Maramanah – 64 Macleay Street – Potts Point – NSW
Built 1860s (DoS / City of Sydney) · Demolished 1954 · Site now Fitzroy Gardens
Before the El Alamein Fountain and the paved plaza, Fitzroy Gardens was garden ground for grand Macleay Street houses. Maramanah — also spelled Maranamah on this blog’s URL — stood at what is now counted in the 60–64 Macleay Street park parcel. It ended as one of Sydney’s most publicised post-war housing dramas: wartime recreation centre, returned-servicemen squat, council hostel, then demolition for open space in 1954.
At a glance
- Address: 64 Macleay Street, Potts Point (corner context with Darlinghurst Road / Elizabeth Bay Road — park now)
- Built: Dictionary of Sydney and City of Sydney: 1860s. Secondary narratives often place an earlier Deloitte house on the site from the 1840s — treat as unresolved without deeds
- Architect: Not established in DoS / City of Sydney park history
- Style: Large multi-room Victorian mansion (press of the 1940s called it a 20-room house)
- Early ownership thread (secondary): shipping merchant William Deloitte; Anna Challis after mortgage default (c.1850 in secondary accounts); later Edward Sparke (naming); Hollander family
- Famous twentieth-century chapter: Hollander household in Robin Eakin / Dalton, Aunts up the Cross (1965); WWII US Navy recreation / Royal Navy canteen; 1946 squatters; City of Sydney hostel
- Heritage: Demolished — site absorbed into Fitzroy Gardens
- Fate: City purchase of Maramanah 1943 (City of Sydney); demolished 1954 with resumption of neighbouring Tenilba (60 Macleay Street)
Site & setting
This ground was part of Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay’s 54-acre Elizabeth Bay Estate, subdivided from 1841. Macleay Street became the high street of the ridge; the block that is now Fitzroy Gardens held a run of substantial houses — Osterley at 62, Maramanah at 64, Tenilba at 60 among them (City of Sydney park history).
The Aboriginal name recorded for Potts Point is Derrawunn; the colonial street grid erased the villa gardens street by street. Maramanah’s frontage faced the junction world we still recognise — Macleay Street meeting the Darlinghurst Road / Elizabeth Bay Road approach to the Cross.
Timeline
- 1841 onward – Macleay Elizabeth Bay Estate subdivision creates villa allotments on this high ground.
- 1840s / 1860s – House history begins. Secondary accounts: Deloitte builds in the 1840s, defaults c.1850, Anna Challis purchases. DoS and City of Sydney date the house as built in the 1860s — keep both traditions visible until title research settles fabric date.
- Later 19th – early 20th century – Passes through owners including (in secondary narratives) Edward Sparke and the Hollander family, remembered in Aunts up the Cross.
- WWII – Used as a recreational centre for the US Navy, then a Royal Navy canteen (live post / secondary consensus).
- 1943 – City of Sydney purchases Maramanah to enlarge the emerging Fitzroy Gardens (City of Sydney).
- March–April 1946 – Returned servicemen and families squat in the empty mansion amid the housing shortage; mass press coverage (SMH, Daily News, Worker, interstate papers — scrapbooked on the live post). Allegations of Communist Party meetings colour the politics; Council offers hostel arrangements; legal and political wrangles fill Column 8 and news pages for months.
- 1946–early 1950s – Operates in the council/hostel orbit; Column 8 and local press keep returning to the house.
- 1954 – Demolished as Fitzroy Gardens is enlarged (DoS milestone; City of Sydney). Same year Tenilba at 60 Macleay is resumed; wartime murals reported exposed during demolition (Daily Telegraph, 24 Oct 1954 — live scrapbook).
- 1959–61 onward – Florence Bartley Library on the Tenilba site (1959; demolished 1997); El Alamein Fountain 1961 — the park identity we know.
Architecture
No measured drawing has been standardised in the short DoS entry. Press and memoir describe a large Victorian mansion of about twenty rooms — enough to billet a wartime canteen and, later, multiple squatter households. Demolition reporting in 1954 noted wartime paintings revealed in the fabric (Daily Telegraph clipping on the live post). Treat room-by-room joinery claims as scrapbook colour unless a survey drawing is in hand.
What matters architecturally is the type: a Macleay Street garden mansion whose grounds were large enough to become a civic park when the Cross densified and open space ran short.
People
Anna Challis ties the house to one of the area’s street names and to John Henry Challis’s university benefaction — secondary narratives place her purchase after Deloitte’s default.
The Hollander household, filtered through Robin Eakin’s Aunts up the Cross (1965; author later known as Robin Dalton), gave Maramanah a literary afterlife rare for a demolished Cross mansion.
The 1946 squat is the chapter that made the house famous beyond Potts Point: furniture appeals in the street, crowds watching move-ins, Premier’s condemnations, “Reds” headlines, and eventually a hostel compromise. It is social history as much as house history — the mansion as argument about who the inner city was for after the war.
Gallery
d During WW2 it was used as a Recreational Centre for the US Navy
The Mansion Was Left to decay after the war and families of Squatters moved in.
The mansion was taken over by the City Council and demolished in 1954.
Fitzroy Gardens wasn’t always a public space. It was once home to at least three impressive homes and their grounds, one of which was Maramanah.
Built in the 1840s for shipping merchant Deloitte, Maramanah was soon sold to Anna Challis (familiar as yet another Kings Cross street name). It then passed through many owners, including the Hollander family who featured in Robin Dalton’s 1965 memoir “Aunts up the Cross”.
During the Second World War, Maramanah became a recreational centre for the US Navy and then a Royal Navy canteen. When the war was over, several returned servicemen and their families squatted in the 20-roomed mansion, demanding they be allowed to live in it. There was a lack of post-war housing, and the community supported them but the mood may have changed when it was alleged that Communist Party meetings were taking place inside.
Maranamanh was taken over by the City of Sydney, and operated as a hostel until the mansion and its grounds were added to the parcel of land from which Fitzroy Gardens was created and demolished in 1954.
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OLD HOME DAMAGED.
A very old and well-known Jewish home was badly damaged by fire, namely, Maramanah, of Macleay Street, Potts Point, the home for so many years of the Hollander family. This home was one of the most beautiful show places of Sydney, and two weeks ago it was leased to the American Navy by the four Hollander sisters. Much of the home's intrinsic art value, which the family has preserved for so many years, has been destroyed.
The four sisters decided as a contribution to the war to part with their home and live in a flat at Hampton Court, King's Cross.
The City Council some months ago completed negotiations for the purchase of Maramanah for approximately £52,000, to be "converted into a reserve for the passive recreation of the residents in the vicinity."
The council proposed to take over the building after the war.
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Rabbi Dr. I. Porush has been elected a member of the Executive of the Indian Relief Committee.
Rabbi Dr. I. Porush and Mrs. Porush were "at home" on Monday last to the members of the N.S.W. Council of Christians and Jews, and leading members of the Jewish Community.
Dr. Paul Kinston, of Brisbane, is on a holiday visit to Sydney and is staying at the Australia.
Re the letters from servicemen appearing in this issue from Major Hyam Owen and Captain Brovman, photo mentioned in the former and menu in the latter will appear in our next.
Mrs. V. Grant, of Bruce Street, Stanmore, is holidaying in Katoomba.
The death occurred at his residence on April 18 of Solomon Kersh Levy, husband of Lily and father of Lieut. Commander Keith Levy, Vena (Mrs. A. Davis), Edna (Mrs. L. de Groen), and Gloria Levy. He was a brother of Henry Levy (deceased), Mrs. Montague Forbes, Mrs. D. Hart, Jack, Lew, Nat and Dave Levy.
The death occurred after a long illness of Queenie Myrtle, wife of Moss Asher and mother of Raymond (R.A.A.F.). Her brothers and sisters are Abe Selig, Reike Cohen, Evelyn Flowerman (U.S.A.), Rale Shaw and Morrie Selig.
Old Home Damaged - Hebrew Standard of Australia - Thu 20 Apr 1944 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Protests On Street Conduct
At Monday's City Council meeting aldermen protested against the conduct of Allied servicemen in Sydney, says Sydney "Daily Telegraph."
After hearing allegations of offensive conduct, the Lord Mayor (Alderman Bartley) said Council would make representations to the proper authorities.
Alderman Neville Harding urged the Lord Mayor to ask the American Army authorities to instruct servicemen in street behaviour.
"No decent woman can walk along the street without running the risk of having a soldier put his arm round her waist and say: 'How about a date to-night, blondie?'" Alderman Harding said.
"My own daughter was waylaid three times between Elizabeth Street and Wynyard Station on a recent evening," he added.
"DISGRACE TO LOCALITY"
Alderman A. McElhone asked if the Lord Mayor would contact American naval authorities and bring to their notice conduct at Maramanah, Macleay Street, Potts Point.
"The goings on there are a disgrace to the locality," Alderman McElhone said.
Alderman J. Carroll asked the Lord Mayor if it was a fact that the property had been shockingly knocked about, and part of it burnt out.
Alderman Bartley said that damage to the property was being repaired.
Alderman T. Shannon: "While you're on the job, will you tell the proper authorities that this council takes strong objection to behaviour in the vicinity of the Booker T. Washington club for coloured servicemen in Albion Street, Surry Hills."
