About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found on the SideTracked Series website at www.sidetrackedseries.info https://www.sidetrackedseries.info
The Cronulla area was subdivided in 1895 and land was offered for sale at AU Pounds 10 per acre. In 1899, the government named the area Gunnamatta, which means "sandy hills". The municipality of Sutherland Shire was proclaimed on 15 March 1906, and the Post Office reopened in 1907. On 26 February 1908 it was officially changed to Cronulla and Gunnamatta was used for the name of the bay, on the western side.
In 1908, the NSW Government had approved construction of a steam tram route from Sutherland to Cronulla, with construction completed and steam trams operating along the route from 12 June 1911, the area remained mostly semi-rural in the inter-war period. After World War II there was a large population increase and the area was suburbanised from the 1950s, with many of the guest houses being replaced by high rise flats.
The Sutherland-Cronulla line was constructed as an electrified railway line from 1936 and completed in 1939. Under the NSW premiership of the conservative SirBertram Stevens, in 1936 the NSW Parliment authorised expenditure of AU Pounds 300,000 to construct the Sutherland to Cronulla railway line Men were employed to receive award wages "in pursuance of the Cabinet's policy of replacing unemployment relief works by works that will provide a better return for the expenditure of public money, and at the same time create improved conditions of employment." A federal loan for "state works" including "speeding up of the construction of the Sutherland-Cronulla line" was granted to the NSW government in November 1938. The Cronulla line replaced the steam tramway and thesingle track railway line replaced the tram service, opening on 16 December 1939.
Five suburban railway stations with Inter-war Functionalist style platform buildings were constructed at Kirrawee, Gymea, Miranda, Caringbah, Woolooware (since demolished) and Cronulla. Sutherland Railway Station was rebuilt with a pair of Inter-war Functionalist style platform buildings. Cronulla, as the terminus of the line, was regarded as the most important station on the line. An asymmetrically proportioned brick building offers a dramatic and imposing composition of Inter-war Functionalist style design with great visual impact to both the Cronulla Street (east) and platform (west) elevations. The building has 8 stepped bays with shallow pitched gabled roofs hidden behind parapets, curved corners, two soldier courses in contrasting brickwork, curved awnings to both the street and platform elevations of the building, and a flat roofed clock tower facing Cronulla Street. All brickwork is tuck pointed.
The Cronulla terminus (photo from 1940's Sutherland Local History collection) at 442M was unlike any other railway terminus due to the very long single side loading platform designed to take two full length electric trains end to end. Cronulla was a major tourist resort, and the railway station was constructed close to the ocean beach. The design of the station allowed large crowds to move quickly in and out of the trains and off the platform and made it the second longest platform in NSW after Albury on the NSW Victoria border.
There is a plaque on the Cronulla Street (east) side, near the station entry, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cronulla Station unveiled by the Hon. Bruce Baird on 16 December ????. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The cache can be located at
S 34.0A.BCD E 151 0E.FGH
A=Number of Ticket windows
BCD=length of the platform – 159
E=Number of stepped bays in the building with shallow pitched gabled roofs.
FGH= Year of it’s 50th anniversary – the year steam trams commenced operation + 833
Check sums: S=23, E=26