Lane Cove River - Cultural Items of Significance

Cultural Items of Significance

Harry Smith was a businessman who owned land in what is now the Marsfield area. Smith created a picnic area on the banks of the river, which has long since returned to nature, but a set of stone steps can still be seen at the top of the slopes above the river, lining up with Culloden Road. It is likely that Smith had these steps built to provide access to the picnic area. Smith also had a quarry in the area, from which he obtained the stone to build his mansion, Curzon Hall. The latter was built circa 1899 and is located at the intersection of Balaclava and Agincourt Roads. The name Curzon came from his wife's name: Isabella Curzon Webb. The building was purchased by the Vincentian Fathers in 1922 and turned into a Catholic seminary. In 1983 it was acquired for business purposes and became a function centre. Curzon Hall is listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register as a site of significance.

The river is known for being the site of the mysterious deaths of Dr Gilbert Bogle and Margaret Chandler on 1 January 1963. The cause of their deaths has never been established; but there is a strong theory that the two deaths may have been caused by accidental hydrogen sulphide poisoning, due to the build-up of the poisonous gas beneath the river bed that formed both naturally and by pollutants from nearby factories along the river. The incident has always been known as the Bogle-Chandler case.