The Briars is a heritage-listed residence located at 14 Woonona Avenue, in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia.

[1] Millwood Farm on Blue Gum Creek was established in 1814 by a marine, Williarn Henry, the first white settler in the Ku-ring-gal area.

He rowed sawn timber from the government sawpits on the Lane Cove River to Sydney and dropped off supplies to settlements on his way home.

The harbour barrier delayed the suburbanisation of the Ku-ring-gai district and in the early 1880s the tiny settlement was judged too small to warrant a railway line.

By 1885 it was also possible to travel to Sydney via the five bridges road crossing the water at Fig Tree, Gladesville, Iron Cove, Glebe Island and Pyrmont.

[1] The single-track North Shore railway line that went from Hornsby to St Leonards in 1890 finally reached Milsons Point in 1893 where passenger and vehicular ferries completed the journey to the city.

The North Shore Ferry Company had been carrying passengers from Milsons Point to Circular Quay since the 1860s and by the 1890s around 5 million people crossed the harbour by this means every year.

Offering suburban subdivisions along the railway line in advance of the stations, speculators developed Ku-ring-gai well before completion of the North Shore Bridge in 1932 set off another flurry of real estate promotion.

By this time, with its large residences in beautiful, leafy surrounds, it had changed from a district with a dubious reputation to one that attracted people of high socio-economic status, 73 per cent of whom were home owners.

The same sort of increase occurred from 1933 to 1947 when a further 43 per cent of people moved into the district bringing the total population to 39,874 and adding 3,564 houses.

[4] Napoleon Bonaparte reputedly had lived in the Governor's house on St. Helena for some time after his exile to the island in 1815, while a permanent residence was being built for him.

[7][1] The front block (12 Woonona Avenue) was built upon, with a single storey red brick home that obscured views of The Briars to its rear (north).

was approved by Land & Environment Court (SEPP5) and 6 single storey villas were built adjoining the State Heritage Register boundary, on an adjacent block, while retaining a line of mature turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) on the drive to the house's (and one to 12 Woonona Avenue's south-west) west.

[1] John and Elizabeth Fuller bought the property in 1999 when in poor condition, sympathetically renovating it further (over two years: Liu, 2015, 13) along with its garden.

[6][1] A large garden surrounds the house (although reduced by subdivision, notably of the former tennis court to its east and land to its south.

A gravel carriageway into the "hatchet" shaped block (around a small park on what was previously the Briars' tennis court) is flanked with hedges, leading to the front door and around to the garage on the south side.

[1] A gravel carriageway into the "hatchet" shaped block is flanked with photinia hedges under-planted with blue flowered Nile lily (Agapanthus orientalis).

Here very old azaleas (Rhododendron indicum cv.s) line the edge of the veranda and near the back door an enormous old white flowered camellia (C.japonica cv.)

[1] A pair of old cypress trees and a more recently planted lily pilly hedge line the southern boundary and an old jacaranda (J.mimosifolia) spreads in the south eastern corner of the property.

[1] On the north side an old cast iron fountain in a pond constructed from old bricks and filled with iris is a focal point in the lawn.

The perimeter garden bed has box hedging and is planted out with bear's britches (Acanthus mollis), winter roses/ hellebores (Helleborus orientalis & H.niger), windflowers (Anemone hupehensis cv.)

A large sandstone urn containing a variegated leafed star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegata') is placed on a plinth & creates a centre piece, the beds are planted with iceberg roses, agapanthus and ground covers.

[1] Under a large old English elm (Ulmus procera) in the north-western corner of the garden the ground has been paved with white pebbles in a circle to reflect the canopy of the tree above, the surrounding beds are planted with magnolias, ferns, hydrangeas, gardenias and feature statuary.

[1] In the backyard is an area where a group of large remnant turpentines grace the property, many natives including blueberry ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus), birdsnest ferns (Asplenium australasicum), matt rush (Lomandra sp.)

A projecting brick bay with three stuccoed arches marks the front entrance and intersects a timber framed verandah which surrounds the house on three sides.

On the William IV breakfast pedestal sideboard are pieces of family silver and an early blue and white set of Meissan cups, saucers and eggcups.

Family Sitting Room: Over a c. 1820 pine dresser is a story board from the Sepik River area in Papua New Guinea.

Morning room: Note the prints of paintings by Thomas Balcombe and a recent photo of The Briars on St Helena.

[1][14] Prior to that date the same owners had replaced verandah posts with careful replication of former details, and other "substantial" restoration works.

[1] The Briars is associated with:[1] William Alexander Balcombe, who built The Briars in Wahroonga, was the grandson of William Balcombe (Snr) who was Naval Agent and Purveyor for the East India Company on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic during the exile of Napoleon Bonaparte on the island.