When Macarthur’s Pyrmont estate was subdivided, the new shipyards, timberyards, tin smelters and foundries needed workers. Houses appeared on the hillside above the shore, first stone cottages: later brick. By 1850 Pyrmont boasted 130 dwellings, whose residents enjoyed pubs, churches and even a school. There was a working class community even before CSR arrived in the 1870s.
As CSR grew, it began to buy houses for its employees, but this expansion also threatened to displace cottages with new factory buildings, and the ceaseless noise and smoke of the refinery were oppressive.