The Aldine Centennial History of New South Wales, illustrated: embracing sketches and portraits of her noted people, the rise and progress of her varied enterprises, and illustrations of her boundless wealth, together with maps of latest survey was a two-volume work edited by William Frederic Morrison and published in 1888.
The second volume contained statistics, brief biographies of noted identities, and descriptions of electorates and towns.
An excerpt of entries related to St George:
Places
Botany West (or Rockdale) will no doubt come to be, in the near future, one of the places of fashionable resort, as it has many natural advantages suitable for these purposes; but as a suburb of permanent residences, we scarcely think it will equal many other places. It is about eight miles distant from the city, and in easy communication therewith by tram and bus.
Hurstville is equally well situated for residential purposes. In general features it is very much like its southern neighbour, Kogarah. It is bounded on the south by the Illawarra line, on the east by Arncliffe and railway line, on the north by Wolli Creek, and on the west by Salt Pan Creek. It is divided into three wards–namely, Bexley Ward, Hurstville Ward, and Peakhurst Ward. The population of this suburb is 2,163. It has a rural appearance. Having only been incorporated a few months, there has not been time to effect any substantial improvement of a public character. It occupies a fine country, and will be chosen for residences by many doing business in the city, from which it is seven miles distant by railway line. Alexander Milson is mayor, and Mr. George William Leader is clerk.
Kogarah, alongside of Botany West, was incorporated in 1885, and as a municipality, it is in its infancy. Its area is about 7,000 acres, and is bounded on the north by the Illawarra railway line, on the south by George’s River, on the east by West Botany, and on the west by the Illawarra railway line. It is at present new, and sparsely settled. Its great extent of territory, and the rolling character of its lands, with its easy communication with Sydney and its relation to the Illawarra line that runs along the coast country south, must tend to make it a very desirable suburb. There are at present 1,500 electors on the roll, which is sufficient evidence of the favour with which the municipality is looked upon by the citizens of Sydney as a place of residence. The streets are all wide, and the residences are of a superior character. There are 120 miles of streets surveyed, only about one-tenth of which is yet completed. The revenue last year was £2,243 8s. 7d, and the expenditure £2021 19s. 8d. The following gentlemen have filled the office of Mayor:- Edward Hogben, 1886, and part of 1887; J. B. Carroll, balance of 1887. This suburb will be purely residential, and, although new, will before many years become a favourite place of abode.
Scarborough Park is another large reserve, of 100 acres, further south, and when fully completed according to design, it will be an additional attraction to the excursionists who flock from the city on Saturday and Sunday, after a week’s labour, for the fresher sea breezes, especially in the summer months. The following gentlemen have served as Mayors:- William Yates, in 1871; James Beehag, 1872 and 1873; Elias Godfrey, 1874; James Beehag, 1875 and 1876; James Collins, 1877; John Browner, 1878 to 1884; W. G. Judd, 1885, 1886, and 1887. Mr. Thomas Leader is Council clerk.
West Botany is a borough within the electorate of Canterbury, and was incorporated in 1871. It includes La Perouse, Little Bay, Sandringham, and Sans Souci. It is bounded on the north by Cooks River, on the south by Georges River, on the east by Botany Bay, and on the west by Wolli Creek and Rocky Point Road. Its area is four square miles, or about 2,550 acres. It is divided into three wards, namely, Rockdale Ward, Arncliffe Ward, and Scarborough Ward. A large portion of this area lies contiguous to Botany Bay, and is swampy, and occupied by the Chinese for vegetable gardening. The residents are at present seeking to have the name changed to Rockdale, and doubtless before we go to print it will be effected. They have few buildings of any prominence, save some excellent private residences. They are building at present a fine town hall which, among other rooms, will have one with a seating capacity for 600 persons. This municipality is remarkable for its pleasure facilities. Lady Robinson’s Beach (now called Cook Park) is a reserve skirting the water front, seven miles in length, affording pleasure-seekers ample opportunity to drive or ride on one of the most lovely beaches in the world. There are large commodious baths erected here for the accommodation of the health and pleasure seeker.
