Houses were built on this site as shipyards, quarries and foundries developed from the 1840s. Those on New Street (roughly aligned with the present Cadigal Avenue) date at least from 1875. When CSR arrived and the refinery complex expanded, houses were bought for staff, or replaced with industrial plant. By the 1960s very few houses remained.

During the Second World War CSR’s workforce expanded to manufacture armaments. When peace returned and people began to drive to work in their own cars, this site was a staff car park, ranging from the Mercedes inherited by one of the timekeepers to the elderly Renault owned by the Chief Engineer.