c++ photos on Flickr

John Busby (1765-1857) was a mineral surveyor and civil engineer. In 1823 he was appointed to manage the colony's coal mines and to find a new supply of fresh water, as the Tank Stream had become too polluted. Busby became famous for overseeing construction of "Busby's Bore" a tunnel which brought fresh water from the Lachlan Swamps into the city when the Tank Stream, the city's original water supply, became polluted and inadequate to serve the city's water needs.

Busby received a grant of over 8 acres in 1828. Architect John Verge started plans for Busby's house, Rockwall, and a cottage in 1830. Verge's plans for the house were approved by the Governor the same year.

One of the earliest surviving Verge-designed buildings, built 1831-37 and amongst the few surviving of the many villas which once dotted Potts Point.

However in the early 1830s Busby found himself in financial difficulties, and was forced to sell his grant. From 1835, Verge altered the existing plans for the new owner of Rockwall, Hamilton Collins Sempill, a grazier and merchant. Verge supervised the works for Sempill through to completion in 1837. A c.1840 painting shows it with extensive gardens including a carriage loop, shrubberies and Norfolk Island pines.

The house was designed for Busby but completed for H C Semphill and T H Ryder. Its gardens once extended to Macleay Street.

By 1843 there was a serious financial crisis in the colony, and the Darlinghurst grantees suffered. They pressed for the freedom to subdivide their land, and Sydney's first exclusive suburb opened up to investors.

From the early 1850s, the Gold Rush boosted the economy, and interest in the land available at Darlinghurst grew. The first subdivisions occurred around the edges of the original grants, with blocks of a size that allowed other grand houses to be built and new streets formed.

In the 1870s, heavy land taxes imposed by the administration of the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, led to another wave of subdivisions of the original grants. The late 19th century saw the final demise of the grounds surrounding the original villas, and in some cases, the villas themselves.

In the 1880s Rockwall was used as a girls' school, Ailanthus College, and then acquired by the Nurses' Club. It later became part of the Chevron Hotel, then the Landmark Hotel, in Rockwall Crescent, Pott's Point.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the original villas and the later grand 19th century residences were demolished to make way for blocks of flats, hotels and later, soaring towers of units.

Today only 5 of the original 17 villas still stand, with the lost villas and other grand houses commemorated in the names of the streets of Potts Point, Darlinghurst and Kings Cross.

By the 1960s it was virtually derelict, but was restored in the 1990s for the adjoining hotel.

Rockwall and a portion of the surrounding land were restored in 1995 by Howard Tanner & Associates for the Mirvac Group as part of the development of the Landmark Parkroyal Hotel in Macleay Street and today Rockwall is privately owned.

Rockwall is one of the few remaining original grand residences of Potts Point.

C-2A 162150 by David ilott

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VRC-30 (Det 5) C-2A Greyhound 162150/NF-20 at Kadena AFB in November 2009.

¦C¦L by 藤原克也

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C-SPAN by Phil Roeder

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The dome of the U.S. Capitol on the C-SPAN bus in front of the dome of the Iowa State Capitol.

C Stock by Ben Elias

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This train has spent decades working on Britain's railways, but time has come for it to be turned into baked bean tins.

DSC_3517 by gogoeritw

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C-FJWS (WestJet) by Reinhard Zinabold

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C-FJWS - Boeing B-737-76N/W - WestJet

(leased from GECAS)

at Toronto Lester B. Pearson Airport (YYZ)

c/n 28.651 - built in 2001 -

returned to lessor 08/2021 - became N258GE

C-FMDW (JAZZ) by Reinhard Zinabold

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C-FMDW - deHavilland Canada DHC-8-311 Dash 8 - Air Canada express (operated by JAZZ)

at Vancouver International Airport (YVR)

C by MB Dogtography

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C-130H CH-01 20 Sm / 20W BAC by Alan PARDOE

C-FCMN by John Olafson

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Just arriving from Smithers. There sure are a lot of extra surfaces on the tail. If you look closely, you will see above the left wing an airliner which appears to have decided to go around, probably because of the smoke which prevailed a long time.

C.Ronaldo Traning-1 by Little Bastard

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C by Chris

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Letter C

C. A. Cupid by Black Rose Bride

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In the Monster High Cupid's clothes.

www.starsue.net/game/Cupid-Dress-Up.html

C-Record by Jon Williams

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C-GLSJ (StarJet) by Reinhard Zinabold