Looking North - Sydney's Upper North Shore

The Upper North Shore, encompassing the municipality of Ku-ring-gai, located around scenic ridges and valleys, is one of the jewels of Sydney. Looking North traces the development of this region from isolated bush and farmland to a prosperous residential area.

Since the late 19th century, the Ku-ring-gai area has held an impressive reputation for its attractive houses on large blocks of land, with established private gardens. The area is surrounded by bushland reserves without large-scale industrial development and this peaceful, 'natural' environment was very attractive to newcomers. The Upper North Shore has been described as Sydney’s most successful attempt to create a ‘peculiarly Australian suburban Arcady’.

 Pymble, 1887, by unknown photographer
Photograph SPF/Sydney-Suburbs-Pymble, 1887

Looking North is part of the People & Places series, which draws on social and personal histories of local areas to present a series of intimate and personal windows into the historical record of urban and rural New South Wales.

Looking North - Sydney's Upper North Shore is made possible through a partnership with Geoffrey & Rachel O'Conor.