2021 marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of Don Bank Museum, the oldest wooden house in North Sydney.
Its remarkable survival amidst North Sydney’s high-rise is a credit to the North Shore Historical Society who recognised the importance of Don Bank in the late 1960s, while it was still a family home.
Society member Marjory Byrne explains why she was drawn to research it: “As a newcomer in 1969, I went with a friend on a conducted bus tour to view the ‘Historic Houses of North Sydney’. Don Bank was the highlight of the tour for me. When I peeped over the front fence, taking care not to disturb Mrs White, the owner, who was sitting peacefully on the front verandah, I knew that I loved the place and its garden, and perhaps more than anything else the mystery of the house – who built it, and when, and for whom?”
The mystery remains unresolved today. St Leonards’ Cottage, as it was first known, may have been built as early as 1823, on merchant Edward Wollstonecraft’s vast 212-hectare Crows Nest farm estate.
It was certainly standing by 1847, when it was first recorded by name. Irish-Australian saddler James White bought the cottage in 1903, letting it out until his son Tommy moved in in 1915, when it still enjoyed magnificent harbour views.
The family renamed the house ‘Don Bank’, but the reason why has not passed down the generations. Tommy and his wife Katie, active members of the local Catholic community, raised three daughters at Don Bank. It remained a family home until Katie died in 1974 leaving a vacant house, extremely attractive to developers.
Both the White family and the Historical Society were keenly aware of the significance of a 19th century timber cottage, with remnant Victorian garden, in North Sydney’s burgeoning central business district.
The Society lobbied North Sydney Council to preserve the house. The Don Bank Museum Trust was formed to raise funds in 1977 – fortuitously the same year that the NSW Heritage Act was passed. With the contribution of State funding, Council was able to buy the property in 1978.
Restoration began in 1979, revealing the house to be one of the best examples in Australia of an early ‘slab’ cottage, made from upright timbers. Its development over time also became clear – from a four-roomed farm cottage to an eight-roomed genteel ‘villa’ by 1900.
Don Bank was opened as a museum by the Governor General, Sir Zelman Cowan, on 14 January 1981. The Historical Society ‘furnished’ the museum with locally acquired domestic artefacts, and many Society members acted as volunteer guides.
A 1983 entry in the Members’ Journal reports that, “Some of the most appreciative visitors have been school children… even boys admire the beautiful lace, the old-fashioned dresses, the strange items in the kitchen. Whoever heard of an ice chest? A locked tea caddy? Home-made soap?”
Don Bank (6 Napier Street, North Sydney) is open every Wednesday 12-3pm.
For information about volunteering or community group use, contact localhistory@northsydney.nsw.gov.au. Discover more at the 40 Years of Don Bank Museum exhibition at North Sydney Heritage Centre, Stanton Library, from 31 May 2021.
Historical Services, Stanton Library.