The original building on the site of 6 Southerden Avenue, Grange was a large colonial house built by Edward Barton Southerden one of the 8 children of successful Queen St Drapery store owner and first Mayor of Sandgate, Edward Barton Southerden Senior, and his wife Mary.
Edward Barton Southerden Junior and his wife, Frances, built a large home at Newmarket as it was then called and the street was named after him. The house with wide its verandahs occupied the front half of the property, along with a garden, facing Southerden Avenue. The back half of the property was a large vacant grassy area, the home of a horse, several goats, and chickens. A large wooden barn in the back paddock housed their sulky.
Edward and Frances had three daughters Vera, Dora, and Ethel. They lived in this home until Frances died in 1942 and Edward in 1944 at the age of 85. Ethel had married and moved away but Vera and Dora remained unmarried and continued living in the old family home, looking after their aging parents.
In the post war era many new homes were built around the Southerden’s home. Further along Southerden Avenue and in Days Road, Yarradale Street, along Progress Parade, and in the surrounding streets. The Southerden’s home though continued to be the landmark on the top of the hill.
All of the residents in the surrounding houses knew these two gracious elderly ladies who were very generous in sharing goats milk, fresh eggs, vegetables from their garden, fruit from their guava trees, and home-made jams with their neighbours. A large bush house with an enviable collection of plants was located beside the house on the Gawler Street side. As well as managing this large home and garden they found time for creative pursuits including painting, tatting, wood carving, and writing. They were also very well read and astute in their business affairs.
As the two sisters grew older it became too difficult for them to maintain the house and they donated their home and property to the City Congregational Church where they had attended their whole lives.
The church began plans to build a retirement village on the property.
Their generous donation to the Church included a condition that a unit for each of them would be available during their lifetime. Sadly Miss Dora Southerden passed away at the age of 81 before the village was built.
On May 27 1973 twenty three single self-contained units opened at Southerden Lodge. Stage two of the complex was completed in 1974 providing an additional four double and ten single units along with a car park. Miss Vera Southerden was one of the first residents and lived there until she passed away in 1977 aged 88. In this same year the Congregational Church joined with the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches to form the Uniting Church of Australia. Southerden Lodge then became the property of the Uniting Church. Blue Care managed Southerden Lodge Aged Care Facility and Retirement Living, one of its oldest retirement complexes, until it closed in 2011.
The building of the first part of the project in 1972 included a grant of $119,600 from the State Government, a tidy sum back then, given “to assist in the cost of construction”.
Many others gave over the years in many ways to help make the vision of the two sisters continue.
A fascinating article was sent in on the history of the Southerden family authored by the then secretary of the City Uniting Church in 1980. If you'd like to see a copy click here.
