“Land, if judiciously bought, is acknowledged to be one of the safest investments. In a colony like New South Wales the value is continually increasing and enriching the holders. …”

SMH, 23 June 1888

Within 3 years of these apocryphal words being written, the expanding colony of NSW was thrust into a severe depression which destroyed fortunes that had been made during the 1880’s ‘land boom’. Property prices crashed by over 30%, taking up to up to two decades to recover to the levels seen at the height of the boom during the late 1880s (Murray and White 1992; Cannon 1966).

There are a number of interconnected stories, including

• The development of the Long Gully Bridge, or as it is more commonly known as, the Cammeray or Northbridge Suspension Bridge
• The Cammaray Estate Land Company, that was established to manage the sale of ~620 acres of land to the north of the suspension bridge
• The North Sydney Tramway & Investment Company, a private company that was formed to build the bridge with the intention to open up access to
• My great grandfather (John William Cliff) who arrived in the growing colony of New South Wales and rapidly ascended to a senior role as a warehouseman in W. Gardener & Co. He also invested (heavily) in real estate and was considered at the time something of a shrewd investor (it didn’t rub off…)
• The Sydney Real Estate Bank, which was one of many special purpose ‘land’ banks set up in the late 1800’s to invest in real estate as mortgagee and that had J. W. Cliff as chairman
• The great depression of 1892/3 that wiped out many of the land banks

Many of the major players of the time were there, including Henry Parkes and other ‘leading citizens’ that seem to have been liberally sharing information that helped them to grow their wealth

I’ve been gradually pulling together more and more pieces of the puzzle and when I get time, update this site.

If you happen to have any information that might further expand on these two interconnected stories – the development of the Long Gully Bridge and the machinations of the North Sydney Tramway & Investment Company, a private company that was formed to build the bridge and reap the real estate rewards that looked promising, please provide information in the comments section.

A graphical timeline of the various events that occurred over the period 1867 through 1922 with a particular focus on J. W. Cliff, his rise to prominence and ultimately forced to surrender what assets he had left in 1891 is provided here