George Harry Hardy

In this blog I cover the story of the descendants of Charles and Alice Hardy who live in Australia.My sincere thanks to my Australian cousins Kristine Hardy, Rosalie Smith and Nanette Duxbury who very kindly provided me with extensive information on their family's history.

George Harry Hardy was the second born son of Charles and Alice Hardy. He was born at Dairy Flat north of Auckland on 17 October 1868. His brother Charles Lingham Hardy had been born in Freemans Bay Auckland two years earlier on 12th March 1866 shortly after Charles and Alice arrived in New Zealand from England.

George grew up at Dairy Flat firstly on the land initially granted to Charles and Alice as early emigrants and then on the larger land holding that they purchased in the Horseshoe Bush. We do not know a lot about George from those early years. It is likely he and his older brother worked on their father's land as soon as they were able. What we do know is that George ultimately became a builder. He is listed on the 1893 Electoral Role for Dairy Flat as a Residential Contractor and on the 1900 Electoral Role for Mount Albert as a Carpenter. His older brother Charles developed skills in driving bullock teams and worked in the logging industry. He had an affinity with horses and in his later years he had a carting business in Ponsonby, Auckland using a horse drawn cart. Younger brother Frederick developed skills as a saddler and set up his own saddlery business.

In the above Hardy family photo we believe George is the son standing in the middle of the back row. Fred is standing on his immediate right and Charles Lingham is on the end to his left. We think this photo was taken in the early 1890s- possibly around the time of Charles Lingham's marriage to Jane Anna Riley on 6 January 1892.

George seems to have left home and moved to Cambridge at some point in the early 1900s. His older brother Charles Lingham had moved to Dargaville shortly after his marriage . His brother Frederick moved initially to Helensville around 1899 and then to Eltham. His parents had moved to Mount Albert in 1900. George's listing on the Electoral Role indicates that he still lived with them at this time.

On 9 December 1903 George married Catherine Annie ("Lottie") Gash at Cambridge. Their first born son Francis George (Frank) was born at Cambridge on 22 February 1905.

George and Catherine moved to Australia around 1906/1907. They may have been attracted to Australia by the work opportunities for George at this time. Sydney was going through a period of modernisation including slum clearances around the inner city which would have provided opportunities for a skilled builder like George. George's father Charles had spent time in Australia during the 1850s. He may have encouraged George to travel there and check on the opportunities it would provide, just as he had done as a young man.

George and Catherine settled into the suburbs of Sydney, initially at Petersham which is about 6 kms to the southwest of the Sydney CBD. Their daughter Marjory Alice (Madge) was born at Petersham on 14 July 1907. Over the years that followed they remained within around 11kms of the Sydney CBD. They moved from Petersham to Chatswood in 1909, then to Randwick in 1915, to Arncliffe in 1920 and to 1 White St in Strathfield in 1937.

The above dates are based on the birth locations indicated for daughter Marjory born 14 July 1907 at Petersham NSW, Laurel born 16 June 1909 at Chatswood, son Frederick *Eltham born 24 June 1912 also at Chatswood, Phyllis Kathleen born 18 April 1915 at Randwick and Jackson born at Arncliffe 7 March 1920. We have an electoral role record for 1937 showing that George, Catherine, Marjorie and Phyllis were all at that time living at 1 White St, Strathfield.

George was often away from home on country building jobs. Freezing works in Queensland, bridges and blocks of buildings in various towns. Fred mentioned in his recollections to his wife that his mother was often sick and his grandmother would visit to help look after the family while his father was away. My assumption is that this would have been Lottie's mother as we have no record of Alice Hardy visiting Australia.

*The choice of Frederick's middle name Eltham is interesting as it is the name of the town in New Zealand where George's brother Frederick lived. Perhaps these two brothers had a particularly close relationship.

The above photo is George walking along the streets of the Sydney CBD with his son Frank. It is thought to be dated around 1935 at which time George would have been about 67 and Frank aged 30.

Francis George ("Frank")

Frank was born at Cambridge New Zealand on 23 February 1905. The above photo is Frank on a trip to Africa. I am not sure if this is a live cheetah being patted by Frank or a deceased and stuffed cheetah used for the purpose of a good photo.

Frank died on 14 January 1961 on his farm at Windsor, NSW. He had never married. He is buried in the St Matthews Churchyard Windsor, NSW. Windsor is a historic town on the Hawkesbury River to the northwest of Sydney.

Marjorie Alice ("Madge")

Madge was born at Petersham NSW on 14 July 1907. She was a nurse during WW2 and never married. Madge died on 21 July 1968 age 61 years at Yeppoon, Queensland.

Laurel

Laurel was born at Chatswood on 16 June 1909. She married Bruce Ferrow at St Andrews Church, Summer Hill, NSW on 15 November 1930. Laurel and Bruce had one child Geoffrey.

Laurel died 10 September 1989 and is buried at Northern Suburbs Lawn Cemetery, North Ryde.

Geoffrey Ferrow

In the above photo Geoffrey is with Nanette

Geoffrey sadly died suddenly in his sleep at the young age of 34 in 1984. I first came across his name in connection with the substantial Hardy family history work he had undertaken over a period of some 15 years. Geoffrey had been in communication with Dorothy McClure and also John Hale, a grandson of Charles Hardy's brother Robert Hardy.

