Image right: Villers-Brett at 33 High Street, Strathfield, July 2025. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies
In the days before street numbering, house names identified the homes and families within a community. Often aspirational, they were sometimes also named after places of significance to the family within. One of the grandest homes in Strathfield was named Mount Royal, denoting its elevated position and place in society. But even the more modest homes were given special names by their owners. One such home was built on Lot 96 at 33 (formerly 29) High Street Strathfield, on the Emerald Hills Estate, in about 1914, by owner/builder, George Lusted who already lived in High Street. Unusually for Strathfield, the home was built of timber and still stands today.
Emerald Hills Estate subdivision 1881. Courtesy State Library of NSW
By 1922, the home was owned by (Patrick) James McCourt who gave the cottage the name Villers Brett. Private James McCourt (SERN: 1353) enlisted on 18 August 1915 at a time when news from Gallipoli inspired many young men to join up. A tanner, he was just 18 years old and listed his mother, Clara, who lived on Liverpool Road, Enfield as his next of kin. James was assigned to the Reinforcements of the 1st Light Horse Regiment and sailed on the Pera on 12 October 1915. He was spared the carnage of Gallipoli, spending just one night there, and went on to serve with both the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade and 5th Field Artillery Brigade as a gunner in France. Although his service record doesn’t mention it, it’s probably safe to assume that he saw action at the Battle of Villers Bretonneux during April 1918.
March 1918 had brought the German Spring Offensive to the Western Front. This was partially successful and drove the Allied forced back some distance, although the AIF managed to halt the Germans at the Battles of Dernancourt and Morlancourt. As the German Army approached Amiens in early April however, Allied forces prepared to defend the village of Villers-Bretonneux. It was saved on 5 April after desperate and close fighting. When the Germans recaptured the village on 23-24 April, two Australian brigades were given the task of taking it back. The surprise night-time counter-attack began at 10 pm on 24 April. By dawn on Anzac Day, the AIF had broken through the German ranks but 1200 Australian lives had been lost. The village was largely destroyed but its residents never forgot the Australians who fought to save it. Today, the Villers-Bretonneux Australian National Memorial remembers the service and sacrifice of the Australian soldiers.
The ruins of the church and village of Villers-Bretonneux after the battle of April 1918. Courtesy Australian War Memorial
Australian soldiers and French children tend the graves of soldiers killed at Villers-Bretonneux during April 1918. Courtesy Australian War Memorial.
James McCourt remembered that battle too, and named his cottage after it. In 1921 he married Hilda Curran at Bulli and they were in residence at Villers Brett in High Street by 1922.
After the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, in the later stages of the war, McCourt served briefly with the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column and the 15th Battery. He returned to Australia in 1919 suffering some deafness and had spent considerable periods of time in military hospitals being treated for otitis media – middle ear infection.
Although the McCourts remained in High street for only about five years, valuation records suggest that the house retained its distinctive name until the late 1950s. James and Hilda McCourt moved firstly to Bondi. By World War II, James McCourt was a labourer and watchman living in Paddington when he enlisted again for war during July 1941, aged 44. He served on Australian shores before being medically discharged in 1944.
By 1927 Villers Brett was owned by John Leslie Rodway who lived next door. He owned the cottage until the late 1950s when it was purchased by Frederick O’Dell.
By J.J. MacRitchie
Local Studies Advisor
You can read more about the Battles of Villers-Bretonneux at: https://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/villers-bretonneux and https://sjmc.gov.au/villers-bretonneux-france-and-australia-together-forever/ and
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/the-battle-of-villers-bretonneux-how-australian-troops-halted-the-german-advance/