100 years of Avalon Beach

13 April 2022

Avalon c. 1935

It seems fitting that 2021 marked 100 years since the suburb of Avalon was originally named, the same year Cunninghams officially ventured north of the Narrabeen Bridge to help service our already strong client base along the upper northern beaches. Attracted by its natural, unspoilt environment, the early settlers in Avalon spent their weekends in the area painting, bushwalking, or photographing the stunning flora and fauna.

In an article published by Northern Beaches Libraries in December 2021, we are introduced to a few of the early Avalon trailblazers including Arthur Jabez Small, who created the Palmgrove Estate subdivision. This estate and its auction on 26 December 2021 saw the name Avalon Beach used for the first time. It is also noted that real estate subdivisions occurred as early as the late 1800’s but became popular from the 1920’s as transport improved. A.J Small was a major contributor to the development of Avalon and was very keen to preserve the natural beauty of the area.

Palmgrove Estate Brochure

Palmgrove Estate Brochure, 1921

For a long time, the suburb remained quite isolated due to the lack of roads in and out of the area. Warringah Council meeting minutes from 1934 acknowledged the work that needed to be done, and mentioned that the road would be graded and rolled. However, it seems that residents, even into the late 1930’s, took matters into their own hands and worked on the roads themselves to allow for deliveries of bread and milk.

The article also gives little insights into other families who spent time at Avalon Beach, either living there or visiting on weekends. These include Alan and Enid Rigby who were introduced to the area by their friends, Robert and Olive Johnson, who had bought land on Hilltop Crescent in the late 1920’s. Robert Johnson was a well-known landscape artist. The Rigby’s then bought the block next door to the Johnsons and had the local stonemason, Charlie Erikson construct a stone cottage for them. The following year he also started working on a stone cottage for the Rigby’s next door.

“Roger Rigby the eldest son of Alan & Enid says deliveries of any kind were problematic due to the poor state of the road. He remembers there was a large spotted gum tree near the present day Hilltop Rd shops where there was a board attached with hooks and numbers that corresponded to house numbers in the street. The daily routine was to walk down to the end of the street after teatime with a billy can that was hung on a numbered hook with 2 shillings and sixpence inside. The milkman came early the next morning, so they had to fetch the billy can as early as possible in summer before the milk went off.”

The Ratte family would also come to Clareville for the weekend. They would travel by train from St Leonards to Brooklyn on the Hawksbury River and then by ferry to Pittwater and Paddens Wharf which is now the Avalon Sailing Club. The Johnson children and the Ratte children spent time on the water, rowing, canoeing and sailing. They would walk to Avalon Beach along a dirt road to surf, and there was only one shop and very few people. There also wasn’t a surf club at this time, just a shed with a reel and belt but it wasn’t always manned.

avalon beach carpark 1930

Yvonne Ratte recalls “My earliest memories are of the Christmas holidays, no electricity, tank water and my aunt or my mother cooking on a fuel camp oven type stove. The clear water when the high Christmas tides covered the rocks and golden sands where we swam and played. Oysters were gathered from the rocks below the cottage and fish caught. There was plenty of native flora, fauna, including koalas. It truly was a paradise.”