Aboriginal Before European settlement, the area of Gladesville was included within the territory of the
Wallumettagal people of the
Eora nation. Evidence of their presence can still be found in the area; for instance, there are rock carvings and grinding grooves that can be seen in Glades Bay Park, which overlooks Glades Bay.
European The area was first called Doody's Bay during the beginnings of European settlement, marked by a land grant being given to convict artist, John Doody (1795). Others to receive grants in the district were William House (1795), Ann Benson (1796) and Charles Raven (1799). By 1836, John Glade, an
emancipist, was issued with the deeds to Doody's grant, which he had purchased in 1817. Glade expanded his property with the purchase of a number of adjoining holdings. After John Glade's death in 1848, his land was sold to a Sydney solicitor, Mr W. Billyard, who subsequently subdivided and sold the land in November 1855, naming it Gladesville. A major milestone in the development of the suburb was the establishment of the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum in 1838, on the banks of the
Parramatta River. It was the first purpose-built mental asylum in New South Wales. Much of the architecture was designed by Colonial Architect
Mortimer Lewis and built between 1836 and 1838. In 1869 it became the Gladesville Hospital for the Insane, and in 1915 the
Gladesville Mental Hospital. In 1993, it was amalgamated with Macquarie Hospital to form the Gladesville Macquarie Hospital. In 1997, inpatient services were consolidated at Macquarie Hospital at North Ryde. The Gladesville complex includes many buildings which are listed on the
New South Wales State Heritage Register and the (now defunct)
Register of the National Estate. One of the hospital's acquisitions was a two-storey sandstone house called
The Priory, in Salter Street. It was built in the late 1840s, possibly by the Stubbs family, and featured an east-looking face in the
Georgian style, and a west face with a
gable and painted
sundial. In the 1850s it was sold to the Marist Fathers, a French group who had an influence on the early development of
Hunters Hill. The hospital acquired it in 1888; it was listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate in 1978. Another historical landmark is the cottage Rockend, where the poet
Banjo Paterson lived in the 1870s and 1880s. It was built circa 1850 and is still preserved and open to the public in
Banjo Paterson Park, Punt Road. It is listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate. The site joins the Bedlam Bay walk, where remnants of the
Great North Road exists and the walls of the Bedlam Bay Ferry. Banjo Paterson lived in the sandstone house (now a restaurant) whilst attending
Sydney Grammar School. The house was owned by his Grandmother and was frequented by many artists and writers. Banjo Paterson recalled in a radio interview in 1935 that the river had declined and was now lined with factories. However he could still remember when; Halmeg Linseed oil was manufactured on a mill located at the end of Punt Road, overlooking Glass Bay. The linseed oil was used in the manufacturing of lead paint and
varnish, as well as
putties,
caulking compounds, printing inks and linoleum. The production plant was established in 1923. The revolutionary extraction process did not work at first. Despite this, one hundred guests toured the new mill at its official opening. Harold Meggit, owner of the plant, increased employees wages, also advising that there would be no jobs and no wages if a new solution to distil the oil could not be found. The employees put forward hundreds of suggestions, and two were implemented. In later years, Halmeg was the first to produce
Safflower Oil in Australia. It also introduced a profit sharing scheme for its employees. The site closed in 1974. In 2016 the local community crowned Madeleine Paslis as the Queen of Gladesville. ==Monash Park==