Aborigines on the southern side of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) called the north side warung which meant the other side, while those on the northern side used the same name to describe the southern side.
The first name used by European settlers was Hunter hill, named after a property owned by Thomas Muir (1765�1799), a Scottish political reformer. He purchased land in 1794 near the location of north pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is now located, and built a house which he named after his childhood home. This area north to Gore Hill became known as St Leonards. The township of St Leonards was laid out in 1836 in what is now North Sydney, bounded by what is now Miller, Walker, Lavender and Berry Streets. By 1846 there were 106 houses here and by 1859, the commercial centre had extended from Milsons Point to Miller Street. A bus service operated by Jeremiah Wall ran between Milsons Point and North Sydney Shops, and North Sydney thus developed its own identity.
The North Sydney municipality was incorporated in 1890 and after naming disputes, North Sydney was settled upon. The post office which opened in 1854 as St Leonards was changed to North Sydney in 1890. The first public school which opened in 1874 as St Leonards was renamed North Sydney in 1910.
North Sydney underwent a dramatic transformation into a commercial hub in 1971-72. In this period no less than 27 skyscrapers were built.
Trams
The history of the North Sydney tramway system can be divided into three periods - the first from the original opening in 1886 to 1909, when the McMahons Point line opened. The second period covers the time until the Wynyard line was opened across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, and the third from then until the general closure of the system in 1958.
The first part of the North Sydney tramway system was a double-track cable tramway which commenced at the original Milsons Point Ferry wharf, located where the north pylon of
