Author: John T Squires

This post concludes the story of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago. I have traced the early landholders for this property (1848–1858), Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family (from 1858 to 1882) and then two of their children, Daniel Justin Bryan (d.1912) and his sister, Ellen Bruyn. In this blog, the story continues to the people who bought house in 1969, the Finneys.

An interesting report in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Tuesday 14 June 1927, p.18, entitled ARE WINTERS MILDER, quotes a “Mrs. [sic.] Ellen Bruyn, who has spent 71 years at Dungog” as declaring that “the winters of late years had be come milder, and the summers hotter, and drier”. It is interesting to see such an early observation relating to what we know now to be human-exacerbated climate change, as the average annual temperature is rising at a worrying level.

The Telegraph notes that “she quoted no thermometer readings to support her contention, but said she could speak with personal experience of the seasons, coupled with her observations of the less rigorous effects of recent winters upon vegetation in the gardens which adorn her residence.” Indeed: that would be the cottage garden at the front of her property, that is evident in the one photo of the house that is extant, as noted earlier.

Ellen Bruyn’s Will

Ellen’s father had died intestate. Her property and goods were not to be caught in the same way; on 4 August 1925 Ellen Bruyn, then aged 85 years, made her Last Will and Testament, in which she appointed George Alexander Mackay, Thomas Edward Monaghan and Robert Kendall Hobbs the Executors. Just two years and two months later, on 2nd October 1927, Ellen Bruyn died. Probate was subsequently granted on 1 November 1927.

In an article in the Dungog Chronicle of Tuesday 4 October 1927, page 2, tribute was paid to Ellen Bruyn. “During her life-time Miss Bruyn was known far and wide for her benevolent nature and broad-minded charities. None that ever besought her help went away empty-handed.”

Reports of her estate indicate this extensive benevolence, with a lengthy report in the Sydney Morning Herald of Friday 4 Nov 1927, on p.6, providing details. The article is headed simply LATE MISS E. BRUYN. It notes that she left an estate “of the net value of £20,106”. A similar notice in the Maitland Weekly Mercury of 3 Nov 1927, p.5, reports that “the estate of the late Miss Ellen Bruyn, of Dungog, who died last month, aged 88, has been valued for probate purposes at £20,116”. The calculator provided by the Reserve Bank of Australia indicates that in 2023 this sum of money would be worth $1,932,438.79.

This was managed by a Trust established by the appointment of as George Alexander Mackay, Thomas Edward Monaghan and Robert Kendall Hobbs as Executors and Trustees in Ellen Bruyn’s 1925 will. Between 1932 and 1941, all three Trustees died; in February 1942 George Mackay, Donald Reay Mackay and Robert John Alison were appointed as “Trustees of the Will of the said Ellen Bruyn in the place of the deceased original Trustees”.

In this 1942 process, the components of the 1925 will forming the Trust were specified, in particular, as “£1000 secured by Memorandum of Mortgage 18 Dec 1928 for land at Heydon St Mosman; £1700 fixed deposit with Commercial Banking Company; £67.14.3 on account with Commercial Banking Company; Land in Brown Street Dungog on which is erected a dwelling house and other improvements being Lots 6 and 7 of Section 5 Town of Dungog; Vacant land in Mackay Street Dungog being Lots 4 and 5 Section 5 Town of Dungog”.

As far as the distribution of various elements of this estate was concerned, the SMH article provides specific details. It first notes that Ellen had “devised certain lands in Mackay-street, Dungog, to the local council, to be held by them in trust as a play and recreation ground for children; if, after a period of 20 years, the council did not think it advisable to use them as such, the lands were to be sold, and the net proceeds paid to the funds of the Roman Catholic Church at Dungog.” In 2024, the Council still maintains land on Mackay Street which is called Bruyn Park; it abuts the southern end of Jubilee Park, which runs along the western boundary of the Brown Street property once owned by the Bruyns.

Furthermore, Ellen took care to provide for her family, as “she devised certain real estate and £1500 to maintain it to her nephew, Joseph Thomas Bruyn, and his sons, £1500 each to her three sisters, Margaret Monaghan, Elizabeth Ann Cooke, and Sarah Malvina Lawless, and their daughters”.

The various charitable organisations that Ellen remembered in her will are signalled through this list of bequests: “£1000 to the Deaf and Dumb Institution conducted by the Dominican Nuns at Waratah, £500 to the Sisters of St. Joseph at Lochinvar, £500 to the Dr. Murray Catholic Orphanage at West Maitland, Waitara Foundling Home conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, £1000 to the Dungog Cottage Hospital”.

