‘Cooroona’ 74 Churchill Ave Strathfield

By Cathy Jones (2022)

Churchill Avenue Strathfield is located between The Boulevarde and Homebush Road. Part of this street is located in the Strathfield Town Centre. The construction of Raw Square, in the late 1960s, had the effect of bisecting the residential area of Churchill Avenue from Strathfield CBD.

Churchill Avenue was originally known as ‘The Avenue’. The name was changed due to duplication with a street with the same name in Homebush. The name Churchill was adopted after World War II and named after British Wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

Churchill Avenue, between Elva Street and Homebush Road contains primarily Federation styled buildings. The relatively late development of this estate occurred, because the much of the land was considered unusable due to the presence of a large watercourse, created by overflow water from Powells Creek (which runs at nearby Elva Street and finishes at Strathfield Square).

Most of the houses in Churchill Avenue were built in the early 1900s. The area between Elva Street and Homebush Road was listed as a heritage conservation area in 1987 in Strathfield Council’s Local Environmental Plan.

‘Cooroona’ 74 Churchill Ave Strathfield was built c.1909 and is a single story brick Federation Queen style house.  The house features a hipped terracotta tiled roof and a front verandah with timber posts above a brick balustrade.  The house was built on Lot 31 of the 1903 subdivision that was marketed as the ‘Kings Estate’.  The estate was subdivided by Robert Joshua King (d.1934) and Mary Ann Balmain (d.1943), the wife of surveyor and Town Clerk of Strathfield Council, John Hope Balmain.  The ‘Kings Estate’ created the western end of Churchill Avenue (then called The Avenue), Redmyre Road (part) and Homebush Road (part).

Margaret Cunningham, the wife of David Cunningham, a local prolific builder in Strathfield and Homebush, purchased Lot 31 on 3 June 1909. Council records note an approval for D. Cunningham to build a house in The Avenue (former name of Churchill Avenue) in June 1909, though there are no lot numbers or other identifying information, it is likely that Cunningham was responsible for the build of this house, which was presumably on-sold upon completion.

The property was sold later that year to Sarah Susan Nolan, widow who sold it again in the same year to Wilmont Elsie Hoskins (1884-1964), who married Dr Frederick Abbey Wiesener (1877-1950), an ophthalmic surgeon, in 1910.   Hoskins was the daughter of Emily (nee Wallis) and Charles Hoskins, a wealthy steel and iron industrialist.  The Hoskins family lived at ‘Illyria’ The Boulevarde (now known as ‘Holyrood’ Santa Sabina College).

The Wiesener’s moved into house they called ‘Cooroona’ after their marriage in 1910. Dr & Mrs Wiesener lived at ‘Cooroona’ until 1923 when it was sold to John Winder (1851-1939), an accountant. The Wiesener’s later moved to Jersey Road Strathfield.

Winder renamed the house ‘Bryansford’.  He lived in the house with his wife Elizabeth (nee Magarey). The house was sold after his death in 1939 and eventually sold to Victor Kuchan, a storekeeper. Kuchan kept the property until 1953 when it was sold to Edgar Edmondson, a Strathfield manufacturer and his wife Margaret Anne.

References

Land Title searches, NSW Land and Property Information

Society of Australian Genealogists, 2002, Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions (electronic resource) (John Winder 1851-1939)

Department of Valuer-General, Municipality of Strathfield, Valuation Lists –  1924, 1927. 1930

Electoral Rolls

• 1935 – Electorate of Parkes, Sub-division of Strathfield (John and Elizabeth Winder, The Avenue Strathfield)
• 1936 – Electorate of Parkes, Sub-division of Burwood (Frederick, Wilmot, Mollie Wiesener, 12 Jersey Road Strathfield)

NSW Index to Deceased Estate Files Series (1939-1948) (John Winder death of death 17 June 1939)

NSW Index to Deceased Estate Files Series (1939-1948) (Frederick Wisener death of death 15 April 1950)

Strathfield Council (1909 June), Minutes of Council meeting

Sands Sydney and Suburbs Directory 1881-1933