1877 - Samuel and Eliza move in

With all the building renovations, the Bennetts did not get to occupy their new home until 1877. (The Sands Directory of 1877 lists them at both the Kent Street and Little Coogee addresses.) Another likely reason for the delayed move from Ashmore House would have been Samuel’s involvement with the new newspaper office being built just down the road at 341-345 Kent Street. (For more information on “The Office That Never Was” follow this link)

Even when they finally did move in, landscaping was still underway.

A 1878 wood-cut, attributed to Arthur Collingridge (1853-1907), showing the largely completed Mundarrah Towers viewed from Little Coogee Bay. The image appeared in The Illustrated Sydney News on 17 September 1878 p.9. (Here, the original black and white image has been hand-coloured.)

(The accompanying article appeared at pp6-7 in the same edition, together with a poem entitled “Mundarrah” at page 15.)