Protests On Streets Conduct - The Worker - Mon 1st May 1944 pg 7 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Seized Home Gets 5 More Tenants
SYDNEY. — Five more "tenants" last night moved into Maramanah, the 20-roomed house at King's Cross seized on Wednesday by nine homeless people.
At a meeting by candlelight the occupants formed a "house committee," which will allot the remaining flats to the most needy cases if a vacancy application by one of the original "occupation forces," Mr. Ted Loughran, an ex-R.A.A.F., succeeds.
Maramanah was bought by the Sydney City Council for £54,000, with the object of demolition to extend Fitzroy Park.
However, the Minister for Labor (Mr. Knight) has now ordered the council to cease the demolition work begun on outhouses yesterday.
Still No Water
The house is still without water. Most of the occupants went out for breakfast today.
Yesterday and last night many home-hungry people called to see if they could be accommodated.
The five new occupants are a discharged soldier and his wife, a woman and her 12-year-old daughter, and a man who plans to be joined by his wife and seven-month-old baby.
News Friday 22 March 1946 Pg 3 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'SQUATTERS' NOW 16
King's Cross Mansion
A crowd of 600 people attended a protest meeting convened last night by the homeless people who have moved into the City Council's mansion, Maramanah, at King's Cross.
Commenting later on allegations made at the meeting, the Lord Mayor, Alderman R. J. Bartley, said: "I regret that the issue seems to have become one between Communists and lawful authority."
Eight persons moved into the mansion on Wednesday night. Developments yesterday included:—
An application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," to become legal tenant, was adjourned for a week by Mr. Pickup, S.M., in the Paddington Police Court, to give the City Council time to investigate the position.
The number of "squatters" at the mansion was increased to 16.
A plumber connected the mansions water system to the mains after, it is alleged, the Water Board refused to do so.
The meeting at Maramanah last night was held in darkness. The speakers assembled on the first-floor balcony of the house, which was dimly illuminated by a hurricane lantern.
Mr. Newell Carruthers, secretary of the N.S.W. Tenants' Protection League, alleged that the Lord Mayor had purchased the adjoining property, Cheverills, recently. He suggested that if a park stood where Maramanah stood now the rental value of the adjoining property would go up immediately.
Mr. Jack Wells, vice-president of the Rehabilitation Committee of the Australian Communist Party, attacked Alderman Bartley for the proposal to make Maramanah into a park area.
Lord Mayor Explains
Alderman Bartley said last night that the allegations made at the meeting were ridiculous. The decision to demolish Maramanah was made by the council more than two years ago—long before he had considered buying Cheverills. The decision to demolish the mansion was to enable the street to be widened and a park provided.
The council had been unable to carry out the demolition then because the place was impressed as a naval canteen. The decision to demolish Maramanah was made unanimously by the City Council.
Mr. Norman Docker, spokesman for the group who had moved into Maramanah, said last night that there were now 16 people living in the house. Two more families are expected to move in to-day.
The "squatters" believe the house can comfortably accommodate 40 people.
Early last night a truck drew up with a load of furniture, consisting of tables, chairs, crockery, and cutlery. Many gifts of groceries arrived yesterday, and £8 was handed in by well-wishers. At the meeting a collection to cover the expenses of putting Maramanah into livable condition resulted in nearly £10 being given by the crowd.
Warning To Owners
The Lord Mayor announced yesterday that he would present a minute to the City Council on Monday dealing with the position at Maramanah.
The Lord Mayor added: "I am afraid the announcement by the Minister for Labour and Industry, Mr. Hamilton Knight, that the City Council will not be permitted to demolish the mansion will result in a sharp increase in the number of trespassers in this building.
"If this sort of thing is to be encouraged, nobody's property will be safe. I would advise other owners in similar circumstances to lock their premises. If jungle law is to be tolerated, forcible entry of empty buildings will certainly increase."
The Town Clerk, Mr. Hendy, denied yesterday that the City Council had made a start on the demolition of the building.
Mr. Hendy said the City Council decided a month ago to seek authority to demolish Maramanah as soon as notice was received that it had been vacated by the Royal Navy. This notice was received a few days ago, and application had been made to the Minister for Labour and Industry for a permit.
Mr. Hendy said that workmen had begun to demolish a surrounding wall [clipping cut off here; the article continues: "because no permit was necessary for that work." — see the SMH page 3 tail further down this post]
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KING'S CROSS HOME.
CITY COUNCIL'S OFFER.
Peppercorn Rental to State Government.
SYDNEY, March 25.—The King's Cross mansion known as Maramanah, which was last week occupied by a number of homeless families without authority from the City Council, which owns the building, has been offered by the council to the State Government for 12 months for the housing of homeless persons. So far the Government has not replied to the council's offer. The council intends to make the building available to the Government at a peppercorn rental.
Meanwhile, Edward Andrew, an ex-serviceman, of North Bondi, to-day applied to the Paddington Police Court for an order giving him legal tenancy of Taranna, the four-storey apartment house at Bondi of which a group of ex-servicemen has taken possession. The case will be heard tomorrow morning. All day today people seeking accommodation have been arriving at the building, and by 4 o'clock this afternoon 81 applications had been received. The list of would-be tenants was then closed. From these 81 applications, as well as from another 20 received on Sunday night, the servicemens' committee will select 76 families for the tenancy of that number of double rooms considered fit for immediate occupation.
West Australian - Tue 26 Mar 1946
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"Squatters" Move Into Empty Mansion
Facets on Housing Shortage
Nearly 20 persons, who moved in surreptitiously, are now living in the empty City Council property "Maramanah" at King's Cross, Sydney. The move to occupy the premises was organised by the Communist Party.
An application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," to become legal tenant was adjourned for a week by Mr. Pickup, S.M., in the Paddington Police Court, to give the City Council time to investigate the position.
The City Council decided on Monday to institute proceedings for ejectment against the intruders and to grant the State Government use of the premises at a nominal rental.
The Lord Mayor, Alderman Bartley, in a public statement, said that some of the allegations were ridiculous. The decision to demolish "Maramanah" was made by the Council more than two years ago. The decision to demolish the mansion was to enable the street to be widened and a park provided.
The Council had been unable to carry out the demolition then because the place was impressed as a naval canteen. The decision to demolish "Maramanah" was made unanimously by the City Council, the Lord Mayor said.
Not Homeless Waifs.
Alderman J. Armstrong, who is also a Labor Senator, said at the City Council meeting on Monday that if what he had been told was right many of those in possession of "Maramanah" were not homeless waifs, but active Communists, who were using the Council's property as an organising ground for disruptive methods.
Instances of Communist activity had been seen recently at Gladesville, Ryde and Bankstown, he said, and if "Maramanah" was to become the focal point for such influence in the city he would strongly oppose it.
King's Cross residents are amused at the affair. It is agreed, however, by discerning people that the housing shortage due to the neglect of the Lyons and Menzies Governments in peace-time cannot be overcome by illegal acts of occupation.
Neglect of Tory Governments.
The existing shortage of houses is due to the neglect of the anti-Labor Governments which were in power Federally from 1915 to 1941 almost without a break.
Labor came into office in the middle of World War II, when we were threatened with invasion. Shortage of materials, due to war conditions, has since made it impossible to build houses on a large scale.
During the depression, however, working people were ruthlessly evicted under the Tory administrations, and houses were empty while families shivered in the cold of winter.
A number of "tenants" also moved into the vacant residential "Tarana," at Bondi Beach, over the week-end.
Magistrate Warns Home-Grabbers.
People who took possession of property without authority were criticised in Central Court on Monday by Mr. Farrington, S.M.
"We live in a civilised community, and must conform to the law if we are prepared to live in that community," said Mr. Farrington.
"We are living in extraordinary times. It seems that people can seize buildings. They can enter a building and take up occupation without the consent of the owner, on account of what they consider their dire need."
Douglas Wayne, 28, and Douglas Percy Eyers, 25, unemployed seamen, were each fined £1 for unlawfully entering St. Paul's Church, Cleveland-street, City.
Sergeant Hibbens said that at 1.30 a.m. on that day he saw both defendants in a room which had been used as a hostel for troops until a month ago.
Defendants had taken beds from a pile and blankets from an open locker.
Squatters Empty Mansion - Australian Worker - Wed 27 Mar 1946 pg 12
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Communists Seize Mansion
Sydney, March 26.—The official organ of the Communist Party, the "Tribune," said today that Maramanah Mansion, seized by homeless people at King's Cross, was taken in that manner on the advice of the Communist Party.
The paper says that Communist were among those who moved into the building.
One of the occupants, Mrs. Norman Docker, formerly a W.A.A.A.F., said today that it was a Communist move, but once Communists had entered all those in need were admitted.
NEW TENANT (DAUGHTER) FOR SEIZED MARAMANAH
SYDNEY, Fri — A daughter has been born to one of the residents of Maramanah, the seized King's Cross mansion.
She may be called Maramanah. The other residents support this name, saying that it may mean good luck.
Father Sam Grey, after visiting his wife in hospital, said: "We have not quite made up our minds yet about the name, but Maramanah does not sound like a bad idea."
Meanwhile, the families occupying Maramanah are continuing to clean up the two-storey mansion in the hope that they will eventually be given full and legal possession.
Since a private power generator was installed the women are finding conditions much easier.
