The Henderson Trust

Darling Harbour Resumption plan

Madeline Geary Ward nee Henderson had a steady and independent income from a trust established by her grandfather's will. I have struggled to sort out the exact details. I suspect that some of the  newspaper accounts of the various court cases may be a bit misleading when it comes to the specifics.

Someone with the time, and probably a bit more legal knowledge than me could probably read the documents in the Henderson Box (an archive box at the Mitchell Library) and consult the various Court Records to get a more accurate picture than I have been able to put together.

Robert Henderson left property in trust to four people:

• His son Robert Geary Henderson was to receive the Veteran Hall properties (current-day Saratoga) and also some property at the Phoenix Wharf.
• His son Thomas Henderson was to receive some property in Erskine Street with a wharf and buildings known as the Bethel Chapel.
• His granddaughter Madeline Geary Henderson was to receive the Dove Inn and properties in Sussex Street.
• His grandson Robert Francis Geary Henderson was to receive several properties at Pittwater and Brisbane Water, as well as a part of the Phoenix Wharf property containing the Clarence Hotel.

Thomas Henderson died shortly after his father and under the terms of the Will, his share was divided between the two grandchildren, Madeline and Robert Francis Geary Henderson.

The way I read the Will, all the properties were to be in Trust for the recipients lifetime, but Robert Francis Geary Henderson seems to have been able to deal with his properties as there is evidence he sold several of them over the years. But both Madeline and Robert Geary Henderson's properties were held in trusts set up under the 'Permanent Trustee Company of NSW Ltd.

One my big frustrations has been getting an accurate idea of just where the different Sydney properties were. They were all in the Darling Harbour area, but there was so much land reclamation over the years, with corresponding changes in the streetscape, that it is not easy to follow the descriptions.

This week I discovered some accurate plans of the area made on 1901 when the NSW Government resumed the whole Darling Harbour area for the development of public wharves. This has clarified some of the locations. (See the extract above- you should be able to expand it.)

The resumption map has two portions marked that are owned by the Permanent Trustee under the Estate of Robert Henderson. The former Dove Inn (marked as the Oxford Hotel) and the Sussex Street properties (marked 49) are leased to John See. Other papers suggest that See had a wharf on this property, but from the plan it is hard to see how or where the wharf would be. From other maps, I think the original waterline was at the end of the Sussex Street properties, where the Empire Hotel is shown on this plan (This hotel seems to be in one of the houses erected by Robert Henderson.) So I think the wharf may have behind that hotel, with a yard running back to the old Dove Inn, behind the houses.

The other portion (parked 53) is on the corner of Erskine and Shelly Streets, and I suspect that this may be the Bethel Chapel site left to Thomas Henderson. This is also under lease, but the lease has almost expired. If this the Bethel Chapel site, it was a waterfront site when Robert Henderson bought it. This would suggest that the whole Phoenix Wharf site was reclaimed from the harbour during Robert Henderson's lifetime (be bought his lots towards the end of his life).

I think the Clarence Hotel was on the other side of Shelly Street and is shown as the Balmain Ferry Hotel. This site had been resumed 10 years earlier.

No part of the Phoenix Wharf seems to be administered by the Trust, but there are mentions in other papers of compensation relating the the Phoenix Wharf being held in trust for the children of Robert Geary Henderson. It is possible that this was from the earlier resumption of the Clarence Hotel site, which at the time of Robert Henderson's Will was part of the Phoenix Wharf.