Sunnyhurst in Bridgetown was the family home built by Ern Hill. One suggestion was to call it Sunnyhill but Ern did not like this name because he was worried if he had a son that he might be teased. They wanted to include the name Sunny and Hurst is an ancient English meaning for wooded hill. The family lived at Sunnyhurst from ~1906 until 1947.
There used to be a picket fence at the front of the Sunnyhurst homestead but it was long gone when my mother was a child (she was born in 1938).
Sunnyhurst had a substantial and impressive garden around the front of the house.
The back of the house faced the road and most people came in through the back entrance. This may be due to the fact that the road was a problem due to Morton Bay figs that had grown very large when she was a child.
The back entry led into the dining room which my mother Janne remembers as being very large with a table, fireplace and some lounge chairs where her grandfather Ern used to listen to the war news on the radio.
The main bedroom was originally occupied by her Grandmother Day (Emma Jane Day).
There was a study on the side of the house filled with National Geographic’s and a billiard room. It also had a room that Ern Hill used as his study.
There was a central passage from the back dining room to the front. On the kitchen side of the house there was a sleep out running the length of the house from the dining room to the front.
The Hill family hosted numerous bridge and tennis parties.
My grandparents Clarice and Charles Herbert Hurst married on Oct 26, 1936 when Clarice was 33. They lived in a small cottage next to the Sunnyhurst Homestead.
Hill Family Sunnyhurst photos
Sunnyhurst 2017 (outside)
Sunnyhurst 2017 (Inside)
Sue Waters 
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