He was a member of the family who established and conducted the famous Roberts Hotel in Market Street, Sydney, until it closed in the early 1960s.
The caretaker's cottage in Victorian Gothic style remains although considerably modified, was built by Bennett near the entrance to the drive on New South Head Road.
[1] Shortly before 1920 Fernleigh was leased for two years by Dame Nellie Melba, opera diva, who caused a mild uproar by having some of the trees cut down to widen the view of the harbour.
At that time the 2.8 hectares (7 acres) of land extended to New South Head Road and the castle was approached through a magnificent drive flanked by beautiful lawns and gardens.
[1] A 1943 aerial photograph shows the fig with its canopy approximately 25% of its current stage (sic: extent) and with an Araucaria growing immediately to the south of it.
British airline BOAC decided to buy it as their Sydney HQ but the sudden failure of their early Comet aircraft forced a radical change of plans.
Towards the end of 1954 Bruce Jackson was driving along New South Head Road when he saw a notice offering second hand shop fittings for sale.
[1] A 1951 Sunday Telegraph description of the castle noted it was set back in large grounds surrounded by a forest of trees and shrubs that effectively hid it from public view (from New South Head Road) in an "enchanting garden world of its own".
He bought sandstock bricks from William Wentworth's old home in Phillip Street, Sydney to make the sunken garden alcove.
From historic St. Malo (Hunters Hill) and the old Stewart-Dawson home in Darling Point he bought bricks, fittings and shutters to give the right character and atmosphere to the cottage suite.
He had a house built on this lot post-1956 which had some characteristics of mid-twentieth century suburban development and was a relatively substantial example in an affluent suburb, with simple and limited detailing.
[1] In August 1964 Mark Richard Cotter and his wife bought it, and sold it in 1966 to the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, who established it as a staff training college for its executives on 7 March 1966.
Based on the synconium being in pairs, the relatively-small size of fruit and presence of a drip tip (to the leaf) there is a reasonable likelihood that the earlier identification (of Ficus superba var.henneana) is now incorrect.
Based on the features observed at the two inspections, it would appear that the tree is a white fig, Ficus virens, probably planted after the first (colonial) settlement in Queensland had established and more than likely some time in the latter half of the 1800s or very early 1900s.
Estimated by the National Herbarium to be as old as the late 1820s, it is considered by fig expert Dr Wee Lek Choo (who is revising the genus "Ficus" for the "Flora of Australia") to be quite rare, and likely to be a natural remnant of the original vegetation of this area, given its location, age and size, and the species' dispersed distribution.
[1] The tree's root zone and canopy spread cover at least parts of the sections of 20 Rawson Road, 3-3A and 4 Fernleigh Gardens, with a radius of at least 9 metres (30 ft) in 1987.
[1][12] As at 16 January 2004, some lopping in early 1980s of parts of the canopy due to adjacent development, in 1987-8 some damage to roots and stone wall around base of tree when installing swimming pool and plumbing at 4 Fernleigh Gardens.
Estimated by the National Herbarium to be as old as the late 1820s, it is considered by fig expert Dr Wee Lek Choo to be quite rare, and likely to be a natural remnant of the original vegetation of the Eastern Suburbs area, given its location, age and size, and the species' dispersed distribution.