Kentigern

Hunters Hill was a rising suburb in the 1880s, with a regular ferry service to the city making it a desirable location for a professional gentleman like Heydon who became a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly in 1882, moving to the Legislative Council in 1889. He was considered to be a “man of fine literary attainments” and his house at Hunters Hill included a study, a library and a special “judge’s room” built as a small wing on the southern side. The entry to the judge’s room was from the front verandah.

When Heydon bought his land in Hunters Hill in 1881 he was newly-married to Mary Josephine Gell, daughter of Bathurst architect Edward Gell. Their two children were both born in Hunters Hill: Mary Elizabeth (later Collingridge) in 1882 and Joseph Kentigern Heydon on 13 January 1884, the feast day St Kentigern, a Scottish saint. Joseph eventually became a partner in his father’s legal practice, forming the firm of Messrs. Heydon & Heydon, before pursuing an alternate career in manufacturing and developing the Textile Company of Sydney.

Kentigern was home to three generations of the Heydon and Collingridge families. It was first offered for sale outside the family in December 1993 and retained many of the original architectural features when photographed in mid-1994.The house is listed as an item of local significance of the Hunters Hill Local Environmental Plan 2012.

Photographer: Louise Lister

Date Photographed: 1994

Original image format: 35mm photographic negatives

Copyright: Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Photograph Louise Lister

Further reading: The Hunter's Hill Trust, Heritage of Hunter's Hill: 4th edition, Hunter's Hill, The Hunter’s Hill Trust, 2002.

Beverley Sherry, Hunter's Hill: Australia's oldest garden suburb, Sydney, David Ell, 1989.