By
A historic waterfront property at 68 Algernon Street in Oatley, Sydney, has been listed for sale for the first time since 1990 and is expected to break the suburb’s house price record of $4.8 million.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom property is located on 1,400sqm of waterfront land overlooking the Georges River, from Blakehurst to Como. It was the former home of Australian author John O’Grady (pictured above), who wrote the best-selling 1957 comic novel They’re a Weird Mob (under the pseudonym Nino Culotta) in the property’s boathouse.
Selling agent John Pucak, principal of Raine & Horne Oatley, said O’Grady lived in the property until his death in 1981. The current owner then bought the property in 1990 and made significant improvements to give it a style closer to an inner-city, multi-level Federation terrace house.
The main house (pictured below) features four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a modern kitchen, multiple living areas, two large balconies fore entertaining with what Pucak calls “the best views in the St George area” and a swimming pool with water features and a massive glass rotunda.
The boathouse, meanwhile, offers a “a magnificent fireplace”, self-contained bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen, which Pucak said would “work perfectly as a home office for an entrepreneur or senior executive.”
It was built in the 1880s, predating the main house. The boathouse (pictured below) was where O’Grady wrote another book in his Nino Culotta series, Gone Fishin’, in 1962.
The waterfront property went for less than $400,000 during its 1990 sale and is predicted to sell by private treaty for “well above” the current record Oatley house price of $4.8 million, according to Pucak.
“The buyer will be an upgrader with a growing family who is seeking a waterfront property in a tightly held location, but that is still close to Oatley railway station so the kids can easily get to school and university,” Pucak said.
“I believe the buyer could be seeking a waterfront property in Blakehurst, Sans Souci, Cronulla, Kangaroo Point or even Mosman on the North Shore right now or a terrace-style house in Haberfield. This property will put Oatley waterfronts on their radar.”
Pucak said that buyers from the lower North Shore, eastern suburbs and the inner west were starting to recognise Oatley as an area that delivered “better bang for buck”, with more water views, extensive properties, and local amenities just 30 minutes to the city.
“The buyers might also be a little older and remember the movie or read the book They’re a Weird Mob and had a chuckle that the property where the idea for Nino Culotta crystalised is now up for grabs,” he said.
O’Grady’s They’re a Weird Mob was published under the pen name Nino Culotta, which is the name of the novel’s main character. The story focuses on the struggles of an Italian migrant journalist arriving in Sydney as he attempts to navigate 1950s Australian society.
A 1966 film adaptation of the book starred Australian actors Chips Rafferty, Ed Devereaux, John Meillon, Graham Kennedy, and Walter Chiari as Nino Culotta. It is currently available on Netflix.
