By Cathy Jones 2025
‘Tregelana’ 4-6 Broughton Road Homebush is a single storey, brick Federation house. It is located on prominent location opposite Melrose Street. A Marseilles tile roof features gable and hop forms and rendered chimneys.
The property is located on land granted in 1793 to Frederick Meredith. By 1878, Meredith’s land was included in a larger land holding and surveyed, subdivided and offered for sale as the ‘Village of Homebush’ estate.
‘Tregelana’ was located on lots 8 and 9, section 5 of the Village of Homebush Estate. These lots were purchased by Edward Sanders, of Burwood in July 1881. In December 1884, the land transferred to Edward Maber Charles Gerard, of Stanmore, draftsman. In January 1903, the land transferred to Walter Suttor of Mosman, a grazier. It is likely that the house was built after Suttor acquired the land. A house appears for the first time in Strathfield Council’s valuation lists in the financial year 1903-1904.
The first appearance of an occupied house in Sands Directory is in 1905 for Granville G M Pain. From 1906-1911, the house was occupied by H S Cusack JP, who called the house ‘Ruapehu’ (Ruapehu is a Mountain in New Zealand). The house was frequently leased. In 1921, the house was leased to William Woodley who named the house ‘Tregelana’, which has continued to be its house name.
The house continued to be owned by the Suttor family until death of William Suttor’s widow, Louisa in 1936. The house transferred to the surviving joint tenant William Cargill Moodie, who transferred the part of the land containing by the house in June 1939 to Grace Catherine Williams. Moodie transferred the residue of the land to Audrey Doris Traversi and Gordon Henry Traversi as joint tenants.
In September 1950 the ‘Tregelana’ was transferred to Clare Isabel Hannan of Homebush, married women. The property was sold a few months later in February 1951 to Louisa Sarah Aitken of Bellevue Hill. The house continued in the ownership of the Aitken family until 1961, when it transferred to Leslie George Jones, of Strathfield, engineer in October 1961.
In January 1970, the property transferred to John Francis Doherty of Enfield, dentist, and Anne Collette Doherty, his wife, then in February 1981 to James Ball of Homebush, accountant, and Carmel Therese Ball. The house was then transferred to Andrzey Peter Czajka and Christina Finna Czajka as joint tenants in May 1987.
References
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
Sands Sydney & Suburban Directory
Strathfield Council Valuation Lists
Wise’s Post Office Directory of Strathfield, Enfield and Homebush 1904, 1908 and 1936.