They now have a radio in the kitchen which, according to one of them, "makes us whistle while we work."
● By order of the Sydney County Council, Maramanah was to be demolished to make way for an extension of the adjoining park lands, but victims of the housing shortage moved in and took possession. With hearing of a claim by occupants for legal possession pending, the Sydney Council has said that it will hand the building over to the State Government to accommodate homeless families.
"COMS." TURN "SQUATTERS"
Vacant Mansion Invaded
Nearly 20 persons, who moved in surreptitiously, are now living in the empty City Council property, "Maramanah," at King's Cross, Sydney. The move to occupy the premises was organised by the Communist Party.
An application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," to become legal tenant was adjourned for a week by Mr. Pickup, S.M., in the Paddington Police Court, to give the City Council time to investigate the position.
The City Council decided last Monday to institute proceedings for ejectment against the intruders and to grant the State Government use of the premises at a nominal rental, for use as a hostel for homeless people.
The Council decided two years ago to demolish the old mansion to enable the street to be widened and a park laid out. Until a month ago, "Maramanah" was used as a hostel for servicemen. When the servicemen moved out, the "Coms." and their proteges moved in.
NOT HOMELESS WAIFS
Alderman J. Armstrong, who is also a Labor Senator, said at the City Council meeting that if what he had been told was right, many of those in possession of "Maramanah" were not homeless waifs, but active Communists, who were using the Council's property as an organising ground for disruptive methods.
Instances of Communist activity had been seen recently at Gladesville, Ryde and Bankstown, he said, and if "Maramanah" was to become the focal point for such influence in the city, he would strongly oppose it.
COMMUNIST ADVICE
"Squatters" at "Maramanah" admitted that seizure of the mansion was organised by members of the Communist Party, acting on the advice of party leaders. This was confirmed by an article in the Communist official paper, "Tribune."
Vacant houses in Ashfield, Bendir, Ryde and other suburbs also have been seized and occupied. One of them is a 104-room guest house, "Tirrana," in North Bondi.
The Communist technique is to use ex-servicemen as a spearhead to force an entry into a vacant house, and then move in their own members.
Once the Communist "squatters" get possession of a house they bar out homeless people who apply for admittance.
The Premier (Mr. McKell) in Parliament, and magistrates in the Police Court, have warned the "squatters" that no person is justified in seizing a residence he has no right to occupy.
Worker - Mon 1 April 1946 pg 3
Communism
The letter of Mr. Wright in Tuesday's "Liberal" with its lurid warnings and horrid hints about Communist "cells" lurking ready to bring chaos and confusion to the town of Dubbo, must make not only Communists, but everyone who knows them, laugh, that he should still talk such futile nonsense.
We Communists do most earnestly wish to improve the living conditions o four [sic] fellow Australians. In achieving this, we can and do work along the same lines in civic affairs as all progressive people. Where we differ from them is, in our belief that an immeasurably happier and richer life would be possible for all of us if the profit motive were removed from our economy.
As far as chaos and confusion are concerned—well, if that was what we wanted we could not do better than to leave desperate returned men cooped up with their families in one room in intolerable conditions. Those who acquiesce in such a state of affairs are the ones who encourage lawlessness and anarchy.
The public attention which the occupation of "Maramanah" has aroused has not, in fact, led to hordes of homeless Communists stampeding into houses all over Australia. It has, however, led Mr. McGirr, Minister for Housing, to bestir himself "to obtain an early decision from the State Cabinet on plans for compelling the use of empty houses in New South Wales."
Very soon, then, we hope that Mr. Wright, who is not satisfied with plain Justice, will also have her adorned with technical legality to reconcile him to this sensible procedure.
Yours etc.,
JOHN BOOTH,
Secretary, Dubbo Branch,
Australian Communist Party.
Dubbo Liberal - Tues 9th April 1946 - Pg4
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Column 8 Pieces
THE City Council is making another effort to demolish what remains of the old home, Maramanah, corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road, which it bought in 1944 to make way for a park.
You remember that in 1946 squatters settled in and the Government stopped the demolition.
Well, the problem of finding alternative accommodation for the present occupants hasn't been solved and Government departments are passing the buck.
Building Materials says it will grant a permit to demolish when other housing is offered to the tenants.
The Housing Commission says it will provide emergency accommodation when the council gets a permit to demolish.
What do you think of that for childish irresponsibility?
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ABOUT Maramanah, the old Macleay Street home which the City Council wants to remove to make space for a corner park.
There are 25 people in it occupying 15 rooms. Total rent paid by them is £10/15/6 a week—cheapest rent is 12/-, dearest £1/10/-.
Granny
PRODDED by King's Cross residents, the City Council is again trying to get the Government to agree to the removal of the partly demolished building, Maramanah, at the top of Macleay Street.
The council started demolishing it in 1946, but "squatters" swept in, the Government stood by them, and the council's hands have been tied ever since.
The last report to the council showed that 25 people occupied it at a total rental of £10/15/6.
Residents now make the charge that the original "squatters" have long since disappeared, that tenancies change frequently, and that the eyesore should be blotted out, enabling the extensions to Fitzroy Gardens to be completed.
Column 8 - SMH Wed June 6 1951 - Pg 1
"MARAMANAH" in Macleay Street—the large building which the City Council started to demolish in 1948 [sic]—is now coming down.
"Squatters" settled in and as houses were so short in '48 [sic] the Government refused to have them turned out.
The demolition has attracted crowds of people and the wreckers gave a wholesale reply to their questions by putting up the notice: "Yes. This building IS being demolished."
The other day that notice was taken down and a wreath hung on the front fence.
Granny
Column 8 - SMH - Sat 14th Aug 1954 - Pg 1
GARDENS AT THE CROSS
Bid To Demolish Old Mansion
The State Government is to be asked to find other accommodation for residents of Maramanah, the old King's Cross mansion, and to permit demolition of the building.
This decision was made by the finance committee of the City Council yesterday.
Aldermen said that the building was an eyesore and should be pulled down so that Fitzroy Gardens could be extended.
The City Council owns Maramanah, which stands at the corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road.
It planned to demolish the building in 1946 after it had been handed back by the American Army.
Squatters, however, took possession, and the Government refused to allow the council to demolish the building. A hostel was set up and the council undertook not to demolish the building for two years. This agreement will expire on May 10.
Sydney Morning Herald - Tues 16 March 1948 pg 1
HOMELESS SEIZE BIG HOUSE
Stir In Sydney
SYDNEY. — Nine house-hungry people who last night took possession of Maramanah, an empty 20-roomed mansion at King's Cross, were still in their quarters today and were being visited by other prospective tenants.
News of the sezure [sic] spread rapidly. Two women, who were among the first arrivals, looked the place over and announced they would be back to stay later in the day.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ted Loughran, former R.A.A.F. member, and one of the "spearheads of the occupation forces," left to seek a court order giving him legal tenancy of the two-story building.
Maramanah, which is at the corner of Elizabeth Bay road and Macleay street, has been bought by the city council, which intends to demolish the building and extend the adjoining Fitzroy Park.
As some of those who moved in last night were busy making themselves comfortable this morning, city council employes began to pull down outhouses.
The Lord Mayor (Ald. Bartley) commented today:—"The city has not yet been given over to jungle law. The matter is one for council officers. No doubt they will take appropriate action."
Meals Promised
The original nine to occupy the house include two young law students.
As news of the occupation spread, the house became the centre of interest at "The Cross."
Early today, a man who said he lived in the vicinity brought the invasion forces a breakfast of tea and biscuits. He said he would be back later with a hot dinner.
Other visitors knocked at windows and shouted "Good luck" to those who had moved in.
Mr. Docker, who was first to move into the house, took particulars from today's callers.
"If our court application for legal tenancy is successful," he said, "we intend to give rooms not yet taken to the most deserving cases.
Ballot Plan
"If we consider there are more deserving cases than there are rooms, we intend to decide by ballot."
Mr. and Mrs. Docker spent the morning cleaning up the house and putting into order an old fuel stove in what they plan to be a community kitchen.
Mr. Docker said that so far the occupants had not been inconvenienced by the fact that the house was without light and water.
"We can easily cart water if the council refuses to connect us to the main," he said. "There are also some storage tanks on the roof which we could use."
He and his wife had been married for two and a half years, but for most of the time had been living apart, because they could not find suitable accommodation.
Thursday 21 March 1946 page 3
'INVASION FORCE' GRABS £52,000 HOME
SYDNEY, Thurs — Nine house-hungry people last night seized the King's Cross mansion Maramanah.
As the news spread today others announced their intention of moving in.
Two women arrived early, looked over the accommodation in the 20-roomed home and declared they would be back to stay later in the day.
Meanwhile, Ted Loughran, ex-R.A.A.F., member of the "spearhead of the occupation force" left to seek a Court order giving him legal tenancy of the two-storey building.
Maramanah has been bought by the City Council which intends to demolish the building and extend the adjoining Fitzroy Park.
As some of those who moved in last night were busy making themselves comfortable this morning, City Council employees commenced to pull down outhouses.
'No Jungle Law Yet'
Lord Mayor Ald. Bartley commented today: "The city has not yet been given over to jungle law. The matter is one for Council officers. No doubt they will take appropriate action.
