 Tom Huxley or Tom Wogully? Controversy brewed recently over a proposal to rename Tom Ugly's Bridge - the link that transformed the Sutherland Shire from a semi-country holiday area into part of suburban Sydney.
It was raining cats and dogs the day the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Dudley de Chair, officially declared the "George's River Bridge' opened - Saturday, 11 May 1929. Having had access to the bridge for two weeks, traffic was diverted to the old Taren Point Road punt for the ceremony.
During it the President of the Sutherland Shire, Mr AJ Hand, rejoiced in telling a modest gathering of politicians, councilman and journalists that a 200 per cent increase in commuters had been recorded the previous Sunday.
 His Excellency The Governor replied by claiming the people of NSW fully understood the need for the bridge - for the "amazing growth of the population of Sydney and suburbs during the past quarter of a century is nothing less than a romance"*.
A representative of the Council then presented him a gold wristwatch to which he responded by quipping never had he a timepiece to record the hours he had whiled away on the old mode of transport.
Crossings were first made courtesy of a hand-winched punt in 1864. However, toward the end of the 1870s, a series of cable breaks caused the near loss of several cargoes, with the subsequent closures retarding commerce.
It was a slower life then. The Punt at Tom Ugly's Point * The Sydney Morning Herald Monday, 13 May 1929 The leap to steam came in 1881 after an uprising against the punt's obstinate operator, a 79-year-old old who had begun to conscript his passengers to help him wind the cables.
In 1898 a ferry with a capacity of 100 people, and up to fifteen vehicles, began operation, but it proved inadequate not long after World War One when the burgeoning number of motor vehicles made crossings a nightmare on Sundays and Public Holidays.
In 1923, meetings between Sutherland Council and the Minister of Public Works produced a commitment to construct a 30-foot carriageway as well as a six-foot pedestrian path.
The foundation stone was laid on 7 June 1924. While it was originally named after King George V, who reigned from 1865 to 1936, the bridge eventually became known as Tom Ugly's.
Theories abound as to how and all are linked to the area's indigenous population.
One holds that an early resident was named Tom Huxley and the local Aborigines, unable to pronounce the "x", called him Tom Ugly. Another relates to the local Aboriginal word for "one" - "wogul". Apparently, locals referred to a white settler in the area who had only one arm and leg as Tom Wogully - his name in turn becoming Tom Ugly.
Although Tom Ugly's was meant only to support the traffic flow for 30 years, the adjacent Captain Cook Bridge was not opened until 1987.
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