Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters.

Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney.

[1][2] In the 1830s the whole area from Potts Point to Kings Cross and up to Oxford Street was known as Darlinghurst – probably named in honour of Governor Ralph Darling (1824–31)'s wife, Eliza.

The rocky ridge that extended inland from Potts Point was called Eastern or Woolloomooloo Hill from the early days of white settlement.

The ridge of Woolloomooloo Hill beckoned, offering proximity to town and incomparable views from the Blue Mountains to the heads of Sydney Harbour.

[1] The private residences that were built on the grants were required to meet Darling's so-called "villa conditions" which were possibly determined and overseen by his wife, who had architectural skills.

These ensured that only one residence was built on each grant to an approved standard and design, that they were each set within a generous amount of landscaped land and that, in most cases, they faced the town.

By the mid-1830s the parade of "white" villas down the spine of Woolloomooloo Hill presented a picturesque sight, and was visible from the harbour and town of Sydney.

A 99-year lease of the lot was taken out by retailer Lebbeus Hordern who commissioned colonial architect Edmund Blacket to design a two-storey house named Stramshall (with outbuildings) in 1871.

[4][5][6] In 1940 the site was acquired by the Commonwealth as part of a larger resumption of properties in Potts Point for the construction of the Captain Cook Graving Dock, and much of the foreshore garden was subsequently destroyed.

[7][1] Jenner House is a grand 19th century marine villa designed by Edmund Blacket (1871) and Thomas Rowe (third floor, 1877).

It has polished timber floors, a huge multiple room cellar, high ceilings, solid sandstone foundation and capacious interiors.

The top garden is broadly a sweep of lawn, inside a large circular shape and outside it flanked by shrubberies, with a view of Sydney Harbour and heads across it from the house.

The precinct is also significant because of its 40-year period as a private hospital and for its extensive association with the Navy and with the operations of Garden Island, one of the largest engineering undertakings in 20th century Australia.