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37-495: Assisted by friends, Hill covered 200 books before opening her library to members. She later expanded the library to increase the collection and include facilities provided by a private club, including a ball room and a restaurant. During the day, members would visit to have lunch, read or play cards. In the evening it became a venue for balls, receptions, private parties, social events and at least one wedding ceremony. In its years of operation, over 5,000 wedding receptions took place at

74-509: A ball was held in support of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children . At a subsequent ball the following year to aid the same institute, over £187 was raised. Independent Theatre Independent Theatre , formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd. , was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney , Australia. It is also the name given to

111-636: A number of heritage-listed sites, including those listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register : The following buildings are heritage-listed on other heritage registers: The commercial district of North Sydney includes the second largest concentration of office buildings in New South Wales, with a large representation from the advertising and information technology industries. Advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades such as printing have traditionally dominated

148-499: A small single-floor cinema on Bligh Street, chiefly on Wednesday and Saturday, movies being shown on other nights. For some productions, the much larger Sydney Conservatorium of Music was hired. It would have made an ideal home for the club, but was not available for regular hire. In 1937 Doris came to an arrangement with the Sydney Players' Club that they would share Savoy Saturday nights: five weeks for The Independent and three for

185-536: A week was soon cut to three in the face of inadequate rehearsal time. In 1948 John Alden used "The Independent" as home for his fledgling Shakespeare Company. Other groups to use "The Independent" at various times were the Independent Theatre School of Stagecraft, Heather Gell Productions, Lesley Bowker's Reiby Players and the Liberal Youth Club's Dramatic Group. Among foundation members of

222-467: Is a suburb and major commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney , New South Wales , Australia. It is located three kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council . The Indigenous people on the southern side of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) called the north side warung which meant

259-702: Is directly linked to the Sydney CBD by road and rail across the Sydney Harbour Bridge . North Sydney railway station is on the North Shore railway line of the Sydney Trains network. Bus services by Busways , CDC NSW , Keolis Downer Northern Beaches , Transdev John Holland and Transit Systems operate through North Sydney, connecting train and bus services towards North Sydney's neighbouring suburbs as well as connecting train services to Richmond via City from

296-637: Is located on the corner of Falcon Street and Miller Street. Primary schools include North Sydney Demonstration School , Mosman Preparatory School and St Marys Primary School. High schools include the public North Sydney Boys High School and North Sydney Girls High School , the Catholic Marist Catholic College North Shore , and independent schools Wenona School , Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College and Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore). St Aloysius' College of Milsons Point and Loreto Kirribilli are also within

333-534: Is too good to be judged by the standards of the amateur stage." The list below exemplifies the range and standard of plays performed. In 1942 The Independent embarked on a joint management arrangement with Alec Coppel's Whitehall Productions which entailed nightly professional presentations, alternating seasons with the Minerva Theatre across the other side of the city. The scheme was abandoned after one month due to poor weekday attendances. In 1944 they played at

370-568: The 2000 Summer Olympics , the city was the starting point of the marathon course that would end 26.2 mi (42.2 km) later at the Olympic Stadium in Homebush Bay . The local government area of North Sydney Council includes the suburb of North Sydney and the surrounding suburbs of Crows Nest , Waverton , Neutral Bay , McMahons Point , Kirribilli , Cremorne (divided between North Sydney & Mosman) and Cammeray . This suburb

407-955: The Independent closed in 1977. In the 1990s, in serious disrepair, the theatre, Sydney's oldest, was bought by Rodney Seaborn 's Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, and reopened in 1998. In 2004 it was acquired by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust . As of 2022 the Independent Theatre operates in North Sydney , in the building opened as the Coliseum Theatre in 1939, run by Wenona School . Initially, Fitton's company rehearsed and played in St James' Hall . From 1931, most performances were given in The Savoy,

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444-569: The Independent were Dorise Hill and Phillip Lewis, who in 1931 broke away to form the short-lived Pickwick Theatre Group, associated with the Pickwick Book Club of 156 Pitt Street, Sydney . They held a reception for Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson in September 1932, at which members of the Independent Theatre were conspicuously absent. Early in December 1932 Phillip Lewis took full control of

481-621: 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 until construction of the Cahill Expressway on the eastern side of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the wider closure of

518-560: The Pickwick Book Club. Hill was the eldest daughter of Mr Roland Hill and Caroline Mary Hill ( - 25 January 1942) who had three daughters and two sons. She was a business woman, avid reader and involved in the performing arts. She established the library to meet a need she perceived within the community. Hill was a foundation member of the Independent Theatre and between 1931 - 1932, the Pickwick Book Club further expanded with