In addition, Ellen had directed that “the interest from the investment of £200 [was to be used] for the upkeep of the graves in the local cemetery of herself and relatives of the name of Bruyn for a period of 25 years from the date of her death; at the expiration of that period the £200 to be paid to the local Roman Catholic Church; £100 to the Roman Catholic curate at Dungog, and the residue of her estate to relatives and others”.

Dungog Cottage Hospital

One significant matter identified in this will relates to the Dungog Hospital. Daniel had been appointed as one of the foundation members of the hospital committee in 1891. Ellen must have been actively involved in the years after Hospital Cottage was opened in 1892. One item in her will was that she bequeathed “£1000 to Dungog Hospital, the interest to be used for 20 years and then the principal to go to the committee” (Sydney Catholic Press, Thursday 13 October 1927, p.41).

Annual distributions in accordance with this bequest are reported in the Dungog Hospital reports over the two decades after Ellen’s death. The Dungog Chronicle reported that £17/10/- (three months interest) was paid in Sept 1929; however, over a period of years, there was no interest paid, occasioning legal communications regarding the accumulated amounts that had not been paid.

From 1939, interest was paid more regularly: £71/3/10 in Aug 1939, £43/-/- in May 1940, £7/12/- and £4/15/- in Sept 1941, £44/5/9 and £136/6 in Sept 1942, as well as “an advance of subsidy for £28/6/8 and a special grant of £1/15/-“, followed by £10/1/9 in Oct 1942, £8/5/- in Feb 1943, “the usual subsidy of £28/6/8 … and a further amount of £51/6/8, being arrears of subsidy for the year commencing 1/7/42”. This presumably satisfied the accumulated amount due that had not been paid in earlier years.

The Hospital then received £45/4/5 in Sept 1943, £28/-/- in Sept 1944, £27/15/9 in May 1945, £23/18/9 in Oct 1945, £10/1/9 in June 1946, £47/-/- in Aug 1946, £31/16/9 in Feb 1947, £16/14/- in April 1947, and £23/9/6 in Aug 1947. In that month, the Hospital Board was advised that “the 20-year period of this investment in house properly at Mosman expires on 2/10/1947, and the matter has been placed in the hands of the Hospital’s Honorary Solicitors, Messrs. Borthwick and Wilson”.

Nevertheless, £11/2/4 was received in Jan 1948, £12/2/10 in June 1948, and £12/7/9 in July 1948. The income over the years had been generated through an investment in a property in Mosman; the property now needed extensive repairs, so at the Jan 1949 meeting, “it was moved by Messrs. Scott and Irwin that a copy of the Commission’s letter be forwarded to Messrs. Borthwick and Wilson and that they be requested to instruct solicitors for the Bruyn Trustees to take necessary action as set out in the Commission’s letter”.

A further £12/7/9 was paid in Sept 1949, while “Hospital’s Honorary Solicitors have been requested to instruct the Solicitors for the Bruyn Trustees to take necessary steps to obtain consent of the Moratorium Court to sell the property prior to its being offered for auction sale”.

In July 1951, the Secretary advised the Board that “a cheque for £111/1/3 had been received through Messrs Enright Son and Atkin, being rent received from Messrs. Richardson & Wrench Ltd., from 2/7/1948 to 18/6/1951, less collection charges, exchange, repairs, and rates”.

In July 1953, “£52/13/5, being rent collected in connection with the Bruyn Bequest”, was received. This was the last payment that has been found through reports accessed in Trove’s collection of newspapers.

The Sale of Brown Street

The last act of the Trustees of the Ellen Bruyn Bequest, in 1969, was to place the property on Brown Street up for sale. The documentation received relating to the Brown Street property for the period from 1927 to 1969 concludes with a document that notes the various changes in personnel in those Trustees, and a 1969 Conveyance. It is most likely that the property was rented out for this period of time, thereby bringing in a regular income to the Trust.

On 30 June 1967, George Dark was appointed Trustee in place of George Mackay and Donald Reay Mackay, joining Robert John Alison as continuing Trustee. Then, on 8 April 1968, these Trustees appointed the Public Trustee “to accept the trusts of the will accordingly”. The trusts were comprised of “Land in Brown Street, Dungog on which is erected a dwelling house and other improvements being Lots 6 and 7 of Section 5 Town of Dungog; Special Bonds Series “I” due September 1970 $1,600 Treasury Bonds held by the Commercial Banking Co.; Commonwealth Treasury Bonds August 1975 — 5 — $1,400; Current Account Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney Limited Dungog — $13.15”.