"If this sort of thing is permitted we shall have people taking possession of Anzac buffet, the Sir John Monash hut, the Exhibition building, the British centre and other buildings in our parklands."
Building was acquired by the Council, with the land, in 1944 at a cost of £52,000.
News of the occupation spread quickly throughout the district and this morning a man, who said he lived nearby, brought the invasion force a breakfast.
He said he would be back later with a hot dinner.
Other visitors knocked at windows, shouted "Good luck" to those who had moved in.
Daily News - Thurs 21 Mar 1946 Pg 1
DEMOLITION HALTED ON SEIZED HOME
Tenancy Hearing To-day
Work of demolishing the City Council's mansion, "Maramanah," at King's Cross was stopped yesterday at the order of the Minister for Labour and Industry, Mr. Hamilton Knight. Eleven persons slept there last night.
Eight persons, who said they had no other accommodation, had moved in on Wednesday night. Application for a court order for tenancy of the mansion was made by one of the occupants, an ex-Serviceman, yesterday and the case will be heard to-day.
STATE MINISTER INTERVENES
No building can be demolished without the permission of Mr. Knight's department.
Mr. Knight said yesterday that he had sent an officer of his department to inspect the building.
"This officer reported to me that the City Council workmen had begun demolishing a retaining wall and had pulled down about 70 feet of it," he said. "They had also removed roofs from some of the outbuildings.
"On receipt of this report I immediately issued an order on the City Council, directing it to stop the demolition work, and the town clerk, Mr. Hendy, at once took action to carry out my order."
The Minister for Housing, Mr. McGirr, said in the Legislative Assembly yesterday that "Maramanah" should not be demolished when houses were so badly needed.
He was replying to a question from Mr. Shannon (Lab., Phillip).
Mr. McGirr said that in entering into occupation of the house the people concerned had not adopted the right procedure.
"The City Council should make the house available for control and maintenance by some suitable organisation and allow occupation either for single girls or for men, or convert it for families," said Mr. McGirr.
R.S.L. ACTIVE
The acting president of the R.S.L., Mr. Ken Bolton, yesterday discussed with Mr. Knight and Mr. McGirr the use of the building for housing ex-Servicemen and their families, and suggested that the King's Cross sub-branch of the R.S.L. should be responsible for management if the City Council would agree to rent the mansion at a reasonable figure.
It was made clear that the State Government had no authority over the renting or leasing of the building.
The committee of the R.S.L. King's Cross sub-branch held an emergency meeting last night, and adopted a motion that, while not condoning the action of the men in taking possession of Maramanah, it sympathised with them, and would help them in every possible way.
It decided to ask the City Council and the State Government to delay demolition of the building until houses were more plentiful.
MANY SEEK ACCOMMODATION
The original "occupants"—two young married couples and four other men—were joined yesterday by an airman, and last night Mrs. E. Wright, a war widow, and her 12-years-old daughter, arrived.
Last night about 30 ex-Servicemen, some with their wives, went to the mansion to seek accommodation.
The men in possession interviewed them and took notes of their cases.
The first arrivals were firmly established yesterday and were awaiting further developments.
Mr. and Mrs. N. Docker, who were the first to move into the premises, spent the morning cleaning up the house and putting in order an old fuel stove in what they plan to be a community kitchen.
A deputation from the Returned Soldiers' League met the Lord Mayor, Alderman R. J. Bartley, in camera, at the City Hall late yesterday afternoon.
The acting president, Mr. Bolton, told the Lord Mayor that the City Council could materially assist in the accommodation of ex-Servicemen if it would defer demolition and make premises available for housing as a first priority and office accommodation as second priority.
Mr. Bolton said the R.S.L. had been besieged by Servicemen in search of accommodation for their families.
"Alderman Bartley seriously suggested to us that the place is not fit for human habitation," said Mr. Bolton. "We disagree. We maintain that it could house 10 families comfortably, and the King's Cross sub-branch of the R.S.L. has made an offer to take over the building, police it, and run it on hygienic lines."
"NOT JUNGLE LAW"
Commenting on the seizure of the property, Alderman Bartley said: "If this sort of thing is permitted, then we shall have people taking possession of the Anzac Buffet, Sir John Monash Hut, Exhibition Building, the British Centre, and other buildings in our park lands.
"The matter is one for council officers. No doubt they will take appropriate action. Whether the property will be let or not will be a matter for the council to determine.
"The old building was acquired by the council with the land in 1944 for £52,000. The council is not likely to permit it to be turned into a 'happy valley.'
"If the property is to be let it will be necessary to spend many thousands of pounds to make it habitable, and it would then be let by tender.
"The city has not yet been given over to jungle law."
Alderman O'Dea, M.L.C., said that Labour aldermen would demand at the meeting of the City Council on Monday that the mansion be retained as a home for the people who were in possession.
[An adjoining, unrelated article, "Plane Lands In Street At Rockdale", is partly visible in the clipping and is not transcribed.]
SMH Fri March 22 1946 - Pg 1 - Part 1
MOVE INTO MARAMANAH WATCHED BY CROWDS
[Photographs]
Home-seekers who have taken possession of the King's Cross mansion, Maramanah, were watched by large crowds last night (lower) as they moved in furniture presented by an anonymous donor from North Sydney (top). (Report on Page 3.)
— Page 3 report —
'SQUATTERS' NOW 16
King's Cross Mansion
A crowd of 600 people attended a protest meeting convened last night by the homeless people who have moved into the City Council's mansion, Maramanah, at King's Cross.
Commenting later on allegations made at the meeting, the Lord Mayor, Alderman R. J. Bartley, said: "I regret that the issue seems to have become one between Communists and lawful authority."
Eight persons moved into the mansion on Wednesday night. Developments yesterday included:—
An application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," to become legal tenant, was adjourned for a week by Mr. Pickup, S.M., in the Paddington Police Court, to give the City Council time to investigate the position.
The number of "squatters" at the mansion was increased to 16.
A plumber connected the mansions water system to the mains after, it is alleged, the Water Board refused to do so.
The meeting at Maramanah last night was held in darkness. The speakers assembled on the first-floor balcony of the house, which was dimly illuminated by a hurricane lantern.
Mr. Newell Carruthers, secretary of the N.S.W. Tenants' Protection League, alleged that the Lord Mayor had purchased the adjoining property, Cheverills, recently. He suggested that if a park stood where Maramanah stood now the rental value of the adjoining property would go up immediately.
Mr. Jack Wells, vice-president of the Rehabilitation Committee of the Australian Communist Party, attacked Alderman Bartley for the proposal to make Maramanah into a park area.
Lord Mayor Explains
Alderman Bartley said last night that the allegations made at the meeting were ridiculous. The decision to demolish Maramanah was made by the council more than two years ago—long before he had considered buying Cheverills. The decision to demolish the mansion was to enable the street to be widened and a park provided.
The council had been unable to carry out the demolition then because the place was impressed as a naval canteen. The decision to demolish Maramanah was made unanimously by the City Council.
Mr. Norman Docker, spokesman for the group who had moved into Maramanah, said last night that there were now 16 people living in the house. Two more families are expected to move in to-day.
The "squatters" believe the house can comfortably accommodate 40 people.
Early last night a truck drew up with a load of furniture, consisting of tables, chairs, crockery, and cutlery. Many gifts of groceries arrived yesterday, and £8 was handed in by well-wishers. At the meeting a collection to cover the expenses of putting Maramanah into livable condition resulted in nearly £10 being given by the crowd.
Warning To Owners
The Lord Mayor announced yesterday that he would present a minute to the City Council on Monday dealing with the position at Maramanah.
The Lord Mayor added: "I am afraid the announcement by the Minister for Labour and Industry, Mr. Hamilton Knight, that the City Council will not be permitted to demolish the mansion will result in a sharp increase in the number of trespassers in this building.
"If this sort of thing is to be encouraged, nobody's property will be safe. I would advise other owners in similar circumstances to lock their premises. If jungle law is to be tolerated, forcible entry of empty buildings will certainly increase."
The Town Clerk, Mr. Hendy, denied yesterday that the City Council had made a start on the demolition of the building.
Mr. Hendy said the City Council decided a month ago to seek authority to demolish Maramanah as soon as notice was received that it had been vacated by the Royal Navy. This notice was received a few days ago, and application had been made to the Minister for Labour and Industry for a permit.
Mr. Hendy said that workmen had begun to demolish a surrounding wall because no permit was necessary for that work.
PROTEST OVER HOUSE DEMOLITION
Lord Mayor Of Sydney Refutes Allegation
SYDNEY, March 22.
A crowd of 600 people, who at times threatened to block McLeay street, attended a protest meeting convened tonight by the homeless people who moved into Maramanah House yesterday week. The meeting was to protest against the adjournment today by the Paddington Court for a week of the application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," for the tenancy of Maramanah.
The meeting was held in the darkness. The speakers assembled on the first floor balcony of the house, dimly illuminated by a hurricane lantern.
The meeting took a sensational turn when Mr. Newell Carruthers, secretary of the NSW Tenants' Protection League, alleged that the Lord Mayor (Ald. R. J. Bartley) had purchased the adjoining property of Cheverills recently. He suggested that, if a park stood where Maramanah stood now, the rental value of the adjoining property would go up immediately.
Informed tonight of the allegations made at the meeting, the Lord Mayor said that they were ridiculous. The decision to demolish Maramanah was made by the council over two years ago to widen the streets there and to provide a park.
