C.Y. O'Connor Dwellings[[img/oconnor3.jpg|]]

C.Y. O'Connor never owned a house in Fremantle. He and his family lived in three (according to biographer Tony Evans): Park Bungalow, Yeldham House, and Plympton House, in this order:

Park Bungalow, 1891-3
Yeldham House, 1893
Plympton House, 1893-6
Park Bungalow, 1896-1900
Plympton House, 1900-

Tony Evans:
For the first year in Fremantle [1891], the family leased 'Park Bungalow', 7 Quarry Street, then owned by the Colonial Surgeon, Dr H.C. Barnett. When Dr Barnett returned to occupy his house in January 1893, the O'Connors rented, for a few months only, 'Yeldam [Yeldham] House', Lot 300 in Cantonment Street. Afterwards they leased 'Plympton House', a short distance away in Beach Street, overlooking the Swan River (now the harbour). The family would move back into 'Park Bungalow' in 1896 for four years, then return to 'Plympton House' in 1900. ... 'Park Bungalow', dating from the early 1870s, was built of local limestone on raised ground overlooking Fremantle Park and within sight of the present-day Fremantle Arts Centre (then the asylum). It had high ceilings, a library, dining room, music room and drawing room, bedrooms and a wine cellar. A housekeeper's quarters were located on a lower level. What would have been an important consideration for O'Connor was the provision of stabling for horses, a feature also of 'Plympton House'. Both 'Park Bungalow' and 'Plympton House' would have been substantial residences for those times, fitting homes for someone in O'Connor's position.

[[img/oconnorhouse2048C.jpg|]]

Fremantle Library Local History Collection photo #2048C, 1961. C.Y. O'Connor occupied this house when he came to WA in 1891 and later from 1898 to 1900. The house had 15 or 16 rooms. Originally the home of Dr H.C. Barnett, it was demolished c. 1963. Photo taken 26 January 1961.
(According to biographer Tony Evans - see below - the family lived in Park Bungalow 1891-2 and 1896-1900.)

The ADB article mentions its name, Park Bungalow, which indicates that it would have had views at the rear over Fremantle Park, to the east. The site was occupied by a child-minding centre until 2020. There is now no slope on the block, so it might have been levelled when the house was removed.

ADB:
O'Connor settled in Fremantle at Park Bungalow in Quarry Street, overlooking the river. In 1900 the family moved to Beach Street; most of them easily adapted to the West. ADB.

That the house in the photo is Park Bungalow is supported by its appearance in Patricia Brown's book in a painting reproduced (in b/w) on page 28, with this caption: '"Park Bungalow", C.Y. O'Connor's home in Fremantle from 1891 to 99, since demolished'. John Dowson, from whom I got the photo above, says that it's in Parliament House Perth.

Clip from a 1904 map (of harbour works) showing the house in Quarry Street the O'Connor family had occupied, with the empty space of Fremantle Park to its southeast, and with the indication of a 'steep cliff' on its western side. (The street shown as Edward Street is now Parry Street.)

Merab Tauman:
The house she [Aileen O'Connor] prepared for the family was the first of the O'Connors' three homes at Fremantle. Later, their second home for several years was a house rented from the H.C. Barnett Trust, 'Park Bungalow', 15 Quarry St, extended to some fourteen or fifteen rooms to accommodate the large O'Connor household. High above the river mouth, overlooking the developing harbour, the garden of Park Bungalow at the rear abutted a small park. During his final year the famly rented a twelve- or fourteen-room house built in Beach Road for W.S. Pearse. This home was nearer the river than Park Bungalow but still well within sight of the changing harbour scene. Tauman: 244.

[[img/oconnorstatue.jpg|]]

Tauman makes no suggestion about the location of the first home, and I suggest this may be because she has the record wrong. Read on.

Tony Evans, researching and writing five years later, was able to be more precise.

Tony Evans:
For the first year in Fremantle [1891], the family leased 'Park Bungalow', 7 Quarry Street, then owned by the Colonial Surgeon, Dr H.C. Barnett. When Dr Barnett returned to occupy his house in January 1893, the O'Connors rented, for a few months only, 'Yeldam [Yeldham] House', Lot 300 in Cantonment Street. Afterwards they leased 'Plympton House', a short distance away in Beach Street, overlooking the Swan River (now the harbour). The family would move back into 'Park Bungalow' in 1896 for four years, then return to 'Plympton House' in 1900. ... 'Park Bungalow', dating from the early 1870s, was built of local limestone on raised ground overlooking Fremantle Park and within sight of the present-day Fremantle Arts Centre (then the asylum). It had high ceilings, a library, dining room, music room and drawing room, bedrooms and a wine cellar. A housekeeper's quarters were located on a lower level. What would have been an important consideration for O'Connor was the provision of stabling for horses, a feature also of 'Plympton House'. Both 'Park Bungalow' and 'Plympton House' would have been substantial residences for those times, fitting homes for someone in O'Connor's position.

Evans's two references for those two paragraphs are firstly to 'Fremantle Rate Books', and secondly to this: Maureen F. Coghlan's Monuments in Stone.

Tony Evans:
Sadly, 'Park Bungalow', which could have become a Fremantle museum to C.Y. O'Connor, was demolished in the early 1960s. A good impression of the style and atmosphere of the interior of 'Park Bungalow' can be gained from a visit to 'Samson House' in Ellen Street, diagonally opposite across the park. Owned by National Trust and open to the public on Sunday, it was built around the same period. The O'Connors were frequent guests of the then owners, Michael and Mary Samson.

cyo

References and Links

Brown, Patricia M 1996, The Merchant Princes of Fremantle: The Rise and Decline of a Colonial Elite 1870-1900, UWAP.

Coghlan, Maureen F. 1958, Monuments in Stone, dissertation, Claremont Teachers College, BLP. [partly about one O'Connor dwelling]

Evans, A.G. 2001, C. Y. O'Connor: His Life and Times, UWAP.

Hasluck, Alexandra 1965, C. Y. O'Connor, OUP.

Hitchcock, JK 1929, The History of Fremantle, The Front Gate of Australia 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council.

Keane, S.B. 1981, 'Pietro G. Porcelli, sculptor, 1872-1943', Early Days, Volume 8, Part 5: 9-28.

Tauman, Merab 1978, The Chief: C. Y. O'Connor, 1843-1902, UWAP.

Tauman, Merab Harris 1988, bio in ADB.

Wikipedia page

Top photo from Battye 1912-13.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 17 August, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/oconnorhouses.html (it was last updated on 15 March, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.