Gets its name from the Latin for clod of earth apparently.
In the early struggling years of the first settlement at Sydney Cove (1788), Governor Phillip first surveyed, in 1790, the penal colony at Sydney town and made a grant of 400 acres of land to the Church of England, in the person of the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet. This land became known as ‘The Glebe’ (or St Phillips Glebe) from the Latin word glaeba (a clod of earth) and, through its ecclesiastical use, signified church land (glebesociety.org.au).
Bit harsh, but this clod has lovely views of Rozelle Bay and the twin peaks of the Anzac Bridge.
Nice late afternoon colours too made it seem very welcoming and bustling, right at the heart of the city.