Henry Ferdinand Halloran (9 August 1869 – 22 October 1953) was a major property owner and developer in New South Wales, in the early part of the twentieth century.
Halloran was born in Sydney. His father was a bank clerk and architect named Edward Roland Halloran and his mother was Adeline Burgess, née Reuss. His grandfather was also called Henry Halloran and his great-grandfather was Laurence Hynes Halloran, who arrived in Australia as a convict, transported to Sydney.[1]
Halloran attended Sydney Boys High School and Newington College.[1][2] He qualified as a surveyor in 1890 and became a conveyancer and valuer. After establishing Henry F. Halloran & Co. in 1897, Halloran became a significant figure in property development and urban planning in New South Wales, from the 1880s until the 1950s.[1] His developments included Seaforth and Warriewood in Sydney in 1906, and the unsuccessful Environa, near Canberra, in 1930.[3] There were other Halloran subdivisions at Stanwell Park,[4] near Orient Point,[5] and at Currarong.[6]
He also built structures at Tanilba Bay in 1931.[7] He attempted to create a development called Pacific City, near Jervis Bay.[8] The site of Pacific City was to have been west of Hyams Beach and would have extended west to the St Georges Basin shoreline.[9] He also initiated a development he called Port Stephens City, at present day North Arm Cove,[10] but, despite a significant area of land outside the present-day village being subdivided and sold, only a small village eventuated.[11]
Halloran began the revival of the ghost town of South Huskisson, on the western shore of Jervis Bay. He renamed the deserted "Old Township", Vincentia, in 1952.[12][13] He did not live to see it reborn as a holiday destination, following land sales for holiday homes, also known as "weekenders", which occurred in the 1950s[14] and 1960s.[15]
Halloran died on 22 October 1953, at the age of 84.[1]