page_title: Boronia House, Mosman
section_title: James and Ellen Kearey
hierarchical_section_title: Boronia House, Mosman / History / James and Ellen Kearey
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement for the sale of Boronia House, Mosman Sydney in 1896
context_page_description: Boronia House is a heritage-listed former residence and now a high tea restaurant and function centre located at 624-632 Military Road, Mosman in the Mosman Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Sheerin & Hennessy and Clive Lucas & Partners, and built during 1885. The property is owned by Mosman Council. The property is also called Boronia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
context_section_description: The brothers James and John Kearey built Boronia in 1885. It was part of an estate which contained two identical houses called Boronia and Telopea and a common garden. James occupied Boronia and John lived in Telopea.
  James Kearey was born in 1842 in Sydney. His parents were John and Mary Ann Kearey who had immigrated from Ireland. In about 1840 his father had established a coachbuilding business in Sydney and the firm had become very successful. His mother Mary Ann died in 1849 when he was only seven years old. His father remarried Catherine Fraser in 1851 and James and his elder brother John were brought up by their stepmother.
  In 1872 his father died and John seems to have taken over the management of the coachbuilding firm. However, in 1877 the brothers together constructed a very impressive building in Pitt Street which featured in an 1878 edition of the Australian Town and Country Journal. The new business was called Kearey Brothers and for the next two decades the firm flourished. The brothers were credited with inventing a new type of carriage which was described in the newspaper The Sydney Mail.
  In 1871 James married Honora Murphy and the couple had three children. Honora died in 1879 and soon after James married Ellen Doherty. James and Ellen had eight children, five of whom were born at Mosman.
  In 1885 John and James built two adjoining villa houses in Mosman which they called Boronia and Telopea. James and his wife Ellen lived in Boronia and John and his wife Lucy lived in Telopea. The house has been described as it was when the Kearey brothers lived there in the following terms.
  "Originally there was a row of large camphor laurels just inside the front fence and round flowerbeds were cut into the lawn to contain various species of plants.
  The gardens originally included a vegetable and flower garden, an orchid and shrubberies and fern house. Several gardeners were employed to keep the grounds in order and to tend the grass tennis court".
  In 1891 John's wife Lucy died and three years later in 1894 John also died. James and Ellen continued to live at Boronia for two more years. However, in 1896 both houses were put on the market. The advertisement for their sale is shown on the right. Boronia was bought by George Willis Godwin and the Godwin family lived there for the next 50 years.
caption: Advertisement for the sale of Boronia and Telopea in 1896.
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