CJ at Berowra
CJ's Advertising flyer
CJ’s only expertise was property and finance, but down Foveaux Street, towards Redfern Station, the steam train ran to the newly opening area of Berowra. Berowra was the last suitable land to the north of Sydney before the steep descent to the Hawkesbury River. Crown Land north of the present Alan Road (unnamed until 1917) was opened up for sale in 1894.
CJ went down the present Woodcourt Road, and while he eschewed manual labour, he worked the land there at Happy Valley. His family needed food and while the success of his efforts is not known, his seminal activities in Berowra had begun!
After much consideration and persuasion to those at home (as well as a Scottish mother in law and five Scottish sisters-in-laws) he gained title on mortgage to three acres of land on the corner of Berowra Creek Road and what is now known as Turner Road in 1902.
CJ went down the present Woodcourt Road, and while he eschewed manual labour, he worked the land there at Happy Valley. His family needed food and while the success of his efforts is not known, his seminal activities in Berowra had begun!
After much consideration and persuasion to those at home (as well as a Scottish mother in law and five Scottish sisters-in-laws) he gained title on mortgage to three acres of land on the corner of Berowra Creek Road and what is now known as Turner Road in 1902.
Again after a considered delay, he built 'Wharepaka' (white man's house) in 1908. A half sister, Ella Tabitha Turner, kept house. He built chicken coops and presumably eggs were sent from Wharepaka to his auction rooms, as well as from elsewhere, to Quay Street, Central Railway, which had recently been completed. Wharepaka was demolished well into last century to make way for the present Medical Centre at Berowra.
CJ's Berowra activities were on a small, embryonic scale, but in 1910 he secured title, again by way of mortgage, to 15 acres of land bounded by the later Turner, Alan and Woodcourt Roads. To expand his activities there he sold Wharepaka in 1914 and built what became known as 'Eureka' (still standing) later in 1914. Ella Tabitha came with her brother to Eureka as she had developed the contagious Tuberculous (the reason why her and CJ's father, Henry had come to NSW in 1857). Ella lived in a tent at the bottom of "Eureka" and her meals were left for her at a distance! She died in 1916.
CJ Turner's wife Caroline, remains a shadowy figure as far a residence in Berowra is concerned and may have not been positive about any of the Berowra developments. By early 1915 his plans had still not matured in any way, but he could not have been prepared for the calamitous circumstances later in the year which would enable his dream to come to fruition.
In June 1914 after seven years of courtship, CJ Turner reluctantly gave approval for his only daughter, Violet, to marry Charles Spencer Woof, a wine and spirits commercial traveller. After their first child was born (Enid, 1915- ) and was due to leave hospital, CS Woof had no home to take his wife and daughter to. He had lost his job and so was given temporary refuge at Eureka, Berowra. CS Woof accepted his father in law's offer to develop Eureka into a poultry farm and breed chickens for sale to the Sydney market. He secured a horse "Prince" and sulky initially, and George Huett built accommodation for the poultry.
All this was done on CJ Turner's mortgage. At last there was a marriage between the poultry and the land purchases. CS Woof put tremendous energy into developing what was his father-in-law's dream, and he alone deserves the credit for creating a huge family enterprise. The symbiosis with property and egg production (the fowls did all the work with limited manual labour which wasn't CJ 's forte) began with land purchase and development, with the poultry side coming a close second.
In 1925 CJ Turner's financial troubles were such that he had to hand over the mortgages to his son-in-law. But how "Eureka" developed from then on is another story, with CS Woof dying eventually in Berowra in 1970.
CJ's Berowra activities were on a small, embryonic scale, but in 1910 he secured title, again by way of mortgage, to 15 acres of land bounded by the later Turner, Alan and Woodcourt Roads. To expand his activities there he sold Wharepaka in 1914 and built what became known as 'Eureka' (still standing) later in 1914. Ella Tabitha came with her brother to Eureka as she had developed the contagious Tuberculous (the reason why her and CJ's father, Henry had come to NSW in 1857). Ella lived in a tent at the bottom of "Eureka" and her meals were left for her at a distance! She died in 1916.
CJ Turner's wife Caroline, remains a shadowy figure as far a residence in Berowra is concerned and may have not been positive about any of the Berowra developments. By early 1915 his plans had still not matured in any way, but he could not have been prepared for the calamitous circumstances later in the year which would enable his dream to come to fruition.
In June 1914 after seven years of courtship, CJ Turner reluctantly gave approval for his only daughter, Violet, to marry Charles Spencer Woof, a wine and spirits commercial traveller. After their first child was born (Enid, 1915- ) and was due to leave hospital, CS Woof had no home to take his wife and daughter to. He had lost his job and so was given temporary refuge at Eureka, Berowra. CS Woof accepted his father in law's offer to develop Eureka into a poultry farm and breed chickens for sale to the Sydney market. He secured a horse "Prince" and sulky initially, and George Huett built accommodation for the poultry.
All this was done on CJ Turner's mortgage. At last there was a marriage between the poultry and the land purchases. CS Woof put tremendous energy into developing what was his father-in-law's dream, and he alone deserves the credit for creating a huge family enterprise. The symbiosis with property and egg production (the fowls did all the work with limited manual labour which wasn't CJ 's forte) began with land purchase and development, with the poultry side coming a close second.
In 1925 CJ Turner's financial troubles were such that he had to hand over the mortgages to his son-in-law. But how "Eureka" developed from then on is another story, with CS Woof dying eventually in Berowra in 1970.
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