History of Tempe

Tempe was the beginning of European Australia. In 1770 Captain James Cook landed at the mouth of the Cooks river. He and Sir Joseph Banks travelled along the river as far as Canterbury in search of fresh water. Up to the 1850?s a punt serviced the Cooks river.

Tempe was the playground of Sydney. A place for farmers, fishermen and week-enders for the landed gentry. Only a few of the original "Mansions" built from local sandstone still exist.

The Guesthouse was originally St Peter and Pauls School situated next to Lymerston House, built by Richard Way in 1842-43, an Elizabeth Street solicitor.

Richard Way’s property has had 4 lives. The house of Richard Way and his family till 1882. Purchased by the NSW Government in 1882 and used to house for 25 years the railway workers who built the railway from Sydney through Sydenham to Tempe and beyond.

Empty from 1907 to 1915 when it was purchased by the Sisters of Mercy. Richard Way’s home became a Convent with the ballroom turned into a class room, till the school was built in 1915. The school closed in 1989 and became the Kriskindl Guesthouse.