Henry Halloran

For the poet and public servant, see Henry Halloran (poet).
Henry Halloran c. 1924

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]

  1. ^ a b c d Atchison, John (1983). "Halloran, Henry Ferdinand (1869 - 1953)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  2. ^ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 81
  3. ^ Mortlock, Allan J.; Anderson, Bernice (1978). Undiscovered Canberra. Canberra: Australian National University Press. pp. 42–47. ISBN 0-7081-1579-9.
  4. ^ "Topical Taps". St George Call. 1908-02-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  5. ^ "Advertising". Daily Telegraph. 1929-01-19. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  6. ^ "History". Currarong Community Association. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  7. ^ Tim the Yowie Man (8 June 2019). "Mailbag". Canberra Times. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  8. ^ Jennifer Horsfield (2005). "Environa: Marketing a Life-Style Near Canberra 80 Years Ago" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Part of Pacific City and Jervis Bay, St. George's Basin [cartographic material] : for private sale". Trove. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  10. ^ Henry F Halloran (1920). "1st subdivision, Port Stephens city estate".
  11. ^ "Some early history of the Cove". North Arm Cove.
  12. ^ "Shoalhaven Family Local and Cultural History Fair NSW". Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  13. ^ "Nowra council May Reject Road Finance Offer". South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus (NSW : 1900 - 1954). 1952-09-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  14. ^ "Advertising". Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910–1954). 1954-01-06. p. 13. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
  15. ^ Vincentia Jervis Bay : formerly known as the Deas-Thomson Estate or South Huskisson, Sydney : Realty Realizations Ltd, 1963, retrieved 2019-02-27