Balmain Court and Post Office

Balmain Court and Post Office, New South Wales is in a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, Australia. Balmain is located 6 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. It sits on a small peninsula that juts out of Sydney Harbour, directly opposite Milson's Point.It is located on the Balmain peninsula surrounded by Port Jackson, adjacent to the suburbs of Rozelle to the south-west, Birchgrove to the north-west, and Balmain East to the east. Iron Cove sits on the western side of the peninsula, with White Bay on the south-east side and Mort Bay on the north-east side.

Traditionally Blue Collar, Balmain was where the industrial roots of the Trade Unionist movement began. It has become established in Australian working-class culture and history, due to being the place where theAustralian Labor Party formed in 1891 and its social history and status is of high cultural significance to both Sydney and New South Wales. Although these days the Green Party has much support from those who live in the area.Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by indigenous Aboriginal Australian, Gadigal and Wangal people. Stories from early settlers in the area tell of how the local indigenous people used to hunt kangaroo by driving them through the bushy peninsula, down the hill to Peacock Point at the East end, where they were killed.^{[citation needed]}

The area now known as Balmain was part of a 550 acres (2.2 km²) grant to colonial surgeon Dr William Balmain (1762–1803) made in 1800 by Governor John Hunter. A year later, Balmain transferred his entire holding to settle a debt to John Bothwick Gilchrist before returning to Scotland. The legality of the land transfer from Balmain to Gilchrist for only 5 shillings was challenged by Balmain's descendents and further development of the area was blocked. The area subsequently became known as Gilchrist’s place, though court documents refer to the area as the Balmain Estate.During the many years of legal challenges, the land was leased for farming and cattle purposes. In 1814 the adjacent homestead of Birchgrove was sold to Roland Warpole Loane, a merchant and settler descended from a family of English landlords. One hundred acres on the adjoining Balmain estate were leased to Loane.