House washing and pressure washing in Carrington

What do homes on Carrington's reclaimed island need?

Aboriginal people knew the place for its mud crabs, and in 1804 settlers called it Chapman's Island. It sat underwater at high tide until ballast and reclamation work built it up, and from the 1860s families moved across, some to escape the dirt and noise of the city. It became a municipality in 1887, named after Lord Carrington, and its 1888 council chambers in Hargrave Street are now a community centre.

Homes today share the island with commercial and port land, and the suburb is reached by the Cowper Street bridge over Throsby Creek. In 2021, 61.6% of homes were separate houses and 30.1% were semi-detached, terrace or townhouse dwellings. Walls and eaves get a soft house wash, and paths and driveways get pressure washing matched to the surface. NSW EPA rules keep that runoff out of the stormwater drains, which flow untreated to local creeks and the sea.

Key figures

1860s

Carrington becomes a residential suburb

1887

proclaimed a municipality

61.6%

of homes were separate houses in 2021

Sources

• Wikipedia, Carrington, New South Wales
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Carrington
• NSW EPA, The drain is just for rain
• NSW Spatial Services, Administrative Boundaries (postcode, council, distance, neighbours)