Living History

The House that Bill Built

"This is strictly business, Baloo (1)" declared Akela (2)

"Of course," responded Baloo!

Akela the nineteen year old leader of 2nd Manly Cub Pack was Bill, and his new assistant, Baloo, was two or so years younger; her name was Nancy. The year was 1951.

This story begins with that declaration; it has a middle; but it has no ending. It is a love story that will spans two centuries. It is the story of how Bill & Nan build the house that was to become the home where their three children were raised.

Bill and Nan soon became a good working team and the Pack blossomed. It wasn’t the only thing to blossom!! On 13 April 1952 Bill asked Nan to marry him, but Nan’s parents felt she was too young and suggested that they should wait till the next year to get engaged, and a further two years before they married. However, they did have a change of heart and on 22 August 1952 their engagement was announced at a small family gathering.

One of the first things they did after they announced their engagement was to look for land to build their future home. Bill also took out some Building Society shares to help with the necessary finance when the time came to begin building. They found it difficult to find the land they wanted and that they could afford. They drew up a sketch for a large one room extension that would be built onto the back of the family home at Balgowlah but even that was beyond their immediate financial means. Their search for land continued and eventually it took them to Collaroy Plateau. The estate of the late Jessie was being advertised. It was a lot further out than they had planned but the views were good and the price wasn’t too bad. Maybe ..... perhaps. The one on Edgecliff Boulevarde had wonderful views, but it was too pricey - £300 (3) and the foundations would be just so expensive to build. The blocks in Claudare Street had only a 40 foot frontage but they were fairly long, 130 feet. The ones on the eastern side were £240, but the ones opposite were only £190. They fell in love with one on the eastern side, but the deposit was fairly high! Bill’s Dad came to their aid and lent them £75 it was theirs. Many of their friends couldn’t understand why they had bought land ‘so far from everything’.

They were determined to pay off the land before they were married. They saved everything they could - for instance going to balls which could cost up to one pound, two shillings and sixpence per person became a thing of the past - they had a goal. The magic thing was that they didn’t even notice that they were giving up things, they were so happy working together for their future.

They set the date for their wedding in the July of 1954. They would be married at a church in Manly at 3.30 pm on Saturday 16 April 1955.
The officiating minister was delighted when Nan and her dad, arrived early! He would be able to hear the Head of the River race after all!

They had also achieved their goal, which included paying back the seventy-five pound loan - the land was now really theirs. Nan was still working in a bank. The bank opened five days a week and a half day on Saturday so it was quite usual that any special shopping that had to be done in the City would be done on Bank Holiday, the first Monday in August. Bill was still at the Metro in Manly and luckily he was on night shift on Monday 4 August 1954 so it was on that day that they bought their wedding rings. Bill was sent home at lunchtime and that afternoon Nan selected the material for her wedding frock and going away outfit.

By October 1954 they had done a lot of work clearing the block. All the stumps that were within the house area had been removed. Each weekend they would travel by bus, carrying with them any necessary tools and a haversack containing picnic food and work on the block. Bill would sometimes go up during the week when he was on night shift. The buses didn’t run very frequently. If there wasn’t a bus to the Plateau they would get one to Wetherel Street, South Narrabeen and climb up the goat track to the Plateau. They often found square holes on their block and in surrounding blocks and this puzzled them for some time until it was revealed that Frank Hurley, world renown photographer who now lived in Edgecliff Boulevarde, would go around the plateau with his spade and remove native plants, particularly Christmas Bells, so that they wouldn’t be destroyed by eager builders.

Things were getting a bit hard for them. They had already drawn up plans for their proposed home and had them passed. Some six months before they had obtained a quote of approximately £2,100.00 to build the house but they had just got 4 more quotes and the lowest was £3,096.00 and the highest was £3,460.00! This was quite beyond their loan at the Building Society so they decided on a ready-cut home. They selected a Hudson’s home and on the 2nd November they received their new plans and specifications having first paid a deposit of £50.00. They were still battling financially and realized that they would have to go into a flat for a few months until they could afford to build.

They had begun searching for a flat to live in while they built their house in the November of the previous year. By 1955 Nan was earning £4.2.2 (4) a fortnight and Bill was earning about £8.0.0 but there seemed just nothing available under five pounds a week. Housing was very hard to find and unscrupulous landlords were offering very poor accommodation at very high rentals. On 19 February 1955 they found a single room, and ‘share conveniences’ in Manly Vale. It was close to both the Manly and Wynyard buses. It was two pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence a week plus half the gas and electricity costs. To secure it they had to pay rent from then until they returned from their honeymoon. It was hard on the budget but at least the honeymoon had been paid for in advance.

It was customary not to employ married women in banks as it was felt that it was inappropriate for a married women to take a job that should be held by a man or a single woman. However, Nan had applied to return to the employ of the bank after her marriage and she was lucky enough to be one of the first group of married women to be re-employed by that bank. She returned to Manly Branch on 16 May 1955 where she was employed as a Temporary Female Assistant! She was able to go back to the position she held before she was married, but, of course, it could not be classified because a TFA could not be employed in a classified position!!!

The flat at North Manly turned out even better than they had hoped. They liked their landlady and got on very well with her. Frequently when Bill was on night shift the bus Bill caught to Manly would pass the bus Nan had caught on her way home from the bank. As the buses passed they would wave to each other. They had done some more clearing and were ready to start building. They went to the Building Society with the required deposit to organise the commencement of building only to be told that their deposit was now short fifty pounds. Despondent, they went away and saved the fifty pounds only to be knocked back again - cost had gone up yet again still they were short of the necessary deposit. They had had enough. They would build the home themselves, subcontracting the ‘hard bits’! They decided that they would live on Bill’s wages and have Nan’s put straight into their joint account which held their savings. They placed an advertisement in the Manly Daily and sold their shares for 250 pounds and made a profit of 100 pounds which they quickly added to their ‘building fund’! By October the water had been laid onto the block and the toilet erected. The bricks for the foundation, the frame and tiles had been ordered. Building materials were still in short supply after the end of the war building boom and there were waiting lists for bricks and tiles. When your name came to the top of the list you had to take the bricks or tiles that were available, builders in the fifties didn’t have the luxury of selecting specific colours. If your preferred colour was delivered it was good luck not good management!

On Christmas Eve 1955 the foundations were laid for the Home that Bill built.

By February 1956 Collaroy Plateau was no longer just a block of land; a house was taking shape. The foundations, frame, tiled roof and guttering stood proudly for all to see. The fibro sheeting was slowly encasing the framework. Nan and Bill’s dreams were taking shape at last. On 5th May 1956 they moved into the house, there was no wall cladding in the kitchen or bathroom, a camp stove stood on top of their new gas stove - the gas had yet to be connected, and washing had to be done by hand; they were still saving to purchase a washing machine, but it was theirs!

Nan and Bill have now been married for 51 years and they still live in the home that Bill built, their children, Susan, Christine and Stephen, have married and now have their own families and homes.

1. Baloo is a name used for an Assistant Club Leader. Baloo was the name for the bear featured in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book,
2. Akela is the leader of the pack, also from Kipling’s Jungle Book.
3. £ (pound) was the currency of the time as decimal currency wasn’t introduced to Australia until 14 February 1966. At that time one pound was the equivalent of two dollars.
4. £4.2.2 is four pounds, two shillings and tuppence, equivalent in 1966 was $8.22

Nan, New South Wales

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