on Wardell Road.

"Undercliffe Bridge"

Early shopkeepers were McDonald, who had a butcher's shop on the corner of Homer Street near Undercliffe; and James Steele had a barber's business about 1917.

The first picture show was blown down, and about 1920, Mr. Hocking built another show and also some shops in Homer Street. The Hocking family lived in a big home on the site of the present Roman Catholic Church at Earlwood.

Transport in the early days was provided by Brady's horse-drawn bus which ran from Marrickville to William Street about every hour. Passengers had to walk up the hill from Undercliffe.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, EARLWOOD
The first Roman Catholic church service in Earlwood was held in the Progress Association's Hall at Undercliffe in 1922. The Celebrant was the Rev. J. Smith of Tempe and there were about 50 people present. Land for the present church buildings in Homer Street was acquired in 1923 and the foundation stone of the first church was laid by Archbishop Kelley in 1926. This church was extended in 1938 and the foundation stone of the new church, was laid in 1950.

The district of Earlwood was made a Parish in 1928, the first Parish Priest being Father John Troy. In 1934, Father Bernard Clancy became Parish Priest and he was succeeded in office by the Very Rev. Monsignor W.P. Clark, P.P.,P.C. in 1936.

The first church secretary was the late Mr. Edward Hancock of Homer Street. The present church secretary, Mr. John Hall of Cameron Avenue, has held that office since 1936.