"We were unable to carry on the demolition then, because the place was impressed by the authorities as a naval canteen. The decision to demolish Maramanah was a unanimous one of the City Council," Alderman Bartley said.
[Below the article the clipping also shows an unrelated paragraph headed "Reconstruction Training", not transcribed.]
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BIG HOUSE INVASION
Party Planned To Thank Many Helpers
SYDNEY.—The new residents of Maramanah, the 20-roomed house at King's Cross, are going to throw a party for all the people who have helped them, when they are finally settled in.
"IT'S the only way we have of thanking them," said Mr. Fred Sheaves, who has been appointed press spokesman for the self-styled "squatters" at Maramanah today. Mr. A. Dunlop sat by an open window labelled "Inquiry Desk" and answered questions from callers.
A steady stream of people came in to help clean up the house for the week-end. They were volunteer working bees from a mass meeting at the mansion last night of local residents.
The meeting was called by Maramanah tenants to support them in their claim to the house as a home.
Furniture, Money
Today a Melbourne soldier on leave in Sydney, who had been at the meeting, called at Maramanah to give a hand with the job of cleaning the ground floor. Other offers of help included furniture, money, food, and crockery.
At 6.30 a.m. today the 16 tenants of the house had a meeting and appointed house-planning and finance committees. The house committee will supervise furnishing and maintenance of the mansion.
The planning committee will make a thorough survey of the mansion and report on what accommodation is available, allotting space to the most deserving of the applicants waiting for rooms.
There are between 200 and 300 names on the waiting list.
Three more families will move into Maramanah late today. These include a man and his wife, who is expected to go into hospital soon to have a baby. They have an 18-month-old child in the country because of lack of accommodation. An eviction notice has been served on them.
There is another woman expecting a baby. She is now living with her mother in a sleep-out verandah and her husband is about to be discharged from the Army.
A third family—an ex-serviceman, his wife, and three children—is reported to be living in "distressing circumstances."
Phone Cut Off
The telephone was disconnected from the mansion yesterday. Cooking is being done on primus stoves and a fuel stove. Week-end meals will be stew and corned beef with salad.
Local residents are taking round [clipping ends here]
News - Sat March 23rd 1946 Page 1
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DWELLING SEIZED
Ex-Soldiers At Bondi
A vacant four-storied apartment house at Bondi, containing more than 100 suites of rooms, was last night taken possession of by a group of ex-Servicemen, who claimed that they and their families were living in conditions of extreme hardship.
The premises, known as Tarrana, are in Ramsgate Avenue, close to the northern end of Bondi Beach. During the war they were used first by the American Red Cross and later, up until two months ago, as a hostel for WRANS.
The decision to commandeer Tarrana was reached at a meeting held in Tobruk House Club, next door.
This meeting, held early yesterday evening, was addressed by Colonel H. Cohen, vice-president of the North Bondi sub-branch of the R.S.S.A.I.L.A., and Messrs. W. S. Maxwell and C. W. Wilson, committeemen of the sub-branch.
They told the ex-Servicemen who were seeking homes that while the proposition to take over Tarrana could not receive official sanction or backing from the sub-branch, its members would individually do all they could.
FRONT DOOR OPEN
It was stated at the meeting that the North Bondi sub-branch had already attempted to secure a lease of Tarrana without success. It is believed the premises are administered by a trustee company on behalf of an estate.
The meeting resolved to allow only ex-Servicemen to occupy rooms.
The party gained entrance through the front door, which was found conveniently open, and an inspection was made by torchlight, the electricity having been cut off.
One of those to move in and take up residence following the meeting was Mr. F. A. Toovey, who was elected to seek formally the right of tenancy at Tarrana. He gave his address as 111 Wellington Street, Bondi, and said that his wife and child were living at Casino because there was not room for them to live with him.
Mr. Toovey, an ex-P.O.W., has been with his wife for only four and a half months in the past four years.
With him were:—
Frank Mulligan, who told the meeting he had been living in a crowded flat with his wife, child and relations.
K. Vitnell, 134 O'Donnell Street, who said his wife and child were in Queensland as he had been unable to find a home in Sydney for them.
A. C. Slade, 124 Brighton Boulevarde, Bondi, his wife and two children, who had been living with relations.
N. Keats, 50 Bondi Road, Bondi Junction, who was "paying £3 per week for a room for wife and child."
MORE AT MARAMANAH
There are now 11 families, with a total of 33 people, at "Maramanah," the City Council's mansion at King's Cross, which was taken over on last Wednesday night.
(Picture, page 8.)
Sydney Morning Herald - Mon 25th March 1946 Pg 4
PROPERTY OWNERS ALARMED AT MARAMANAH SEIZURE
SYDNEY, Sunday.
Special precautions will be taken to guard against the seizure of two large Point Piper homes when they are vacated soon by the R.A.A.F., following the action of some ex-servicemen in taking over Maramanah, at King's Cross.
Owners of properties becoming vacant as the result of defence personnel relinquishing impressment, are disturbed.
The owner of one Point Piper home said that he intended converting the property into an exclusive guest or apartment house, but while alterations were being effected he would have the house occupied day and night by a caretaker.
There were no fresh developments to-day in the Maramanah case.
A meeting outside the house this afternoon decided to make a public appeal for furniture and cooking utensils for the inmates. Attempts will also be made to get timber and tools to subdivide some of the larger rooms to make additional accommodation available for homeless servicemen and their wives.
Property owners Alarmed - Canberra Times - Mon 25 march 1946 Pg1
MARAMANAH CASE
Allegations at Meeting of Tenants
DENIAL BY LORD MAYOR
Sydney, March 24.—A crowd of 600 people, who at times threatened to block McLeay street, attended a protest meeting convened last night by the homeless people who moved last Thursday into Maramanah, a two-storey King's Cross mansion, which it had been intended to demolish. The meeting was a protest against the adjournment yesterday by the Paddington Court for a week of the application by Edward Loghran, one of the "squatters," for the tenancy of Maramanah.
The meeting was held in darkness. The speakers assembled on the first floor balcony of the house, dimly illuminated by a hurricane lantern. It took a sensational turn when Mr. Newell Carruthers, secretary of the New South Wales Tenants' Protection League, made allegations that the Lord Mayor, Alderman J. Bartley, had purchased the adjoining property, Cheverills, recently. He suggested that if a park stood where Maramanah stood the rental value of the adjoining property would go up immediately. Mr. Carruthers stated that the "King's Cross Times" of February 21 carried the story of the sale of Cheverills to the Lord Mayor.
He added that Maramanah was only one case in point, and said that other palatial homes which were unoccupied should be brought under the control of legislation to permit their occupancy by other homeless people. He specially mentioned that the home of Mr. Fairfax at Palm Beach should be taken over. He said that there was a real move afoot to direct the campaign by the Maramanah squatters into an attack against the Federal Government, and said that this should be watched very carefully. Journalists who were members of the Australian Journalists' Association should not permit themselves to be used in any such campaign.
Mr. Jack Wells, vice-president of the rehabilitation committee of the Australian Communist Party, said that Alderman Bartley's idea to make Maramanah into a park area was criminal.
Early last night a truck drew up before Maramanah with a load of furniture, consisting of tables, chairs, crockery and cutlery. There were many gifts during the day of groceries, and £8 was handed in by well-wishers. At the meeting a collection to cover the expenses of making Maramanah livable resulted in nearly £10 being donated by the crowd.
Informed last night of the allegations made at the meeting the Lord Mayor said that they were ridiculous. "The decision to demolish Maramanah was made by the City Council over two years ago in order to widen the streets there and to provide a park," he said. "We were unable to carry out the demolition then because the place was impressed by the authorities as a naval canteen. The decision to demolish Maramanah was unanimous on the part of the council."
Maramanah Case - Mon 25 Mar 1946 pg 2
KING'S CROSS HOME.
CITY COUNCIL'S OFFER.
Peppercorn Rental to State Government.
SYDNEY, March 25.—The King's Cross mansion known as Maramanah, which was last week occupied by a number of homeless families without authority from the City Council, which owns the building, has been offered by the council to the State Government for 12 months for the housing of homeless persons. So far the Government has not replied to the council's offer. The council intends to make the building available to the Government at a peppercorn rental.
Meanwhile, Edward Andrew, an ex-serviceman, of North Bondi, to-day applied to the Paddington Police Court for an order giving him legal tenancy of Taranna, the four-storey apartment house at Bondi of which a group of ex-servicemen has taken possession. The case will be heard tomorrow morning. All day today people seeking accommodation have been arriving at the building, and by 4 o'clock this afternoon 81 applications had been received. The list of would-be tenants was then closed. From these 81 applications, as well as from another 20 received on Sunday night, the servicemens' committee will select 76 families for the tenancy of that number of double rooms considered fit for immediate occupation.
SEIZED MANSION AS HOSTEL
Offer By City Council To Government
Maramanah, the 20-roomed mansion at King's Cross, which was seized by homeless people last week, is to be offered by the City Council to the State Government as a hostel for those in need of homes.
This decision was made yesterday by the City Council, which bought the property to enable a park to be extended and streets to be widened.
