One of the great things about living in an old house like this one is the sense of passage of time. One hundred and ten years represents many lives and many eras lived under the one roof. Sometimes we try to imagine what life would have been like from the days leading up to Federation, through the war, jazz and depression eras and on through the second war, post war, Vietnam, Beatles and beyond. Countless memories, laughs, tears, hopes, prayers and dreams are contained within these walls.

Unravelling the history has not been an easy task and has taken 3 years to complete. The earliest living memory is 1933. Beyond that we only have the title search (below), an aerial photograph from 1923 and two streetscape photos from early 1900. Apart from a few tell tale signs, the rest is lost in the mists of time.

We have found some relics, old bottles, a child figurine, a few broken tools, the remains of a 100 year old chicken (!) and a pile of broken crockery and a newspaper from 1929. The newspaper was interesting in that it was dated just before the Wall Street Crash and showed luxury items still being advertised. We found the broken crockery under the floor of what is now the Store-room circa 1905 adjacent to the current guest bathroom. The crockery includes very expensive dining pieces, and a soup terrain. It looks like one of two things happened: either a sideboard containing the crockery suffered a catastrophic collapse or a disgruntled servant or spouse, made their feelings violently known!

We think the original inhabitants were able to afford servants and that the current guest bathroom was the servant entrance and galley. You can still see the decades of wear on the door step between this room and the guest bedroom. It was obviously the most heavily trafficked area in the house. The guest bedroom would have been a kitchen dining area. The rear of the property was used for small crops and livestock. Walter Lean a local grocer owned the house from 1920 to 1933 and would probably have grown much of his own produce.

Visitors to the house would have been welcomed at the bay window front door. Hallway entrances of time were typically wider and grander than any other room in the house and dressed to impress.

The house itself was built by the Stutterd Brothers sometime between 1895 and 1900. They had earlier emigrated from England and they had the reputation for building timber houses of some substance. Their signatures and carpentry markings are still evident in some of the timbers. The Stutterd descendants run a local engineering firm.

The plaster for the lathe and plaster walls would have been mixed up in a large pit by the young apprentices. The Baltic pine ceiling boards were exported as Ballast from the Baltic region, then used as cheap building material on arrival. The weatherboards were milled from the heavily timbered surrounding area.

Hetty Diprose (now Summers) has the earliest recollections. She was 14 when her family moved in 1933. She recalls a happy childhood. Her family worked in transport and their descendents continue to do so. Her mother (in whose name the house is listed) ran ducks and a large vegetable garden out the back. She recalls the remains of a horse stable from a previous era (evident in the aerial shot). The front, again was dressed with lawns and garden. In post war times, the garden also boasted a trout pond.

Helen Johson lived two doors down (towards Wynyard) during the war years. As a child, she recalls that the local hospital matron, Sara Davison and family lived there. Sara it appears, had a colourful and enterprising personality. She was, according to Helen the very image of a hospital matron. During office hours she worked at the public hospital attached to Dr Muirs Surgery (the large white house at number 35). After hours she did backyard jobs, delivering babies for 'five bob a babe' - in this very house. Apparently some people did not want to use the public health system. Its been said that half of Wynyard were born in this house and that at one stage during the post war baby boom, Wynyard was averaging one birth a day!

Another one of Sara's enterprises was the running of a guest house known as Leighton (or Layton?) Lodge. It wasn't a true boarding house as it was designed for longer term accommodation. We think she used the Western side of the house for this and that the next owner also used it for this purpose. Cyril Dixon, a former mayor of Wynyard recalls living in this flat with his newly wed in 1951.

Cyril's brother, Bill Dixon, recalls as a child when the property behind us was subject to occasional tidal lagoon flooding: "they would sometimes paddle their home made canoes through there." The whole area behind our house would have originally been tea tree swamp. You can still see the remains of the tea tree stands in neighbouring properties. One of the past owners combatted the drainage problem by dumping truckloads of soil and gravel. Our property is a half metre higher than No 29.

The house itself is perched on an ancient sand dune. Early in the 20th Century, the beach was about 20 metres closer to the house. The village green is reclaimed land. Going back in geological time the area was the product of massive glacial and volcanic forces. Table Cape, like the Stanley Nut is the remains of a volcanic plug. The Reef exposed at low tide (called blackboy rocks on old maps - great for snorkelling) is volcanic in origin.

The next owner was Ken Shepperd, who owned the house for the longest period - just over 30 years. Ken was a farmer and used the back block for cattle. When he was much older he let the whole house out as two flats and many current residents of Wynyard can recall living here. The house went through the usual post war modernization ( ie brickboard!) and since about 1982 it has been progressively returned to its former state, with particular credit going to Charles Smart who constructed all the terraced gardens and driveway and to the Quayles who renovated the kitchen and bathroom in the early 90s.

In 2006, the house became heritage listed with the following wording:

This place has strong meaning for the community becuase it demonstrates apsects of early twentieth century society and contributes, in conjunction with its neighbours, to a relatively intact streetscape of predominantly early twentieth century timber houses."

We ourselves have poured in three and a half intensive years of renovation and refurbishment. We'll document and photograph all the changes we make at a later date! One of our main goals has been to establish a bed and breakfast here. We wanted to provide a place of rest for people - a place where people could have the time and space to catch their breath and smell the roses! We have been receiving very encouraging feedback to that effect.

For those who may have some connection with Wynyard, you might be interested in the following title search. If you have any knowledge of the history of the place we would be interested to know!

We can be emailed at reception@seawardbb.com

CT Volume 229425 Folio 1

6. Sep 1933Walter Henry LEAN to Florence May DIPROSE (Transport)
7. Sep 1941 Florence May DIPROSE to Elsie Mary WAYNE
8. Sep 1944 Elsie Mary WAYNE to William Henderson & Sara DAVISON (Midwife)
9. Jul 1952 William Henderson & Sara DAVISON tc Kenneth George SHEPHARD (Farmer)
10. Mar 1983Kenneth George SHEPHARD to Charles Henry SMART
11. Jun 1986 Charles Henry SMART to Brian Roper & Dorothy Margaret ARCHER
12. Jul 1987 Brian Roper & Dorothy Margaret ARCHER to Renate Gerrie Andrea VAN RTET
13. Oct 1989 - Renate Gerrie Andrea VAN RIET to HERRERA PTY LTD
14. Dec 1993 - HERRERA PTY LTD to Peter Michael & Lynette Cleveland QUAYLE
15. Aug 2001 - Peter Michael & Lynette Cleveland
16. QUAYLE to S.G. & E.A.VAN OMMEN (Steve: Teacher, Liz: welfare and hospitality)
    

History of Wynyard (under construction)

Timeline of Wynyard 1780-2009

Postcards of Wynyard

Stories of Wynyard

Brief Overview of Wynyard's history

Shipping

At one stage, Wynyard was one of the major ports of the North West Coast. Potatoes were the main export to mainland Australia and a thriving boat building industry existed. Fishing boats continue to be a mainstay today.

Shipwrecks