By Cathy Jones
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.
67 Churchill Ave Strathfield is built on a 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).
Robert Joshua King transferred Lot 9 as well as part of the adjacent lot 10 of his and Mary Ann Balmain’s subdivision on 18 March 1908 into his personal ownership. A house called Yerami was built during 1906-1907 according to Council valuation records.
The King family were pioneers of the Coolamon district in NSW, a region known for wheat growing. Robert Joshua King was the former proprietor of the Hotel Coolamon, which was passed to his brother Harry when he moved from the area. He married Adale Pyke in 1884, a member of the Pyke Flour Milling family in Coolamon.
King and his wife lived at ‘Yerami’ until his death in 1934. The following year the property was transferred to Norman Stevens King, the son of Robert Joshua King. Norman King was a dental surgeon. Following Norman King’s death in 1974, ownership of ‘Yerami’ transferred to another member of the King family.
References
Land Title searches, NSW Land and Property Information
Sands Sydney and Suburbs Directory 1881-1933
Strathfield Heritage 