The first plans for British settlement in Manly, NSW, Australia, emerged in the 1820s following the acquisition of land from the local Gayemagal people. A smallpox outbreak at the end of the 18th century severely reduced their population, paving the way for the British settlement.
Around 1850, the NSW Legislative Council granted the Catholic Church sixty acres on North Head in Manly. At the end of the 18th century, the Anglican Church had already been granted a swathe of dispossessed land in what is now Glebe, in the city’s inner west, originally home to the Gadigal people.
Upon receiving the land, the Church embarked on a significant development project. They constructed the castle-like St Patrick’s Seminary, now part of St Patrick’s Estate, on the headland’s peak. Subsequently, they subdivided and leased the remaining land. In its 2013 environmental management plan, the estate said “most of the land to the east and north” of the Seminary had been sold on a “long leasehold basis”,
Leaseholders have the right to sell their leases to another party at any time. However, the buyer must be willing to pay the current lease price and the cost of renewing the lease when it expires. Read more