PEPPERCORN RENT FOR YEAR
The Lord Mayor, Alderman R. J. Bartley, said the State Government had stopped the demolition of the building, and all the council could do now was to make it available as a temporary housing shelter.
Maramanah will be offered to the Government for 12 months at a peppercorn rental.
The council also decided to ask for permission to remove an encroaching portion of Maramanah (additions to the building), for use in widening Elizabeth Bay Road.
SELECTING TENANTS
The council decided that the selection of tenants should be left to the responsible Ministers, and that the State Government should carry out any alterations to the building deemed necessary by the council.
It was also agreed to take ejectment proceedings against persons at present occupying Maramanah, except those who are selected by the Government to remain in occupation.
Originally the Lord Mayor had proposed that proceedings should be taken against the person or persons responsible for the forced entry and unauthorised use of Maramanah.
The matter came before the council in a minute by the Lord Mayor, who, after describing the events of the last few days, said: "I am not unmindful of the great shortage of housing accommodation, but I do contend that law and order in the proper regulation of our community life must be observed.
"I am offering Maramanah to the State Government because I wish to assist it in its endeavour to provide reasonable temporary accommodation for those people awaiting homes."
The town clerk, Mr. Hendy, read a letter from Percy A. McDonald, which alleged that some of the persons who had occupied the mansion were prominent Communists.
Alderman Marks said that the Government was doing little to improve the housing position, except bring out blue-prints. There were seven or eight mansions occupied by the Army in the city which could be made available as hostels.
Alderman O'Dea said that the seizure of Maramanah had drawn attention to the acute housing shortage. A move should be made to speed up the return of hotels and other buildings taken over by the Army.
Premier Condemns Illegal House Occupancy
SYDNEY, Tuesday.
In the Legislative Assembly to-day, the Premier (Mr. McKell) said that he did not accept the view that persons were justified in taking the law into their own hands and assuming occupancy of buildings to which they had no legal right.
The Premier was replying to Mr. Treatt, who asked what plans the Government had to ensure that the legal rights of owners were not violated and that genuinely homeless people were afforded an opportunity of obtaining lawful possession of unoccupied houses.
A third instance of house seizing occurred last night when six adults and three children took possession of premises at Ashfield, which were being converted into a baby clinic.
One of the men said that for several months he had spent the nights in railway carriage depots.
He is a veteran of two world wars.
It was stated that the women and children concerned had been sleeping on floors and in kitchens of the homes of friends.
An application for the legal tenancy of the Bondi guesthouse, which had been seized yesterday by homeless people, was adjourned at the Paddington Court to-day for a week. The applicant stated that the rent would be guaranteed.
COMMUNISTS SPONSORED MOVE
The official organ of the Communist Party, "Tribune," said to-day that the Maramanah Mansion, which was seized by the homeless people, was taken in that manner on the advice of the Communist Party.
The paper says that Communists were among those who moved into the buildings.
One of the occupants, Mrs. Norman Docker, formerly a W.A.A.F., said it was a Communist move but once the Communists had entered others were admitted so long as accommodation was available.
Premier Condemns Illegal House - Wed 27 Mar 1946 - Pg2
Mansion Was Seized On Reds' Advice
SYDNEY, Wed.—King's Cross mansion Maramanah was seized by homeless ex-servicemen and women on the advice of the Communist Party, says the party's official organ Tribune.
Communists are among those who have moved into the building, the paper admits.
It quotes the secretary of the Communist Party rehabilitation committee as saying: "In advising our members and friends to move into Maramanah we were conscious that people like Lord Mayor, Alderman Bartley would raise the cry of 'jungle law.'
"Less than £1000 would make Maramanah a very fine house for at least 10 families, and it is a thousand times better than the park benches which Alderman Bartley would provide."
Mansion Seized On Reds Advice - Daily News - Wed 27 March 1946 pg 12
Communists Seize Mansion
Sydney, March 26.—The official organ of the Communist Party, the "Tribune," said today that Maramanah Mansion, seized by homeless people at King's Cross, was taken in that manner on the advice of the Communist Party.
The paper says that Communist were among those who moved into the building.
One of the occupants, Mrs. Norman Docker, formerly a W.A.A.A.F., said today that it was a Communist move, but once Communists had entered all those in need were admitted.
"COMS." TURN "SQUATTERS"
Vacant Mansion Invaded
Nearly 20 persons, who moved in surreptitiously, are now living in the empty City Council property, "Maramanah," at King's Cross, Sydney. The move to occupy the premises was organised by the Communist Party.
An application by Edward Loughran, one of the "squatters," to become legal tenant was adjourned for a week by Mr. Pickup, S.M., in the Paddington Police Court, to give the City Council time to investigate the position.
The City Council decided last Monday to institute proceedings for ejectment against the intruders and to grant the State Government use of the premises at a nominal rental, for use as a hostel for homeless people.
The Council decided two years ago to demolish the old mansion to enable the street to be widened and a park laid out. Until a month ago, "Maramanah" was used as a hostel for servicemen. When the servicemen moved out, the "Coms." and their proteges moved in.
NOT HOMELESS WAIFS
Alderman J. Armstrong, who is also a Labor Senator, said at the City Council meeting that if what he had been told was right, many of those in possession of "Maramanah" were not homeless waifs, but active Communists, who were using the Council's property as an organising ground for disruptive methods.
Instances of Communist activity had been seen recently at Gladesville, Ryde and Bankstown, he said, and if "Maramanah" was to become the focal point for such influence in the city, he would strongly oppose it.
COMMUNIST ADVICE
"Squatters" at "Maramanah" admitted that seizure of the mansion was organised by members of the Communist Party, acting on the advice of party leaders. This was confirmed by an article in the Communist official paper, "Tribune."
Vacant houses in Ashfield, Bendir, Ryde and other suburbs also have been seized and occupied. One of them is a 104-room guest house, "Tirrana," in North Bondi.
The Communist technique is to use ex-servicemen as a spearhead to force an entry into a vacant house, and then move in their own members.
Once the Communist "squatters" get possession of a house they bar out homeless people who apply for admittance.
The Premier (Mr. McKell) in Parliament, and magistrates in the Police Court, have warned the "squatters" that no person is justified in seizing a residence he has no right to occupy.
MARAMANAH CASE LAPSES
The Maramanah tenancy case was withdrawn at the request of the applicant, Edward Loughran, ex-R.A.A.F., at Paddington Police Court yesterday.
As the premises were no longer vacant within the meaning of a National Security regulation, the Court had no jurisdiction to hear an application for tenancy, counsel for Loughnan said.
The application was also being withdrawn because demolition was no longer being carried out, a stop-order having been issued by the State Government. Loughran had accepted, as reasonable, proposals to make the premises available to ex-Servicemen by the State Government or through the Returned Soldiers' League.
KING'S CROSS MANSION
No Finality Yet
Negotiations were still in progress for the State Government to take over Maramanah, King's Cross, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Bartley, told the City Council yesterday.
The City Council recently offered Maramanah, a 20-roomed house at King's Cross, to the State Government for a year, to house homeless persons selected by the Government.
Alderman Bartley said he had received no official offer from the Returned Soldiers' League to control the building.
The council would go into recess soon, and a special committee should be appointed to take any necessary action to complete arrangements for housing deserving cases.
"We cannot allow conditions to remain as they are," he added. "The vandals are very busy, and I have received many complaints."
The council appointed a committee to deal with the position.
SMH - Tues 9th April 1946 Pg 5
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Communism
The letter of Mr. Wright in Tuesday's "Liberal" with its lurid warnings and horrid hints about Communist "cells" lurking ready to bring chaos and confusion to the town of Dubbo, must make not only Communists, but everyone who knows them, laugh, that he should still talk such futile nonsense.
We Communists do most earnestly wish to improve the living conditions o four [sic] fellow Australians. In achieving this, we can and do work along the same lines in civic affairs as all progressive people. Where we differ from them is, in our belief that an immeasurably happier and richer life would be possible for all of us if the profit motive were removed from our economy.
As far as chaos and confusion are concerned—well, if that was what we wanted we could not do better than to leave desperate returned men cooped up with their families in one room in intolerable conditions. Those who acquiesce in such a state of affairs are the ones who encourage lawlessness and anarchy.
The public attention which the occupation of "Maramanah" has aroused has not, in fact, led to hordes of homeless Communists stampeding into houses all over Australia. It has, however, led Mr. McGirr, Minister for Housing, to bestir himself "to obtain an early decision from the State Cabinet on plans for compelling the use of empty houses in New South Wales."
Very soon, then, we hope that Mr. Wright, who is not satisfied with plain Justice, will also have her adorned with technical legality to reconcile him to this sensible procedure.
Yours etc.,
JOHN BOOTH,
Secretary, Dubbo Branch,
Australian Communist Party.
Communism - Dubbo Liberal - Tues 9th April 1946 - Pg4
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Aldermen Move To Evict
An influential group of City Council Aldermen is considering a move to evict "squatters" from Maramanah, King's Cross.
They believe that if the council evicted the squatters, the Housing Commission would provide them with emergency accommodation.
The squatters took possession of Maramanah four years ago, and council left them there as a temporary expedient.
The squatters—a dozen families—have been paying the council a total of £10/15/6 a week in rent.
PARK PLAN
The council resumed Maramanah, a rambling old building on the corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road, with the intention of demolishing the building and using the land to extend Fitzroy Gardens, a small park adjoining the property.