A tribute to Geoffrey appeared in the Mossman Daily newspaper of 26 June 1984. It describes Geoffrey as "... one of the most promising young members of the Australian Liberal Party. " Geoffrey had been admitted to the Bar as a barrister in March 1974 after obtaining a law degree from Sydney University. He was a former president of the Blue Mountains Young Liberal Party, a delegate to the State and Federal councils of the Party, and member of the NSW Executive.

Frederick Eltham ("Fred")

Fred was born at Chatswood, NSW on 24 June 1912. He married Marie McGowan at Lewisham on 9th November 1935. Fred and Marie had six children. They were:

Bryan born 10 October 1937 died 17 February 2016, Rosalie born 20 July 1941 lives Paradise Point Queensland, Graham born 5 June 1944 lives in Melbourne, Terry Born 19 March 1946, died November 2021 in Sydney, Pat (known as Dawn) born 3 January 1949 lives in Sydney and Nanette born 4 November 1950 lives in Central Coast NSW.

My thanks to Nanette for the following information about her father and family.

Fred followed in his father's footsteps and became a builder. He had done well at school and won a scholarship to the Hoare Business College. During the 1930s depression work was scarce and Fred walked miles in search of work. He spent several years living on the land and supplementing his income by shooting rabbits and breeding ferrets. Those years obviously instilled a determination to succeed as Fred went on to do very well in his business ventures.

Fred started a company in 1957 under the name of F.E. Hardy Pty Ltd. In 1958 he started another company Hardinvest Pty Ltd as a building and investment business. He had an office and factory at 26 Beatrice St, Ashfield. During this time he built many 3 bedroom houses mainly in the Strathfield/Burwood/Concord area. He built a radio tower and rebuilt the Dairy Lea chocolate shop on the corner of George and King Streets in Sydney. He then moved onto building hotels and did a lot of work for Tooheys Pty Ltd.

He built the first family home at 67 Newton Rd, Strathfield, one of the first houses in the street. It was to be the family home for around 20 years. Strathfield in the 1930s was considered to be on the outskirts of Sydney with many large properties and land holdings which were later subdivided into residential blocks. In 1958 the family of 6 children now being too large for a 3 bedroom home, they moved to 5 Malvern Cres, Strathfield, which was also built by Fred.

The above photo taken in 1954 of Fred and Marie's children.

From left to right they are Graham, Terry, Bryan (at rear), Dawn (known as Pat), Nanette, Rosalie.

5 Malvern Cres - current street view from Google Maps

Around this time Fred stopped building houses and joined with "bunny" Durkin and later his son John Durkin to form the company HARKIN Pty Ltd. They then began building hotels including the Bass Hill Hotel, Heathcote Hotel, Greenacre Hotel, Narabeen Hotel, Jannali Inn and Pendle Inn. F.E. Hardy Pty Ltd also built unit blocks including in Speed St Liverpool and Ewos Pde Cronulla. Fred and John formed the Colonial Liquor Group - even though Fred did not touch alcohol, mainly because it gave him asthma. The Colonial Liquor Group was eventually sold to Coles Supermarket chain in the 1980s. Harkin Pty owned and operated the Jannali Inn and Pendle Inn and when the company was dissolved in latter years, Fred kept Pendle Inn and put in managers to run it. He soon gave up building and saw the future (money) in the hotel industry. The Pendle Inn stayed in the ownership of the Hardy family for many years before being sold for a very healthy return.

Fred Hardy's great success as a builder and businessman has some similarity to another Hardy family member. In March of 1903 George Hardy's sister Alice married Albert Beazley who was also a builder. Their son Frederick Charles Beazley (also known as "Radiata Fred") was also a builder. Fred and his son Barry founded the very successful building company Beazley Homes. Through the pioneering of pre-cut timber framing this company grew into one of New Zealand's most successful home building companies. Barry expanded the business into Australia where it was also very successful.

Fred was a keen fisherman. He owned a small boat called "Dirty Dora" and every Christmas holidays and Easter he would take the boat down to Honeymoon Bay and fish in the early morning every day. In Sydney he was a member of the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Rose Bay and spent the weekends as part of the crew on friends boats. In 1965 he had his own boat "Noorinya" built and it was moored at Rose Bay. Big Game fishing was his passion and if he wasn't working he was on the boat, every Saturday afternoon and Sunday. He later upgraded to a Steber 36 foot sports cruiser which he named Noorinya II.

Marie died of lung cancer aged 56 years in 1968 and was buried at Rookwood cemetery, Sydney. Fred marred his second wife Norma Loy in 1976 (in Canberra). Norma had four adult children of her own. She was a lovely lady who cared deeply for Fred, an excellent cook and the Christmas gatherings were especially festive. They continued to live at Malvern Cres, Strathfield until Fred died of renal failure in 1995, aged 83 years. He was cremated and his ashes buried in the rose garden at Rockwood Cemetery.

Phyllis Kathleen

Phyliss was born at Arden St, Randwick, NSW on 18 April 1915. In 1948 Phyliss married Carl Wilhelmus Gerhardus Muller. The marriage took place by proxy. Carl was a Dutchman employed by the Dutch Shell Oil Company. He had initially worked in Sydney and Melbourne during the war before moving with Phyllis to the company's operation in Balikpapan, Borneo . On 7 November 1950 Phyllis was found murdered at the premises of the company. It was believed she was murdered by "local natives".

Jackson Hardy

Jackson was born at 10 Goddard St, Arncliffe, NSW on 7 March 1920. He was an engineer. He had no children and died 27 February 2000. He is buried at Rockwood, Sydney, NSW.