Professionals

In the first few decades of the 20th century, the population of Ku-ring-gai quadrupled in size. With its 'gentleman’s residences', many of them architect-designed, and pleasant surrounds, the area had changed from rural farms and woodland to a prosperous municipality at the top end of the socio-economic scale.

The North Shore railway line opened in 1890, changing the area dramatically. Improved transport links encouraged residential development and population growth. Large plots of land were subdivided for suburban housing and Sydney’s well-to-do professional classes moved in, taking advantage of the bushland setting and peaceful lifestyle.

William Applegate Gullick (1858–1922) and his family typified those who settled in the area. Gullick was a prominent public servant who lived with his wife Mary and five children in Killara.

 > See photographs of the Gullick family, ca. 1909

Another resident, Robert Francis Pockley (1823-1892), was a sea captain who became a shipowner and harbourmaster of Sydney in the 1850s. Pockley and his large family lived in Killara.

 > View photographs of the Pockley family

Sir Ernest Fisk, chairman of Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA), and his wife Florence, settled in Wahroonga after their marriage in 1916. Two years later, their home became the setting for an Australian first in long distance global communication.

 > Find out about the first wireless messages sent from the UK to Australia