And so it was that in 1969, Victor Jack Finney and Wendy Elizabeth Finney purchased this property. In a Conveyance dated 24th May 1969, between “the Public Trustee as Trustee of the will of Ellen Bruyn, late of Dungog, Spinster deceased, and Victor Jack Finney of Dungog, Evaporator Operator, and Wendy Elizabeth Finney of Dungog, his wife”, Lot No. Seven of Section No. Five and Lot No. Six of Section No. Five were purchased for three thousand five hundred dollars. A new set of owners would, in time, move into the house and begin a new era.

For earlier blogs, see

I am continuing the story of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago, after having traced the early landholders for this property (1848–1858), Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family (from 1858 to 1882) and then two of their children, Daniel Justin Bryan (d.1912) and his sister, Ellen Bruyn.

At some point in the latter part of the period of growth in the town of Dungog in the late 19th and early 20th century, the solid double/brick building that still sits on the Bruyn’s land in Brown St was built. Its style reflects certain Arts and Craft features of the late 19th century; although compared to the extravagance of some Arts and Crafts buildings, it is modest in its scope, which most likely reflects the life and tastes of Ellen Bruyn.

The original double-brick building has six equal-sized rooms coming off a central hallway, each with a single window, high ceilings, and picture rails about 8 feet from the floor. There are fireplaces in three rooms.

The house has a verandah at the front with fine curved brickwork, and what appears (under the later additions) to have been a back verandah which would have led to a kitchen and washing tub in an outhouse. There is no bathroom in the brick structure; indoor plumbing was only beginning in the richer urban areas in the late 19th century, and slowly spread into the homes of those who could afford it in the early decades of the 20th century. The present house has a mid-20th century addition at the rear which includes all rooms requiring plumbing (kitchen, toilet, bathroom, and laundry).

Elizabeth has found architect plans for buildings of a similar (if more modest) layout in the online “Living History” archives of Newcastle University. These include plans drawn up by the first architect of the area, John W. Pender, who designed a residence for Mr. J. Quigan, built in West Maitland in 1875; the Wesleyan Parsonage in Dungog, completed in 1878; and a residence for D. Logan Esq., built in Bolwarra in 1909. All three properties share a similar floor plan, which in turn is close to the Brown St layout.

In the 1880s, the youthful trainee architect J. Warren Scobie (1863—1946) served his apprenticeship in West Maitland with Pender, the sole architect in the area at that time. He must have been influenced by Pender’s design habits. Les Reedman, in Early Architects of the Hunter Region (2008) reports that “Scobie designed every type of building in the Hunter and as far as the Queensland border and Gunnedah” (p.118). After the 1893 flood, he designed the Lorn Embankment; “according to his theory, designed the bank to conform to the fall of the river after the 1893 flood” (Reedman, p.119).

Scobie designed buildings in Maitland, including the 1889 Town Hall; Lorn, including Flagstaff, where he lived, Stockton (where he lived for some of the 1910s); two churches in Largs; 10 out of the 28 hotels built in the Cessnock—Kurri Kurri Coalfields in the early 20th century; and in Gloucester, Gunnedah, and Dungog.

A writer with the pen-name “Nemo” (meaning “nobody”), contributing news of the Dungog Presbyterian Church in the Maitland Mercury of 29 January 1905, p.16, waxes lyrical in reporting that in Dungog “Presbyterianism … has built itself a new religious home; a neat, choice design, not pretentious, not elaborate, but just fit for its purpose. It is good to look at. It makes one feel like being in church, its position is of the best, and it is now one of the chief ornaments of the town. It is a sort of poem in architecture, the happy inspiration of Mr. J. Warren Scobie of this town [that is, Maitland] and built by Mr. Noad of the East.” A detailed and fawning description of the building concludes the article.

An article in the Maitland Mercury of Friday 24 January 1913, p.2, tells of the new shop erected for Mr. E. Grierson. “The appearance of Dungog suggests to the casual observer that it must possess a number of enterprising and progressive business men, inasmuch as the principal buildings are as substantial as they are attractive and suggests an unmistakable air of solidity”, the article begins.

