Sea Breeze Hotel

by Fred Scott

One of the many buildings that have not survived the march of “progress”, and which are remembered by persons of a certain age, is the Sea Breeze Hotel at Tom Ugly’s Point, situated on the Princes Highway just before the bridge over the Georges River.

The establishment of this hotel is but one episode in the story of Albert Russell Emerson, the youngest of three brothers who migrated from their England home to Sydney in the mid 1800s.

Albert was born at Kings Lynn, Norfolk in 1840 and was the last of three brothers to migrate to Sydney, arriving as a crew member of the Eagle in 1860. Albert followed his two brothers into the oyster business, successfully operating an oyster saloon in the city for many years. Oysters were a popular and affordable food source at the time, with the Georges River oysters being particularly favoured.

But the oyster gathering was not controlled and no attempts were made to grow new oysters. The Government was concerned that a valuable food source was in danger of extinction so a system of licensing was introduced. After an initial ban on oyster harvesting for three years, ten year leases were established in 1873, with eleven individuals gaining control over all the oyster areas along the coast. One of these was Albert, for the “whole of Botany Bay and its tributaries”. This was actually in partnership with his brother John, although the official records only mention Albert.

Albert’s oyster business was successful and was praised by Mr. Langham, the Inspector of Oyster Beds, for his successful cultivation of new oyster beds and the high quality of the oysters being harvested. However it was becoming obvious the oyster gathering industry could not continue in its current form. The new licensing system had not eliminated all the problems in the industry, so after four years another Royal Commission recommended that all existing leases be cancelled and all new leases be for 50 years and all oyster dealers be licensed. Albert did not apply for a new lease.

Anticipating a development of this nature, Albert had leased land at Tom Ugly’s Point from Thomas Holt and by January 1878 a wooden house had been built to provide comfortable accommodation for holiday seekers and fishermen. This became the birst Sea Breeze Hotel, for which Albert was granted a publican’s licence in November 1878. He operated the hotel for the birst seven years of its history.

The Sea Breeze occupied a strategic position on the main road to the South Coast and was surrounded by pleasure grounds. Picnics and fishing were advertised, boat races which finished at the Sea Breeze were sponsored, a brass band was engaged on special occasions, and a wagonette service was provided from the city, described as “without a doubt the most comfortable convenience as yet provided for street travellers in our metropolis”. On special occasions, the steam launch La Belle ran every hour to and from Sans Souci and Sandringham (the locations of similar hotels).

The local seafood was heavily promoted as a major attraction, particularly the oysters and bream. Sir Joseph Carruthers once remarked on the fine oysters and the many black bream to be seen feeding on the oysters when he visited the Sea Breeze. Then there came a time when there were no fish to be seen, and on being questioned Albert said that campers had recently dynamited the water and since then the fish were scared away. Albert was careful not to mention that he himself had recently been prosecuted for dynamiting fish in the Georges River.

Following the death of Albert’s wife, the hotel was advertised for sale in 1883. The advertisement described it as having a 400 ft frontage to Woniora Rd and also to Georges River, contained 10 rooms, large bar, cellar, kitchen, bathroom (with water laid on to bath and bedrooms), and stabling for 20 horses. Other buildings on the property were used as a General Store and Post Office, Steamer’s Wharf and Boat Shed.

With a sale not eventuating, Albert continued to operate the pub until his death on 30 December 1885. His brother John was an undischarged bankrupt at this time, and it took four months for the executors of Albert’s estate to get special permission for John to run the business until a buyer could be found.

Towards the end of 1887 Azarias Cook purchased the hotel for the sum of £1,350., which he operated for two years before leasing it. The next licensee was a well-known cricketer Nathaniel Thompson in 1889, followed by William Matterson (father of Neil Matterson, the well-known sculler) in 1890 and 1891. The next licensees were the renowned Bennetts, starting with Charles Bennett until his death in 1898 at which time his wife Sarah took over until she retired in 1915. The Westbrook family were the next proprietors, starting with Charles Westbrook then, after his death in 1920, his wife Florence Jessie Westbrook took over, assisted by her son Harold.

Sarah Bennett brought to the Sea Breeze a parrot known as “Cocky Bennett” who became a great attraction. The sulphur crested cockatoo was over one hundred years old and had lost almost all of its feathers. Having been owned previously by a sea captain, and having spent most of its life at sea, it had acquired a wide vocabulary and reportedly entertained patrons with outbursts such as “If I had another feather I’d ____ bly”. A very quiet Cocky Bennett currently resides at the Carss Cottage Museum.

Many additions were made to the building over the years. The Sea Breeze was described in 1905 as “a building of brick and wood ….. containing Bar and large Dining Hall, 22 Sitting and Bedrooms, Kitchen, Laundry, Lavatories, Bathroom, Slab Stable, Coach House and all necessary outbuildings. The property is 3½ miles from Kogarah Station. The buildings are in a very bad state of repair. It is let at £3 per week. Present market value £1,500.” A photograph in the Daily Telegraph, taken in 1927 during the Westbrook occupancy, shows a pleasant colonial building with a shady veranda, bedecked with many ferns across the front.

The modern brick building that most people would remember was built in 1939.

In 1959 the Sea Breeze was acquired for £240,000 by the Air Force Association which offered it as first prize in an art union. More than 600,000 tickets at £1 were sold and the winners, a syndicate of 14 people, sold it for £191,000.

The hotel was demolished in 1995 and the site is now occupied by residential accommodation.

Journal of the Hornsby Shire Historical Society, Vol 7, No 3, November 2006
Sydney Morning Herald 29 March 1873 Page 4
Australian Town and Country Journal 19 January 1878 Page 25
St George Historical Society Bulletin – March June 2015 9
Government Gazette 6 December 1878 Page 4841
Australian Town and Country Journal 19 January 1878 Page 25
The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer Friday 8 April 1921 Page 8
Australian Town and Country Journal 16 August 1879 Page 26
Sydney Morning Herald 4 April 1883 Page 15
Land Titles Office book 844 no 377
The Life and Times of Azarias Cook, 1998, Warren Duff, self published
Estate of Azarias Cook, State Records 2017088, 216891
Daily Telegraph 12 August 1985

This article was first published in the March 2015 edition of our magazine.

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