A character-filled house that has been part of the fabric of a beachside community for more than eight decades will go to auction in Caloundra.
Current owner Margaret Clarkson has fond memories of family holidays over more than six of those decades in the absolute beachfront home called Trentham at 7 Wilson Ave, Dicky Beach.
These include seeing a Test great playing beach cricket, a Governor-General jogging past with his Federal Police bodyguards and a well-known local doctor playing the bagpipes in his kilt to usher in each new year.
Then there was the hilarious moment many moons ago when a hotshot Melbourne lawyer was observed attempting to buy a little-stocked condiment – horseradish – at the corner store more used to selling ice creams and soft drinks.
In a rare sad moment, Mrs Clarkson laments the day the top part of the nearby SS Dicky wreck was cut up and hauled away due to safety concerns in 2015.
But the time has come for her to say farewell to one of the Sunshine Coast’s premier beachfront addresses.
Scroll down for Margaret’s memories and a gallery of the home
Trentham will be sold for only the second time in its history, with the previous sale nearly 65 years ago to Mrs Clarkson’s father.
Ray White Caloundra will take the much-admired property to auction at 5pm on Saturday, November 6, in what is building as a highly-anticipated real estate event.
The Ray White Caloundra Group managing director Andrew Garland (pictured) is hoping for a record price for the prestigious street, and one of the highest ever achieved for a house in Caloundra.
The sale will be a rare opportunity to secure the two-level, five-bedroom, three-bathroom home whose history dates to 1940 and whose breathtaking beach and ocean views have been enjoyed by generations of only two families.
The highly desirable 607m² (0.15 acres) block has direct access to Dicky Beach – once an “extended backyard” for Mrs Clarkson’s family members to play, relax and immerse themselves in endless golden sands, dunal grasses and kilometres of surf.
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“The house was built about 1940 in the Dicky Beach Estate, named of course after the SS Dicky which was beached in a large storm in 1893,” Mrs Clarkson said.
“In 1937, a bridge had been built over Tooway Creek which opened up the area.
“Sir Leslie Wilson, the then Governor of Queensland, built Currimundi House, a magnificent colonial residence where ‘Governors Row’ is now situated. Wilson Avenue was named after him.
“Sadly, in 1987, it was demolished but there are now many houses where it stood.
“Around 1940, Joseph Elks and Albert Sudlow who ran a poultry business in Beerwah bought two blocks of 24 perches (o.06ha) each and built two houses and named them Outram and Trentham – no doubt after their English roots.
“These houses were rented by the staff who worked at Currimundi House.
“In 1956, Bill Brown (the Test cricketer who played with Donald Bradman) and his wife bought Outram and changed its name to Brownies. My father, Professor Andrew Thomson, bought Trentham the following year for a holiday house.”
Trentham changed considerably in 1994 when it was lifted up and a new unit designed by architect Roger Todd was built underneath.
“The house was made cyclone-proof and our beloved holiday home encapsulated upstairs,” Mrs Clarkson remembered.
“Four generations of us have loved it but now have scattered to the four winds!
“It is with regret that, due to COVID, we have relied on friends to look after the house.
“Now in my mid-eighties, the time has come to sell.”
Fitted out with modern amenities but retaining its coastal-living charms, 7 Wilson Ave will have its first open-house inspections this weekend: Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16, from 1-1.30pm.
- SEE THE GALLERY OF PHOTOS BELOW
The home, complete with balconies overlooking the beachfront, offers two self-contained levels, allowing the option to rent the downstairs area while enjoying private living upstairs.
Off-street parking for two vehicles adds to the two-car garage at the front.
“Paradise, we call it,” Andrew said of the Wilson Avenue address.
“Traditionally, of the beachfront streets, Wilson Ave has either been neck and neck or ahead of Watson St at Currimundi and Mcilwraith St at Moffat Beach on the hilltop facing north on the headland.
“They’re certainly the premier strips of beachfront.”
While real estate in the immediate area was tightly held, Mr Garland said he had achieved the last sale: Sky Lodge at No.43 Wilson Ave for $3.7million in 2017.
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“There were a couple of sales – generational changes – four years ago,” he said.
“The last proper sale was Sky Lodge … and I think there was an off-market transaction a year later further up the street.
“I sold three beachfront properties in Watson Street, Currimundi, in the last 12 months and they sold in the mid- to high-$4m.
“I think we’re in a stronger market.”
Mr Garland said Dicky Beach was an “amazing” location for the proximity of the surf club, the security of a patrolled beach 365 days of the year, and all the amenities in the one convenient spot.
“You got a lot of restaurants, cafes, convenience store, bakery,” he said.
“You can park the car and you never have to hop in it again once you’re there.
“A number of the other beachfront locations, you’ve got to jump in the car to get milk. A wonderful spot.”
GRATEFUL FOR THE MEMORIES
Margaret Clarkson shares some of her recollections of life at Dicky Beach across the past 64 years for long-time residents and those with a penchant for local history.
- New Year’s Eve parties which always ended with Dr Palmer in a kilt, welcoming the New Year by playing his bagpipes along Wilson Avenue.
- The then Governor-General of Australia Sir Zelman Cowan doing his Sunday run along the beach to Currimundi with his bodyguards – two Federal Policemen trying to look unobtrusively part of the beach scene.
- A hot-shot lawyer from Melbourne trying to buy horseradish from the only shop at the time at Dicky Beach and the young attendant – a specialist in drinks, lollies and ice creams – looking stunned.
- Australian Test legend Bill Brown playing beach cricket with any kids who wanted to join in.
- My father Andy Thomson, the professor, teaching his five grandkids to surf as he would instruct students in a seminar.
- Max Clark the photographer (Art by Clark) lining up the bride and groom the morning after their wedding in full bridal gear because he had forgotten to put film in the camera on the big day.
- The very moving removal of the wreck of the SS Dicky and the crowds who collected at dawn to mourn her departure.
7 WILSON AVE TODAY IN PICTURES
