Lake Macquarie History

Morisset Park

Name Origin:

The same as Morisset.

European History

Early Land Grants:

Portion 38: 40 acres (The Bluff) W.C. Browne, no date.

Portion 42: 80 acres (Woods Point) William F. Bonnell, 1878.

Portion 43: 63 acres (Bailey's Lagoon to Little Lake) W.C. Browne, 1878. Portion 44: 89 acres (Kendall Grange) W.C. Browne, 1878.

Early Subdivisions:

Only Portions 43 and 44 were subdivided, as Morisset Park and Kendall Grange. Most of the lots were taken up by employees of nearby Morisset Hospital.

Early European Settlers:

Portion 38, The Bluff, was purchased by J.A. Gorrick, a solicitor, who had a house at Sunshine. In 1902 his daughter Ivy Isabel Gorrick married Bert Bailey, the actor who played "Dad" in the famous Dad and Dave plays. He later played the part on film and radio. Bert and Ivy Bailey bought the Bluff and built a big eighteenroom house there about 1918. The family spent a lot of time there when not working on films or plays. Bert Bailey kept a cruiser and a speedboat on the lagoon. When Ivy Bailey died in 1932 he decided to sell The Bluff.

It was bought by The Little Company of Mary, known as the Blue Nuns in 1934. They had (and still have) a hospital at Lewisham and in the 1930's were nursing many tuberculosis patients. They used The Bluff as an adjunct to their hospital and also established a cemetery there, where members of their Order, and also seven priests, were buried. They were responsible for the large statues of Our Lady and St. Joseph still to be seen in the grounds.

In 1947 The Bluff was bought by the Brothers of St. John of God (1495-1550) founded the Order of Charity for the Service of the Sick or Brothers Hospitallers. Devoted to the concept of humanized care, they established a special school at The Bluff for emotionally disturbed boys aged 6 to 16.

Reference

Mullard, Beryl 2002, Iron horse and iron bark : history of Morisset and district, Beryl Mullard, Morisset, N.S.W

Streets in Morisset Park

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