Putney, New South Wales

Putney Sydney, New South Wales
Typical Putney streetscape
Putney
Coordinates	33°49′37″S 151°6′22″E / 33.82694°S 151.10611°E / -33.82694; 151.10611Coordinates: 33°49′37″S 151°6′22″E / 33.82694°S 151.10611°E / -33.82694; 151.10611
Population	4,076 (2011 census)
Postcode(s)	2112
Location	10 km (6 mi) WNW of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	City of Ryde
State electorate(s)	Lane Cove
Federal Division(s)	Bennelong
Suburbs around Putney: West Ryde Ryde Gladesville Meadowbank Putney Tennyson Point Rhodes Mortlake Breakfast Point

Putney is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) west-northwest of the Sydney central business district on the northern bank of the Parramatta River. Its local government area is the City of Ryde.

Evidence of the Walumedegal clan remains around Morrisons Bay and Glades Bay, with 4 distinct sites including shelters amongst the sandstone overhangs, open rock engraving site, sheltered stencil (art site) and an axe grinding site.

The area of Putney and Ryde was originally known Eastern Farms and then as Kissing Point by the British colonists. It was one of the first areas of British settlement in the colony. One of the earliest settlers within the present day suburb was the brewer James Squire who settled there in 1792. He established his brewery the Malt Shovel near the present day Kissing Point.

The eastern section of Putney was part of a land grant to Nicholas Bayley. The land was later sold to Eugene Delange who subdivided the land calling it the Village of Eugenie.

The name was later changed to Putney, derived from its namesake Putney on the River Thames in London. Parramatta River had been known as the 'Thames of the Antipodes' and other nearby suburbs were also named after Thames localities of Greenwich, Woolwich and Henley. Putney was also the midpoint for watching World Championship rowing races from the 1880s to 1930s. The first regatta was held in 1847 at Kissing Point. The following decade, Sydneysiders were mad about rowing, and lucrative prizes were given to local and national championships. By the 1880s the river was a focus for thousands watching the world championship sculling races. The course ran between Kissing Point and Uhr's Point (south east side of Ryde Bridge). The local addiction to sculling fever was called "water on the brain". World Championships were contested on the course, results eagerly awaited in both Britain and America. Men and women alike discussed water conditions, racing times, and technicalities of boats. Most of the champions trained at Ryde. Local, national, and international races were held on the Parramatta River. Inter-varsity and GPS schools also had their annual regattas on the river between 1893–1935. Banjo Paterson recalled; "from twenty-five to thirty men could be seen on any fine morning swinging along in their sculls at practice – and such men! From riverside farms, and from axe men's camps in the North Coast timber country, from shipyards and fishing fleets, they flocked to the old river as the gladiators flocked to Rome in the last days of the Empire."