NEXT WALK:

The next Mosman Probus Walk is likely to be on 12 February, 2025. Exactly where will depend upon the weather this summer but it is most likely to be in the Potts Point area where there are a significant number of apartment buildings in a range of Art Deco styles. Peter Sheridan, the Sydney Art Deco expert, when he spoke to our Club said that there were three major types of Art Deco buildings in Sydney: commercial offices, apartment blocks and pubs. One of our walks this year has already covered the Art Deco office blocks in the CBD so we will next do a walk around the Art Deco apartment blocks in Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay. Please put the date of our next walk in your 2025 diary.

Sculpture by the Sea Friday 1st November   Sculpture by the Sea will be on display this year from 18th October to 4th November, which explains why our November Walk has been brought forward. This used to be the largest free public sculpture exhibition in the world. This year a voluntary contribution of $5 per person is requested. Our spectacular coastal walk will start at Tamarama and follow the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk to Bondi. Once again, the walk will be transformed into a 2km long sculpture park and will again feature more than 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and many other countries across the world. There is likely to be some changes to the walk from last year as a result of a rockfall. We will meet at the City Extra café at Circular Quay (coffee 9:15am??) for a 10: 00am departure for our last Probus walk for 2024. We will catch the 333 bus to the Bondi Junction bus interchange and then take the 381 bus to Tamarama beach to start our walk. This will take about 1½-2 hours and end at the Icebergs for those who wish to have lunch. To return, we will catch the 333 bus back to Circular Quay from the main bus stop. 

Middle Head -  Wednesday 9th October – Our next walk will be the Middle Head walk, a walk that the summer weather conditions caused us to cancel in March and rains caused us to abandon in August. This walk will resume our theme of ‘The Early Defences of Sydney’ that commenced at South Head in February and which we will continue with a walk early next year from Chowder Bay to Bradleys Head. We will be leaving Frenchies in the Artists Colony, Middle Head Rd, at 10:00 (??coffee 9:15am). Frenchies can be reached via the 111 bus from South Mosman Wharf to Chowder Bay with an intermediate stop in Mosman. We will return by same bus.

Hunters Hill Heritage Walks - Wednesday 11th September    Hunters Hill has 5 Heritage walks and our walk will follow limited sections of 3 of these. Although Mary Reibey was one of its earliest settlers, Hunters Hill had a strong early French influence through its buildings, eg Passy was built in 1850 for the French Consul (more recently, it was the home of Eddie Obeid prior to his jailing). There are 17 other heritage sites/buildings and Hunters Hill also claims to be Australia’s first garden suburb

Middle Head/Gubbuh Gubbuh -  Wednesday 14th August   The next walk will be the Middle Head/Gubbuh Gubbuh walk that weather conditions caused us to cancel in March. Fortunately, in the intervening five months, National Parks and Wildlife have at last commenced the renovation of the Outer Harbour battery (that protected entry into the Harbour proper), although nothing has yet been done to renovate the Inner Harbour Battery (that protected entry into Middle Harbour). The buildings in the Harbour Trust’s section of the walk remain in excellent condition. This is also where Bungaree’s farm was located. This walk will resume our theme of ‘The Early Defences of Sydney’ that commenced at South Head in February and which we will continue with a walk later in the year from Chowder Bay to Bradleys Head.

Castlereagh Convention Centre – Thursday 13th June   The Club’s Activities group planned this historic walk at the Castlereagh Convention Centre many months ago. It was scheduled to be on the day following our normal June Walk Day. However, this is such a historic walk that it should not be missed so it seemed sensible to combine our June Walk with the Activities’ walk. Castlereagh is one of the most historic sites in Australia, as it was one of Macquarie’s five towns founded in 1810. Like Castlereagh Street in Sydney, this suburb takes its name from the Irish peer, Viscount Castlereagh, who was responsible for the Act of Union between Ireland and England in 1803. This subsequently became so unpopular among the Irish that it caused Castlereagh to commit suicide. There are some wonderful old heritage farmhouses in the area at, eg, Nepean Park and Hadley Park. Best to see Castlereagh now as the burgeoning Penrith Lakes Scheme will impinge even further on the Castlereagh area in the future.

The Hawthorne Canal - Wednesday 8th May   The next walk will be along a section of the new GreenWay walk that four councils are building to connect the Parramatta River with the Cooks River. It will follow the Hawthorne Canal from its junction with the Parramatta River to Lewisham West. There we can view a part of the history of bridge building in NSW at the railway viaduct. As Gadigal Reserve is closed for the GreenWay upgrade, we will use the light rail to bypass this closure and walk back to the viaduct. The walk is relatively level.