It notes that Mr. Grierson “bought a commanding block of land … on the west side of Dowling Street, adjoining Mr Brighton’s terrace, and let a contract to Amos Moore to put him up the best shop Dungog can boast of. Amos, working under the plan of that capable Maitland architect, Mr J. Warren Scobie, who has completed excellent work in this district got busy on the job.” Scobie is known as the architect of some grand homes in the area which share stylistic features with the Brown St house.

A house in Paterson which was designed by J. Warren Scobie, named Kalimna, was recently put on the market (early 2024). The online photographs indicate that this 1902 double-brick residence shares with the Brown St double-brick residence a reasonably similar floorplan and a number of close similarities in details. These include French doors opening out to the front of the house from both front rooms, high ceilings, the design of the fireplaces, a wide central hallway with arches, and doors into the side rooms which are offset along the hallway.

Could it be that Scobie designed this house for the Bruyns? It is a strong hypothesis, we feel, although in the absence of the papers relating to the design of the Brown St house, it can never be definitively confirmed. Kalimna is more extravagant, but stylistically and structurally very similar.

Dungog’s population had been growing rapidly, rising from 436 in 1881 to 878 in 1891 and 1169 in 1898. With more people, came more traffic, and more wear and tear on road surfaces. A paragraph in the Dungog section of the “District News” in the Maitland Mercury for Tuesday 3 August 1880, p.7, had reported that “Brown-Street, which has long needed something to be done to it, is at last being formed thirty feet wide, and the contractor seems to be making a good job of it. The expense has been defrayed by private subscription, as we were unable to obtain Government money, although it is really a work of necessity.”

The Maitland Mercury of Tuesday 18 July 1893, p.5, reported that after the 1893 municipal election, the newly-elected councillors (and those defeated at the ballot) each gave a speech to the gathered crowd. Ellen’s brother, Daniel Justin Bruyn, one of the successful candidates, said “he was very thankful for the position in which he was placed”.

In an obvious reference to the state of the roads, the new Councillor Daniel Justin Bruyn said that “he would do all back streets alike; but Dowling-street should be made one of the finest streets in the colony”. Still, into the present day, the matter of road maintenance continues to be a concern for residents of the Dungog Shire; and Brown St itself has quite its share of potholes!

For earlier blogs, see

and for the final blog, see

In exploring the history of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago, I have already noted the early landholders for this property, and investigated the life of Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family after Daniel purchased the land in 1858. When Daniel died intestate in 1882, all of his property was made over to his son, Daniel Justin Bryan, whose life we have considered. We turn now to his death.

On 22 September 1886, Daniel Justin Bruyn had made his last Will and Testament “whereby he gave devised and bequeathed all his property of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate to his sister Ellen Bruyn absolutely and appointed the said Ellen Bruyn the sole Executrix thereof”. On 1 November 1912 Daniel Justin Bruyn died, and that will came into effect.

A Coroner’s Inquest for Daniel Justyn Bruyn of Dungog was held by Walterus Le Brun Brown, J.P., on 2 November 1912. The report of the inquest notes that “cash or property possessed by deceased” was “probably over £10,000”. That equates to around $1.45 million in 2023.

Probate for the estate of Daniel Justin Bryan was granted on 26 February 1913. Daniel had never married and had no descendants; as his will prescribed, this collection of property and cash became the possession of Ellen Bruyn. That was a happy result for her in very sad circumstances. The death of Daniel Justin Bruyn, however had a deeper tragedy at its heart.

The Bathurst National Advocate stated the matter plainly, in a brief report published on Monday 4 November 1912, under the heading PASTORALIST SUICIDES: “Daniel Justin Bruyn, a prominent local pastoralist, drowned himself in the Williams River last night. He left a note saying he was tired of the world and its worries. Deceased was a notable public figure in the town, and formerly an alderman, and holding high positions in all the local associations.”

The next day, the Dungog Chronicle provided a much fuller obituary which provided details of the incident and demonstrated just how high a regard was had for Mr Bruyn in the town (Tuesday, 5 November, 1912, Page 2). “Dungog has never had a more profound sensation than that provided by the tragic end of its most highly respected citizen, Mr. Daniel J. Bruyn, on Saturday morning last”, it began.

“Early that morning those about the town learned the news that he had left a note on the table at his home indicating his intention of taking his life, stating that financial worries robbed him of sleep and that he was tired of life”, it continued. It then offered this sad commentary: “He asked forgiveness of his sister for what he was about to do.”

