By Cathy Jones (2025)
‘Ettalong’ 90 Abbotsford Road Homebush, is located on Section 13 of the 1878 Village of Homebush Estate. The property is listed as a heritage item on the Strathfield Local Environmental Plan. The statement of heritage significance states:
Ettalong is best known as the home from 1901-1903 of W. M. Hughes, one time Prime Minister of Australia. Ettalong is an interesting example of the Inter-War bungalow style overlaid on a Victorian house. It has a prominent gable, deep verandah with brick piers and short paired posts, all characteristic of the bungalow style. The site contains significant Forest Red Gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis) trees. (Ettalong, 90 Abbotsford Rd Statement of Heritage Significance, NSW State Heritage Inventory)
The house originally known as ‘Lila’ was built c.1883, when owned by William Charles Hill and William Clark, who were business partners in the agricultural firm Hill, Clark & Co. This firm operated large saleyards, resting yards, stores and offices at the Homebush Saleyards on Parramatta Road (now the site of Sydney Markets). The house was first occupied by William Richards, Hill & Clark’s senior auctioneer and later a partner in the firm, until c.1897.
William Hill was the firm’s senior partner. He was also a Member of the NSW Parliament (1900-1919), contemporaneously in part with William Morris Hughes, a future Australian Prime Minister. Hughes and his family leased and lived at ‘Lila’ from c.1901 to c.1903.
From 1899 to 1901, Hughes resided at ‘Thanett’ 32 Abbotsford Road Homebush and moved to ‘Lila’ 90 Abbotsford Road c.1901. At the time he first resided in Homebush, Hughes was member of the NSW Parliament. He was represented the electorate of Lang from 1894 to 1901. He contested the electorate of West Sydney in 1901, the first Commonwealth election in 1901 after Federation, and was elected to the Federal Parliament. As the Federal Parliament was located in Melbourne until 1927, Hughes regularly travelled to Melbourne leaving his family in Sydney. He used the time to study for his law degree and was admitted as a barrister in 1903. The Hughes family appear to have left Homebush around this time, though Hughes was recorded as visiting Homebush many times in later years addressing meetings in support of conscription at Homebush in 1917 and post-WWI attending ANZAC Day and events organised by the RSL for returned servicemen in Homebush.
Hughes eventually led the federal Australian Labor Party, after the resignation of Andrew Fisher in 1915 and served as Prime Minister from 1915-23. While Prime Minister during the First World War, he became known as the ‘Little Digger’ and was an advocate for compulsory military service. His political career was tumultuous. He was expelled from the Labor Party after the second loss of the conscription referendum in 1917 but he retained his position as Prime Minister with support from opposition parties until 1923. During his long parliamentary career he representing four different parties and was expelled from three of these parties.
The property was owned by Hill (Clark died in 1892) until 1914, when it was sold to Catherine McCutcheon, wife of public servant George Duncan McCutcheon of Homebush. During McCutcheon’s ownership, the land surrounding the house was reduced through land sales, however the residue of land still constituted a significant sized block of land measuring 85 feet in frontage and 300 feet in depth. In the 1920’s, during the ownership of Andrew Charles Miller who changed the house name to ‘Ettalong’, a builder, the house was significantly altered with additions overlaid over the original Victorian period architecture in an interwar bungalow style including verandahs. In 1947, ownership transferred to Maxwell Keddie, a bank officer and his wife, Emma Keddie. The Keddie family were owners of the property for over 50 years.
References
Department of the Valuer General NSW – Valuation List – Valuation District of Strathfield
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
Notice of Land Transfers under Local Government Act 1919
Sands Sydney Directory
Strathfield Council Valuation Lists
