No 4 Clark St

This weatherboard house was built around1889 by the Wallarah Coal-mining Company to house its mineworkers.

Charlie and Lizzie Outram were the first remembered tenants. Charlie Outram died of ill health in his 30s leaving his wife with six young children. ‘Skeeter’ who was the youngest of the children and later married Jeanie McDougall also died in his 40s of ill health. Charlie, another son, moved into the house with his wife Ettie to look after his mother. They lived here until 1943 and then moved two doors up taking over the Forsyth’s house. The Forsyths had taken over the hotel.

This pattern of swapping houses according to changing circumstances is a feature of the bay housing at this time.

Janet and ‘Meggsie’ Price moved in early in 1943 from a house near the creek in Lindsley Street where they had been living with a parent. (Meggsie and Stan Price were both miners and brothers and lived opposite each other for many years).

Father Meggsie, Mother Janet, sisters Sunny, Leone and Aileen lived in the two-bedroom house. (Janet was a Galloway; her father owned the hotel.)

The Coal Company ‘Coal & Allied’ subdivided some of its land in 1964 and determined that Mr D J Price would purchase the house and land for 350 pounds. The land measured 57feet and 8 inches across but the length of the block was only 76 feet and 3 inches on the northern side and 81 feet 91/2 inches on the southern side.

The Price family lived here from 1943-1992. When the mother died in 1991 the house was sold in 1992.

David and Elisabeth Goodsall purchased the house. The house was renovated but not enlarged. They installed the town’s first Biocycle and the house was used as a weekender. In 1994 the Goodsalls sold to Mr and Mrs Driver who used it as a long-term rental.

In 2003 Monty and Pat Govender bought the house for $460 000. Monty loved fishing in the Bay.

House sold and in 2019 has been extensively extended and renovated.