People
James Beehag is a native of Essex, England, and was born in South Minster in 1817, arriving in this colony in 1837. He first settled in George Street, Sydney, on the site which is at present occupied by D. Jones and Co., and two years later went–the first resident–to Marrickville. He next resided in Canterbury, where he purchased thirty acres of land, and conducted a farm for eleven years. In 1852 he sold this, and settled on his two Crown grants of 27 and 54 acres at Rockdale, where until 1883 he successfully carried on the business of a market gardener. Retiring from active life, he settled in West Botany Street, Rockdale. He was elected a member of the West Botany Council, and in the second and third years filled the position of mayor. The fourth year he resigned, but in the fifth was again placed in the mayoral chair, which he held for two years, when he resigned from taking any part in municipal affairs. Mr. Beehag is married, and is the father of eleven children–eight sons and three daughters.
William Beehag was born at South Minster, Essex, England, in 1821, and came to Sydney eighteen years later. In 1840 he settled in Marrickville, where he resided for three years, and then started a grocery business in Newtown, which he carried on, together with a drapery business, till 1871. He then came to reside in Rockdale, where he had purchased eighty acres of land twenty-two years previously, and three years later retired from active business. He was instrumental in the establishment of the first Sunday-school in Rockdale, and is married, and has three sons and one daughter. His eldest son is managing clerk to Mr. J. Williamson, of King Street, Sydney, solicitor; the second is a doctor, who was for some time senior assistant specialist of the ear and throat department of the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary, Scotland; and the youngest is an articled clerk to Mr. Charles Bell, solicitor, of Elizabeth Street, Sydney. The two younger sons are Bachelors of Art, having taken their degrees at Sydney University.
John Bowmer, J.P. and Alderman, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1827, and emigrated to the colony in 1853. He passed two years on the goldfields, seven years at Ashfield, and settled at Botany in 1862. He took an active part in the formation of the West Botany municipal district, and in having the Muddy Creek Road proclaimed and dedicated. Our subject was first elected an alderman in 1875, and has continued to hold the seat. In 1877 he was chosen mayor, held that position for seven consecutive years, and has always been prominent in deputations to the Government. He is chairman and treasurer of the works committee of the district, and was gazetted a magistrate in 1885. He is a leader in the Wesleyan Church, and a local preacher of many years standing. He is the father of ten children, eight of whom are alive and married; and has seventeen grandchildren. Mr. Bowmer took a leading part in the dedication of Scarborough, and is a trustee of Cook Park.
John B. Carroll was born in 1832 in Kildare, Ireland, and came out with his parents to this colony in 1838, proceeding with them in the year 1848 to Kogarah. Here his father was the first person to purchase land and settle on it in what now constitutes the municipal district of Kogarah, there being at that time but three families living on free grants in this locality. About two years after the discovery of gold the place became more populated, and in 1862 the inhabitants, who had increased rapidly, realised that the progress and settlement of the district depended upon their being able to make the main roads. For that purpose they placed them under the Parish Roads Act, the subject of our sketch taking a leading part, and being on every occasion elected chairman to the several road trusts, where by his able and zealous exertions he contributed materially to the successful carrying out of the work. Upon the opening of the Illawarra railway the district became one of the suburbs of Sydney, when the inhabitants, again realising their altered position, caused the town to be incorporated, since which time it has made rapid progress in settlement and prosperity. It enjoys this year a revenue of £10,000, and has churches, public schools, a school-of-arts, and hundreds of buildings, which have mostly been erected during the last two years. Mr. Carroll was returned at the first election as alderman to the council, and again at a subsequent period. He was, on the resignation of Mr. Ogben, placed in the civic chair, which honour was an additional one to many which had been conferred on the same gentleman.
