Image right: Mooredean/Ercildoune, 57-59 Burlington Road, Homebush, 6 August 2025
The house at 57-59 Burlington Road was built c.1891 on a site measuring 100’ x 200’, comprising lots 39 and 40 of Section 11 of the Underwood Estate, which was subdivided in 1878. It is not listed in Sands’ Street Index of 1890, but advertisements appeared in the newspapers of July and August 1891 for a ‘competent general servant’ for the family of three in residence.[1] This is likely to have been Charles Coleman, his spinster sister, Emma, who died there in November 1899, and another family member, probably their brother, Henry. Charles Coleman is listed as living there in Sands’ Directory of 1892. The house was named Mooredean.
Underwood Estate sub-division, 1878. Courtesy State Library of NSW
Charles Coleman was an umbrella importer with a business in Sydney Arcade in the city. He had previously been in business in Newtown. It is worth noting that purchasing an umbrella was a significant investment at this time. In April 1878 he imported alpaca umbrellas via a shipment on the delightfully named Cedric the Saxon.[2] In 1890, Henry Wilshire was convicted of a number of thefts in the Sydney Arcade, where he was a night watchman; these included three walking sticks, an umbrella and a pair of pliers, to the value of £2 5s from the shop of Charles Coleman.[3] He was sentenced to four years penal servitude.[4]
Charles Coleman lived at Mooredean until about 1907 when he moved to Summer Hill. Some of his household furniture was offered for auction during September that year.[5] Charles Coleman died in Summer Hill in 1910, aged 54.[6]
According to Sands’ Street Index of 1910 and 1915, the house was then occupied by John W. Johns and was still named Mooredean. In 1920, it was occupied by Will G. Long. Interestingly, John William Johns died in 1923 at his home, also named Mooredean, in Cheltenham Road Cheltenham.[7]
The house was bought in about 1923 by Arthur Ernest Nichols, a butcher, who named the house Ercildoune. This may have been named after the legendary place in Scotland, although there is also a large historic property in Victoria with the same name, settled by the Learmonth family, whose ancestor was Thomas the Rhymer of Ercildoune. Apparently Ercildoune meant ‘Look-out hill.’
You can read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Rhymer and https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10933904 and https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10961751
Arthur Nichols lived at Ercildoune with his wife and family until his sudden death in a car accident on 17 April 1948. His son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters were also badly injured in the accident.
The Sun 17 April 1948 p2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/228994861
Burlington Road was renumbered in March 1957 which was when Ercildoune acquired the number 57-59. In earlier times it had been numbered both 55 and 47. According to the valuation books, Arthur Nichols’ wife, Mildred Elizabeth Nichols remained in the house until the late 1950s when she sold the property and moved to Cronulla, where she died in 1968. She sold the house to Heinrich and Erna Wagner who subdivided a section at the rear before selling both lots in the early 1960s. The house and larger lot (100’ x 130’) was bought by Leonardo and Camillo Heinrich. This became Section 11, Lot 1. The smaller section (100’ x 70’) was sold to Arthur and Rosa Matheson of 25 Roberts Street Strathfield and became Section 11, Lot 2. The 1966 valuation books show that this lot became 3 Meredith Street Homebush and a home was built c.1968.
By J.J. MacRitchie
Local Studies Advisor
References
[1] Daily Telegraph 27 July 1891 p.8 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/235855141
[2] Sydney Morning Herald 2 April 1878 p.4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13410604
[3] New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime 16 July 1890 p.224 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251637555
[4] Evening News 22 August 1890 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113331497
[5] Sydney Morning Herald 20 September 1907 p.3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14908338?searchTerm=homebush%20charles%20coleman
[6] Daily Telegraph 8 December 1910 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/238660150
[7] Daily Telegraph 16 October 1923 p.8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245991459