Mangerton

Mangerton was originally part of John Thompson's grant of 640 acres, called Glen Gosh. This property was later bought by Dr John Osborne and divided into Mangerton and Garden Hill.

Mangerton is said to have been named after a place in John Osborne's native county of Tyrone in Northern Ireland. However, no place of this name has been located in Tyrone.

There are two other explanations for the naming of Mangerton. Firstly, there is a Mangerton in Liddesdale, Scotland. The Laird of Mangerton was chief of the Armstrongs and a James Armstrong had clearing leases on Dr John Osborne's Garden Hill estate.

Secondly, a family member who had spent time with Belle and Edith Osborne (Dr John Osborne's grand-daughters) said that John Osborne had thought there was some resemblance between Wollongong and the Mangerton Hills in Ireland. This was where Dr John and his wife are believed to have spent their honeymoon.

Ferndale

Address: 27 Mangerton Road

The original Matchett home was purchased with three acres of land soon after the family arrived from Victoria in May 1926.

Image: Ferndale ca. 1900, image number P02393.

Hightrees

Address: Mangerton Road

James Hughes (Hugh) Britten was a local architect with a considerable corpus of work in Wollongong. Built in 1936, this was Hugh Britten’s own home, an early Wollongong example of the Inter-War Functionalist style (sometimes known as the Ocean Liner style). Britten used his characteristic rectilinear and curved forms, wide overhanging eaves and roof-concealing parapets. In this design the facetted arrangement of the continuous windows in the semicircular bay is notable. This house has been altered since the Brittens lived here but the essence of his style is still clearly evident (Irving, 2001, p.67).

Orana

Address: Norman Street

Orana is an Aboriginal name meaning ‘Welcome'. This splendid home was designed by Cecil Francis and built by John Luborg in 1952. It epitomises the Functionalist style. The design exploits the steep slope and takes a calculated account of solar angles to provide shade in the summer and warmth in the winter. The flat roof provides access to admire the distant views. The lowest storey was originally an exposed column-and-beam structure (Irving, 2001, p.97).

Although Mangerton is primarily a residential suburb of Wollongong, its most dominant environmental feature is Mangerton Park. The Park is a remnant of the original vegetation of this part of the coastal plain and includes turpentine woodland in the higher parts and sub tropical rainforest in the wetter downslope. The 4.5 hectare area provides important habitat for the many native animals that have suffered from the pressure of urban development. A wide variety of birds, mammals and reptiles rely on this area for their survival.

Weed invasion is a serious threat to the park's ecology. Restoring and maintaining the park has been been a long term project spanning decades and has been largely due to the The Friends of Mangerton Park, working through Wollongong City Council’s Bushcare program and in collaboration with the local community (Local cuttings file).

Mangerton Park has a great diversity of flora. Studies have identified 54 species of trees and shrubs, 23 species of climbers and 39 species of ground covers, herbs and ferns. This diversity of flora supports over 70 species of birds that use the park either as residents or as a migration stop over.

In 1993 The National Trust awarded The Friends of Mangerton Park an Environmental Trust Scheme Grant, and in 1995 they were awarded Total Catchment Management Enhancement funding. These grants and the continuing support of the Bushcare program have been invaluable in the regeneration and long term restoration of Mangerton Park (Davis, 1995).

Davis, Wayne (ed.), Environment Illawarra: initiatives, Wollongong: Keira Green Corridor Committee, 1995.

Irving, Robert, Twentieth century architecture in Wollongong, Paddington, NSW: Barbara Beckett, 2001.

Local Studies Cuttings File.