SMH article  - 2/1/13

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/activity/great-outdoors/grand-vision-is-a-sight-to-see-20130101-2c3xl.html#ixzz2GoKdKbwV

Mosman Foreshore

In 2006, the navy opened up the grounds of HMAS Penguin, allowing the completion of the walk from Chowder Bay across Georges Heights to Middle Head, and down to Balmoral beach.

It is now possible to walk all the way from Cremorne to the Spit, mostly on bush tracks.

The trail stretches for 10 kilometres and takes in some of the most stunning vantage points for Sydney Harbour. But as local author Claire Mitchell details in her new book about the walk, Mosman Meanders and Foreshore Flavours, there is much more to the walk than just heart-stopping vistas.

Mosman might be home to lawyers and bankers these days, but in the 1860s it drew a more bohemian crowd. From the early 1860s, several pleasure grounds were established on the foreshore of Mosman that attracted big weekend crowds. They arrived by boat at dusk to dance, drink and stroll through themed walks, ride carousels, or play skittles and other games.

The first of these was at Cremorne Point and by all accounts its "Ball Masques", illuminated by 5000 lamps and Chinese lanterns, were spectacular. But, by 1862, the event had turned into the Victorian equivalent of a rave party, judging by the description in the Herald:

"Its Ball Masque by moonlight were scenes of licence and vulgarity – the larrikin element too much to the fore."

Fairyland at Clifton Gardens, the most popular, opened in 1863 and Balmoral Gardens boasted a 24-metre roofed dance floor.

The foreshore of Mosman also attracted artists and writers, who rowed across from the city to set up camp in the bush where they could relax and paint en plein air.

Artists Julian Ashton, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and cartoonist Livingston Hopkins of the Bulletin congregated at these all-male camps.

The most famous was at Balmoral and is marked with a plaque.

Another, Curlew Camp, was at Sirius Cove and is marked by a faded inscription in a rock, which is dated 1890.

By the 1870s, the military had claimed part of Middle Head, Bradleys Head and Georges Heights to protect Sydney from the Russians. Stone fortifications, gun emplacements and tunnels can still be explored at Bradleys Head, though other fortifications at Georges Heights are off limits.

Legislation passed in 1903 allowing public bathing led to the construction of swimming enclosures at Balmoral and Clifton Gardens.

The final stretch of the walk from Chowder Bay to Balmoral Beach was opened in 2006, when the navy provided access through HMAS Penguin. There is a spectacular staircase through an angophora forest to Balmoral Beach.