1823
In the 1820s much of what is now Kensington fell within a 570-acre land grant to emancipist merchant Samuel Terry, one of the colony's wealthiest early figures. The area remained largely rural for decades — sandy, swampy, and slow to develop compared with the inner city.
Through the nineteenth century Kensington gradually transitioned from market gardens and scattered estates toward a working residential suburb, shaped in part by the rise of the nearby Randwick racing district and the arrival of the tram lines.