George Alfred Cox (of Cox and Co.) was born in Sydney in 1862, and educated in his native place. In 1887 he established himself in business at Rockdale as a draper, and has now new premises in course of erection, in which he intends to carry on the drapery and boot and shoe business. These premises, situated on the tramway corner, will be the largest of the kind on the Illawarra line, measuring 60 feet by 26 feet, and are to cost about £2000.
Joseph Hector McNeil Carruthers was born at Kiama, New South Wales, in 1857, and is therefore only thirty-one years of age. He graduated from the Sydney University in 1875, having matriculated at the same in 1873. He took the degree of M.A. in 1879. He was articled in the law office of Mr. A. H. McCulloch, jun., and was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court in 1880. For eight years he has practised in his profession with profit. He became a resident of the borough of Kogarah, and took an active part in all public matters connected with the development of that section, was identified with the efforts of those who effected the organisation and incorporation of the municipality of Kogarah. His efficient service in this connection made him a popular candidate for Parliamentary honours at the last elections, when he was returned at the head of the poll for Canterbury. He is said to be interested in real estate to a considerable extent in suburban properties, and to have great faith in the future of this city.
Patrick English was born at Kogarah in 1855, his father having arrived in the colonies from Ireland in 1850, and settled there four years later. Our subject has been a member of the Kogarah Council since the incorporation of the borough four years ago, and follows the business of a gardener, in which he has been engaged since boyhood.
Thomas Stillwell Huntley, New Brighton Hotel (late of Huntley and Barnard, Pitt Street), was born in Buckingham, England, and came to Sydney in 1879. On arrival, he at once undertook the management of the Sydney Coffee Palace Company, Limited, but subsequently resumed his original business of a land and property auctioneer, which he continued until he took a seven years lease of the above hotel. On coming to West Botany, Mr. Huntley was elected an alderman of the borough without opposition, and, in conjunction with Mr. Saywell, may be considered the commercial pioneer of the district. Our subject personally superintended the construction of the tram-line from the Illawarra Railway, and is confident in the opinion that a great future is before this district, and that it will, with its seven miles of magnificent beach, become the Brighton of New South Wales.
John Iliffe was born in London in 1842, but came to Sydney ten years later, and followed various pursuits for some years. In 1863 he removed to Rockdale, and purchased ten acres of land, on which he established the Rose Vale Nursery, having also forty acres of a nursery at Hurstville. He has carried on this business up to the present time, and five years ago erected his residence, known as “Rosedale Villa.” Mr. Iliffe devotes his attention particularly to the cultivation of roses, of which he has one of the largest selections of different kinds in the colony, having over 80,000 plants in pots alone. He supplied a great number of ferns for the Centennial Exhibition, and the public are at all times given permission to inspect his fernery and nurseries.
Francis Arthur Moir, Builder and Contractor, was born at Gosford in 1862, and educated in his native place. When eighteen years of age he came to Sydney, where he remained three years, and afterwards worked for twelve months at Port Macquarie. He then removed to Port Stephens, and six months later returned to Sydney; but in 1885 he came to Rockdale, and established business as a timber merchant, builder, and contractor, which he has followed up ever since. Mr. Moir has erected some of the principal buildings at Rockdale, Kogarah, and Hurstville. He was married in 1883 to the daughter of Mr. R. W. Johns.
Dr. George On Lee was born in the Province of Canton, and was educated at the Kum Been Hospital, where he also studied medicine. In 1869 our subject arrived in New South Wales, and at once commenced to practice his profession, making, as a speciality, the eradication of tumours. His treatment soon became popular, and at the present time he is a large property-holder, being the proprietor of four orchards and a large farm at Kogarah, which afford employment to over forty hands. Eleven years ago Dr. On Lee was married to the fourth daughter of Mr. Walden, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, by whom he has issue of three girls and two boys.
