Coogee Media

Walder's Corner building, Arden Street and Clovelly Road

Jack & Eva Walder
Coogee resident John "Jack" Walder was the son of Samuel Walder, sailmaker, and his wife Mary Ann, nee Hatton. Samuel Walder had built a successful cloth and canvas manufacturing and wholesaling business in inner city Redfern in the late 19th century. John Walder was born in 1884, one of nine children (five sons and four daughters).

When the elder Samuel died, the sons took over the company. During the First World War, the Walders' company obtained a government contract to supply tents to the Australian Army and this lucrative contract made a great success of his company. The eldest son, young Samuel Walder, seems to have been the dominant figure in the enterprise and by some accounts did not always get on well with his partnering brothers. Perhaps this is the reason why John Walder dissolved his association with the family company in 1916, and set up his own similar and successful business in the city. He was widely known in shipping circles, and built up an extensive trade in that sphere.

John Walder was active in local conservative politics including United Australia Party UAP) and was elected as an alderman on Randwick Council in 1932, but resigned in July 1933. He was well known as an enthusiastic gardener.

The younger Samuel Walder, John's brother and later Sir Samuel Walder, became a very important figure in New South Wales (NSW) inter-war politics and a leading political figure, active in conservative organisations including the Nationalist Party, and later the United Australia Party (UAP) [see Note 1]. He was a long-serving Alderman on Sydney City Council and was Lord Mayor of Sydney in 1932. As Lord Mayor, he was present with Premier Jack Lang to cut the opening ribbon for the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, only to have the limelight stolen when renegade Francis de Groot (1888 - 1969), a member of the fascist, paramilitary organisation the New Guard of Australia, charged forward on a horse and cut the ribbon instead with a sword. Samuel Walder was a member of the NSW Legislative Council from 1932 to 1943. On 2 January 1933, he was made a Knight Bachelor for his service as Lord Mayor.

"Louray" at 139 Coogee Bay Road
John "Jack" Walder and his wife Eva lived in what must have been a impressive home called "Louray" at 139 Coogee Bay Road, Coogee - on the southern side of Coogee Bay Road between Byron and Mount Streets. Accounts say that the house also had beautiful and lush gardens much admired by anyone who visited. Presumably the house was named after an amalgam of the first three letters of their children's names Louise "Louie" and Raymond Walder. The Walder's Coogee home became a social centre for the well-to-do in Coogee. The Sunday Times in a 1928 article describes a party there held as:

Coogee Hostess Home Gaily Decorated - Mr. and MRS. Jack Walder of 'Louray' Belmore Road [now Coogee Bay Road) Coogee, entertained a large number of friends' at their home on Christmas Eve. The reception, lounge rooms, and verandahs were beautifully decorated with large crystal bowls of gladioli and tiger lilies. The verandahs, lawns, and fernery with balloons and streamers. The hostess wore a smart frock of white chiffon over white satin, beaded in pink and blue embroideries. Miss Louise Walder assisted her mother in receiving the guests, wearing white and flame taffeta.

In 1933, when the Walder's son Raymond Walder (1909-1984) married Madeline Wood of Randwick at St Jude's Anglican Church, the house was able to accommodate over 100 guests invited to the couple's wedding reception.

Louray has been demolished and the site now has a large, modern block of nine apartments, of about a couple of decades old. What became of the house between the time of John Walder's death and the construction of the current apartment building is something I have not been able to discover.

The Walders also owned a house at Palm Beach, which was said also to be surrounded by lavish gardens, where they entertained guests.

Death of John Walder
When John Walder died in late October, 1936, it was described as being a sudden death. He was only 53 years old. As a nephew noted later, none of the Walder men lived to a very old age.

Home Funeral
For reasons not explained, his funeral was held at his home at 139 Coogee Bay Road, officiated by Canon William Cakebread (1871-1939) the rector of St. Jude's Church of England, Randwick from 1912 until his death in 1939. Many members of the Walder family attended including his brothers, Robert and Arthur and the most notable of which was Sir Samuel Walder who press reports described as being the "chief mourner".

William McMahon -Future Prime Minister
Another interesting attendee at the funeral was a nephew, Mr William McMahon (1908 - 1988) (later Sir William) and his brother Sam. William "Billy" McMahon would go on to become an important figure in the post-war conservative dominance of Australian politics and Prime Minister of Australia from 1971 to 1972. The McMahon's mother, Mary Amelia, nee Walder was John Walder's sister. After his mother's death in 1917, Billy was raised by relatives and guardians, the most prominent among them his maternal uncle Sir Samuel Walder. Billy's father, though wealthy, had a reputation as a heavy drinker and being irresponsible, and the Walder family in general had a huge impact on young Billy's early life. Billy McMahon's mother, Mary Amelia, is in fact, buried in Samuel Walder's family vault at Waverley Cemetery.

The Premier of New South Wales, Bertram Stevens (1889 - 1973), said to be a "personal friend" attended along with many other important political and business figures were there as well. John Walder was a big figure in local Coogee and Randwick politics and the local heavy-hitters from the United Australia Party (UAP) came, along with the Mayor of Randwick, Alderman Mark Foots, Aldermen and officers of the Council.

Knights aplenty at John Walder's funeral: Samuel Walder, Bertram Stevens, Billy McMahon

John Walder was buried at nearby Randwick General Cemetery in the Congregational part (Section D, plot 12).

John & Eva Walder's grave at Randwick General Cemetery
It is also the burial site for their daughter Louise May Hackett nee Walder
and their grandson David Walder Hackett (1940 -1995)

Mrs Walder not at Funeral - Ill
One person who was not at the funeral was John Walder's wife, Eva, who was reported to have been ill and in hospital.

Eva Elizabeth Walder nee Cleave who was born in 1887 to Alfred and Harriet Cleave nee Kenny of Mosman, on Sydney's north shore. Alfred Edmund "Fred" Cleave (1861-1939) was an ironmonger, but Harriett petitioned for divorce in 1894 alleging that her husband had deserted her, treated her cruelly and was perpetually drunk. He did not support her and lived solely on his wife's income. Alfred did not appear in court, and Harriett was granted the divorce and custody of their children. Alfred Cleave began work at S. Walder Ltd. at some stage because there is a record of him mounting a workers compensation dispute with the company in 1928. When Alfred died aged 78 at a private hospital in 1939, he was said to be the "beloved father of daughters Alice and Eva".

John Walder married Eva at St Clements Anglican Church in Mosman on 16 July 1908. Interestingly, Eva's sister, Alice Maud, married a John Hall of Darlinghurst at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Mosman on the same day! It would have been a busy day for the Cleave family.

Despite her illness, Eva Walder outlived her husband and died on the 26 August, 1968. By then she was living at Nymboida Crescent at South Coogee. She was buried in the same plot as her late husband.

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