It is located 27 kilometres (17 mi) south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire.

In 1922, the postal locality of Woronora was changed to Como upon a suggestion offered by Mr. James Frederick Murphy, manager of the Holt-Sutherland Co. and the affairs of Thomas Holt (1811–1888),[3] who at the time owned much of the land that stretched from Sutherland to Cronulla.

Mr. Murphy likened the area to its namesake in Italy[3] on account of its similarity to Lake Como[4] at the foot of the Lepontine Alps and Lugano Prealps.

"[10][11] On 14 June 1884, an article in the Australian Town & Country Journal notes that Mr. Hanley had enlarged a room at the Woronora Hotel to cater as an assembly hall and theatre; for now, hundreds of women and children encamped nearby.

[12] Around this time, James Murphy and his brothers, John Francis and Michael Vincent, were also partners in managing Murphy's Pleasure Grounds[13] where to the annoyance of many locals, they had fenced off the small promontory east of their boat house and constructed a rotunda lookout and adjacent flag mast upon the highest viewing point (known by locals today as Como Mountain) and began charging day-trippers and tourists a small fee for access.

In March 1888, tenders were called for the construction of a major 20-room hotel at Como by master building contractor Robert Fielding (on behalf of George Agnew).

In effect, George was building a bigger, grander hotel that would be reliant on a rapidly dwindling population to survive — in hindsight, a very poor business decision.

Unsurprisingly, with the 1890 Depression in full swing, there were no takers for an expensive-to-run hotel, especially in a tiny town with a declining populace and no public school.

By early 1884, the Murphy brothers partnership had built and were managing the first commercial boathouse and boat hire facilities at Como, which is located just east of where the rail bridge over the Georges River was later to be constructed.

Como had also been developing a reputation (reported in the newspapers of the time) for skilled boat building, with suitable facilities located on the south bank of the Georges River, near where the future rail bridge was to be built.

On Saturday, 17 January 1885, it was reported that the "Active" – a large steamer constructed of kauri, spotted gum, and ironbark, being 115 ft in length, weighing 150tons, with 40 hp paddle steam engines, was successfully launched at Como.

On 25 January 1886, a Tender was placed in the Sydney Morning Herald by James Murphy (manager) for "Leasing Boathouse, Residence, and slip near the railway platform, Como"[17] On 16 February 1894, it was reported in the Evening News (Sydney)[18] that the boat hire business of H.C. Press & Sons was forced to close down their operations following a successful Court appeal against their application for Lease by their main competition – James F. Murphy & F.S.E.

Trial solicited", indicating he had been successful in Appealing the previous decision, which now allowed them to re-open their floating multi-story Palace Hall and boat hire sheds for business once more.

By 1899, with the population of Sydney expanding rapidly southwards (thanks to the extension of the Illawarra railway line through the opening of the railway bridge across the Georges River at Como), the demand for riverboat tours along the Georges River upstream from Como had grown to the point where a large 200 passenger paddle steamer called the S.S. "Telephone" began making return tours to the Parkesvale Pleasure Grounds (now Picnic Point) from J.H.

On 22 May 1920, an advertisement is placed in the Sydney Morning Herald by receivers J. Sydney Smith (Como), M. Maloney & J. Roberts, for the Estate of the late John F. Murphy (one of James Murphy's brothers and business partner) for the sale of the "FEDERAL BOAT LETTING COMPANY, COMO...The assets consist of about sixty (60) light cedar varnished skiffs, which are stored in two boatsheds, one of which is a floating pontoon, above which is erected a large hall.

C. and M. Millar won the contract to build the section from Redfern to Waterfall, crossing the Georges River and into the Holt-Sutherland Estate via the Double Bay paddock.

[27] The original layout of this single track and platform with a small station building on the east side of the track can be seen in a very rare early image circa mid-1886, held by the State Library of Victoria[22] Although "Woronora" had already proven popular with Sydney fishermen, small-boat sailors, and picnickers from the early 1880s, upon the eagerly anticipated opening of the new railway bridge at Como in January 1886, the locality immediately became far more popular as a weekend retreat for city folk venturing southwards on the Illawarra Line.

The natural environment at Como made it popular for river cruises, and holidaymakers and trains were reported as being overcrowded on their first day of service along the newly extended section reaching Sutherland.

[28] Since 1942, the original Georges River rail bridge has carried Sydney Water's pipeline, which runs from Woronora Dam to the Penshurst Reservoirs.

It eliminated the bottleneck imposed by the original Gauntlet track design which had limited service numbers on the increasingly busy Sutherland line.

Newspaper references to a second, larger establishment that was constructed circa January 1887 and known generally as the "Como Hotel" do not appear until June 1887 (also see Timeline further down page for extensive detail) Within a month, the newly constructed 1st version of the "Como Hotel" (though only a Provisional License, not yet legally able to sell alcohol) had advertised "Open for business", with meals and accommodation for pick-nickers, day-trippers and tourists.

However, it appears from subsequent newspaper advertisements of the time to have been licensed for accommodation only (those "refreshment needs" being served by Mr William Stevenson, a new Licensee of the so-called "Woronora Hotel" nearby).

Tenders sought by building contractor Robert Fielding were called during Dec 1889 – Feb 1890 for sub-contractors to supply large quantities of building materials & carry out associated works, including the delivery of 160,000 bricks, quarrying local stone, providing and erecting large quantities of iron posts, railings & ornamental castings, providing plumbing & plastering work etc.

Early photos were taken circa 1894 clearly show the facade(s) bore an Establishment Year of "1890" in an artistic "cartouche" style, being a large "1" overlaid with a smaller "8", with "9" to the left and "0" to the right of the centrally aligned "1" & "8" combination.

[46] On 16 July 1984, it was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that "The elegant old Como Hotel, described as an Australian version of a Victorian period seaside pleasure palace, has been protected by a Heritage Council anti-demolition order.

The four-story white stucco, brick and timber hotel in Cremona Road at the southern end of the Como railway bridge has been a landmark of the Georges River foreshores since the 1880s.

In recent weeks controversy has raged in the Como community about plans by the owners to erect a four-story building of 42 flats and a carpark behind the hotel.

In early 2013, the current 3rd version of the "Como Hotel", located at 35 Cremona Road, sold for $4.6 million on a yield of 14.4% to the Riversdale Group (whose backers included John Singleton, retired head of Qantas Geoff Dixon, and private equity investor Mark Carnegie).

Picnickers & families with children are well catered for with the expanded play area facilities, lawns & seating in and around the Como Pleasure Grounds.

The original big swings and chrome steel "slippery dip" were installed circa 1954 on account of the West Como Progress Association.