Location
Como is a suburb in southern Sydney, located on the southern banks of the Georges River, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. The postal locality (suburb) of Como West was originally created in 1939 from within the greater Como locality, & is bounded to the west by the Woronora River. The shoreline across Como features Bonnet Bay, Scylla Bay and Carina Bay. (wikipedia)
History
Well before it became “Como”, the locality had previously been known as “Woronora”.
Circa early 1883, a small weatherboard & iron roofed building called the “Woronora Hotel” had been constructed by the proprietor, Mr Thomas Hanley, in response to the rapidly growing railway worker’s camp situated adjacent to where they were planning to extend the Illawarra railway line across a bridge being constructed over the Georges River.
The “Woronora Post Office” opened on 16 May 1883, adjacent to the “Woronora Hotel”, this facility also being operated by Mr Thomas Hanley.
Shortly after, the postal locality of “Woronora” was changed to “Como” upon a suggestion offered by Mr James Frederick Murphy, Manager of the Holt-Sutherland Co. & the affairs of Thomas Holt (1811–1888), who at the time owned much of the land that stretched from Sutherland to Cronulla. Mr Murphy likened the area to its namesake in Italy on account of its similarity to Lake Como at the foot of the Lepontine Alps and Lugano Prealps in Italy.
On 5 May 1883, a Government notice in the Evening News (Sydney) announced a proposal for “a new Public School at Worinora, George’s River”.
Shortly after, on 10 Jul 1883 first mention of the “Como Post Office” appears in an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, thus confirming the locality had already officially been renamed to “Como”.
On 25 Sep 1883, the NSW Government awarded the tender for timber construction of the new “Worinora Public School” to R.G. Troughton, for the sum of ₤199 4s.
The “Worinora School”, built just to the south of Scylla Bay, opened on 16 April 1884.
Some newspapers & periodicals in the period 1884-1885 went so far as to wax lyrical over the broader section of Georges River water east of Murphy’s Pleasure Grounds and bounded by the rising headlands & hillsides, frequently referring to it in their articles as “Lake Como”.
On 14 Jun 1884, an article in the Australian Town & Country Journal notes that Mr Hanley had enlarged a room at the “Woronora Hotel” to cater as an assembly hall and theatre for the now hundreds of women & children encamped nearby. The article also mentions that the “Como Public School” grounds were soon to be improved, thus confirming the school name had also been officially changed to “Como”.
Around this time, James Murphy & his brothers John Francis & Michael Vincent were also partners in managing “Murphy’s Pleasure Grounds” where to the annoyance of many locals, they had fenced off the small promontory east of their boat house & constructed a rotunda lookout & adjacent flag mast upon the highest viewing point (known by locals today as “Como Mountain”) & began charging day-trippers & tourists a small fee for access. Murphy’s Pleasure Grounds would later be reclaimed for public use & is generally known as the “Como Pleasure Grounds” to this day. James Murphy also constructed “Como House” which burnt down in 1969. After James F. Murphy died, his estate provided scholarships for young men studying agricultural science at St John’s College Sydney and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College.
In January 1887, the 1st (presumed small) version of George Agnew’s “Como Hotel” had been constructed – but only in a non-liquor capacity. It was most likely built upon the same site as the later iconic larger versions would stand on. This small first establishment would last around two years, until the much larger second version build began in Mar 1888.
In Mar 1888, Tenders were called for the construction of a major 20 room hotel at Como, by master building contractor Robert Fielding (on behalf of George Agnew). However, this decision had been made at the same time when the majority of the temporary railway workers with their families had already begun moving out of Como & heading further south with the ongoing extension of the Illawarra railway line. In effect, George was building a bigger, grander hotel that would be reliant on a rapidly dwindling population to survive – in hindsight, a very poor business decision.
By 9 Jul 1890, leasing agent W.H. Tulloh was advertising the new, grand “Como Hotel” was for purchase or lease. It seems George Agnew may have over-extended spending to get the grand second version of the hotel completed. Unsurprisingly, with the 1890 Depression in full swing there were no takers for an expensive-to-run hotel, especially in a tiny town with a declining populace & no public school. With no further takers after more advertisement in Oct 1890, George Agnew was forced to apply himself for a Publicans’ License. He struggled on, operating the “Como Hotel” until he could sell it to Daniel Sullivan in Sep 1891. By 1894, George Agnew was still in financial difficulty, being forced to sell all his household furniture & effects from his Como residence.
The second establishment of the “Como Hotel” was frequented by the Australian poet Henry Lawson, who lived at Como in the early 1900s. Local legend has it that Lawson “used to row a boat from his house to the hotel and sell or recite his poems for beer.”
Unfortunately, the tale of poor business woes for successive owners of the “Como Hotel” was to continue for many more years, as the tiny, slowly re-growing population, the terrible economic effect of WW1, the 1930s Depression & WW2, all took their toll on the business.
In 1939, the “Como West Post Office” was opened, along with the first classroom(s) at the new “Como West Public School”.
Como West was severely affected by bushfires in 1994, with upwards of 70 houses burnt down. Como West Public School was also destroyed by the fires and a new school was built on the original land.
The iconic, second version of the “Como Hotel” was destroyed on 3 Nov 1996, after an electrical fault in the restaurant kitchen started a massive blaze. A sympathetically styled third version reconstruction was completed five years later on the same site in 2001.(wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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