[This image shows the first part of the Sun-Herald article "Aldermen Move To Evict" (29 October 1950); the continuation appears in the second Aldermen clipping further down the post.]
Bad Laws Must Be Defied - Southern Mail - Fri 12 Apr 1946 pg 2 Part 2
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BAD LAWS MUST BE DEFIED
THE LORD MAYOR of Sydney was highly indignant that homeless soldiers should have taken their wives and families into a huge unoccupied building which the Council had commenced to pull down. He declared a blow had been struck at the foundations of society and if he had had his way the two or three dozen women and children who found shelter in the spacious building would have been turned adrift in order that he might make a playground for the people of King's Cross. If such high-handed acts were condoned, said his lordship, there was an end of law and order and we were utterly lost.
Evidently His Lordship is poorly read in English history, which, from Magna Carta to woman suffrage and later, is the record of successful defiance of evil laws and the triumph of popular demand over Tory resistance to reform. The nation that has lost the art of open defiance to oppressive or distasteful laws must cease to progress.
It says little for the City Council that, with thousands of citizens living under slum conditions and little children doomed to suffer from want of fresh air and ordinary decent conditions, it should have thought for a moment of demolishing a building that could so readily be made to give shelter to wives and children of men who had risked their all to assure their children of safety and happiness in their native land.
Lord Mayor Bartley may fume as he will, the law may do what it dare, but the fact remains that the courageous action of these ex-soldiers has awakened the public conscience as no appeal to reason has yet done, and has brought into public view the appalling fact that thousands of our best citizens, with tens of thousands in the making, are living under conditions that disgrace our community and that very little is being done to give the people homes and the children the opportunity of becoming good, respectable citizens. On the contrary, all the political parties are bent on bringing to this country thousands of immigrants to battle for the miserably few homes available. The evil effects of the attitude of my Lord Mayor and his cronies of the hour towards this, the supreme question of the hour have been brought in dramatic manner into the full blaze of public opinion as no lawful act could have done, and already there are signs of an awakening of the dry bone of indifference. Something is being done in odd places and the Housing Commission is moving a little faster. But much more must be done, and done immediately, before it will be less than a crime to bring decent folk from other lands to compete for the few homes available. And the people especially should be warned of the conditions they will find in every part of Australia if they come here to seek a home. Some hundred thousand houses must be built in this State alone before the need for houses will be within cooee of being met. We are building a hundred or two a month and very few of them for those who must rent their homes.
I lifts [sic] my lid to the soldiers who so flagrantly broke the law by occupying Maramanah and who brought home to every thoughtful man in the State the desperate plight of the thousands of homeless people within our midst. With two elections within reasonable distance, something worthwhile should come of it.
If construction of people's homes were undertaken with the same vigor with which the Allied Works Council undertook the construction of war buildings, we should soon be within sight of vastly improved housing conditions and our young folk could get on with the job of providing Australia with the most desirable of all immigrants — the native-born baby.
H. LAMOND [handwritten signature].
42 Bundaroo Street, Bowral.
Bad Laws Must Be Defied - Southern Mail - Fri 12 Apr 1946 pg 2
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MARAMANAH MAN WINS A HOME
Mr. N. S. Sims, who lives at the Maramanah hostel, King's Cross, won one of the homes for ex-Servicemen at the State Housing Commission's 14th ballot yesterday.
With his wife and two children he moved into Maramanah a month ago, because they had no other suitable accommodation.
The names of 4,585 Service and civilian applicants were submitted at yesterday's ballot for 200 homes. It was one of the largest ballots yet conducted by the Housing Commission.
Of the 200 homes 112 went to ex-Servicemen.
The secretary of the National Council of Women, Mrs. J. Metcalfe, who opened the ballot, said the Housing Commission had completed its 2,000th home last week.
"A total of 5,124 new homes have either been completed or put under construction by the commission," she said. "In addition, a further 3,116 new dwellings have been approved for building throughout the State."
The arrangement for division between ex-Service personnel and others on a 50-50 basis also applied to ballots for country homes.
Maramanah Man Wins Home - SMH - Fri 7 June 1946 - Pg 5
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Road To Be Widened
Mr. Knight said yesterday that he had agreed to the City Council's proposal for the demolition of part of the walls at Maramanah to widen Elizabeth Bay Road, and thus reduce traffic congestion. Seventy square feet would be removed from a corner of the building.
Mr. Knight said he had sanctioned this work on an undertaking from the Lord Mayor that the council would control the rental of the building, and that it would not permit any organisation or company to rent or lease the building.
The council had promised him that it would instal a community kitchen to enable a group of families to cook their meals, and a community dining-room, and a community social room. Further, the council undertook to provide sufficient yard space at the rear of the building for the residents, and would arrange for the balance of the area to be added to Fitzroy Gardens as a public park.
[Only this part of the article (the "Road To Be Widened" section) is shown in the clipping.]
SMH - Sat 15 June 1946 - Pg 3 Part 2
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MARAMANAH DANCES INVESTIGATION
If dances were held for the Communist Party at Maramanah, no objection could be raised by the City Council as long as the social room was not let as a public hall, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Bartley, said yesterday.
Alderman Bartley was referring to complaints that the Communists were holding weekly dances as [sic] Maramanah, a large house owned by the City Council at King's Cross, which has been converted into a hostel for homeless persons.
"I realise these tenants are entitled to the same consideration as people living under ordinary tenancy conditions," he said. "A tenant of a private home may hold a dance if he pleases, and tenants of Maramanah may do the same, as long as the social room is not let as a public hall.
"The tenants have appointed their own house committee, and as far as I know they are conducting the premises satisfactorily. They are entitled under an arrangement with the council to a common social room.
"The Communist Party is not an illegal organisation, and it makes no difference whether the functions are being held for the Communist Party or for the Liberal Party."
SMH Wed 7th Aug 1946 - Pg 3
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GARDENS AT THE CROSS
Bid To Demolish Old Mansion
The State Government is to be asked to find other accommodation for residents of Maramanah, the old King's Cross mansion, and to permit demolition of the building.
This decision was made by the finance committee of the City Council yesterday.
Aldermen said that the building was an eyesore and should be pulled down so that Fitzroy Gardens could be extended.
The City Council owns Maramanah, which stands at the corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road.
It planned to demolish the building in 1946 after it had been handed back by the American Army.
Squatters, however, took possession, and the Government refused to allow the council to demolish the building. A hostel was set up and the council undertook not to demolish the building for two years. This agreement will expire on May 10.
Gardens At The X - SMH Tues 16 March 1948 pg 1
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Plan For Potts Pt. Mansion
Unless alternative accommodation were found for the tenants of Maramanah, Macleay St., Potts Point, the mansion would continue to be used as a hostel for another 12 months, said the Minister for Building Materials (Mr. Dickson) today.
MR. DICKSON said that Maramanah housed five families, and therefore the same conditions would be imposed for another 12 months in view of the present housing shortage.
This decision was subject to review if other accommodation is found for the tenants, he said.
Two years ago the council had given an undertaking that it would not demolish the building for a period of not less than two years, unless with special approval.
The two years' term expired on Monday, he said, and he understood the council was asking for a permit to demolish.
A Housing Commission spokesman said today that he had been through the files, but could find no record of an application having been forwarded by the City Council to the Housing Commission to provide emergency accommodation for the tenants of Maramanah.
Plan For Potts Pt Mansion - Daily Mirror - Tues 4 May 1948 - Pg
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NEW MOVE ON OLD MANSION
The City Council will endeavor to have tenants of Maramanah, old Potts Point mansion, evicted.
Next week the Lord Mayor (Ald. O'Dea), the Town Clerk (Mr. Hendy), and the Chairman of the Council's Finance Committee (Ald. J. J. Carroll) will meet the Minister for Building Materials (Mr. Dickson).
Last night a special report compiled by the Town Clerk was placed before the Finance Committee.
The report detailed history of the building since its purchase by the Council in 1944 for £52,000.
Since then the Council has endeavored to have the building demolished to enable Fitzroy Gardens to be extended, thus providing an additional acre of park space.
New Move On Old Mansion - Daily Mirror - Thur 16 1950 - pg 5
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COUNCIL TO CONSIDER OLD MANSION
A report on Maramanah, old Potts Point mansion, will be presented to the City Council, which owns the building, at its first sitting in a few weeks' time.
The report, now being prepared by the Town Clerk (Mr. Hendy) will fully set out the Council's position in regard to the squatters who occupied the building in 1946.
After examination of this report, Council will consider definite action about demolition of the building.
It is believed that the Council's legal position regarding eviction of the squatters, who are now paying rent to the Council, will be considered when Council meets, as previous appeals to the State Government to provide alternate accommodation have been rejected.
The Lord Mayor (Ald. O'Dea) said today: "The building is an eyesore, but Council cannot be expected to renovate it as it was purchased explicitly for demolition to enable the extension of Fitzroy Gardens."
Daily Mirror - Thurs 12 Jan 1950 - Pg 11
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Aldermen Move To Evict
An influential group of City Council Aldermen is considering a move to evict "squatters" from Maramanah, King's Cross.
They believe that if the council evicted the squatters, the Housing Commission would provide them with emergency accommodation.
