HENRY DAWSON CARY (1897—1988)

Reluctant Como Butcher

Henry Dawson Cary was known to few by his full name – ‘Henry Cary? Who’s he?’ He’s the butcher at Como came the reply. ‘Oh you mean Daws! Everybody knows Daws!’ He had lived there so long he was considered ‘indigenous’ to the area

Dawson Cary rarely used his first name Henry --  he didn’t like it much. Coming from a large family of thirteen, seven boys and six girls, he had a hard life, but it was never ever dull. His father, a Master butcher from inner Sydney Waterloo, and later Rockdale, hoped all his sons would follow the family trade. Two were persuaded, Joe and Hal. Both had shops in Jannali in the 1950s, but Dawson, much to his father’s annoyance had other ideas

Apprenticed to the leather trade at an early age, he ran off to join the ‘Cooee March’ and enlist in the first World War. As he was under age his father took him back to the leather industry where he made rifle straps and horse harness for the Light Horse. He had a number of other jobs. One was digging artesian bores, but eventually he succumbed to persuasion to become a butcher like his dad

Henry opened a shop at Como, in Genoa Street, located behind the then Woronora Hotel, a boarding house that was burnt down in the 1920’s. One can still see the original stonework opposite the Como School gate,  now forming a front fence of the corner house. The site then became a dairy farm. In 1929 Daws moved shop to the present location in Cremona Road. This butcher shop is still in operation, a tradition carried on by Daw’s son Ted

Life was tough in Henry’s days, but there was always time for  a bit of fun and romance. At the nearby dairy, the attractive Rita Rollings came with her family for weekends. Her father George built and ran the Como Tea Rooms, picnic grounds and dairy. Their weekender ‘Forest Lodge’ was on the shores of Frog Hollow, later re-named Coronation Bay

The Cary family’s seven sons made weekends interesting for young Rita between having to help at the Tea Rooms and dairy. It was only natural that she accepted invitations from them but it was Henry Dawson who won her Heart. Those friendly chats over the fence between his old butcher shop and dairy inspired a love that would endure for more than fifty years

Their December 1930 wedding attracted a lengthy description in a local newspaper of the day, the SCAM ( Sutherland Cronulla Advertising Medium). Here are some wonderful excerpts – ‘The bride wore an ankle length gown of ivory satin and lace, her train, which fell from her shoulders, was in a matching satin lined with georgette. Her two bridesmaids Madelaine, her sister, and groom’s sister Amy, wore georgette gowns. Madelaine in a blue delphinium colour and carrying blue Delphiniums, Amy in pink georgette and carrying pink Carnations.’ The groom didn’t even rate a mention! The reception was held in the Como School of Arts and the couple left by car to honeymoon somewhere on the south coast. The bride’s going away outfit was again highlighted – ‘She wore a powder blue morocain coat over her floral ninon dress with matching hat’

Henry Dawson may not have featured in the fashion stakes but he was one of the legends of Como and Sutherland Shire. A Master Butcher with 58 years of continuous trading until his retirement in 1988 when his son Ted took over to continue the tradition.

Henry and Rita died within six months of each other. Rita’s death was 21 March 1988 and Henry’s 24 August 1988. They were interred in the same grave at Woronora. Their headstones bear the names of their two children Ted and Jennifer.

Henry and Rita Dawes would have seen many changes to their small hamlet of Como. Initially the workers of the railway settled, establishing a small school on 16 April 1884 for their children on what was known as ‘Church Point’ – where the public wharf now stands. Then James Murphy, a Manager of the Holt-Sutherland Estate Land Company Limited, himself leased land in 1905 and established the boatshed. In 1910 Rita’s father leased part of this land from Murphy to set up the Tea Rooms, pleasure grounds, and later the dairy (over whose fence, adjoining Henry Daw’s first shop, their romantic relationship began)

The Sands Directory 1915, showed less than fifty families in Como. It was a close, warm and friendly community where everyone knew, not only each other, but the celebreties who also found a haven in its solitude (eg Henry Lawson and his weekender ‘Weona’). After the railway workers ‘moved on’ to other parts of the Illawarra line, these families lobbied the government for the Education Department to make Como an ‘official’ school. Their efforts were finally rewarded in 1921 when the then Minister of Education, Mr Mutch ‘officially’ opened Como School on its present site. Headmaster of the day was Mr Middenway.

Like ‘Topsy’ Como grew. A good feed of meat was necessary to keep up one’s strength and Henry Daw’s shop was there to provide it and Rita’s family – the milk. In 1933 Mimosa Bay, located in front of the shop, was reclaimed and the causeway built. This was probably a Depression Public Works project. Many men were out of work at that time so public works were completed to provide employment. Mimosa Bay is now the local football field

When the Second World War began all the bridges around Sydney were mined and guarded as a precaution against attack or possible invasion. This of course included Como Bridge, and a searchlight was installed on the Oatley or northern side. The Pleasure Grounds became a military area, honeycombed with air-raid shelters and a fun place for young Ted Cary and his mates to see how an Owen gun was assembled.

Cary’s Butcher Shop and the Como Hotel have both remained as reminders of the heritage of Como that James Murphy envisioned, naming it because of its similarity to Lake Como in Italy. Dawson and Rita grew with it – bush tracks to dirt roads, dirt roads to bitumen, the laughter of the Pleasure Grounds crowds, the endless faces in the shop – ‘a leg of lamb mate, a few snags, chops, a good T-bone…’Some things have come and gone -  the paddle steamers no longer ply their way upstream. The bus and taxi service at Como Station in the 1950s is no longer there, but life is again stirring with the current surge of Heritage, History and Genealogy!

One thing is certain, Como will always remain a picturesque jewel among the suburbs of the Sutherland Shire

JOAN MORRISON OAM

First published in Sutherland Shire, Some Early Residents, 2006, by Botany Bay Family History Society. Compiled by Maree McKinley and Sue Hewitt.

Click on the name HENRY DAWSON CARY (1897 – 1988) in the heading of this story. You will be taken to the database entry for Henry Dawson Cary and his family.