39 Cambridge Street

39 Cambridge Street is on the market so we went and checked out the layout of this fine terrace house.  Marketed by Di Jones who says that it is "set in a distinguished row of Victorian Italianate homes, this classic 1890s terrace enjoys an exclusive setting between Five Ways cafe hub and Trumper Park ... Graced with refined period elements and beautiful proportions, it features rear lane access to garaging and offers potential to upgrade, capitalising on its exceptional layout and prized village setting."  All good there, probably needs a little bit of work but not too much.  My favourite 'period element' was undoubtedly these decorative horse-head corbels (photo below) which I had never noticed until on their balcony.

But what of its history?  Construction wise it looks like Di could be a bit more generous, the Paddington Rate books listing a house at 39 Cambridge for the rate year commencing 5 February 1889 so I would guess circa 1888.  Name wise I don't have anything for the future owners but I can give some answers to the question of "Who's been sleeping in my house?".  From the Sands Directories it appears a Captain W. J. Featherstone resided at 39 Cambridge for much of the 1890s.  We tried his details on Trove and came up with thousands of hits, shipping news being quite the big thing back in the day.  From here it appears Captain Featherstone was in charge of the Steam Ship "Oonah".  The Oonah, 1758 tons, was built in 1888 for the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company (T. S. N.) specifically for the Sydney - Hobart run. As you could guess there are quite a few images of this ship on the web and even a few paintings in various maritime museums. Here is one such image of the Oonah at anchor in Hobart:

It became famous for its speed and comfort and indeed set a record in April 1893 of 44 hours and 30 minutes according to the article below from the SMH. As an aside the current yacht race record set by Wild Oats XI in 2005 is 42 hours and 40 minutes.

In 1895 it would also host all the Premiers of all the colonies attending a conference in Hobart.  The Oonah worked the Sydney run until 1935 when it was sold to Japanese ship breakers for scrap.