The squatters took possession of Maramanah four years ago, and council left them there as a temporary expedient.
The squatters—a dozen families—have been paying the council a total of £10/15/6 a week in rent.
PARK PLAN
The council resumed Maramanah, a rambling old building on the corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road, with the intention of demolishing the building and using the land to extend Fitzroy Gardens, a small park adjoining the property.
The Town Clerk, Mr. Roy Hendy, said yesterday that council had asked the Housing Commission to provide alternative accommodation for the squatters.
The Minister for Building Materials, Mr. Dickson, said yesterday:
"We will not give an order for demolition if it means putting people out on the street.
"That applies to Maramanah.
"If the City Council can find suitable accommodation for the occupants we will permit demolition."
Minister for Housing, Mr. Kelly, said:
"Emergency accommodation is strictly limited, and can be provided only on the basis of urgency."
"UNHOLY DUMP"
Labour Alderman A. W. Thompson said:
"The place is an unholy dump, and an eyesore.
"But I would not be a party to chucking the squatters out into the gutter.
"That is against Labour's policy."
Alderman Move To Evict - Sun Herald - 29 Oct 1950 Pg 5 Pt 1
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Court Action Urged To Move Families
The City Council's health and recreations committee decided yesterday that the council should take court action against four families living in Maramanah, King's Cross, unless they applied to the State Housing Commission for alternative accommodation.
This decision will go before the full council next Monday.
The committee was considering the provision of public conveniences in Fitzroy Gardens, King's Cross, which adjoin Maramanah.
The erection of the conveniences would entail demolition of part of Maramanah.
The council decided in 1945 to obtain vacant possession of Maramanah in order to extend Fitzroy Gardens.
Four families are living in the building and the council has been unable to find them alternative accommodation.
"CAN'T GO ON"
Alderman J. P. Tate said the council should ask the State Government to co-operate with the council and provide, through its housing scheme, a home for these families.
"If they won't go, the council should go to court and state the facts," he said. "This can't go on just because four people want to stay in this building. Holding up the rest of the community is wrong."
Maramanah, a rambling old mansion at the corner of Elizabeth Bay Road and Macleay Street, King's Cross, was formerly the home of the Hollander family.
SMH Wed 28th April 1954 - Pg 4
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Deadlock at Maramanah
The City Council at its meeting today will discuss taking legal action to remove four families still living in King's Cross mansion, Maramanah.
The Council's Health Committee last week decided to recommend this course to the council.
The City Council decided in 1945 to demolish the building so that Fitzroy Garden could be extended, but it has not been able to find alternative accommodation for families who moved in to the building.
The four families still living in Maramanah are protected by the Landlord and Tenants' Act.
The Council today is expected to decide that, unless the tenants apply to the Housing Commission for homes, the Council will take every action possible to evict them.
Deadlock At Maramanah - Daily Mirror - Mon 3 May 1954 pg 23
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'Squatters' Castle' To Be Demolished
After seven years' occupation by squatters, the historic Potts Point mansion "Maramanah" will be demolished by the City Council shortly.
The building, an eyesore in Macleay St. will be demolished under an agreement with the Housing Commission which has agreed to find accommodation for the residents. The ground will be used to extend Fitzroy Park.
Maranamah - Macleay Street - Potts Point - New South Wales - Truth - Sunday 5 April 1953, page 46
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Demolition reveals wartime paintings
[Photograph: wall painting of a sailor with a hand over his mouth, lettered "SILENCE SAILOR"]
WORKMEN DEMOLISHING the King's Cross residential Maramanah, on the corner of Macleay Street and Elizabeth Bay Road, this week uncovered a series of oil paintings on the plaster walls. The paintings included beach scenes, a New York street, a nude woman, and a buck-jumping donkey. Authorities believe servicemen staying at the residential during World War II painted the scenes. The above painting either urged sailors to curb their language or keep their mouths shut on the movements of their ships. The City Council is demolishing Maramanah to extend Fitzroy Gardens.
Demolition Reveals Wartime Paintings - Daily Telegraph Sun 24 Oct 1954 pg 11
DEMOLITION HALTED ON SEIZED HOME
Tenancy Hearing To-day
Work of demolishing the City Council's mansion, "Maramanah," at King's Cross was stopped yesterday at the order of the Minister for Labour and Industry, Mr. Hamilton Knight. Eleven persons slept there last night.
Eight persons, who said they had no other accommodation, had moved in on Wednesday night. Application for a court order for tenancy of the mansion was made by one of the occupants, an ex-Serviceman, yesterday and the case will be heard to-day.
STATE MINISTER INTERVENES
No building can be demolished without the permission of Mr. Knight's department.
Mr. Knight said yesterday that he had sent an officer of his department to inspect the building.
"This officer reported to me that the City Council workmen had begun demolishing a retaining wall and had pulled down about 70 feet of it," he said. "They had also removed roofs from some of the outbuildings.
"On receipt of this report I immediately issued an order on the City Council, directing it to stop the demolition work, and the town clerk, Mr. Hendy, at once took action to carry out my order."
The Minister for Housing, Mr. McGirr, said in the Legislative Assembly yesterday that "Maramanah" should not be demolished when houses were so badly needed.
He was replying to a question from Mr. Shannon (Lab., Phillip).
Mr. McGirr said that in entering into occupation of the house the people concerned had not adopted the right procedure.
"The City Council should make the house available for control and maintenance by some suitable organisation and allow occupation either for single girls or for men, or convert it for families," said Mr. McGirr.
R.S.L. ACTIVE
The acting president of the R.S.L., Mr. Ken Bolton, yesterday discussed with Mr. Knight and Mr. McGirr the use of the building for housing ex-Servicemen and their families, and suggested that the King's Cross sub-branch of the R.S.L. should be responsible for management if the City Council would agree to rent the mansion at a reasonable figure.
It was made clear that the State Government had no authority over the renting or leasing of the building.
The committee of the R.S.L. King's Cross sub-branch held an emergency meeting last night, and adopted a motion that, while not condoning the action of the men in taking possession of Maramanah, it sympathised with them, and would help them in every possible way.
It decided to ask the City Council and the State Government to delay demolition of the building until houses were more plentiful.
MANY SEEK ACCOMMODATION
The original "occupants"—two young married couples and four other men—were joined yesterday by an airman, and last night Mrs. E. Wright, a war widow, and her 12-years-old daughter, arrived.
Last night about 30 ex-Servicemen, some with their wives, went to the mansion to seek accommodation.
The men in possession interviewed them and took notes of their cases.
The first arrivals were firmly established yesterday and were awaiting further developments.
Mr. and Mrs. N. Docker, who were the first to move into the premises, spent the morning cleaning up the house and putting in order an old fuel stove in what they plan to be a community kitchen.
A deputation from the Returned Soldiers' League met the Lord Mayor, Alderman R. J. Bartley, in camera, at the City Hall late yesterday afternoon.
The acting president, Mr. Bolton, told the Lord Mayor that the City Council could materially assist in the accommodation of ex-Servicemen if it would defer demolition and make premises available for housing as a first priority and office accommodation as second priority.
Mr. Bolton said the R.S.L. had been besieged by Servicemen in search of accommodation for their families.
"Alderman Bartley seriously suggested to us that the place is not fit for human habitation," said Mr. Bolton. "We disagree. We maintain that it could house 10 families comfortably, and the King's Cross sub-branch of the R.S.L. has made an offer to take over the building, police it, and run it on hygienic lines."
"NOT JUNGLE LAW"
Commenting on the seizure of the property, Alderman Bartley said: "If this sort of thing is permitted, then we shall have people taking possession of the Anzac Buffet, Sir John Monash Hut, Exhibition Building, the British Centre, and other buildings in our park lands.
"The matter is one for council officers. No doubt they will take appropriate action. Whether the property will be let or not will be a matter for the council to determine.
"The old building was acquired by the council with the land in 1944 for £52,000. The council is not likely to permit it to be turned into a 'happy valley.'
"If the property is to be let it will be necessary to spend many thousands of pounds to make it habitable, and it would then be let by tender.
"The city has not yet been given over to jungle law."
Alderman O'Dea, M.L.C., said that Labour aldermen would demand at the meeting of the City Council on Monday that the mansion be retained as a home for the people who were in possession.
[An adjoining, unrelated article, "Plane Lands In Street At Rockdale", is partly visible in the clipping and is not transcribed.]
What stands today
Maramanah is gone. Stand in Fitzroy Gardens at 60–64 Macleay Street and you are in its former airspace. The El Alamein Fountain (1961), the plaza, and the remnant early trees (City of Sydney notes Chinese elm and Canary Island palm from around 1920, plus figs) are the public substitute for three demolished houses. Pair with the Osterley post on this blog for the first stage of the same park.
Sources & further reading
- Dictionary of Sydney — Maramanah: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/maramanah
- City of Sydney — History of Fitzroy Gardens: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/histories-local-parks-playgrounds/history-fitzroy-gardens
- Robin Eakin [Dalton], Aunts up the Cross (1965)
- Trove — 1946 squat and 1950–54 demolition coverage (SMH, Daily News, Worker, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph — see live post captions)
- Existing scrapbook post (primary paste target): https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2026/06/maranamah-macleay-street-potts-point.html
- Earlier thin post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/03/maramanah-cnr-darlinghurst-road-and.html
