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The "new" Cliffbrook, 45 Beach Street

Magnificent Mansions
The existing Cliffbrook stands on part of an original estate named "Cliff-Brook", three parcels of crown land granted between 1845 to 1846 to Lewis Gordon, a State Government Surveyor. The estate grew to 14 acres and included Gordons Bay itself. It was eventually acquired by John Thompson, a local businessman who became Mayor of Randwick in 1873. Thompson is believed to have built the original "Cliff-Brook" mansion - a huge and ornate Victorian Italianate style house.

The "old" Cliffbrook, Gordons Avenue

The property was again sold in 1889 to George Hill, a squatter who was declared bankrupt in 1899 and the property was repossessed by the Bank of New South Wales. The Bank employed a caretaker to look after the house and grounds which were apparently used as a poultry farm. After spending around 600 pounds clearing up the house and garden, the caretaker was finally dismissed. In 1905 Sir Denison Miller, then assistant to the general Manager of the Bank of New South Wales, was asked to occupy the mansion, rent free. Six years later, Miller, now first Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, purchased the estate. He paid 8,000 pounds for the land and house and later sold the foreshores of Thompson's (Gordons Bay) to Randwick Municipal Council for 3,000 pounds. The old Cliff-Brook was eventually demolished in 1976.

Cliffbrook from the Air, 2019

A "New" Cliffbrook
Miller employed an architect, probably John Kirkpatrick, to build a "new" Cliffbrook a magnificent Interwar Free Classical style grand mansion, an impressive home befitting Miller's important status. Lawns abut the main house with sealed drive sweeping up to its portico/porte cochere.When Miller died in June 1923 at Cliffbrook, the property was sold to Mr Welki King before finally being sold to the Federal Government.

Sir Denison Miller

When Prime Minister Andrew Fisher appointed Miller governor of the Commonwealth Bank in June 1912, the Bank consisted of himself and a messenger in a Melbourne office. It was through Miller's careful and skilful management, that the Bank soon became the largest and most sound banking institution in the country.

Public Ownership
During the Second World War the estate was occupied by the army to serve as a school of tropical medicine. The site was used as the headquarters of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) from 1953 to 1981. You can still see the letters 'AAEC' in the design of the front, wrought-iron, gates of the property, fronting Beach Street. During this period three substantial brick office buildings were added to the site.

Sanstone Wall Cliffbrook Campus

In 1993, ownership of the property was transferred to the University of New South Wales for research and administrative purposes. For a while it housed the University of New South Wales Press, (UNSW Press). The words "UNSW Press" were painted on the roof of the modern building aligned to Battery Street in huge letters - visble from the air, from Google Maps, and from some higher nearby vantage points.

Wrought Iron Gates: AAEC

References