STORIES

First appearance of L’Avenue in records

Historic Family Tree

Cleansing the streets – Newtown sanitization

• 1806
  George William Bligh is granted a large parcel of land from William Street. Bligh’s descendants go on to sell off part of the land parcel between King and Wilson Streets in 1834.

• 1846
  John Icke Kettle purchases a parcel of land containing what came to be known as the Kettle Estate – now known as Hollis Park, Georgina street, Fitzroy street, and Warren Ball avenue – with further subdivisions of this land by Kettle in 1851 for housing.

• 1882
  After John Icke Kettle’s death the land is inherited by his daughters Mary Anne Brock (nee Kettle) and Georgina Thruchley (nee Kettle) and there are further subdivisions of the land to its current form.

  According to the 1882 O’Connel Ward rate book, the Kettle Estate: King street house and grounds were occupied by a Miss Donnithorne(an Australian woman best known as a possible inspiration for the character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ 1861 novel Great Expectations.).  The estate’s Wilson street house and grounds were listed as occupied by a Mrs G Hutchley (assumed misspelling of John Icke Kettle’s daughter, Georgina Thruchley).

• 1887

  The first mention of residents living at ‘Kettle Avenue’ in the Sands directory with 8 lots listed. It is believed residences were built along L’avenue (AKA Warren Ball Avenue) between 1886-1887.

• 1889
  While it is widely believed Kettle Avenue was renamed to L’Avenue in 1913 when the park came under the care of the Newtown Council, the first reference to ‘L’Avenue’ in Newtown comes even earlier in the 1889 edition of the Sands Directory – with many of the same residents that had previously been listed at Kettle Avenue in earlier editions of the Sands Directory reports.

• 1890
  Georgina Street is first listed on a Surveyors map circa 1990, however no dwellings are shown on the lower side. It is believed the terrace houses that now line Georgina st were built between 1890-1905.

• 1894
  Inaugural Newtown Charity Carnival held at L’Avenue Park.

• 1905

  The Kettle Estate is subdivided and further housing built. Public Auction Held by Raine and Horne.

• 1932
  L’Avenue renamed to Warren Ball Avenue in memory of Mr. Warren Ball JP, who died on 25 May 1932. Mr. Ball was a businessman in the city and Newtown for many years and was engaged in many charitable causes.