[2] At the time of European contact the Kelly's bush area was inhabited by the Wallumettagal Clan who spoke the Guringai language.
On 28 January 1788 he wrote in his journal: "A few days after my arrival with the transports in Port Jackson, I set off with a six-oared boat and a small boat, intending to make as good a survey of the harbour as circumstances would admit: I took to my assistance Mr Bradley, the first lieutenant, Mr Keltie, the master, and a young gentleman of the quarter-deck (midshipman Henry Waterhouse)."
Hunter's meticulous chart shows 30 depth soundings around the peninsula bounded by the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers.
The prefabricated houses were advertised as "four splendid family residences, standing in their own grounds, of about 1 acres each", with "wood and water in abundance".
The historic development at Hunters Hill was consistently speculative, although some of the subdivisions were undertaken to provide residences for family members.
They applied to Council seeking suspension of the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme Ordinance to enable the development of 147 home units, including three buildings of eight-storeys high.
In 1969 the Council agreed in principle to a suspension of the existing zoning to permit the development of 56 townhouses (without any public consultation).
Her article read like a love-letter to Kelly's Bush, describing its deep gullies of bracken fern, its blueberry ash, lily-pilly, tea tree and a rare stand of healthy banksias.
Most of the women were lifelong Liberal Party voters who had never been involved in politics but each had a different reason for joining...Miriam Cunningham...had realised when she had been to Australia Square, then Sydney's tallest building, that Kellys Bush was the only patch of green she could see on the Parramatta River.
"Askin derided us as middle-class matrons" says Hunters Hill resident Phil Jenkyn, who says the women inspired him to form a group known as the Defenders of Sydney Harbour Foreshores.
[1] Despite the protest, in 1971 the Minister for Local Government signed the notice rezoning the land from Reserved Open Space to Residential.
Jennings were eventually forced to sell the land to Hunter's Hill Council, however, by a narrow margin the councillors voted to retain the Residential Zoning.
A period of silence followed and then in 1983 Neville Wran announced that Kelly's Bush was to be set aside for full public access on a permanent basis.
The movement even inspired overseas activists, including German Petra Kelly, who would eventually form one of the world's first Green political parties.
When the Wran Government bought the land the women celebrated with a simple bush ceremony and a pot of tea – and invited Jack Mundey, by now their friend for life...Kids still build cubby houses here and roam by foot, bike or in their imagination among the banksias and bracken.
Kelly's Bush lies on the southerly aspect of the major ridge line of the Hunter's Hill Peninsula, which runs in an east-west direction.
[1] The site has seen the following modifications:[1] As at 26 March 1999, Kelly's Bush Park has high local significance as a remnant of natural bushland located on the foreshores of the Parramatta River in Hunters Hill.