The Chronicle had been advised that “on the previous evening he had complained of feeling unwell, and had taken some medicine after tea. He had been talking to his sister on the verandah and about eight o’clock got up and walked down the street towards the bridge. That was the last occasion on which he was seen alive.”

This report indicates that Daniel Bruyn did spend time living in the house at Brown Street with his sister, at least at this stage of his life. As both were unmarried, and as the house was ideally placed in the centre of town—next to Dark’s burgeoning general store on Dowling Street, near to the School of Arts where the Municipal Council met—it would make sense for Bruyn of Sugarloaf to have his base in Brown St for such town activities.

Indeed, as the report states, when his sister Ellen “became anxious for his absence … in the early hours of the morning she went into his room, and there on the table, under a brush, she found the note which explained everything”. It continues by noting that upon discovery of Mr. Bruyn’s body, he was “immediately placed upon a stretcher and conveyed to his late home”—that is, the residence in Brown St that he had so recently left.

And, as we have seen, when he was elected to Dungog Council in 1893, his residence is listed as Brown Street. (Michael Williams, in his extensive survey of the historic buildings of Dungog, notes that street numbers were not used until the 1960s; see Ah! Dungog, 2011, p.11.)

The detailed report of Daniel Bruyn’s death in the Dungog Chronicle of 5 November 1912 noted that once his note was discovered and the alarm was raised, “at daylight a large crowd was busily engaged in searching along the river, it being suspected that he would seek the water.”

Sure enough, the report continues, “about eight o’clock Sergt. Bowen discovered the body, fully clothed and with hat on, floating in about 6 feet of water in the river at the foot of Dark’s paddock, just about opposite the railway station, and by a strange coincidence at the precise spot where a similar tragedy occurred a few years since. It is surmised that he walked across the Cooreei bridge and doubled down the river till near the fatal spot and plunged in from that side.” (The Cooreei Bridge crosses the Williams River about a kilometre out of town, on the road that connects Dungog with Stroud.)

The report continues with words that emphasise the regard felt for the deceased: “There was no more highly respected man in the whole of this community than the late Mr.D.J. Bruyn, and his death will remove from our midst, one of the most prominent men … he was recognised as one of Dungog’s notables.” Then, musing on the manner of his death, it opines, “of a genial and equable disposition, a keen business man, and one who never shirked an obligation, it is hard to understand what caused him to terminate his own life.”

The report further offers comments on the character of Mr. Bruyn: he was “noted for his liberality in matters of charity, and he has befriended many a one in this district who will sorely miss him from the town.” The report notes the fitting tribute paid to Daniel Justin Bruyn: “when the news begame known in Dungog, flags were flown half mast from the public buildings”.

In pondering a possible reason for this suicide, the article offers a hypothesis, noting that Daniel Bruyn “has been in indifferent health of late and worried considerably over estates of which he was executor, but his own affairs were in a flourishing state and he was a comparatively wealthy man. It was probably the worry of other’s business that unhinged his mind temporarily and caused him to put a period to his life.” The truth of this hypothesis, however, will never be able to be ascertained.

A correspondent in the Maitland Daily Mercury on Wednesday 6 Nov 1912, p.2, further expresses the dismay of the locals at the news of Daniel’s death: “to say that Dungog and district were struck dumb when it became known that Mr. Daniel Justin Bruyn had left a note expressing his intention to end his life, is putting the truth very mildly. The deceased was about the last person anyone would have expected to do such an act. He was a very quiet man of a retiring disposition, and as far as an onlooker could see had less worry than most people. He was more universally trusted than most men, as proved by the number of wills in which he was appointed an executor, and it is thought that his troubles were not his own, but were those which he voluntarily shouldered for others.”

Of the funeral of Daniel Justin Bruyn, the Dungog Chronicle notes that, as might be expected, it was “one of the largest seen here for many years”. The Anglican minister, the Ven. Archdeacon Luscombe, officiated, and wreaths were laid on the coffin from organisations including the School of Arts, the A. and H. Association, and the Cricket Club. Three of his sisters remained: Ellen Bruyn in Brown St, Elizabeth Cook of Johnson’s Creek north of Stroud Road, and Sarah Landers of Towel Creek in the Armidale district.

Our particular story will continue with Daniel’s sister, Ellen Bruyn … … …

For earlier posts, see

For the story of Ellen Bruyn, see