By Rodney Hammett, from Bulletin 8/2026 (October)
The house at the corner of Wigram Road and Minogue Crescent featured in the September mystery photo – number 121 Wigram Road – seems to sit there, like a shag on a rock (Figure 1). It must have had a story to tell, so I researched the site’s land ownership and am sharing it here. Today, the Centennial Apartments occupy 115–121 Wigram Road. In this article, I’ll sometimes refer to this parcel of land as the ‘O’Hara lot’, after Edward and Johanna O’Hara, who purchased it from George Allen in 1891.
1828–1891: George Allen
The land was originally purchased by George Allen at the time of the 1828 subdivision of the Glebe lands, becoming part of the Allens’ Toxteth Park Estate. A red star in Figure 2 locates the site, and the site is also shown on the 1888 Glebe Municipality map (Figure 3). Around 1888, a few years before Allen sold this portion of his extensive holdings, the land was vacant, and the Centennial Hotel had just been built on the Ross Street corner block.
1891–1903: O’Hara
In May 1891, the land between the hotel and the current Minogue Crescent[1] was purchased from George Allen’s estate by Edward O’Hara and his wife Johanna Annie (Dwyer) O’Hara, for £1,600.[2] Edward, born in Sydney in 1842, married Johanna in 1866, aged 24 and 18 respectively. They had eight children, the last being Ann, born in 1888. Edward worked as a butcher in the Sydney CBD (1880) and several Sydney suburbs: Ultimo (1883), Waverley (1886), Newtown (1887) and St Johns Road, Glebe (1890).
In April 1892, less than 12 months after the land was purchased, the Minister for Public Works resumed a triangular portion for part of the tramway route from Forest Lodge to Balmain (Figure 4 and Figure 5).[3]
By 1894, the O’Hara family had built three houses. Street numbering did not begin until 1899, but the Rate Books[4] show:
- 117 Wigram Road (nearest the hotel) – a grocer’s shop
- 119 Wigram Road – a house with stables
- 121 Wigram Road (nearest to tramway) – occupied by James Ferrier
The 1894 Sands Directory shows that Mrs Angus Bennett, a grocer, and Henry W. Bennett, a carpenter and joiner, lived in no 117. The O’Hara family lived in no 119 (the house with stables), where Mr Edward J. O’Hara operated livery stables and his son James T. O’Hara was a fuel merchant. James Ferrier, in no 121, appears in Sands as a vinegar manufacturer.
In 1903, the O’Hara family lost no 117 and part of no 119 when the mortgagee, George Allen’s estate, foreclosed. The Allen estate sold this portion to Horace Melbourne Suttor and the O’Hara family held the remaining portion of land until 1907. Rate Books for 1903 show the O’Hara family is at no 117, Henry Walker and stables at no 119 — foreshadowing this site’s future decades-long transport-related use –and George Shannon at no 121, the future ‘shag on a rock’ of Figure 1.
A family tragedy occurred on 11 September 1906 when Edward fell from a window onto the footpath of Wigram Road at no 117 and died from his injuries, aged 63. At the time of his death, at least three of their children had already died. Johanna remained at no 117 until she died in 1914, aged 65.
1903–1920: Horace Suttor
After Edward’s death, Johanna sold her remaining portion of the site in June 1907 to Horace Melbourne Suttor, who thereby became owner of the original O’Hara lot. Suttor (1861–1924), a commission agent and member of a prominent Bathurst pastoral family, founded H. M. Suttor & Co. in 1877 and ran it until 1921. He married Amy Georgina Knight at St Bartholomew’s Church Pyrmont on 8 February 1882, and they had four children: Clive Festing (1882–1904), Rawdon Horace (1884–1957) and Doris Amy (1885–1931). Horace’s estate was valued for probate at £64,327.
When Suttor purchased the Forest Lodge land in 1903, he reached a financial arrangement with the O’Hara family allowing them to remain at no 117 and for Henry Walker to continue operating stables at no 119. Number 121 was let to various tenants until September 1920, when Suttor gifted the entire parcel to Matthew Henry Walker. The conveyance in part states: ‘in consideration of the loyal service rendered to the said Horace Melbourne Suttor for many years past by the said Henry Walker’.[5]
1920–1941: Harry Walker
Matthew Henry Walker, Harry to his friends, was the eldest child of William Walker’s third marriage. William, a produce dealer from Cheshire, arrived in Sydney around 1842. William’s first marriage was to Caroline Woodhams in Glebe in 1843. He and Caroline had six children, three of whom were alive when she died in 1858. William soon remarried; in July 1859, he married Mary Ann Hulbert in Glebe. Sadly, Mary and their daughter died during childbirth in June the following year. A third marriage followed a few months later: on 29 November 1860, William married Margaret Patrickson Smith in Sydney. Harry, born on 25 October 1861, was the eldest of their ten children.
