Albert Giddings was
born in Salisbury, England on 23 October 1858, the fourth child of Harriet
and John Giddings. As a young man he served in the Royal Navy before
emigrating to Australia. Agnes was born in Scone on 25 January 1862, the
eldest child of William and Margaret Smart. On 1 May 1888 Agnes and Albert
were married, the marriage being registered in Sydney. Later three sons were
born – Albert J L. (Lance), born in 1889, Francis V born in 1891, and Harold
G I born in 1896.
When the Government
subdivided the Cronulla peninsula in 1895, Agnes and Albert Giddings
purchased property and established a store on Gerrale Street. In 1906, a
postal receiving office was set up at the store and Albert Giddings was
awarded a contract to deliver mail by horse drawn coach between Sutherland
and Cronulla.
The coming of the
railway to Sutherland in 1885 attracted holiday makers and day trippers to
the area in increasing numbers. Transport within the area for the few
hundred permanent residents and visitors was limited to sulkies,
springcarts, buggies, bicycles, and the like. With the growing popularity of
beach bathing and living on the doorstep of Cronulla Beach, Giddings
recognised the need to provide regular transport between the railway station
at Sutherland and Cronulla. He set up a horse-drawn coach service which
proved to be extremely popular. At the peak of operations the Gidding’s
coach service was running five coaches serviced by a stable of fifty-six
horses. In the Easter period of 1904, a newspaper reported that there were
so many passengers that extra coaches had to be used to cope with the
demand.
Travel by coach was
not without its hazards to both drivers and passengers. The roads were poor,
little more than dirt tracks, and accidents and delays were commonplace. The
days of the horse-coach were numbered when the motor bus came to the shire
in 1908. The opening of the Sutherland-Cronulla steam tramway in 1911
brought their era to a close. The Giddings family store continued to trade
in Cronulla and their son, Lance set up his Real Estate agency on the site.
The Giddings family
were very influential in the establishment of the Cronulla Catholic parish.
The school, church and presbytery of St Aloysius Gonzaga Parish all stand on
land previously owned by the Giddings family. In the early 1900s Cronulla
was part of St Patrick’s Parish, Kogarah. Mass was celebrated twice a year
for the local Catholics, in the home of Agnes and Albert Giddings by the
Parish Priest, Father John O’Driscoll or his Assistant, Father Patrick
Briody. The visiting priests enjoyed the Giddings hospitality and often
stayed overnight in the home. In 1915 the Giddings family donated part of
their land to the church and a small church-hall, fronting onto Curranulla
(now Cronulla) Street was built.
In 1916, St Declans,
Penshurst, separated from Kogarah and Cronulla became part of the parish
administered by the parish priest, Father Michael O’Kelly. The growing
Catholic community in the area persuaded Father O’Kelly to approach
Archbishop Michael Kelly and press for the establishment of a Catholic
school in the Sutherland Shire.
The Sisters of St
Joseph who had established a school at Penshurst were approached and, in
1918, St Gonzaga Delaney and Sister Blandina O’Neill were appointed to open
the first Catholic school in the Shire to be located at Cronulla.
A school photo dated
1919, during the first year of operation, indicates there was an enrolment
of more than thirty children, some of whom travelled to school on the steam
tram between Sutherland and Cronulla. At first the sisters travelled from
Penshurst each day but soon took up residence in a small, weatherboard
cottage donated by the Giddings family. This convent later became the
presbytery for the priest when, in 1924, Cronulla became a separated parish.
In these early days, the building fronting Curranulla Street became both
church and school.
In 1919, land owned
by the Catholic Church and the Giddings family was resumed and Nicholson
Parade extended to Gerrale street. Negotiations with Mrs Giddings led to the
purchase of a section of her land, in Giddings Avenue, opposite the convent
so that a dedicated school could be built. On 21 December 1921, Archbishop
Michael Kelly blessed the foundation stone for this building, to accommodate
junior, middle and senior classes. This is still the site of the Cronulla
parish primary school.
As well as his real
estate business, Lance Giddings was prominent in local sporting bodies. He
was a foundation member of the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club in 1907 and
the Cronulla Golf Club in 1920. He was also involved in the plans for the
Bonnie Doon Golf Club at Pagewood.
Albert Giddings died
in 1925. Agnes Giddings survived him until 1944. Giddings Avenue, which once
formed part of their property, records their name and the façade of the
original store can still be observed in Gerrale Street Cronulla, opposite
the RSL Club.
Colleen M Passfield.
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 names
GIDDINGS, Albert (1858-1925) and Agnes (1862-1944)
at the heading of thIs
story. You will be taken to the database entry for Albert Giddings and his
family.
References:
NSW Registry of
Births Deaths and Marriages
Bennett, Sister
Benedetta, Congregational Archivist,
Sisters of St Joseph, North Sydney
Kirkby David R -
From Sail to Atoms. First Fifty Years
of the Sutherland Shire
Larkin, Maryanne –
Sutherland Shire – a history to 1939
Lawrence, Joan –
A Pictorial History of Sutherland
Shire
Maughan, Ken –
Gonzaga Gazette – Parish History – 80
years and counting
Midgley, A & F –
Sutherland Shire Studies No 7 –
History of Road Transport in the Sutherland Shire
Toohey, Sister
Casimir – Sutherland Saga – History of
St Patrick’s Parish
