Austin was charged with stealing jewellery in England, having only been in that country for three days from Sulzbach, Germany where he had been a tailor, and was sent to the Colony of New South Wales in 1832 for seven years.

Austin married Mary Chambers in 1839 and raised seven children. He obtained his Ticket of Leave and in 1847 was given a full pardon by Queen Victoria.

He was one of the town’s market commissioners, was on the Provisional Committee of Bathurst Mining Company, a merchant storekeeper and a wool buyer and was noted as the first gold dealer in the Bathurst area.

He had a brooch made of gold for his wife depicting miners drawing soil from a shaft – this brooch is now in the Mint Museum in Sydney. Austin died in 1856 and is buried at Holy Trinity, Kelso.

Although Austin built many houses in Bathurst, he never built on the land granted to him on May 15, 1855 on the corner of Hope and Russell streets, and he subsequently sold that land to James Bullick Senior.

In 1875, Cordelia Sarah Suttor was the owner of what is now known as 119 Hope Street, and built a brick house of six rooms.

Cordelia was the daughter of cousins, William Beverley Suttor of Beverley Park (named after his wife, Mary Beverley), son of Henry Suttor, and Sarah Cordelia Suttor, daughter of George Suttor of Alloway Bank.

Cordelia had a sad life. She married Francis (Frank) Sydney Bowerman (son of George Suttor Bowerman) on February 24, 1855 and they had one son, named George Suttor Bowerman, in 1865, but who died in Dalby, Queensland on March 7, 1867.

Frank was involved in an ‘incident’ with the Under Colonial Secretary in Brisbane in November 1868. Frank was alleged to have hit Mr Manning with a tomahawk and was sentenced to penal servitude for life, a sentence believed by many to be too tough in the circumstances.

Cordelia worked tirelessly to have Frank freed, as Mr Manning claimed a special pension and went on to lead a full life.

Such release came on March 1, 1878 and according to the Warwick Argus newspaper: “Mrs Bowerman never ceased, night or day, early and late, working for her unfortunate husband’s release. And when at length her womanly devotion achieved success she was destined not to see him for whom she had risked her life. She was on her deathbed when a telegram reached her announcing her husband’s release but she died before he could reach her.” 

In 1882, Augustine O’Donnell purchased what was known as Cordelia Cottage, lived there for a year and then rented it to Andrew Freen until 1884.

The Bank of New South Wales then owned it for two years before Francis B. Kenny purchased the property and rented it to, inter alia, Edith Carroll, Margaret Koebecke, Forsyth Cheffins, Robert Quick, Joseph Perkins and Fred Tapson. Kenny, whose residence was Hatherly in George Street, was a well-respected Bathurst solicitor for over 50 years. In 1892 he was elected an alderman on Bathurst Council, and remained so for 19 years, six of which he served as mayor.

He laid the Foundation Stone for the Soldier’s Memorial in Kings Parade on May 24, 1909.

In 1923, Kenny sold Cordelia Cottage to Hedley Pritchard Smith, an agriculturalist living in Fiji. The house was rented to Edward Phillips, a horse trainer.

During Smith’s ownership, in about 1926, the land was subdivided and the house sold to Herbert Oliver Bull. Lionel Beale, a builder from Port Macquarie, purchased in October 1955 and soon sold to Keith Porter, a pharmacist, who sold to the current owners Brian and Coleen Leis in June 1989.

The National Trust recognises the excellent condition of the house, and its significant history.