Contents include: Aborigines p1. Early exploration p3. Timber-getters of St George p5. Early land grants p7. Alexander Brodie Spark and the Vale of Tempe p9. Pioneer James Beehag p11. The squire of Bexley [James Chandler] p12. Geeves family of St George p14. The railway heads south p14. Early settlement of the Parish of St George p19. Expanding suburbs: Arneclif or Eagle Cliff p21. Rockdale: Frog Hollow, Muddy Creek or White Gum Flat p23. Mary and Henry Kinsela and Kinsel Grove p27. Historic Lydham Hall, Bexley p28. Eliza Pearce, lady's maid p31. Early years in Bexley p31. New Brighton of Brighton-le-Sands p33. Saywell's tramway p38. Rosevale Villa, Rockdale p40. Banbury Cottage, Rockdale p41. Sandringham on the bay p42. Kogarah: the place of rushes p44. Rocky Point Road p49. Sans Souci p53. Steam trams at Sans Souci p56. The trolley buses p58. Carss Bush Park, Blakehurst p60. Oatley and a convict watchmaker [James Oatley 1770-1839] p63. The possum ward: Oatley p63. Municipal [local] government p66. Oysters and the George River p69. Photographer Joseph Brokenshire 1877-1947 p72. Grim days of World War One p74. Going to the 'flicks' [cinema] and Hurstville p77. The depression years 1929-1939 p79. The minister for murder [Thomas John Ley] p81. World War Two p82. Post-war building boom p85. Thomas Mort and Mortdale p88. The Georges River, Tom Ugly's punt and paddlewheelers p90. Carlton: 'a village of free men' p96. Lovely Lugarno p98. Hurstville school days p100. Peakhurst and Penshurst p102. St George and the Dragons p105. Hurstville p107. St George Building Society p110. Cultural life - musical societies p113. Towards 2000 p117. Origin of names - suburbs of St George : the municipalities of Rockdale, Kogarah and Hurstville p118. Chronology p120. Bibliography p121.