"Roslyn Hall" - Potts Point
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View of part of Wooloomooloo and Mr Barker's house and mills with Bradleys Point 1844
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Fate Thwarted Mothers Plans.
I Wanted Daughter To Be Richest Woman in Australia.
Wrapped in the history of Grantham, the uninhabited castle at Potts Point offered for sale last week, is the strange story of how a woman's ambition for her daughter was thwarted by Fate.
Grantham, at one time the town mansion of the well known pioneer family, the Dangars, of Singleton, has not been lived in for several years. A few years before her death in 1935 it was purchased by Mrs. Parry Long, wealthy Sydney woman, and is part of her estate, which is valued at £151,130. The list of property owned by Mrs. Parry Long at the time of her death Included Roslyn Hall, Darlinghurst, another old family mansion where she lived for many years, Orwell, in Orwell Street, several lovely old houses In Roslyn Avenue, No. 10 Challis Avenue, land in Bathurst Street, Campbell Street and Cathedral Street, several different properties in Newtown, Merton Lodge in Stanmore Road, and land at Petersham and Picton. At one time Mrs. Parry Long owned Cheverells, in Elizabeth Bay Road, where the Wentworth family once lived. It is rumored that all this property was acquired with one object, to make her daughter, Miss Eliza Ina Parry Long, the wealthiest woman in Australia. This desire was cruelly thwarted when the beloved only daughter died in 1930, five years before her mother. Roslyn Hall, in which Mrs. Parry Long lived for over thirty years, was bought by her and her husband, Mr. Alfred Parry Long, at one time Registrar-General, at the beginning of the century. This mansion had belonged to Major Chauvel, and had been the scene of many wonderful parties. It was reputed to have the biggest drawing-room in Sydney, with a wonderful ceiling painted pale blue with gold stars to resemble the sky. Another feature of the house when the Parry Longs purchased it was its unique stone-flagged entrance-hall. It was Mrs. Parry Long's habit to attend sales of shops in the near suburbs and to purchase them, stock and all, and at one time she was reputed to be in possession of one hundred pairs of spoonbill corsets acquired through her purchase of a drapery shop! Mrs. Parry Long never gave up her practice of driving round in a pony drawn victoria, a pathetic reminder of this being the wooden shelter in the grounds of Grantham, which she built after her purchase of the house, to give her pony fresh grazing ground. Mrs. Parry Long eventually died intestate, and after the sale of her property the estate will be divided among several claimants.
Ref: Trove; The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Saturday 5 September 1936
I Wanted Daughter To Be Richest Woman in Australia.
Wrapped in the history of Grantham, the uninhabited castle at Potts Point offered for sale last week, is the strange story of how a woman's ambition for her daughter was thwarted by Fate.
Grantham, at one time the town mansion of the well known pioneer family, the Dangars, of Singleton, has not been lived in for several years. A few years before her death in 1935 it was purchased by Mrs. Parry Long, wealthy Sydney woman, and is part of her estate, which is valued at £151,130. The list of property owned by Mrs. Parry Long at the time of her death Included Roslyn Hall, Darlinghurst, another old family mansion where she lived for many years, Orwell, in Orwell Street, several lovely old houses In Roslyn Avenue, No. 10 Challis Avenue, land in Bathurst Street, Campbell Street and Cathedral Street, several different properties in Newtown, Merton Lodge in Stanmore Road, and land at Petersham and Picton. At one time Mrs. Parry Long owned Cheverells, in Elizabeth Bay Road, where the Wentworth family once lived. It is rumored that all this property was acquired with one object, to make her daughter, Miss Eliza Ina Parry Long, the wealthiest woman in Australia. This desire was cruelly thwarted when the beloved only daughter died in 1930, five years before her mother. Roslyn Hall, in which Mrs. Parry Long lived for over thirty years, was bought by her and her husband, Mr. Alfred Parry Long, at one time Registrar-General, at the beginning of the century. This mansion had belonged to Major Chauvel, and had been the scene of many wonderful parties. It was reputed to have the biggest drawing-room in Sydney, with a wonderful ceiling painted pale blue with gold stars to resemble the sky. Another feature of the house when the Parry Longs purchased it was its unique stone-flagged entrance-hall. It was Mrs. Parry Long's habit to attend sales of shops in the near suburbs and to purchase them, stock and all, and at one time she was reputed to be in possession of one hundred pairs of spoonbill corsets acquired through her purchase of a drapery shop! Mrs. Parry Long never gave up her practice of driving round in a pony drawn victoria, a pathetic reminder of this being the wooden shelter in the grounds of Grantham, which she built after her purchase of the house, to give her pony fresh grazing ground. Mrs. Parry Long eventually died intestate, and after the sale of her property the estate will be divided among several claimants.
Ref: Trove; The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Saturday 5 September 1936
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