Harry followed his father into the produce trade and, while living in the Glebe–Forest Lodge area, he became an auctioneer as well. He married Emily Eliza Morris on 30 June 1883, and their six children thrived and lived long lives. Harry was well known locally; in 1914 he was among the dealers bidding for donated wheat to support the Patriotic and Belgium Funds.
The Walkers lived at several Forest Lodge addresses – 13 Forest Street, 61 Arundel Street – and later at 20 Allen Street, Glebe. On 1 August 1929 Emily died at the Western Suburbs Hospital aged 68 and is buried at Rookwood Cemetery. After her death, Harry moved to 8 Toxteth Road, then back to Allen Street, this time to no 16. Harry died on 25 July 1940 and was privately cremated. His estate, administered without a will, was valued for probate at £1,655 10s 5d (net).
The site of Walker’s transport business is labelled on the 1939 Glebe map (Figure 6); and and can be seen from the street in 1930 (Figure 7)
1941–1971 Coady’s yard
In February 1941, the Walker property was sold to master carrier Thomas Patrick Coady. The Coady family were already an established carrier in Glebe, having purchased land in 1912, now occupied by Glebe Gardens.[6] Figure 6 shows their existing yard near Walker’s stables. Presumably, in 1941, Coady’s saw a need to expand its footprint, and Walker’s existing yard, a stone’s throw from Coady’s established yard, was a sensible choice.
By purchasing the O’Hara lot, Coady’s came into possession of the buildings located there. Number 119 was still used as a residence in August 1943, when George William Joseph (John) Johnson (‘loved father of Doris (deceased), Jack, and Sam’) died suddenly there, aged 67.[7]
By 1954, however, no 119 was clearly in commercial use: it appears as the address for truck‑driver job enquiries.[8] In 1955, a council Building Inspection Card, monitoring repairs to the yard’s Wigram Road frontage, lists ‘119/121 Wigram Road’ as Coady’s yard. [9]
After Thomas Coady’s death in June 1944, his sons John Joseph (1897–1973), Thomas Patrick (1904–1982), and William Francis (1907–1981) inherited the property.[10] They transferred ownership to their business, John Coady Pty Ltd, in October 1963. Figure 8 show the site in the 1960s and Figure 9 in 1970.
1971–current: title consolidation and residential development
Ownership of the O’Hara lot passed from John Coady Pty Ltd to Mayne Nickless Ltd in July 1971, then to S. McCormack & Sons Pty Ltd in May 1976. A future article will explore these and other Glebe – Forest Lodge transport businesses which together shaped the industrial character of this part of Forest Lodge for much of the 20th century.
McCormack’s sale of the O’Hara lot to M. & F. Enterprises Pty Ltd in April 1986 marked the point at which the land’s long-standing role as a transportation hub began to give way to its emerging value as a property development site. M. & F. Enterprises was owned by Simon Morgan[11] whose focus was on the hotel business, but by purchasing the O’Hara lot was able to extend the hotel’s footprint. From that point, subsequent purchases were made by developers seeking to consolidate the various land titles across the block bounded by Wigram Road, Minogue Crescent, Alfred Street and Ross Street, a necessary step in creating a single large site suitable for a sizable development. After several attempts, consolidation was finally achieved, and the Centennial Apartments were completed and offered for sale in 2007.
The house in the September mystery photo – the ‘shag on a rock’ at 121 Wigram Road – was simply the last structure remaining from the O’Hara lot’s earlier uses. Its long presence on the corner reflected the persistence of the underlying land titles and the gradual changes in how the site was used. What began as a question about one small building ultimately revealed the history of the O’Hara lot itself and sheds light on the broader pattern of change occurring in inner-city suburbs.
Endnotes
[1] Minogue Crescent was named in 1964 after Daniel Minogue, M.H.R. for West Sydney from 1949 to 1969. Before that it was called Tramway Reserve, Crescent Street, Crescent Street North. (Source: ‘History of Sydney-streets’ spreadsheet available from History of Sydney Streets on the City of Sydney website)
[2] NSW Land Registry Services; Old Title, Book 463 no 869
[3] NSW Land Registry Services; Old Title, Book 489 no 436
[4] Rate Books, 1859-1940 [Glebe Municipal Council], City of Sydney Archives
[5] NSW Land Registry Services; Old Title, Book 1203 no 368.
[6] Glebe Society’s ‘Mystery Photo: April 2025’.
[7] Family Notices (1943, August 9). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 8. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17859507
[8] https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18447404/1083660
[9] City of Sydney building Inspection card for [year]
[10] NSW Land Registry Services; Torrens Title Vol 5720 Fol 33
[11] Building Application Files for 115 Wigram Road Glebe, City of Sydney Archives
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