Mervyn 'Merv' Lynch
Merv Lynch served as a Councillor on Hurstville Council from 1980-2004. He was Mayor of Hurstville in 1991-92, and served several terms as Deputy Mayor.
He was very well-known in the community, especially in Penshurst, and was chairman of Hurstville Council’s Senior Citizens Management Committee. He was patron of several organisations, including the 3Bridges Community, and gave his time to the Illawarra Catholic Club. In the 2007 Australia Day Honours, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to local government and the local community.
The Historical Marker reads:
Merv Lynch OAM 1931 - 2018.
An active member of the local community, a Councillor of the former Hurstville City Council from 1980-2004, and Mayor from 1991-1992
Location of Historical Marker:
Penshurst Park, Penshurst.
Location on Google Maps.
Joe Anderson (King Burraga)
Prominent Aboriginal activist Pastor Hugh Anderson and his wife Ellen Anderson (a daughter of Biddy Giles), and later their son Joe Anderson, purchased land on the eastern bank of Salt Pan Creek, located around what is now Charm Place, Peakhurst. The Andersons made a living by working in cash jobs, and using their knowledge of flowers and game along the river to sell local produce, such as oysters, prawns and fish from Salt Pan Creek, and hunt swamp wallabies and other game. During the 1920s and 1930s, Salt Pan Creek became a centre of the Aboriginal civil rights movement.
In a Cinesound cinema newsreel from the 1930s, Joe Anderson, directly descended from the northern Dharawal, spoke from the Salt Pan Creek settlement, saying: “I am calling a corroboree of the natives in New South Wales to send a petition to the King, in an endeavour to improve our conditions. All the black man wants is representation in Federal Parliament. There is also plenty of fish in the river for us all, and land to grow all we want. 150 years ago, the Aboriginals owned Australia, and today, he demands more than the white man charity. He wants the right to live.” Joe Anderson died in 1938.
The Historical Marker reads:
Joe Anderson (King Burraga) d.1938.
Aboriginal activist. Near this site in 1933, Joe Anderson was filmed delivering a historic speech whereby he petitioned the Crown for equal rights for Aboriginal people.
Location of Historical Marker:
Oglivy Street, Peakhurst.
Location on Google Maps.
Robert Kyle 1813 – 1898
The land around Kyle Bay was originally granted by the Crown to Robert Kyle and James Merriman on 9 November 1853. They purchased portion 19, amounting to 135 acres, for £135. Merriman sold his half-share to Kyle the following year.
Robert Kyle, born in 1813 in Durham, England. Kyle arrived in Port Phillip, Australia in 1842 with wife Maryanne and their son Alexander (3), and Robert’s sister Carolyne (21), on the emigrant ship Himalaya, the ship’s passenger list says Kyle was a carpenter. Robert and Maryanne had a daughter in 1855, also named Caroline.
An advertisement in the Clarence and Richmond Examiner from 27 December 1864 indicates that Robert Kyle was producing boats from his property in 1860. He may well have been working on repairing and making boats from the late 1850s onwards. Robert Kyle died aged 85 at his home at Kyle Bay on 27 December 1898, and his son Alexander administered his estate. Kyle’s widow, Maryanne, died in 1902, aged 87.
The Historical Marker reads:
Robert Kyle. 1813-1898. Shipbuilder.
The suburb of Kyle Bay was named after Robert Kyle, a business owner and shipbuilder in the local area between 1854 and 1873.
Location of Historical Marker:
Merriman Reserve, Kyle Bay.
Location on Google Maps.
Michael Gannon
Michael Gannon was born in the town of Mullingar in County Westmeath, Ireland, (c.1800). He was apprenticed to his father John Gannon, a carpenter and joiner, showing promise as a wood-turner. But Gannon was the black sheep of the family surviving several scrapes with the law in his teenage years. In April 1820, Michael Gannon was sentenced to transportation for life arriving in Sydney in December 1820. In 1823 he was assigned to Joseph Broadbent, a carpenter and builder, Gannon prospered as a carpenter and would go on to become a builder.
On 18 November 1850, Gannon purchased 1,950 acres originally granted to Captain John Townson of the NSW Corps in April 1810. This vast tract of country, which today covers all the suburbs of Hurstville, Allawah, Carlton and West Bexley and was largely undeveloped.
In the early 1850s Michael Gannon gave the land on which the Church of St Peter and St Paul at Tempe was erected. In 1864 he had offered eight acres of land from his estate at Hurstville to establish a public cemetery in the St George District and in 1881, waived all claim to the land of St George’s Anglican Church, Hurstville. Michael passed in August 1881.
The Historical Marker reads:
Michael Gannon. 1800 – 1881.
Early Convict and Settler. Owned and developed the surrounding area, which was formerly known as Gannon's Forest.
Location of Historical Marker:
Forest Road (between Kenwyn Street and Croydon Road), Hurstville.
Location on Google Maps.
Sans Souci Hotel
The Sans Souci Hotel, previously known as Rocky Point House, was built for the Cooper brewing family in the 1840s. Robert Cooper Jr persuaded a convict road gang, who were supposed to be working on the clearing of what became Rocky Point Road, to work on the construction of the building. When the authorities found out, the convicts were sent back to Hyde Park Barracks.
The house was purchased by Thomas Holt, who renamed it Sans Souci (meaning ‘carefree’), which later became the name of the suburb. Sans Souci was the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and Holt’s wife was German. The Holts moved on, and the house became the Sans Souci Hotel in the 1860s.
The hotel became a popular venue for steamer excursions from Sydney on public holidays and became a popular holiday and picnic destination with accommodation, a small racecourse and cricket ground. The hotel was leased by various proprietors from 1865 to 1910 and was eventually demolished in the 1920s.
The Historical Marker reads:
Sans Souci Hotel 1843 - 1921.
Early hotel significant to industry and development of the area. A popular holiday and picnic destination which provided accommodation, a small racecourse and cricket ground.
Location of Historical Marker:
Sans Souci Park, Sans Souci.
Location on Google Maps.
Thank you for your feedback.