Redleaf Woollahra Council Chambers

Woollahra Council Chambers in Double Bay, New South Wales is a building of historical significance and is listed on the State Heritage Register. It was built in 1863 as a private residence and was called Redleaf. It was the home to several notable people until 1940 when it was sold to Woollahra Council. Today it is the Council Chambers for Woollahra Municipal Council.

William Benjamin Walker (1820-1889) who was the first Commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron commissioned the architect George Allen Mansfield to build Redleaf in 1863. He was born in 1820 in Parramatta and was the son of William Walker (1787-1854) a Scottish merchant who traded in NSW and London and was described by some as "a merchant prince". His father established the firm William Walker and Co. in the 1820s and engaged family members as shareholders to run the firm in Australia while he mostly lived in England. His father also acquired large tracts of land in NSW one of which was Kameruka near Bega where he built Kameruka Homestead.

William became one of his father's agents in Australia and married Elizabeth Corientia Browne in 1845 in Victoria. The couple went to live on the Kameruka Estate after their marriage. His wife Elizabeth Corientia Browne was the sister of Thomas Alexander Browne better known as the author Rolf Boldrewood. William was renowned for living the life of the English country gentleman and is described by Rolf Boldrewood who visited them. He said.

They lived the happy untrammelled free life of the Australian Squire for such in effect is the status and surroundings of the pastoral proprietor of flocks and herds colloquially termed a Squatter.. And the large stock holder with his herd of cattle, his flocks of sheep, his stud of well-bred horses lived much the same sort of life as his English precursor, the Lord of the Manor.

Mary Braidwood Mowle also visited them on their Kameruka property and described Elizabeth as "a pretty looking English woman with bright sparkling eyes and lady like unaffected manners". William was said to be "altogether an agreeable lively companion"

They later bought some land at Double Bay and in 1863 built Redleaf. William was an enthusiastic sportsman and he organised a meeting of 19 yachtsmen in his office and they decided to form a club which was subsequently called the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. William became the Club's first Commodore. He was also a Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly between 1863 and 1867. The family did not live at Redleaf for long. They were obliged to leave in 1867 and return to England to live permanently. The house was rented from 1867 to 1872 to Henry Cary Dangar and his family.

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