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It is hard to believe that 164 years ago St George area had a population of just 164 people. According to Brian Shaw, president of the local historial society, in 1840 the suburb was known as Gannons Forrest and the railway station which was opened in 1884 took its name from a local school called Hurstville - village on a hill in a forest. The topic is near to home for me as I was lucky enough to share for a number of years accommodation with a guru on history of Australian railways. Dr George Dorman whose uncle supplied rivets for the Sydney Harbour Bridge had a special soft spot for the preservation of the railway history. George was always a hungry historian, eating up railway stations and entire railway lines in large bites. George used my Nikon camera on a number of ocassions to capture his hunger for history. Even though George was recovering from the heart bypass operation, he still managed to sneak some snaps of the Hurstville station in its centenial glory. At our wedding, when George caught his breath we were fortunate to hear his favourite yarns about the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the colonial life in Australian towns. I also learned why Leo Schofield deserved to create a show around Sydney Harbour Bridge, as a nephew of George Dorman he is the closest artistic thing to the bridge.
If George was still with us I know that he would rush to get a copy of a historian Dr Ed Duyker who wrote this year a story called Citizen Labillardiere: A Naturalist’s Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755-1834). This is an adventure story about a great 18th century traveller and naturalist Jacques-Julien de Labillardiere who according to Duyker was more significant than Joseph Banks or Daniel Solander. Labillardiere’s landing place, Rocherche Bay in Tasmania is considered by Dr Duyker scientifically more important than Kurnell or Cape Solander in Sutherland Shire.
Coathanger; On the stroke of New Years Eve, people all over the world look to the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Art & History Across Frontiers: It`s all fun and games till someone has to pay for the phone call
Father John of St Patrick Church might identify with this story even the bishop find it hard to get passed the Sutherland gates...
An American decided to write a book about famous churches of
Australia. For his first chapter he decided to write about famous Sydney
churches. So he bought a plane ticket and made the trip to St Mary's Cathedral
thinking that he would work his way down the country.
On his first day he was inside the cathedral taking photographs when
he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that
read "$10,000 per call".
The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by
what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a
direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The
American thanked the priest and went along his way.
Next stop was Star of the Sea at Waverley. There, at a very large
church, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it.
He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw at St Mary's
and he asked a nearby nun what it's purpose was. She told him that it
was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.
"O.K., thank you", said the American.
He then travelled on through the North Shore and in every church he
saw the same golden telephone with the same "$10,000 per call" sign
under it.With his first chapter going well, he left Northern Sydney
and travelled to the Sutherland Shire.
Again, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign
under it read "10 cents per call." The American was surprised so he
asked the priest about the sign. "Father, I've travelled all over
Sydney, and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm
told that it is a direct line to heaven, but in all the churches in
Sydney the price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?"
The priest smiled and answered, You're in the Shire now son. It's a local call
• John Sullivan Parish Priest
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