Introduction
Over a 130 year period, these homes have housed a wide array of people, from many walks of life. Factory workers, butchers, solicitors, bakers, farmers, migrants, entrepreneurs, soldiers… the list goes on.
Since beginning renovations in 2021, I have been on a search to uncover the history hidden ‘within the walls’. This journey has led me to chance meetings with descendants of former owners and occupants, some of whom I have photographed standing in the same location as their relative did decades prior.
This page is a work in progress, with more information coming to light often.
I thoroughly enjoyed compiling these small snapshots of history, and I hope you find some joy reading the stories, and viewing the photographs.
Throughout this page I will reference the homes as ‘90’ and ‘92’, in line with their original addresses. This image can be used as a reference.
Don Fryer - Vera Short - Elizabeth Bittner - Henry Jeans - Mary Short - Michael Lawson - Andrew Burg - Thomas Boucher Hill - Amy Fryer - Thomas O'Neill - John Dorn - Edward Fryer - John Short - John Eckford - Amanda Narvo - Henry Adams -
Don Fryer - Vera Short - Elizabeth Bittner - Henry Jeans - Mary Short - Michael Lawson - Andrew Burg - Thomas Boucher Hill - Amy Fryer - Thomas O'Neill - John Dorn - Edward Fryer - John Short - John Eckford - Amanda Narvo - Henry Adams -
Pre 1788
The property is built on land previously occupied by the Wonnarua people for at least 30,000 years.
1800s
In 1818, the area is first settled by Europeans.
On the 23rd of April, 1841, a land grant is given to John Eckford, his land would then be subdivided and offered up for sale in 1884, by Henry Adams.
1890s
The property is built as part of Henry Adams ‘Mt Pleasant Estate’ Subdivision. This same year the Fryer family would rent 92. It is unclear who lived in number 90.
Edward and Ada Fryer (pictured below) would live here with their kids until 1918. Amy Fryer, Daughter of the above mentioned, recalls that they rented from a “Mr. Holmes, agent and architect.”
1910
The property is sold to Thomas Boucher Hill in 1910, who then sold to John Dorn in November of 1912. Pictured here is the original Deed.
It is unclear if John, along with his wife Claude resided in number 90, whilst 92 was still let to the Fryer family. The couple owned numerous properties in the area, so it is unlikely.
1913
Floodwaters inundate the property. Amy Fryer, whose parents rented number 92 at the time, recounts the event.
Photo: Amy and her brother Douglas c.1913
“Twas the first that swept through the house. There was no time to move anything before we had to walk out the front door, along a plank to the road, up to higher ground”
1914
Seen here is 19 year old Donald Fryer, standing outside of the home. The following year, just having completed his carpentry apprenticeship, Donald and his friends enlisted in the military.
Douglas is also seen sporting what looks to be a slouch hat, at a similar time.
1917
With the Great War well underway in Europe, Amy and Douglas are seen here dressed in AIF uniforms.
Later that year, on October 12, their brother Don would be killed in action, at Passchendaele, Belgium.
The Fryers would live at the home until 1918
“There was a large backyard and a paddock between the back fence and the river where we
used to fish. ”
“The local brewery kept horses there and also dumped surplus malt. Our fowls liked to sortie in the waste and often came staggering back”
“The main part of the house was at road level; the back section, with the kitchen and verandah all along, was a few steps lower, but still well above ground so that a person could walk under to a store room”
1918
On July 28, 1917, owner John Dorn died.
As seen in this newspaper clipping, a notice was posted inviting entitled persons to make applications for claims to his estate.
Dorn’s Last Will and Testament outlines what should happen to his estate after his death.
“Sell, realise and convert the sales to money and divide the percents of such sale, realisation and conversion equally amongst my children”
Following Dorn’s death, the 4 acre property and cottages are sold to to Michael Lawson for 630 pounds.
In May 1918, furniture is advertised for auction in local newspaper on behalf of Mr Walter Farrow Snr (b.1838 d.1925), who resided in number 90. Presumably due to the sale of the home.
Michael Lawson then sold to Andrew Burg in November for a mere 600 pounds!
The Fryer family, who had been leasing the left hand side, move out this same year. Presumably due to the sale of the home.
1920s
In 1920 Andrew Burg dies from blood poisoning, leaving the property to his two sons, John and Ernest.
The Burg brothers then sell the property to Dorrigo farmer John Short the following year. John, with his wife Mary, move in to number 90, working the land.
These photos show John Short with his daughters Vera and Ivy in 1925, standing at by the front of the property. It was during this year that John and Mary’s youngest child, Keith, would be born in the house.
C.1925, Vera Short photographed standing on the verandah of 90.
25 May 2024: Granddaughter of John and Mary Short, Val Rudkin (Right) with her daughters Cathy (Left) and Jill (Centre), standing at the location Vera Short (Val’s aunt) did almost 100 years prior.
1930s
Short’s first daughter, Effie, marries Clive Killen. The newlyweds live in 92, next door to John and Mary. This photo shows the couple on their wedding day. They have two children, Len and Dell.
Clarence and Ivy Beavis (Daughter of John Short) are listed as occupying the 92 in 1931, as they were living on the road, they probably listed this as their mailing address.
