7 Ednie Street

The house at 7 Ednie Street was constructed in the Federation Bungalow architectural style. The house was built around 1900. It is a single-storey timber and iron house the width of a single room. The facade is asymmetrical with timber-framed weatherboard walls and an iron-clad gabled roof featuring a small finial on the gable end. The protruding front room has a fixed timber pane window with double-hung sash windows on either side. The entrance to the side has a small porch with its bullnose roof. The house is part of a rare intact historical streetscape along with nine other homes in the street. The street numbering was changed temporarily in 1931, with the house becoming number 8 (reference).

The following information gives an insight into the lives of the residents of 7 Ednie Street, Bunbury.

William and Ellen Forrest

William and Ellen Forrest were living at 7 Ednie St in 1920. William worked as a Royal Mail contractor and ran a carrier service (reference). Ellen owned the house and furniture, a point of contention in a 1918 court case involving the firm J. G. Baldock and Co (reference). The firm won a lawsuit against William to recover the £20 that he owed. When William did not pay, a warrant was issued to seize sufficient furniture to recover the amount. However, when Ellen Forrest produced evidence that all the goods belonged to her, the bailiff abandoned the process and brought an interpleader action before the Bunbury magistrate. The magistrate decided that the furniture did belong to William and the bailiff could seize it. The Forrests then appealed against this to the full court and won (reference). William and Ellen went to Perenjori to farm, where William died in 1936 (reference, reference).

William Clarke

William Clarke purchased 7 Ednie Street in 1921 (reference). He was living there in 1922 when he advertised a wicker pram for sale (reference).

Harriet Mortimer

In 1931, 7 Ednie Street was owned by Thomas Williams and leased by Harriet Mortimer (reference). Harriet (nee Diaper) was originally from Oatlands, Tasmania and her husband, Alfred George Mortimer from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. They married in Fremantle in 1902, and their daughter, Marjorie, was born in 1904 at Cottesloe (reference). Their second daughter, Kathleen, was born in 1907 (reference) but died the following year while Harriet and her husband were living in Welshpool (reference). Their son, William, was born in 1908 at Fremantle (reference). The family then moved to Bunbury, where their second son, Geoffrey, was born in 1912 (reference). Marjorie started school in the same year (reference). They left Bunbury and went to Kalgoorlie, where the youngest, Nancy, was born in 1918 (reference). They returned to Bunbury and Harriet was living in South Bunbury when Alfred died suddenly in 1922 at Harrismith (reference). Harriet stayed in Ednie Street until she died there in 1934 after a long illness (reference).

Herron and Catherine (Maud) Williams

Herron Williams' father was Thomas Williams. Herron was closely related to the Herron and Trickett families, early pioneers in the Murray district (reference). He was born in Bunbury in 1901 and married Catherine (Maud) Fallon in Moodiarrup on 24 April 1922 (reference;reference). Catherine and Herron had three children - Robert Devlin (Bob) (reference), Herron Cleveland (Cleve) (reference;reference), and Maureen. Bob served with the R.A.A.F in the Second World War and died in 1944 in the Middle East when his plane went down while on a reconnaissance flight (reference;reference). The family returned to Moodiarrup after they left Bunbury and lived in the historic Towerrinning homestead on the banks of Towerrinning Lake. The district knew the family for their dances at the homestead, with the music being supplied by a local band. Their son Cleve sang and drummed. (reference, p.99).

Henry and Margaret Linscer

The Linscer family owned 7 Ednie Street in 1951 and were still living there when Margaret died in 1984 (reference, p.61). Henry and Margaret (nee Monkhouse) were married in 1918 (reference) and had three daughters Betty, Doris and Norma (reference). They had lived in Wellington Street, Bunbury, since the 1920s before moving to Ednie Street (reference;reference). Their eldest daughter, Betty, who later married Dennis Beauglehole (reference), attended the Bunbury Infants School and planted a lilac tree in 1926 which was only removed recently. It became known as the 'Betty' tree (reference). Doris served in the RAN from 1943 to 1946 (reference;reference) and married Eddie Power of Stirling Street, Bunbury, in 1947 (reference). Norma became a registered nurse and went to Kalgoorlie (reference).