By Cathy Jones
‘Goongirwarrie’ 55-57 Abbotsford Road Homebush is located on Section 9 of the ‘Village of Homebush Estate’. This estate was subdivided in 1878 from the larger Underwood estate.
The house is described as:
“A single storey face brick Federation house with an asymmetrical façade. A slate roof has terra cotta ridge capping and finials, gables rendered with half timbering and a ridge gablet. Other elements include oiel de boeuf windows, gable over a side entry, rendered chimneys and verandah posts. The fence is beautifully detailed with shaped timber pickets and gate. Verandah infill to the east detracts from the house. The front fence, gates, lawn, gravel driveway and plantings (note rose garden and picking garden to side and rear of the property) are all in reasonable order. This Federation house is in fair condition, is of local significance for its retention of its setting and architectural detail from the early twentieth century.”
Property history
Residential development commenced c.1880 in Abbotsford Road. ‘Goonigirwarrie’ 55-57 Abbotsford Road Homebush is built on Section 9 of deposited plan 400, which is located between Rochester Street and Meredith Street. The north side of this precinct is primarily Federation styled with some interwar bungalows close to Meredith Street. The southside features a number of Victorian style houses and a few Federation houses.
‘Goongirwarrie’ was approved for building in May 1916 for its owner Alfred Stimpson Bayley Cobb, of Broughton Road Strathfield at an estimated value of £1200. The builder was A W Dunkley, Beresford Road Strathfield.
Cobb was the grandson of pastoralist and former convict Barnard Stimpson MLA. Stimpson was the Member for Carcoar from 1864 to 1869 and the first Mayor of Carcoar in 1879. Cobb’s father, J.L.Cobb married Stimpson’s daughter.
A S B Cobb was a grazier by profession. In 1897, he married Mary Platt of Carcoar. Her family home in Carcoar was named ‘Goongirwarrie’, which obviously influenced the naming of the Abbotsford Road house. The Cobb family resided at ‘Goongirwarrie’ from 1916 to c.1927. The house was rented from c.1928 to 1930 by John Morgan.
In 1930, Cobb sold the house to Amy Gertrude Luscombe, wife of Walter Foster Luscombe, Abbotsford Road Homebush for £2150. The property description in 1930 was a brick house of 6 rooms and garage with paling fencing. The Luscombe family continued to occupy this house for at least another forty years.
‘Goongirwarrie’ is a heritage listed item on Strathfield Council’s Local Environmental Plan and is located within the Abbotsford Road Heritage Conservation Area. The house is listed as an item of local significance for its retention of its setting and architectural detail from the early twentieth century.
References
‘Barnard Stimpson’, Biographical Register of NSW Parliament, viewed at https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/Pages/member-details.aspx?pk=484
THE LATE MR. A. S. COBB (1943, March 12). The Carcoar Chronicle (NSW : 1878 – 1943), p. 2. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112519062
Department Valuer General, Valuation Lists, Municipality of Strathfield
Family Notices. (1897, April 26). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved December 30, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14124752
Fox & Associates, 55-57 Abbotsford Rd Heritage Inventory Sheet (no. 84), 1986
Sands Sydney and Suburban Directory – Strathfield Municipality
Strathfield Council Building Register
Strathfield Heritage 