The Cooks River is a 23km long river that stretches from Yagoona in the south west of Sydney to Botany Bay in the east. Since European settlement, it has undergone many transformations and alterations, not all in the best interests of the river. Changes in the past few years are starting to bring the river back to a healthy state.
This part of the river was the home to the Wangal clan of the Dharug (Daruk) nation and as such we pay our respects to the elders past and present for allowing us to travel through this land.
To the east of this cache is the area originally know as the Village of St Anne's. Catholic Father John Joseph Therry, who was one of the first allowed to minister in the colony (and for a period of 5 years was the only Catholic priest on the mainland), influenced Catholic church-building in the new colony, education and civil rights. He was granted 47 acres in 1837 in the area known as ‘Bark Huts’. This he then offered for sale as 4 acre blocks at a cost of £25 each to fund the construction of the original St Anne’s Church.
Though his plan for a village was never fully implemented, the village square, conceived by Fr Therry, is still in evidence today. The church was built between 1859-64 and is now the library for the adjacent school. The streets of the Village of St Anne’s were named for prominent ecclesiastics of the time, including Therry. The current St Anne’s Church was built in 1966.
Information sourced from Dictionary of Sydney, Dictionary of Australia and Strathfield Heritage.