Early History
The suburb of what we now call Carss Park is located in Bidjigal Country, which encompassed the Georges River region from Botany Bay extending westward to Salt Pan Creek.After colonisation by the British, the dense woodlands, swampy mangroves and distance from the Sydney settlement meant that the Georges River area had few European settlers. Land was often granted, bought and sold by people hoping to profit from their investment.In 1853, Johnathan Croft was granted the land that would later become Carss Park. Croft was a retired soldier who served in the British army medical corps before moving to the colony of New South Wales and serving as an apothecary to the convict and military departments. Croft was dissatisfied with his grants around the St George region, owing to the difficultly of accessibility. Only five weeks later Croft sold his land at Kogarah Bay (which included what is now Carss Park) to a land speculator named William Barton.In June 1854 Barton sold his Kogarah Bay land to John Chappelow, a market gardener. Chappelow, his wife Elizabeth and his nine children moved to the estate in Kogarah Bay hoping to establish a larger market garden. Despite their intentions the land did not lend itself to gardening. Instead, the Chappelow family made money selling the resources of the land; mostly timber and sandstone.In 1863 the land was sold to William Carss, whose name it still bears today.
Carss Cottage
In 1863, John Chappelow sold his land along the Georges River to William Carss for £540. Shortly after purchasing this land, Carss began building a cottage on a headland overlooking the Georges River. We don't know exactly when Carss began construction on his home, nor when it was completed, the earliest record of a completed property on the land comes from a surveyor's sketch plan from 1885.The stonemasons Carss employed in the construction of his cottage was a group of Scotsmen (like Carss himself) who were believed to have worked on constructing some of the sandstone buildings at the University of Sydney.William Carss lived on the land that would bear his name until he passed away in 1878. He was interred in a solitary grave that still to this day stands on the property.
Picnic Area and Swimming Enclosure
Almost as soon as Carss Park was established, there were talks about the potential for creating an enclosure where people could bathe and swim. Newspaper articles from only a few months after its opening were promising that boatsheds and swimming baths would be constructed in the near future.In the early 1930s council drew up plans to reclaim the mangroves that lined the southern side of Carss Point to make room for a swimming enclosure, using the natural bay created by the point. The plans included the construction of a retaining wall and then connecting it to the point with a shark proof net, creating a swimming enclosure.Construction on the Carss Park sharkproof swimming enclosure began in 1934 and continued into 1935 before being officially opened in March 1936.
Coxhead Developments
Harald Coxhead was the first ranger of Carss Bush Park, appointed by the council in 1924. Coxhead was not, in fact, the first person offered the position. However, the man who was offered the position (a Mr Grose) felt that Coxhead was more befitting of the role given his extensive work in securing Carss Park for the council, through his work with the Blakehurst Progress Association. When he took on the role of ranger, Harald Coxhead moved into Carss Cottage along with his wife Amy.
Carss Park First Aid Room
When it first opened, Carss Bush Park was a popular weekend destination for suburbanites from the St George region. It was not uncommon for the park to be filled with rambunctious guests wanting to make the most of the great outdoors.As you might expect, this resulted in its fair share of scrapes, cuts and bruises. At first these were handled by ranger Coxhead, working out of Carss Cottage. However, the demand for first aid was more than the ranger could handle himself and so ambulance staff were rostered to the park on weekends and holidays to tend to any injuries.To assist these first aiders, local residents raised money to build a structure for them. The building was opened in 1929, although its distinctive clock tower would not be added until later, installed in 1934.
Kiosk
When the park was first opened to the public, the Coxhead family sold refreshments to the public out of Carss Cottage. However, the popularity of the new park meant that these facilities were inadequate, so the Coxhead family set up a wooden kiosk, which had the added benefit that members of the public didn't have to climb the hill up to the cottage.
The Grave of William Carss
William Carss died of old age on the 26th of May 1878 in his home, Carss Cottage.Carss was buried in a solitary grave on his property. The plaque on his grave commemorates his late wife Helen (who died in 1853) and two deceased infant children, although they are not buried in the tomb with Carss. The plaque was added posthumously by the Kogarah Historical Society in 1971.While the newspapers at the time said he was born in 1800, Scottish Parish records suggest that Carss was born in the parish of Duns in 1797.