555-621: The Players. But after the Players' Club had cancelled their lease of St James' Hall , the management of The Savoy evicted them both in order to become purely a cinema. It had been intended to move to the much larger Palace Theatre, 255(?) Pitt Street, at the end of 1932 (it had been used throughout August 1931 for a particularly popular production), but that never eventuated. (It became a venue for "minnie" golf instead! ) The new clubrooms upstairs at 175 Pitt Street served as an occasional performance space from September 1938 to September 1939. In 1938

592-609: The Sydney metropolitan area, North Sydney has limited shopping facilities and almost no Sunday trading. There are four supermarkets ( Aldi , IGA , Coles and Woolworths Metro ). The main shopping complex is the Greenwood Plaza, which is connected to North Sydney station . Berry Square is another shopping centre in Berry Street, formerly known as North Sydney Shopping World. According to the 2021 census , there were 8,964 residents in

629-637: The T1 North Shore & Northern Lines. The Warringah Freeway links North Sydney south to the Sydney CBD and north to Chatswood . High Street, North Sydney wharf is a wharf served by Neutral Bay ferry services , which is part of the Sydney Ferries network. It is possible to walk from parts of North Sydney to the city centre in less than 30 minutes, by way of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Victoria Cross railway station , located two blocks north of

666-530: The building it occupied from 1939 (then known as the Coliseum Theatre ), now owned by Wenona School , in North Sydney , cited as Sydney's oldest live theatre venue. The society was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T. Grein and was one of several amateur drama groups of high standard which sprang up in Sydney in the 1930s to fill the gap left by the closure of all but two professional theatres (the last spoken-word theatre to close

703-473: The building was destroyed by fire. They rented the first floor (US second floor) of "Club Chambers" at 175 Pitt St from July 1938 to mid-1939 when they took over the Coliseum and there was no need for a separate facility. Doris was usually producer and director, and frequently leading lady, and in each of these roles won praise from the critics. Dame Sybil Thorndike is recorded as saying of The Independent "It

740-507: The business life of the area though these have been supplanted to a certain extent by information technology businesses. Corporations whose offices are in North Sydney include: AAMI , Acciona , AGL , CIMIC , Cisco Systems , Coca-Cola Europacific Partners , Gen Digital , Hyundai , Nando's , National Australia Bank , NBN Co , Nine Entertainment , Novell , Sophos , Sun Microsystems , UGL , Vocus Communications , Vodafone and Zurich Insurance . Unlike other major suburban hubs within

777-530: The club relocated to larger premises in the neighbouring Civil Services Stores in 1930 before its final move to the Mutual Life Assurance Building where it was located in the basement with the walls decorated with murals inspired by Charles Dicken's Pickwick Papers . To accommodate the club's needs, the architect Emil Sodersten redesigned the basement. The book club's colours were orange and black, and to celebrate its first anniversary in 1929,

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814-521: The club then a fortnight later disbanded it. He died in 1950, aged 47. Mrs Albert Cazabon (aka Norah Delaney) and Joy Howarth were notable actors associated with the Pickwick group, whose productions (all at the Savoy Theatre) were: 33°50′00″S 151°12′29″E  /  33.83328°S 151.208109°E  / -33.83328; 151.208109 North Sydney, New South Wales North Sydney

851-473: The company took a two-year lease over the old Criterion (which was originally a cable winding station for the cable trams ), at 269–271 Miller Street, North Sydney (near Ridge Street), which had been made available by the collapse of the Kursaal Theatre Group. For a time they were running two productions in parallel: at Pitt Street and at their new premises, renamed "The Independent"; by September 1939

888-569: The confines of the North Sydney local government area . Post-secondary education providers include the Australian Catholic University , APM College of Business and Communication , Raffles College of Design and Commerce, Walker and Miller Training and Billy Blue College of Design . St Leonards Park which includes North Sydney Oval is the suburb's major recreation area, popular among joggers and those wishing to walk their dogs. North Sydney Ovals are notably cricket pitches during

925-733: The establishment of the Pickwick Theatre Group by Hill and Phillip Lewis. The group put on numerous productions at the Savoy Theatre during 1930 - 1931 and continued to put on small productions on the tiny stage in the ballroom in the club. She was regular contributor to the Truth writing book reviews in a column called "Books Worth Reading". Following Hill's marriage to Dr. Michael Neylon ( - 1949) in July 1947, her brother-in-law Robert Milne Stephen ( - 1965), who became known as Mr Pickwick, took over

