SANS Souci, which is French for "without care", is aptly named.
Garry Darby's new book, Baths & Boatsheds — The Waterfront Community at Sans Souci, 1895-1965 tells how, for many decades, the peninsula was the playground of Sydney.
Dr Darby says the community around the tidal swimming baths, built in 1896, and the adjoining boat sheds, tearooms and hotels, were "facilitators of fun".
"They ran swimming carnivals for schools and clubs, hired sailing, rowing or motor boats and they taught people how to catch fish.
"At Sans Souci, people danced and swam and ate and drank.
"Most of the time it was a place without care.
"But people also died there, nearly drowned there or were frightened by snakes there.
"Young men went off to war and some of them didn't come back."
The book, which contains 160 pages and 80 illustrations, is described as "the first comprehensive history of the waterfront between Sans Souci and Dolls Point".
It is serious history, but easy to read and likely to appeal to both older and newer residents of the area.
Dr Darby says he set out to write about the baths, "but, as I explored further, I realised there were fascinating stories in every direction . . ."
"There were tearooms, steam trams, school excursions, brawls, and illegal drinkers at Frater's pub, and bare knuckle fights between blokes named Ginger and Chiddy.
"And the population there was the League of Nations.
"There were Germans, English, Chinese, New Zealanders and Danish men and women, just to name just a few."
Dr Darby, who grew near the baths, published the book with the help of Kogarah Historical Society and the Gwen Coxhead Memorial Bequest.
The launch, at Kogarah Library on Tuesday, at 5.30pm for 6pm, is open to all.
Copies, at $25, plus postage, can also be ordered directly from the author on 9583 9916 or garry@garrydarby.com
PLACES IN HEART
Beverly Earnshaw, president of Kogarah Historical Society and an eminent historian in her own right, says in the foreword:
‘‘The history of a place gives meaning to its existence. It awakens old memories. It reveals old records. It exposes long-forgotten stories.
‘‘More importantly, it pays tribute to the pioneers who cleared the land, who laid out the cart tracks that later became roads and whose hardy barefoot children grew up in a fresh, unpolluted environment.
‘‘To leave a place’s history unrecorded leaves it vulnerable.’’
Do you have fond memories of the area?
