Pymble

Pymble is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, NSW located 16 kilometres (10 mi) north-west of the Sydney CBD. It is named after Robert Pymble (1788–1861), an influential early settler whose 1823 land grant comprised some 600 acres, around half the land of the region.  Today Pymble is a predominantly residential area with tree-lined streets, many substantial homes and gardens, numerous parks, nature reserves, and active pockets of commercial activity. (West Pymble is a separate suburb, surrounded by Lane Cove National Park.)

History

Based on settlers accounts the land that came to be known as Pymble was traversed by and at least periodically inhabited by what was by that time the "remains" of the Cammeraigal clan or tribe of the Kuringai (also known as Guringai) Aborigines. The Cammeraigal had owned the land between the Lane Cove River, Hawkesbury and east to the coast. They would travel from grounds at Cowan Creek to the Parramatta River via Pymble - passing west through the land where PLC now stands, through the Lane Cove Valley and North Ryde. En-route they would reportedly hold corroborees at the current site of the Pymble Reservoir in Telegraph Rd and "camped on the hill...at the junction of Merrivale Rd and Selwyn St."  According to Robert Pymble II "the Aborigines had faded out by about 1856, mainly because of smallpox."

Whilst Pymble was named after Robert Pymble, who owned half the land, the other half (plus a large part of St Ives) was granted to Daniel der Matthew's, another influential settler who established the first saw mill in the area. The region was important to the early Sydney colony as a major supplier of timber for a wide variety of uses. In later years it was also an important supplier of agricultural produce. It became widely known for the high quality of its produce, especially for its oranges introduced by Robert Pymble around 1828 and which by later years were grown extensively throughput the region by numerous different growers following land sub-divisions.

Eventually agriculture and small farming gave way to residential development with residential sub-divisions commencing around 1879. The first bank - the Australian Joint Stock Bank - was established in 1888 in a then prominent house known as Grandview built on Pymble Hill ca 1883 by the son of local hotelier Richard Porter. Porter had opened the Gardener's Arms Hotel, also on Pymble Hill, in 1866. From this time the centre of commercial activity came to be at the top of the hill around the Pacific Highway and Bannockburn Rd area, but with the railway station being located by necessity at the bottom of the hill development began to shift gradually and inexorably towards the new railway station at the foot of the hill.

Landmarks

• Pymble Station - Centre of transport, shopping and social activities.
• Pymble Hill (Pacific Highway) - for areial view of Chatswood skyline. 

Buildings

Significant buildings include:

• Ku-ring-gai Town Hall (formerly a Catholic church and is an example of the Inter-War Spanish Mission architectural style which is likely the only of its kind in Pymble)
• The former Wesleyan Chapel (built in 1879, oldest remaining building)
• St Swithun's Anglican Church (built circa 1938 and is an example of the Inter-War Gothic style)

Significant houses include: 

• Grandview - two-storey, Georgian structure made of sandstone that has reverted to private use and is on the Register of the National Estate
• Merrivale - local stately home in the Regency style and is considered one of the finest examples of its kind in Ku-ring-gai
• Eric Pratton house Coppins - Designed by Walter Burley Griffin and built in 1935. It is one of three large houses designed by Griffin in Ku-ring-gai and is important as most of his residential buildings were single storey. It is an example of the Art Deco/Prairie style. Other architectural styles to be found in the suburb include: inter-war Californian bungalow, Federation, Federation Queen Anne, Federation Free style, and Georgian revivalist.

Transport

• Pymble railway station is on the North Shore Line of the CityRail network.
• TransdevTSL buses operate route 579 from Pymble Station (departing Grandview St) to East Turramurra and also route 560 from Gordon Station to West Pymble.
• There is a taxi stand on the eastern side of the station in Grandview St.

Schools

• Pymble Ladies' College, an all-female, K to Y12 independent school
• Pymble Public School, a government primary school, located on Crown Road whose alumni includes actors Hugh Jackman and Chris Lilley
• Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Catholic Primary School (OLPS), a Catholic primary school, located in West Pymble
• Sacred Heart Pymble, a Catholic primary school
• Gordon West Public School, a government primary school, located in West Pymble (in a precinct formerly called West Gordon)

Parks and recreation

• Pymble Park is located on the eastern side of the railway behind the shops in Grandview Parade and features many large trees, tennis courts, an enclosed playground and amenities.
• Bannockburn Oval, located in Bannockburn Rd, is a large sports field catering to athletics, cricket, soccer, rugby and other sporting activities.
• The Pymble Soldiers Memorial on Mona Vale Rd, is a memorial park dedicated to lives lost in all wars featuring rose beds, formal terraces and a hilltop view.
• Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve, Mona Vale Rd, is one of the last remaining blue gum high forests in Sydney. Visitors can "escape from the busy rush of Sydney life with a walk among the majestic tall blue gums and blackbutts. Check out the large hollows in the tree trunks as they burst with colours of the beautiful native birds, such as king parrots, rosellas and lorikeets".
• There are also numerous untouched bush reserves which offer a taste of the original natural beauty of the region. Some include walking paths such as the Sheldon Forest track accessible via Warragal Rd. "The track meanders through blue gum tall forest on the ridge tops, riparian forest along the creeks and open forest woodlands on the hill slopes. Sheldon Forest is of high conservation status because it contains some of the last remnants of the endangered ecological communities of Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest (STIF) and Blue Gum High Forest (BGHF)"