962-605: The existing North Sydney railway station, opened in late August 2024 as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. Churches include St Mary's Catholic Church on Miller Street, St Francis Xavier's War Memorial Church in Mackenzie Street, St Thomas Anglican Church on West and Church Streets, Christ Church on Walker and Lavender Streets, St Peter's Presbyterian Church and Manse on Blues Point Road and Chinese Christian Church on Alfred Street. Hare Krishna Temple

999-522: The management of business. At her death in 1953, Hill left the Pickwick Book Club to her sister Dulcie May Stephen. The club continued to operate until September 1969. At the time of its closure, the club had 900 members. Despite the end of the Pickwick Book Club, the venue remained available as a venue for wedding receptions and evening parties. Initially situated in Her Majesty's Theatre in Pitt Street,

1036-765: The move was complete. The building was owned by North Sydney Coliseum Company, who in 1947 made moves to sell the building. Funds were raised for its purchase. The venue on Miller Street has a seating capacity of 289. by 1977 it had become the 680 Playhouse . Clubrooms are used for read-throughs of plays, training and rehearsals other than full dress rehearsals to save the expense of theatre hire. Often they would be made available to other groups and community organizations. They may also be used for storage, maintenance and sometimes even preparation of programmes, scenery, props and costumes. Doris first rented rooms for this purpose in 1933 at 60 King St then moved to 112 King St in early 1934. and were still there in 1938 when

1073-719: The newly opened American Red Cross Club at Kensington . On 19 September 1944, the building narrowly escaped destruction when the adjacent building, previously the De Luxe Theatre but then used by the Army as a store, caught fire. Newspaper reports of hand grenades and bombs being hastily removed were denied by officials. Initially amateur, "The Indi" started paying award rates to a nucleus of leading players from May 1955. Those selected included Marie Rosenfeld, Ethel Gabriel, Jessica Noad, Molly Brown, Haydee Seldon, Leonard Bullen, John Carlson and Grenville Spencer. Doris's intended six shows

1110-528: 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 Hunterhill , named after a property owned by Thomas Muir of Huntershill (1765–1799), a Scottish political reformer. He purchased land in 1794 near the location where the north pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is now located, and built a house which he named after his childhood home. This area north of Gore Hill became known as St Leonards . The township of St Leonards

1147-511: The suburb of North Sydney. 46.9% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 5.8%, England 5.4%, India 4.6%, New Zealand 2.4% and Hong Kong 1.8%. 61.6% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 6.4%, Cantonese 3.2%, Spanish 2.0%, Hindi 1.7% and Korean 1.5%. The most common responses for religion in North Sydney were No Religion 43.9% and Catholic 19.9%. North Sydney

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1184-597: The summer and the home ground for the Northern Suburbs Rugby Union Club and the North Sydney Bears Rugby League Club during the winter. The Norths Pirates Junior Rugby Union Club is North Sydney's local junior village rugby union team who play all home games at Tunks Park in the adjoining suburb of Cammeray together with North Sydney Brothers, a junior rugby league club and the rugby league teams of Marist College North Shore. During

1221-624: The system in 1962. 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 the Harbour Bridge is now. The line originally extended via Alfred Street (now Alfred Street South), Junction Street (now Pacific Highway ), Blue Street and Miller Street to the Ridge Street Tram Depot . It used cable grip cars called "dummies" and un-powered trailer cars. A feature of these lines

1258-667: Was The Criterion theatre in 1936, leaving only the Tivoli, which ran vaudeville , and the Theatre Royal , which played musicals and ballets). The range of plays essayed was impressive – from classics to avant-garde pieces, from recent West End and Broadway successes (sometimes the Australian premiere) to offerings from local dramatists. The death of Doris Fitton's co-producer Peter Summerton in 1969 put extra strain on her deteriorating health, and with no-one able or willing to fill her shoes,

1295-426: 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. The history of

1332-412: 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

1369-574: Was the underground tram terminus at Wynyard railway station (the only one in Australia), and the tracks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Trams ran from Blue Street over a now-demolished steel arch bridge over the Harbour Bridge Roadway, then over the eastern side of the harbour bridge (now road lanes), through a tram platform at Milsons Point railway station , before descending underground into platforms 1 and 2 of Wynyard station. North Sydney has

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