North Arm Cove – the city that never was

Most Australians would be familiar with the name of Walter Burley Griffin as the architect of the nation’s capital, Canberra.  Lesser known is another scheme designed by him – a fanciful proposal for the “City of Port Stephens” in the area known as North Arm Cove.²

The grand design included a large administrative area as well as a railway interchange and extensive harbour facilities. Soon after approval by Stroud Shire Council in May 1918, the proponent company, Land, Limited, declared financial difficulties and was voluntarily wound up in 1919.³ This led to the influential entrepreneur Henry F Halloran acquiring that company’s landholding.⁴ Building upon Griffin’s design he produced two extensive subdivisions which he marketed with his usual flamboyancy as a “masterpiece of modern town planning”.⁵ Despite this, the area never fulfilled its promise: the hoped for railway never eventuated nor were plans for a grand harbour realised. By 1924 only 89 lots had been sold.⁶

Over the years, with no services and no likelihood of development consent, many disenchanted investors forfeited their blocks for unpaid Council rates⁷ and in 1991 Great Lakes Council took action to warn potential purchasers that, notwithstanding some unscrupulous advertising by the then owner of the holding, they might never be permitted to build on the land.⁸ And so North Arm Cove remains today, a quiet coastal settlement.

Author: Penny Teerman

Note: An interesting article “Back to the Future – Port Stephens City 101 Years Later” can be found at https://www.desim-arch.com/blog-1/back-to-the-future-port-stephen-city-101-years-later