William and Alexandraeena Turner were listed as living in 92 in 1935.
John and Mary moved back to Dorrigo for three years, to manage their property there. During this time, Effie and Clive reside in 90.
When John and Mary returned they then occupied 92 and Effie and Clive remained in 90 until purchasing their own home on the same street. With 90 now vacated, John and Mary sought new tenants and it then became home to Thomas Fryer Price, his wife Sylvia ‘Topsy’ Florence, (nee Cole) who had married at West Maitland in 1938 and were later joined by their children John and Elaine. Thomas was a bread Carter with McLauchlins Bakery
1940
In 1940, the property is connected to sewer for first time.
Granddaughter of John and Mary Short, Val Rudkin, recalls there being a pigsty and large mulberry tree behind the house, near the river. This was likely washed away in the 1950s.
With the Price family moving out, the Rose family took up tenancy of 90, Ernest and Beverly Rose, along with their children Rodney and Julieanne.
1946
John Short sells to Thomas Alan O’Neill on May 30, pictured here with his sister Jean and daughter of his other sister, Peg, in September 2000.
Thomas sells the property to Peg and her husband Henry Jeans mid 1953. Jean O’Neill, along with her grandmother, continue to reside at the property. It is thought that Jean’s grandmother planted the various citrus trees still present today.
In 2023, Thomas’ daughter, Jennifer, visited the home, and is pictured standing at the same location her father did 23 years prior.
1950s
in 1955 the property is inundated by a flood for the last time.
Pictured here is Jean O’Neill shovelling mud from the bathroom in 92… Jean recalls the photographer telling her to cover her legs in mud for the photo, as she looked “too clean”.
This image was featured in Volume 37 no. 2 issue of PIX Magazine (March 19 1955). The following is an except from that same article.
Evil smelling 1ft-deep mud on the floor of bathroom awaited clean-up by Jean O’Neill when floods fell. Bath was still choked with mud and silt.
As the Hunter River started to rise rapidly [Henry] Jeans and his wife [Peg] began stacking their furniture. When the water entered the house he carries his two children - John, 3, and Dianne, 1 - Through waist-deep water to high ground, where a relative with a tarck met them, drove the children back to safety.
Back at his weatherboard house, Jeans continued raising the furniture about the flood water level until eventually he ran out of bricks. With the water swirling through the house, he stood for hours guiding logs and timber which floated along the hallway so they would not crash into furniture and wreck it.
When the water knocked one wall of the house over and chairs were swept away, Jeans, his wife and his sister-in-law, Miss Jean O’Neill, fled. Several times they were nearly washed away as they waded through the chest-deep water.
In the hay shed on the highest part of the farm they climbed on to a haystack and perched there until the water began to fall. Then they found the water had risen to 5ft inside the house and furniture had been washed away when the wall collapsed. [Henry] Jeans’ three cows were safe, but his fowl-yard was wrecked and roosters, pullets and ducks were washed away.
1960s
Henry Jeans relocated to Melbourne, after selling the property in 1962/3 to Polish immigrant Zdzislaq [George] Kurzydlo and his Austrian wife, Elizabeth Bittner. George is pictured between his parents in this 1950s photo.
In 1966 the property was subdivided, reducing the land size to 1/3 of an acre.
During the late ‘60s, 92 was rented to Harry Beniston. Harry’s cousin, Lyn Cowan, recalls helping move her family out of the property around 1970.
The 1968 Electoral Roll shows Beverly and Ernest Rose again residing in 90. The same couple that occupied the property in the 1940s.
1970s
c.1972, 92 was rented to Amos Hamilton, Nola Stevenson, and John Lettice. The relationship between these three is unknown.
In 1974 Russell and Joan Hall purchase the property from the Kurzydlos. Russell and Joan lived in 90.
From August 1974 - October 1976, 92 was rented to Klaus Lorenz and his then wife Kerrie Bevan, granddaughter of John and Mary Short.
Then from late 1976, they rented this side out to their daughter, Debbie, who lived here with her husband Christopher Fuller and daughter, who is pictured here on the verandah in c. 1980.
1980s
During this decade, it is believed that Joan and Russell Hall continued living at the property. Nothing more is known.
1990s
In 1993, Douglas, who was born at the home in 1911 revisited the property with his two grandsons. They can be seen pictured here.
While the original windows and weatherboards remain, many ornate details were lost, notably the bullnose verandah along with the ornate lacework.
a 1999 Council Rates Notice show an ‘L. Howard’ as owner of the property. It is unclear who L. Howard is.
In 2023, Douglas’ daughters, Gai and Val visited the home, and are pictured standing at the same position as their father did 30 years prior.
2000s
Photo taken 2002 by Val Rudkin, granddaughter of John and Mary Short. Note the now mature tree on the left, which in the 1993 photo, was newly planted.
Photo from the sales listing - late 2006. In March 2007 the property was sold by L. Howard to A. Narvo for $275,000
2010s
In 2011, the 92 was listed for rent, at a weekly rate of $170.
In the late part of this decade, the home was listed as a short term rental.
2021
In March, the property was again listed for sale, selling the following month.
