Merchant and draper Thomas Perkins, purchased the site for A£300 in 1852 and in 1864 built the only house thought to have existed on the site, Menevia. From this point until 1875 the site was known as Menevia Point after the residence and from 1884 to 1928 was known as Perkins Point after Mrs Perkins who lived in the house. In 1905 the land passed to Henry Thomas Perkins, a barrister living in Surrey, England, who never took up residence at the site. From 1893 to at least 1915 Menevia was used as a boarding house and possibly still operated as such in the early 1920s. By 1928, Menevia had fallen into disrepair and the site was purchased by Texaco (later Caltex) who demolished the house to make way for a fuel depot, manufacturing and packaging facility. Ballast Point formed Texaco's major distribution point in Sydney and continued until the 1990s.