A house in an upmarket suburb near Sydney Harbour was described as ‘very ordinary’ despite its proximity to the city in a fascinating glimpse into the rise of John Howard using archival ABC footage.
The home was used in a 1978 feature on the ABC current affairs show, This Day Tonight.
The Wollstonecraft house, on the city’s lower north shore, described as ‘ordinary’ would now be worth millions of dollars.
The profile piece was describing the then 38-year old federal Liberal treasurer John Howard, who went on to become Australia’s second longest-serving prime minister.
‘Everything about John Howard is low profile: he lives in a very ordinary three-bedroom, suburban house in Sydney’s north shore,’ it said.
‘It’s functional, convenient, but hardly a status symbol.’
A house in an upmarket suburb near Sydney Harbour was described as ‘very ordinary’ despite its proximity to the city in a ABC TV segment
The old ABC footage then cuts to Mr Howard in the kitchen with his wife Janette, with the microphone catching the then treasurer saying the words: ‘Sorry about that.’
The voiceover continues: ‘There’s nothing flamboyant about the inside either or the Howard lifestyle if it comes to that.’
The journalist also noted Mr Howard drove a late 1960s English-designed Austin 1800 over footage of him reversing out of his driveway.
‘No flashy cars for the Howards either,’ the voiceover said.
‘He’s had this rusty, rattling contraption for seven years and it’s doubtful whether it’s been near a car wash or a panel beater since he first entered Parliament.’
The clip was played on the ABC Of special featuring actor David Wenham interviewing Mr Howard, 83, to commemorate the national broadcaster’s 90th birthday.
In 2022, some 44 years later, Wollstonecraft is far from being ‘very ordinary’.
The suburb has its own train station and is just 6km from Sydney’s city centre, via a train or car ride over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The postcode it falls under, 2065, has a median house price of $4.3million, which is more than triple greater Sydney’s mid-point house price of $1.346million.
Far from being ‘very ordinary’, Wollstonecraft with its own train station is an upmarket suburb just 6km from Sydney’s city centre, via a train or car ride over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The postcode it falls under, 2065, has a median house price of $4.3million, which is more than triple greater Sydney’s mid-point house price of $1.346million.
Mr Howard’s ordinariness proved to be a political asset with the Wollstonecraft resident leading the Coalition to a landslide victory in 1996, winning an outer suburban electorate like Lindsay, covering Penrith in Sydney’s west, that had previously only been a Labor seat.
He was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004, retaining electorates like Longman in Brisbane’s outer north, Robertson on the NSW Central Coast, Eden-Monaro on the South Coast, Herbert in Townsville and Leichhardt in Cairns.
But as prime minister from 1996 to 2007, the Howards lived at Kirribilli House on Sydney Harbour just 3km away.
That was in stark contrast to one of his Liberal successors Malcolm Turnbull, who chose to live at his flashy Point Piper mansion on the other side of Sydney Harbour instead of moving into Kirribilli House.
Mr Howard, a former solicitor, married his wife Janette, who was also a member of the Liberal Party, in 1971, and they are parents to daughter Melanie, and sons Tim and Richard.
The clip was played on the ABC Of special featuring actor David Wenham interviewing John Howard as an 83-year-old former prime minister, who won four elections, to commemorate the national broadcaster’s 90th birthday (the former PM is pictured in 2019 with then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian)
They lived into their Wollstonecraft house when Mr Howard in 1974 became the Liberal member for Bennelong.
The electorate then covered Sydney’s lower north shore before subsequent redistributions moved the seat further west.
When Malcolm Fraser swept to power as PM in 1975, Mr Howard was made consumer affairs minister before becoming Australia’s younger treasurer in November 1977.
In the interview with Wenham, Mr Howard admitted that after losing his seat in 2007, to Labor’s Maxine McKew as the Coalition was kicked out of office, he and his wife mistakenly sat in the back seat of a car, forgetting they no longer had a driver.
‘It did happen once, yeah,’ he said.
‘We used to get in the back a bit together, forgetting, because I was entitled to have a driver for quite a while.
‘But we adjusted pretty well.’
John Howard, a former solicitor, married his wife Janette, who was also a member of the Liberal Party, in 1971, and they are parents to daughter Melanie, and sons Tim and Richard
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