History of Ernest Pedersen Steps
These steps were built to link Avon and Burton streets around 1885 and are named after Ernest Pedersen, alderman and a director of Sydney Hospital.
Ernest Pedersen Steps link Avon and Burton streets, Glebe.
The streets and houses in this area were built in the 1880s. Ferry Road followed the ridge line down to the shore of Blackwattle Bay but the other streets followed a grid pattern which did not take account of Glebe’s rocky cliffs, and some came to abrupt dead ends at the cliff face.
In 1883 the Auckland Timber Company opened a timber yard on the shoreline below, which was later Hudson Brothers Timber and is now the Sydney Secondary College’s Blackwattle Bay campus.
These steps were built to link Avon and Burton streets around 1885 and were initially known as Burton Lane, and later Quarry Lane. They were renamed after local ALP identity Ernest Pedersen (1910-1974), who was an alderman from 1950 to 1953. He also served as a trustee of Wentworth Park and a director of Sydney Hospital.
Further reading
Max Solling, ‘Glebe 1790-1891: a study of patterns and processes of growth’, MA Hons thesis, University of Sydney, 1972
Renato Perdon, 'Sydney’s Aldermen: a biographical register of Sydney City aldermen 1842-1992', Sydney City Council, Sydney, 1997
