land gate

Main entrance gate to Tanilba Bay designed by Henry F Halloran

Henry F Halloran designed and erected the Centenary Water Gate and arches and the Land Gate. The Gates were completed on 31 March 1931, 100 years to the day after Henry F Halloran’s grandfather signed the Crown grant which gave possession of Tanilba in 1831 to William Caswell.

Both the gates, the Water Gate and the Main Entrance or Land Gate near Lemon Tree Passage Road, were built to commemorate the centenary in 1931 of the land grant to the Caswells, using unemployed workers during the Depression.

Original hand-drawn plans by Henry F Halloran.

Source: Port Stephens Family History Society Inc

Stonework and Constructions

All the stonework in the area is similar in style and was constructed of local material. Henry roughly sketched the designs on whatever paper he had at the time, and William H Powe built them. Both the gates were built from round and broken quartz porphyry embellished with white felspar and held together by cement. The stone was gathered from the Tanilba foreshore and from a quarry at Mallabula.

Tree Planting Between the Two Gates

On June 7, 1929, Henry F. Halloran wrote to the Port Stephens Shire Council about tree planting on the Tanilba Estate roads. The council then planted 114 trees sourced from the Botanical Gardens. Surviving examples include Norfolk Island Pines along the Avenue of the Allies and in Sunset Park and Meridian Park. Despite some replacements over time, these trees remain prominent, reflecting Halloran’s estate planning ethos.

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