James Peak was born at Prospect, near Parramatta, in 1835, his parents and grandmother being natives of this colony. His father was born in 1815 in Parramatta, his mother having been a native of Sydney. He received his education at private schools, and was trained to follow a general business, commencing as a farmer in what is now known as Hurstville, which township is built on a site he at onetime owned. Mr. Peak married in 1855 Sarah Ann, daughter of Mr. Hobbs, by whom he has four sons and eight daughters-Sarah Ann, John, Mary Ann, Thomas, Annie, Edmund, Merina Jane, Harriett, Gertrude, Ethel, William, Edith May. Mr. Peak continued farming on his own estate for thirty years, and in 1885 removed to his present residence in Macdonaldtown. He owns four houses in the place and the town of Peakhurst, on the Illawarra line. This latter property was originally bought for £1 7s. 6d. per acre and sold for £200 per acre, and it is here that Mr. Peak’s eldest son follows the occupation of a farmer. His second son keeps a grocery store at Hurstville, while a third son is employed in a solicitor’s office. Mr. Peak is an alderman of Macdonaldtown and Hurstville, to both of which boroughs he was elected during the Centennial year.
Thomas Saywell, whose name is almost household word, is a native of England, and was born in Nottingham in 1837. He received his education in France, and in 1848 sailed for, and arrived in Sydney. In 1863 he started a tobacco business, which in 1881 he floated into a limited liability company for £110,000. This business is situated in Clarence Street, and stands out as a monumental industry of the colony. Mr. Saywell was the pioneer of the Western Coalfields, and to him is due the credit of having floated the Vale of Clwydd Coal Company in 1871. He it was who founded the Eagle Brick Company and the Standard Brick Company, two of the largest concerns in the colony. In 1887 Mr. Saywell erected the Balamba Jetty, South Bulli, one of the finest properties on the Southern Coast, at a cost of £40,000. He is the owner of the Zigzag Coal Company, and supplies the Government with coal. In addition to these possessions he owns the South Bulli Coal Mine, and is a director of several other companies. The New Brighton Hotel at Lady Robinson’s Beach is the property of Mr. Saywell, and was erected by him in 1886, and opened in 1887. This hotel contains sixty magnificently furnished rooms, and the lower verandah is artistically laid out with tiles. From the tower a magnificent view is gained of Botany Bay, the hotel facing the very spot where Captain Cook landed, and the surrounding country is spread like a panorama before the visitor. Those athletically inclined can pleasantly exercise in the large skating rink attached, or in either of the two magnificent baths, each three hundred feet square, and presided over by the well-known Mr. and Mrs. Von Hammer. During the month of January these baths, the best in Australia, are patronised by over 25,000 persons of both sexes, and that they may suffer no inconvenience or difficulty in reaching either the hotel or the Baths, Mr. Saywell has constructed from the Rockdale Station a tramway, at a cost of £15,000. This, added to the fact that no less than 19 trains run daily between Rockdale and Sydney, ensures a liberal patronage to what is certainly the finest hotel in the colony. The New Brighton Hotel is under the management of Mr. C. R. Smith.
John Abraham South was born in 1832 in Middlesex, England, and received his education in London. He arrived in Australia in 1853, and spent six months in Western Australia, when he came on to Sydney in 1854. In 1856 he started a farming garden at Randwick, which he carried on for about two years, but in 1862 settled in Kogarah, and established himself as a gardener. In 1865 he opened a general store, and for twenty years filled the position of postmaster. Mr. South conducted his business until 1886, when he handed it over to his sons, who now carry it on under the style of South Bros. Mr. South has done a great deal for the commercial advancement of Kogarah. He it was who established the first bakery in the district, besides many other ventures, which entitle him to the respect of the community.
Welch And Walker, Coach Builders, started business on the Rocky Point road, Rockdale, in 1887, and manufacture vehicles of every description. Mr. F. A. Welch is a native of London, and served his time to Mr. George Silman, of Warnsforth, with whom he arrived in Sydney in 1881. He continued in the employ of that gentleman in this city till he started business for himself last year. His partner, Mr. J. C. Walker, was born in Surry Hills, educated at Maitland and Sydney, and learnt the coach building in the latter place.
Unless noted, images courtesy of the Bayside Library Service Local History Collection.