Huntleys Cove, NSW 2111

Huntleys Cove is a leafy, quiet waterfront suburb on the peninsula between Tarban Creek and the Parramatta River, nine kilometres north-west of the Sydney CBD in the Municipality of Hunter's Hill. It was formerly part of Gladesville (including part of the Gladesville Mental Hospital estate) and was known as Tarban until the Geographical Names Board gazetted the name Huntleys Cove on 7 June 2002 after residents voted on it — making it one of Sydney's newest suburbs by name. At the 2021 census it had 740 residents with a distinctly older profile — median age 50, with 32.8% aged 65 and over and a high median household income of $2,359 a week. The suburb is an established, low-density enclave of family houses along the cove plus apartment and townhouse estates on Mortimer Lewis Drive and Karrabee Avenue, home largely to childless couples and outright owners, and is described by suburb guides as suited to retired and semi-retired households rather than young families.

At a Glance

Transport

Public transport is bus-based — Huntleys Cove has no railway station, no light rail and no ferry wharf of its own. No bus routes run through the cove's residential streets; services operate along the Victoria Road corridor at the suburb's edge, where stops named for Riverside Girls High School (on Victoria Rd and Huntleys Point Rd) and the Gladesville-side stops along Burns Bay Road serve routes including the 500X Victoria Road express to the city, 501, the 500N overnight service and 536 (Gladesville to Chatswood via Hunters Hill), plus school specials. The nearest ferry wharf is Huntleys Point wharf in the immediately adjacent suburb of Huntleys Point, served by the F3 Parramatta River ferry service to Circular Quay and Parramatta — roughly a 10-15 minute walk or short drive from the Cove's streets.

Schools

There is no school within Huntleys Cove itself — the suburb has no government or private campus of its own. Local children are served by schools in the immediately adjacent suburbs: Hunters Hill Public School in Hunters Hill is the peninsula's government primary and the school serving Huntleys Cove's catchment, while government secondary options are Riverside Girls High School in neighbouring Huntleys Point and Hunters Hill High School in adjacent Hunters Hill; private options nearby include St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill.

Shopping & Amenities

Amenities are minimal — there is no shopping centre or supermarket within the suburb; its land use is almost entirely residential and the 2002-era suburb has no commercial core. Everyday retail and services are found along Victoria Road in neighbouring Gladesville (across Tarban Creek/the Gladesville Bridge corridor) and in Hunters Hill village on the adjacent peninsula, while the main community facilities are the rowing clubhouses on the cove shore.

Parks & Outdoors

Water frontage is the suburb's key asset: Huntleys Cove sits on the cove of the same name opening onto the Parramatta River, with Tarban Creek and the Tarban Creek Bridge on its western edge and river outlooks across to the Chiswick shore. The UNSW Rowing Club has maintained a boatshed and pontoon at Huntleys Cove since 1966, and since 2009 has shared a second, modern boathouse and clubrooms with the Sydney Girls High School rowing club close to the southern underspan of the Tarban Creek bridge — making the cove an active rowing base on the Parramatta River. Parks and reserve space managed by Hunter's Hill Council fringe the foreshore, and the quiet cove-side streets and waterfront walks give the suburb its leafy, recreational character.

Property Market

The median house price in Huntleys Cove was around ~$4.5M — Cotality/OnTheHouse automated median house value of $4,524,813 as at 31 Jul 2026, but the actual sales market is extremely thin (fewer than 5 house sales a year, below the threshold trackers need for a reliable median) (OnTheHouse; view.com.au) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Thin, high-value market: Cotality's automated house median of ~$4.5M is skewed by a handful of premium waterfront sales and should not be read as a reliable market price — view.com.au reports fewer than 5 house sales a year (too few for a median), with recent house sales around $2.7M (41 Mortimer Lewis Dr, $2,700,000) and current house listings guiding $2.275M-$2.5M (45 Mortimer Lewis Dr). The suburb's stock is split between detached houses on the cove and a substantial low-density apartment/townhouse estate along Karrabee Avenue and Mortimer Lewis Drive — units are the more actively traded product (7 unit sales in the year to Sep 2026) and now guide from roughly $1.25M-$1.75M. Demand is underpinned by the older, high-income local demographic (median age 50; 32.8% aged 65+), with few family-oriented turnover drivers.

New Developments

Development is minimal and the suburb is essentially built out. The defining transformation happened before the suburb's 2002 renaming, when the old Gladesville Mental Hospital lands on the peninsula were redeveloped as the low-density apartment and townhouse estate that now lines Mortimer Lewis Drive and Karrabee Avenue. No significant new residential development pipeline was identified for 2025-26; ongoing activity is limited to community infrastructure such as the rowing club's shared boathouse (from 2009) and wharf works at the neighbouring Huntleys Point wharf.

Jobs & Local Economy

There is no significant local employment base within the suburb — residents are predominantly professionals and managers who commute to the Sydney CBD and other centres via the Victoria Road bus corridor and the F3 ferry from adjacent Huntleys Point. Local roles are limited to the rowing clubs' facilities on the cove and service-sector jobs in nearby Gladesville and Hunters Hill, with the F3 wharf at neighbouring Huntleys Point the main transport workplace hub.

Nearby Suburbs

Gladesville (west and south-west, across Tarban Creek), Hunters Hill (north and north-east), Huntleys Point (east and south-east) and Henley (south) — the suburb's boundaries per its Wikipedia infobox. Woolwich (the peninsula's eastern tip, reached via Hunters Hill) and Tennyson Point (north of the Parramatta River) are not adjacent and are excluded.

Sources & method

Researched 4 September 2026 from named public sources — census and government records, transport authorities, council and planning documents — plus published sales data. Where sources disagree on a figure, the guide says so rather than picking one.

Sources cited in this guide:

• Wikipedia — Riverside Girls High School
• NSW Government

Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

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