Sutherland Shire histories published by
Sutherland Shire Historical Society

The Matson Collection – Sutherland Shire Museum
by Bruce Howell 2023
A unique collection of local Aboriginal artefacts was launched at Sutherland Shire Museum, 88 Venetia Street, Sylvania 2224.
on Saturday 18 March.
The Matson Collection is a set of Aboriginal artefacts – stone, shell and bone tools - discovered within Sutherland Shire by Fred Matson (1899-1993), a third generation Shire boat builder. To ensure the collection would not be lost or dispersed, before his death Fred entrusted the collection to the safe keeping of a local family friend. A descendant of that family agreed that the Shire’s only local museum would be the most appropriate place to display the collection, and in 2021 a semi-permanent loan was agreed to between the custodians and SSHS.
Cronulla resident and Wiradjuri descendent Bruce Howell has completed the task of conserving this collection for posterity with a high quality publication containing stunning photographs, and painstakingly detailed descriptions of each piece.
This book will allow viewers to access the collection with understanding and insight.
Cost: $25 each + $10 postage and handling (For up to 5 copies: $20 postage & handling)
Available at Sutherland Shire Museum,
88 Venetia Street, Sylvania 2224
(where you can also view the collection)
OR
Order through www.shirehistory.org using our online Order Form
For further information, email Sutherland Shire Historical Society: shirehistory@gmail.com
or phone us on: 0424 600 150
by Bruce Howell 2023
A unique collection of local Aboriginal artefacts was launched at Sutherland Shire Museum, 88 Venetia Street, Sylvania 2224.
on Saturday 18 March.
The Matson Collection is a set of Aboriginal artefacts – stone, shell and bone tools - discovered within Sutherland Shire by Fred Matson (1899-1993), a third generation Shire boat builder. To ensure the collection would not be lost or dispersed, before his death Fred entrusted the collection to the safe keeping of a local family friend. A descendant of that family agreed that the Shire’s only local museum would be the most appropriate place to display the collection, and in 2021 a semi-permanent loan was agreed to between the custodians and SSHS.
Cronulla resident and Wiradjuri descendent Bruce Howell has completed the task of conserving this collection for posterity with a high quality publication containing stunning photographs, and painstakingly detailed descriptions of each piece.
This book will allow viewers to access the collection with understanding and insight.
Cost: $25 each + $10 postage and handling (For up to 5 copies: $20 postage & handling)
Available at Sutherland Shire Museum,
88 Venetia Street, Sylvania 2224
(where you can also view the collection)
OR
Order through www.shirehistory.org using our online Order Form
For further information, email Sutherland Shire Historical Society: shirehistory@gmail.com
or phone us on: 0424 600 150

East Coast Encounters 1770, reflections on a cultural clash
Curby Pauline, Co-ordinating Editor 2020
This book looks back on the first recorded contact between the Aboriginal people of Australia’s East Coast and Europeans. It presents a new assessment of these extraordinary events when James Cook and the Endeavour crew landed on our shores in 1770.. This compilation of ten articles by different authors (Indigenous and European) provides for the general community a range of perspectives on the clash of cultures and debunks the various myths that either hero-worship or vilify Cook.
Price $30.00
East Coast Encounters 1770, reflections on a cultural clash
Curby Pauline, Co-ordinating Editor 2020
This book looks back on the first recorded contact between the Aboriginal people of Australia’s East Coast and Europeans. It presents a new assessment of these extraordinary events when James Cook and the Endeavour crew landed on our shores in 1770.. This compilation of ten articles by different authors (Indigenous and European) provides for the general community a range of perspectives on the clash of cultures and debunks the various myths that either hero-worship or vilify Cook.
Price $30.00

Kareela: Lucky and Liveable
Adams Elizabeth, Kareela – Lucky and Liveable, Sutherland Shire Historical Society, 2018
Kareela – Lucky and Liveable, is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the suburb’s naming in August 1968. Published by Sutherland Shire Historical Society, this history was made possible by the financial assistance of Sutherland Shire Council and Olsen’s Funerals. An exhaustively researched, well written work, it makes extensive use of informal oral history and has been enthusiastically received by Kareela residents and the wider Shire population. Price $35.00 (sold out)
Adams Elizabeth, Kareela – Lucky and Liveable, Sutherland Shire Historical Society, 2018
Kareela – Lucky and Liveable, is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the suburb’s naming in August 1968. Published by Sutherland Shire Historical Society, this history was made possible by the financial assistance of Sutherland Shire Council and Olsen’s Funerals. An exhaustively researched, well written work, it makes extensive use of informal oral history and has been enthusiastically received by Kareela residents and the wider Shire population. Price $35.00 (sold out)

Caretakers of our Past
Craig Elizabeth
- Caretakers of our Past: the first fifty years of Sutherland Shire Historical Society, 1966–2016, SSHS, Sutherland 2016
Price $15.00
Craig Elizabeth
- Caretakers of our Past: the first fifty years of Sutherland Shire Historical Society, 1966–2016, SSHS, Sutherland 2016
Price $15.00
Badger, Angela
- My World When I was Ten (compiled by Angela Badger, ed by Elizabeth Craig), SSHS, Sutherland 2012 $10.00
Hutton Neve, Marjorie
- Martha Matilda of Sydney Town (Wife of Captain James Birnie Of Alpha
Farm, Kurnell), SSHS, 1972
- ‘The development of commerce and industry’, Sutherland Shire Studies
Series No. 4, Cronulla, SSHS 1972, 1997
- The Story of Woronora Cemetery, SSHS 1981
- Doctor Daniel Carl Solander (1733–1782), SSHS 1983
- The Early Days of Kurnell to Cronulla, SSHS, 1983
- A Brief History of Sutherland Shire’, Sutherland Shire Studies Series No. 1, SSC, 1999
- My World When I was Ten (compiled by Angela Badger, ed by Elizabeth Craig), SSHS, Sutherland 2012 $10.00
Hutton Neve, Marjorie
- Martha Matilda of Sydney Town (Wife of Captain James Birnie Of Alpha
Farm, Kurnell), SSHS, 1972
- ‘The development of commerce and industry’, Sutherland Shire Studies
Series No. 4, Cronulla, SSHS 1972, 1997
- The Story of Woronora Cemetery, SSHS 1981
- Doctor Daniel Carl Solander (1733–1782), SSHS 1983
- The Early Days of Kurnell to Cronulla, SSHS, 1983
- A Brief History of Sutherland Shire’, Sutherland Shire Studies Series No. 1, SSC, 1999