INTERESTINGLY Sandon Point received its name from a cottage that existed for less than 25 years on what was originally known – and is still officially known – as Bulli Point.
George Adams, founder of Tattersall’s [Tatts] Lottery, and who built his fortune from his business interests, including Bulli Colliery and nearby Coke Works, was responsible for Sandon Point’s name.
Adams’ holiday home, ‘Sandon Cottage’ was built on ‘Bulli Point’ in 1897 and was named after his birthplace in England.
George Adams (1839-1904), publican and lottery promoter, was born on March 14, 1839 at Redhill in the parish of Sandon, Hertfordshire, England.
The Sandon Parish in Essex is mainly a rural and residential area. Today farming is the only real business activity in the region and residencies – numbering about 650 – are concentrated mainly in the village of Sandon.
The centre of the Sandon Parish is probably represented by the Sandon Village Green with the Crown Inn at one end and the ancient Church of St Andrew’s to the side.
The centre of Bulli’s Sandon is probably represented by Point Street, with the old Denmark Hotel at one end and a surf club at the other…
The Sydney Evening News reported on Wednesday, December 15, 1897:
“Mr. George Adams’s new residence on Bulli Point is fast nearing completion, and is the very embodiment of what a marine villa should be. The coke works are in full swing day and night, and a great quantity is being dispatched by rail and boat.”
Adams died at Hobart, Tasmania, on September 23, 1904 and was buried at Cornelian Bay cemetery under a headstone engraved ‘George Adams (Tattersall)’.
After his death Sandon Cottage was leased by the Bowyer family from his estate as a guest house.
The Bowyers, however fell on hard times in 1916 when the Adams Estate refused to maintain Point Street, then a dirt track running through their property from the main road.
The bad state of the road resulted in coaches refusing to bring tourists down to Sandon, and the guest house closed for business in 1918. The South Coast Times reported on January 3 1919:
“Sandon Point homestead, for years the residence of the late Mr. Geoge Adams, has been pulled down, and from the material therein four cottages are being erected on No, 3 subdivision, which is to be sold later. The cottages are to be built by Mr. J. G. Railings, to specifications prepared by Mr. Broadhead, the manager of the Bulli mine. The timber for the dwelling is in a fine state of preservation, while some of it is large enough to be sawn to make two boards.”
The materials were sold by Bulli auctioneer and pioneer real estate agent, H.F. Cotterell.
Most of the material of the cottage, right down to the dunny roof and chook pen, were sold.
What wasn’t sold was used to build a couple of cottages in the first Sandon Point Estate.
Maybe the cottage that was demolished on the Point was constructed of the timber from Sandon Cottage?
Here’s some of what was sold: 10 chimney pots, 6 register grates, 4 mantel pieces, 1 20-gallon copper, enamel sink, a Sam Weller range all complete – with two ovens, square copper boiler, 12 ceiling centres, 10 fanlights, 10 side fan lights, 7 handsome wardrobe fronts, 14 large ornamental wooden carved, brackets, gas fittings and globes, 5 sidelights, 6 pairs of glass casement doors, 12 large cupboard doors, 12 small cupboard doors, 1 glazed door, 44 margin lights sashes, 300 turned spindles, 7 fanlight lifts, quantity of coat and other hooks, brass brackets, 1,400 gallon tank, galvanised iron, 1 ship’s tank, quantity of loose and set bricks, 25 sheets, galvanised iron and other iron, hearth tiles, ventilators for brick work, line lavatory basin with fittings, hot and cold cast iron massive enamelled bath (5ft 6in x 2ft with taps), trellis work, motor shed, stable outhouse roof only, fowl house and one wall, 1 Davis oven, fencing, 200 feet pine and redwood…..
An interesting fact: Officially Sandon Point is known as “Bulli Point”.
For my take on George Adams and a history of ‘the man in the hat’, visit the Time Gents website: George Adams’ Tattersall’s Hotel & his magnificent marble bar
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