Who named Trebor Road in Pennant Hills?

Thomasine, mother of Robert Fisher

Trebor Road Pennant Hills intrigues everyone who travels along Pennant Hills Road. Drivers waiting for traffic lights to change at the intersection of City View and Trebor Roads have been wondering for years, why Trebor?

In 1813, William Charles Wentworth [1793-1872] along with Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson made the first crossing of the Blue Mountains using the ridges rather than following the streams that flowed out of the valleys. Wentworth sailed to England in 1816 and studied law for the next four years. He wrote the first book to be published by a native Australian giving a historical and political description of the colony which aroused high interest and sold well. He became a prominent NSW politician.

Wentworth's daughter Thomasine (Timmie) [1825-1913] married in 1844 Thomas John Fisher [1813-1875], a prominent solicitor of the 19th century. They owned many acres of the original John Thorn land grant which encompassed much of the modern-day suburb of Pennant Hills. Fisher and his wife named their property Hillcrest. In due course their son Robert [b:1848] inherited the property and when he passed away in 1919 the land was subdivided. Streets in the subdivision were to be named Fisher, Robert, and Hillcrest.

Hornsby Shire Council advised that "Robert" could not be used as a street name since there was already a Robert Road in present day Cherrybrook. Emergency services would not accept two streets in close proximity with the same name since it created confusion. The satisfactory alternative was to reverse the name - Trebor is Robert spelt backwards.

Trevor Patrick is a local historian of the north-west of Sydney, Australia. His latest book, In Search of the Pennant Hills, recounts some of these stories (and others) in more detail.