Although incorporated on 22nd December 1885, the history of the Municipality of Kogarah – an Aboriginal word meaning a “place of bulrushes” – commences in the time of Governor Macquarie, who made the first land grants in the district. Amongst these were 2,250 acres to Captain John Townson R.N. in 1810, 1,605 acres to his brother, Dr. Robert Townson, and shortly afterwards 100 acres to Captain Connelly. Dr. Townson built a house and established an orchard on his property, but sold in 1812 to Mr. Simeon Lord, and on the latter’s death the area passed to Mr. Michael Gannon. The name of Lord’s Bush gradually gave way to Cannon’s Bush or Gannon’s Forest.
The Townson grants were not entirely in Kogarah, however, for a large portion was in the present Municipality of Hurstville, whilst a considerable part of Mr. James Chandler’s grant of 1,200 acres, known as the Bexley Estate, is now in the Kogarah District, and includes the site of the Kogarah Railway Station. One of the first purchasers of land in the district was Mr. John B. Carroll, who bought 170 acres between Dr. Townson’s land and Kogarah Bay in 1848. William Blake Patrick English, James Derwent, William Maher, West, Justice, J.A. South, Biden, Murphy and others settled between 1853 and 1856, built houses, and established gardens and orchards. It is interesting to note the purchase of 87 acres at one pound per acre made by Archibald McNab in 1853, of the area now bounded by Princes Highway, Bowns Road, Hampton Court Road, Anglo Square and Westbourne Street, Carlton.
The first route from Kogarah to Sydney Town was by way of Punchbowl Road, through Enfield to Liverpool Road, and then over Thompson’s Bridge, which was later replaced by Undercliffe Bridge. Rocky Point Road was first cleared by order of Governor Gipps, who governed the Colony between 1838 and 1846, and following this early piece of roadmaking the first township of Kogarah was established, situated on the present Princes Highway, between Regent Street and Rocky Point Road. The first Post Office was conducted in South’s General Store established in 1884 near Hogben Street, and it was from this point that intending travellers caught the horse-drawn omnibus for Sydney. The area on the eastern side of the shopping centre consisted of a grant of 60 acres made in 1812 to Mr. Patrick Moore, and on which Mr. Peter Moore later established the Moorefield Racecourse.
In the 1880s great rivalry existed between Kogarah and Rockdale. After the railway was opened in 1884 and the shopping centre began to move to the Railway Station, it was decided to outdo Rockdale by constructing a wide boulevarde from the Station to the Beach. Mr. Moore, Mr. McRae, and the Cumberland Building Society each gave a strip of land to enable President Avenue to be constructed 100-ft. wide, intending that the boulevarde should terminate at the site of the present Kogarah Post Office, but land speculators moved in and subdivided Kensington Street, with the result that President Avenue now terminates at Princes Highway.
The original plan for the Railway envisaged a crossing of George’s River at Rocky Point, but the activities of the Holt Sutherland Land Company in demanding a high figure for their land forced the planners to steer the line away from their holdings. This accounts for the wide curve of the line between Kogarah and Carlton, and the resultant crossing of the River at Como.
The first church services were held in Mr. Berghoefer’s house, but churches soon began to appear, the Roman Catholic Church being built in 1865, St. Pauls Church of England in 1869, the Wesleyan in 1885 and the Baptist in 1889.
The growth of the district led to the establishment of a tramway from Kogarah Station to Sans Souci in 1887 and although tracks suitable for electrification were laid about 1930 no electric trams ever ran on them. The steam trains were eventually replaced by electric trolley buses which, in turn, gave way to diesel buses. Residents also felt the need of a Railway station between Kogarah and Hurstville and after much agitation, one was erected at Carlton in 1889. The station was built on condition that the land be given free, £400 paid in cash towards the cost of the platform, and a guarantee given that at least sixty first class tickets to Sydney would be purchased each year.
When Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell was allotted the task of providing a road from Sydney to the South Coast in 1842, he made provision for a bridge across Georges River at Lugarno, and indeed this did become the principal crossing for a time. Residents of the Kogarah district, however, had need to cross lower down at Tom Ugly’s Point – so named after the Aboriginal leader in that area – and a service by punt was commenced in 1879. In time a larger punt was introduced and later two punts ran a joint service until the present bridge, built by Sutherland Shire Council, at a cost of £300,000, was opened in 1929.
Amenities were established in the district as soon as possible and gas mains were extended to the area in 1888. With the advent of electricity, the Councils of Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale and Bexley combined to form the St. George County Council, the first body of its kind in Australia. This instrumentality undertook the electrification of the district and first current was switched on in March, 1923. The health of the residents was also of prime concern and led to the establishment of St. George Cottage Hospital in 1894, the cost of the land and buildings amounting to £1,860. The records show that during the first year 80 patients were admitted and of these 53 left cured, 17 relieved, 2 unrelieved, and 5 died.
The Area of the Municipality now covers 7½ square miles and the growth of the district may be gauged from the increase in population, for in the year 1900 there were 3,400 residents; in 1921, 18,214; in 1934, 30,648, and in 1965; 47,600 – truly remarkable growth for the “place of bulrushes”.
This article was first published in the February 1966 edition of our magazine.
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