Chorley Avenue, Cheltenham
From the corner of Chorley Avenue and Cheltenham Road, look northwards along Chorley Avenue to see how the road is not intrusive in the vista before you: there are wide mown verges, there are no curbs or gutter and trees are both native and exotic – blackbutt, red mahogany and Sydney peppermint. This scene is a classic landscape.
3. This was the retirement home built for Mr Justice and Mrs Dey (see house no 7) from at least 1985 to 1994. It was then the home of Owen Ludlow, a lawyer who purchased the law practice of Marie Byles when she retired from practice. This house was sold in 2023.
4 Belvedere has diamond paned windows that are shuttered. It is of the dark blue Thornleigh brick. It has shingles in the gable and a recently landscaped garden that contributes to the setting of the house. From 1930 to 1949 it was the home of Frank Biggs, solicitor his wife Mary and their family.
5 Etonville was occupied in 1927 by Edward Porter and following his death in 1931 was the home of Lillian and Harold Porter together with Annie Gray. In 1943 Emilie May Watson lived here and then in 1949 it was the home of Leslie Watson a civil engineer
7 is an imposing two-storeyed pale brick home of 1939 with an entry framed like 20 Sutherland Road, but this time with the addition of a keystone. The builder was C J Church of Concord West [1]. It has a beautiful garden. Formerly it was the home of Mr Justice John Fletcher Dey (of the NSW Industrial Commission) (1911-1994) and his wife Keelah (1910-1987) [2]. John Dey was the son of David Dewar Dey (879-1957) and grandson of Rev Dr Robert Dey [3]. John and Keelah Dey moved into 3 Chorley Avenue, on the corner, for their last years in Cheltenham. It was from 3 that they were members of the Civic Trust from 1985 to 1994. This was the address of G Ross for membership of the Civic Trust in 2007.
[1] Construction, 1 March 1939 p2.
[2] Both John and Keelah Dey died in Indonesia: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 January 1995.
[3] For more information on Reverend Dr Robert Dey see elsewhere on this web site under: Churches-Congregational and Houses – 71 Cheltenham Road.
8 From 1943 this was the home of Esme and Spencer H Rae. He was a trustee officer
11 This was occupied from at least 1930 by John Belleck Milling and his family. Major J B Milling, an Irishman, had served in the NSW Lancers and 7th Australian Light Horse. He imported crockery through his firm Lyon and Milling and then Cranston Trading Company. When he died in 1944 he was living at Balgowlah.
It then became the home of William (Billy) Ewart Hart and his family from at least 1939. Born in Parramatta in 1885 he built his first aeroplane in 1910. In September 1911 he purchased a Bristol Box kite from a touring British aeroplane company and after a few lessons flew it solo by the following November. He received Australian aviator’s licence number 1 on 5 December 1911. The month before he flew 76 km from Penrith to Sydney completing the first cross country flight in NSW in 55 minutes and reaching 6,500ft. In the following year on 29 June he won Australia’s first air race flying from 32 km from Botany to Parramatta Park. A memorial in Parramatta Park commemorates this event. In 1912 he was badly injured flying at Richmond and while he had a flying school and acted as an instructor (including in No 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps in the First World War) he never flew again. He enlisted in the First World War to fly (having to go to London to enlist but cabled his mother “the leg that was so badly broken in the big smash at Richmond came against him.”
He had a heart attack and died suddenly in Sydney on 29 July 1943. The RAAF flew overhead at his funeral. His widow Thelma was still living here in 1949 when she listed it for sale when it was described as “a delightful corner allotment on which trees have been retained in a natural state, this charming English style 2-storey brick residence” of 4 bedrooms and a “mauve styled bathroom”[1].
This was the address of Mrs M Hartley for membership of the Civic Trust between 1990 and 2000 and Mr Crittenden in 2006.
[1] Sydney Morning Herald, 3 September 1949.
14 From 1943 this was the home of Jeffery B & Elsie Jacobson. He was a salesman.
15 Norcull, was originally the home of Mr Cecil Ernest Rahn (1897-1988) and his wife Eva May (nee Lit tlejohn) from 1929 until at least 1963. In the electoral rolls his occupation is recorded as being a labourer. He served in World War 1 being wounded in June 1917. The name of this home is the same as a village near Bullecourt, which might be where he was wounded. Note in particular the carvings at the bottom of the flight of imposing stairs. On one side an owl and the other a pelican and chick. There is an imposing deodar in the front year and the use of columns combined with the brick. The windows are leadlight.
In 1937, Eva’s mother Frances Littlejohn, was also living here at the time of her death.
Cecil died in 1988, having outlived his wife Eva, who died in 1981.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
16 From 1943 until at least 1949 this was the home of Jack & Esme Gosby. He was a public servant.
17 Narigunyah this was occupied by Clive Eric Anderson, a surveyor, and his family in 1930. While the Andersons continued to live here they presumed rented out rooms as Charles Dudley Ryder died here in 1936 and then from at least 1937 to 1949 this was the home of Isabelle, Joyce and Doris Lockhart-Bell having roles as home duties, nurse and photographer respectively. Clive died her in 1943 and Phillip Anderson (together with Isabelle and Joyce, was living here in 1949.
20 In 1949 the home of Gwendoline Coleman.
22 From at least 1930 until 1949 this was the home of Percy Harry Nicholls Matthews (engineer) and his wife Olive.
23 From 1937 until at least 1949 this was the home of Gordon H Grange a salesman
24 From 1943 to at least 1949 this was the home of Edward R B & Doris O’Sullivan. He was an architect.
25 From at least 1937 to 1949 this was the home of Gatery and Hilda Penshall. He was a salesman.
26 From 1943 until at least 1949 this was the home of Reginald G & Daphne Smith. He was a commercial traveller.
28 From 1939 until at least 1949 this was the home of Leonard A & Marjorie Forsyth. He was the company secretary of World Films Ltd [1]
[1] Daily Telegraph, 18 June 1926 p21