TypeSuburbDetailsWaitara Railway Station was officially opened in April 1895 after the North Shore Line linking Milson's Point and Hornsby Junction was completed. Waitara is a Maori word for 'pure water' and the name of a river in New Zealand which was the scene of the 1860s Maori Wars in which many Australians fought as members of the Imperial Troup.
Until the opening of the railway station, this area was just seen as the eastern part of Hornsby. When one acre blocks of land near the station were being sold in 1895 the promotional poster proclaimed that Waitara Estate Hornsby was on the Milson's Point to Hornsby line and that Waitara Station was on the Estate. The poster boasted that the estate was..."within 10 minutes of Kurringai Chase and Waterfall [with] mountain health giving invigorating air, grand views, orange groves and soil unsurpassed."
Just up from the station in Peats Ferry Road was Hornsby's first hotel, the 'Hornsby Hotel', now so well known as 'The Blue Gum Hotel'. The original hotel was built in 1884 by John Tibbett, using bricks made from his own clay-pits nearby and since then, has been remodelled many times to cater for the needs of its patrons. CreatorMari Metzke 'Our Bushland Shire' (2021) p.112
