By Cathy Jones (2012, updated 2025)
‘The Braes’, 71 Redmyre Road Strathfield is a Victorian Italianate house. The property is built on the 1793 Thomas Rose land grant, which was subdivided in 1887. The house was likely built c.1893 by builder Edward Hobson. The house first appears in Sands Directory in 1895 as occupied by James Boultbee and named ‘Wrangthorn’.
James Powell, a landowner of Homebush acquired part of the Thomas Rose 1793 land grant, which was subdivided as deposited plan 1886. In July 1889, he transferred Lot 17 to Sydney Powell. In August 1891, Powell transferred the land to Robert Hoskins Finch, a builder in August 1891. A small area of land on its eastern boundary was transferred to Strathfield Council.
In March 1893, the property was transferred from Robert Hoskins Finch to Edward Hobson of Strathfield, builder. The Council valuation lists of 1893-1894 note the house being under construction and the land owned by Hobson. It is assumed the house was completed or near completion in late 1893. Hobson entered into voluntary bankruptcy but carried on his business according to a notice in the Government Gazette of October 1893. Many builders faced significant financial difficulties in the early 1890s due to the depression, which effectively crashed the building industry. According to the title, in December 1893, the property was transferred from Francis Henry Cornish, the mortgagee exercising power of sale to Mrs Ellen Vernon.
Ellen Vernon (1838-1919) was the widow of early prominent resident and NSW Traffic Manager Donald Vernon, widow of for NSW Traffic Manager Donald Vernon. Their daughter Ethel (1866-1956) married James Boultbee (1851-1909) in 1888. The Boultbee family occupied the house. The house was primarily occupied by Emily and James Boultbee. Boultbee was the Superintendent of Public Watering Places and Artesian Boring, Department of Public Works in NSW. Boultbee also served as an Alderman on Strathfield Council from 1894 to 1897.
In March 1904, Ellen Vernon transferred the property to George Morgan, a merchant. During Morgan’s ownership, the house was rented. From c.1906-1907, the occupant of the house was F L C Ridgeway and Charles Lance, Sydney Harbour Trust Commissioner in 1908.
In September 1908, Morgan transferred the property to Frederick Aubrey Crosby Boardman, commercial traveller and his wife Sarah Boardman. In June 1910, the property was transferred to Harrington Crichton McCulloch, land and estate agent and George Hurst, a medical practitioner. The house was tenanted in 1910 to Stephen Murphy PM, City Coroner and William Mullinar in 1911 and 1912, who named the house ‘Buckinbah.
In June 1912, the property was transferred to Rosamond Alice Beale, wife of James Henry Beale, a stock and state agent. The house was renamed ‘The Braes’.
In February 1948, the property transferred to Arthur George Lowndes for £2400. Lowndes (1911-1994) was an economist and served as a Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) (1956-1974), Deputy Chairman of the ABC (1971-1974), Chairman of the Institute of Political Science (1952-1966) and Member of the Sydney University Senate (1969-1976).
Lowndes was a Major in the 2nd AIF (1940-1945) during World War II, Australian Liaison officer of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) China (1945-1946) and consultant on land use in Northern Territory and other regions. He was a director of J C Ludowici & Son Ltd since 1956 and Consultant Manager of CSR Ltd Macadamia Orchards (1963-1976).
Lowndes also served as an Alderman on Strathfield Council (1948-1956) and was elected as Deputy Mayor (1951-53, 1955-56). At the end of his Council service in 1956, Hudson Park Oval in Arthur Street Strathfield was renamed Arthur G Lowndes Oval. Lowndes was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1966 for services to the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Lowndes was still the owner in the 1970s.
Reference
A Popular Official. (1890, March 1). Australian Town and Country Journal, p. 32.
‘Arthur Lowndes’, Who’s Who in Australia 1965, pps 522-23
‘Arthur Lowndes’, Who’s Who in Australia 1985, p534, The Herald & Weekly Times Ltd.
Department of Valuer-General, Municipality of Strathfield, Valuation Lists
Electoral Rolls
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
Inglis, Kenneth (2006). This is the ABC: Australian Broadcasting Commission (1932-1983)
Jones, Cathy (2011) Arthur Lowndes, viewed at https://strathfieldheritage.com/local-government/council/mayors-of-strathfield-council/arthur-lowndes/
Sands Sydney Directory
Strathfield Council Valuation Lists (1886-1920)
Strathfield Council Meeting Minutes 20 November 1956
(c) Cathy Jones 2011. Do not copy, publish or reproduce with prior permission of the author.
