Inaugurated in 2006, the Ron Rathbone Local History Competition is an initiative to explore and appreciate Bayside’s rich, diverse and vibrant history.Former City of Botany Bay Council and former Rockdale City Council were amalgamated in 2016 to form Bayside Council. The Ron Rathbone Local History Competition now extends to include these two local government areas …
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May Hook The historic “Tempe House” was built for Alexander Brodie Spark, who owned a large area of land at Cooks River in the early 1800’s, and became a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1826. “Tempe House” is a stately home of Georgian style set in a number of large gardens, …
Reprinted from the Rockdale Times of April 17, 1947 This account of the early history of Rockdale deals with the period over 70 years ago, when a fine orchard flourished where the Town Hall now rears its proportions; from the Grand Hotel to Bay Street was called “Frog Hollow”, and the oldest Aboriginal at Sans …
The sudden death of the President of the St. George Historical Society, Mr. J. I. Swann, has left in our ranks a large gap which will be extremely difficult to fill. Since its inception some two years ago, Mr. Swann was the driving force and inspiration of this Society. Those of us who were privileged …
434 pages, published by Allen and Unwin 2011 Review by Laurice Bondfield Most of the history Australian books from Rockdale Library that I’ve so far reviewed have been on the shelves for a few years. This book was published last year, so is quite “hot off the press” by comparison. It is well worth reading …
