Street Art Sculptures

Old black and white photo of a roofed structure among the brush and fields

Year erected

2013

Designer

Jane Cavanough, Artlandish

These forged stainless steel artworks found on the heritage trail acknowledge nationally significant pioneers from the local area.

Gregory Blaxland (1778-1853)

Pioneer farmer and explorer, co-leader of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains by Europeans in 1813.

Born at Fordwich, Kent, England. Married Elizabeth Spurdon in 1799. Arrived in the William Pitt in 1805, purchased 182 hectares of land at Brush Farm from D’Arcy Wentworth for £3,000. Blaxland won silver and gold medals for commercial quantities of wine exported in 1823 and 1828.

Maria Ann Smith, nee Sherwood (1799 -1870)

Granny Smith was born in the rural parish of Peasmarsh, Sussex, England. At 19, she married Thomas Smith.

Recruited for their agricultural skills, they arrived free aboard the Lady Nugent in 1838. A seedling apple developed from French crab apples grown in Tasmania was exhibited as Smith's seedling at the 1890 Castle Hill Agricultural and Horticultural Show. In 1891, Granny Smith's seedlings took the prize for cooking apples. Maria died in 1870 and never saw the global popularity of her apple.

James Squire (1754-1822)

A First Fleet convict on the Charlotte, James Squire was granted land in the Eastern Farms in 1795.

He sold his first block and purchased land around John Pollard’s grant in present-day Putney.

By 1796, he had established Australia’s first commercial brewery and experimented with planting hops in 1802. In 1810, beer production was claimed to be 400,000 litres and his industry continued until 1834.

At the time of his death, James Squire was the largest landholder in the district and a respected citizen.

Market Gardens

Corn, or Indian maize, was one of the most successful crops on the small holdings of the first settlers. The Kissing Point farms were an important source of produce in Sydney through the early years of the 19th century.

Chinese market gardeners were known in Ryde as early as the 1880s, with up to 20 operating in 1891. Each had about 2 hectares of land and commonly employed four to five men who worked as a cooperative and lived on site usually under poor conditions.

By 1929, 58 percent of Ryde's market gardeners were Chinese, 7 percent were Italian, and the rest were of other European backgrounds.

Location

Eastern side of Church Street from Gowrie St to Blaxland Road, Ryde, Ryde 2112 View Map

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