Elanora - site

Statement of Significance

The site has historic value for its association with prominent local citizens the Bell Family.

History

This site was the location of the home of Edith Adelaide Bell, nee Ramsay (1876-1954), from c1928 until her death in 1954. The house was built by local contractor, William Arthur Swinbourn and his son Harry.
Edith was the second wife of James Bell Jnr (1857-1927). James Bell was a successful shopkeeper and part of the extensive Bell family who were early settlers in East Rockingham. He married Margaret Lucinda Ramsay (1858-1900) in 1886 and they had four children. James Bell established the Port Hotel at about this time and pursued many business interests in Rockingham. After the death of Margaret in 1900, James went to Melbourne to visit Margaret’s family and met Edith Ramsay, a niece of Margaret Bell. Edith Ramsay travelled to Rockingham from Melbourne to look after James’ four children.
James married Edith some 19 years his junior, in 1903 and together they had three children. They lived at ‘Ocean View’ a residence on Marine Terrace which had been built in 1900.
In 1927, Edith and James Bell engaged local builder, William Swinbourn to build a new house at this site. Sadly before the house was completed, James Bell was killed by a motor vehicle which was the first such accident in Rockingham. Edith Bell moved into the house in c1928.
The residence was named ‘Elanora’ by Edith Bell. The origin of the name has not been clearly established although one definition notes that it is a word of Aboriginal origin which has been in common usage to mean a ‘home by the sea’.
In 1933, Edith Bell advertised furnished rooms in the house to rent with the offer of the ‘use of kitchen’. Other family members appear to have lived at the house during her occupancy including Mena Louisa Bell, the widow of Roy Ramsay Bell (one of the children from James Bell’s first marriage).
After Edith’s death in 1954, the property was retained by the family until 1958 when it was transferred to the Hopkins family who rented the property to tenants.
In 1989, tenants Elmo Wjesundera and Jeanette Munday established a business at the premises, providing music tuition and recording studios. The business was promoted as the ‘Music House on the Beach’ and the place was widely known by locals as the ‘Music House’.
The place was demolished c2007 and the elements of the structure were stored at the City of Rockingham depot to be reconstructed at a later date. However these elements were damaged and have subsequently been discarded and it will no longer be possible to reconstruct the cottage. The site of the former cottage is currently vacant.

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Integrity: None
Authenticity: None

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