‘by Cathy Jones 2024
‘Merriwa’ 51-55 Homebush Road Strathfield is a two storey Federation Arts and Crafts house built in 1897. ‘Merriwa’ is a heritage item on Strathfield Council’s Local Environmental Plan and is described as:
‘A two storey Federation Arts and Craft house set in substantial grounds, which occupies a prominent position on the corner of Homebush and Oxford Roads. The house is constructed of brown bricks with red brick and roughcast rendered trim. The roof is hipped and gabled and is penetrated by roughcast chimneys. A two storey verandah with a brick balustrade at ground floor and a shingled and slatted balustrade to the first floor faces Homebush Road. A flying bay window above an arched window opening is in the gabled front facing Homebush Road. A building has been added at the rear of the original house and faces Oxford Road’.
The site is located on the original 1793 Thomas Rose land grant which passed into the ownership of James R. Powell. In 1887, Powell transferred the land to Frank Senior, though the land remained undeveloped. In 1896, after the death of Senior, the land was transferred to Arthur Hargreaves Starling, a surveyor, measuring 1 ½ acres, on the corner of Homebush Road and Oxford Road, Strathfield.
The house ‘Merriwa’ was built in 1897. The house named ‘Merriwa’ first appears in the 1898 Sands Directory occupied by Mrs Starling. Arthur Hargreaves Starling (1868-1919) was a licensed surveyor for NSW Department of Lands and rose to the position of Chief Surveyor, NSW Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage. In 1894, Starling married Hannah Smith. They lived in Park Road Burwood before moving to Strathfield.
In 1903, the house was occupied by Adolphe Lierneux but in February 1904, ownership transferred to Amy Beatrice Wallis (née Ford) (d.1949), wife of Frederic Wallis (1865-1960), a merchant.
Frederic James Wallis was born in Victoria in 1865. Wallis was the manager of the Sydney branch of James Bell and Co, a large agricultural firm which traded in wheat, grain, coal and agricultural machinery with branches in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. James Bell & Co was first established as a store by James Bell (d.1908), in Dunnolly, Victoria during the Gold Rush.
Frederic Wallis has a prominent place in Strathfield’s history. He served as an Alderman from 1917 until 1929 and was elected Mayor in 1923-1924. Wallis Avenue and Wallis Reserve at Strathfield are named for him. He was also a member of the Strathfield-Homebush Congregational Church and forged strong ties with Meriden School at Strathfield. The Wallis Building and Wallis Hall at Meriden are named for him. Wallis was also a notable art collector.
Amy Wallis died in 1949, but Frederic Wallis continued lived at ‘Merriwa’ until his death in 1960 and the house was sold in 1961.
In 1961, the World Council of Churches purchased ‘Merriwa’ with the intention to covert the house into a hostel for refugees from Russia and China. There was an established Russian community in the Strathfield area, which further consolidated with the building of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1954.
From 1952 to 1964, the World Council of Churches, with the assistance of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and International Committee of European Migration took care of thousands of refugees, among them between 20,000 and 35,000 Russians who had been displaced in Europe or had been forced to leave China. The majority of refugees came from Harbin, Manchuria and from the Three Rivers and Seven Rivers Provinces in northern China. Australia agreed to take 15,000 of these refugees and many settled in Canley Vale, Cabramatta and Fairfield.
In 1961, Strathfield Council approved the use of this property as a Home for the Aged. In 1967, H.H. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, visited the home and a tree was planted in memory of his visit.
The home was later known as the Strathfield Home for the Aged and was operated by the Australian Council of Churches. The residents of the home were primarily Russian mixed with residents of Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Chinese ancestry.
The home ceased operating c.2012. Subsequent amendments have been made to the building including construction of a substantial rear two storey addition for conversion of the property to a boarding house establishment.
Reference
Cooke, A., Visions of Parnassus, Meriden School, 1997
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
Jones, C., Frederick Wallis
Sands Sydney and Suburban Directory
Strathfield Council meeting minutes 28 March 1961.
Russians in Strathfield: A Community Profile 1949-1999, Kyra & Peter Tatarinoff, Anatoly Konovets, Irene Kasperksi-Andrews [eds], 1999.
Strathfield Heritage 