LOVED FAMILY HOME

After many generations in one family, this well-cared-for home is on the market, ready for the next chapter to be written by its new owners

THE memories created in a childhood home are timeless and very few people get to relive them into adulthood and throughout their life.

But with five generations of Billinghams having resided at some point at 11 Friend St, Edge Hill, it truly has been a family home and owner Bob Billingham takes a walk down memory lane to where it all started.

“It was built in the ’50s by dad, but he was a very forward-thinking builder so it was built to a modern design,” Mr Billingham said.

“I was brought home to this address in 1950, from the Cairns Base Hospital.

“We had a temporary house on the same block which was part of the address, while Dad was building this one.”

The move into the new house came sooner than expected for the Billinghams after Cyclone Agnes in 1956 forced them out of the temporary house and into their three-quarters complete new family home.

In 1979, Mr Billingham, who was working at the Collinsville Power Station at the time, purchased the property from his parents, who were struggling to sell it.

“My older brother and sister already had their own houses, and my younger brother and sister were living in Adelaide.

“And my wife and I were interested, so it was good timing for us.”

After renting out the house for six years, Mr Billingham finally returned to the childhood home in 1985 and began renovations, with the most recent work done in 2001.

“After buying it from Mum and Dad, we put a new roof on. The walls and ceilings were compressed timber and we changed all that to Gyprock. We’ve opened it up by moving some small walls so that the dining room, living area and kitchen open up more than what they used to be,” Mr Billingham said.

“Then there’s an entertaining area that’s been put on at the back of the house. That used to service my office when I was doing photography.”

With high ceilings and an open plan, Mr Billingham said there was a lot of airflow through the house, which remained “reasonably cool” during the summer.

It also features polished timber floors and carpeted bedrooms.

While Mr Billingham grew up watching his father build the house, he said his favourite memories were of playing hide and seek with everyone in the street or racing go karts down the slope and ending up with gravel rash.

“Friend St always had a lot of kids and it still does; I think it’s the best place in Cairns to grow up.”

Mr Billingham turns 70 this year and said that with retirement and putting his energy into another property he owns, he regrettably had to list his childhood home for sale.

“If I won the LOTTO tomorrow, it would be off the market straight away,” he said.

“We’ve had five generations of our family live here. We had my eldest son’s daughters here for a while and now I’ve got nine great grandchildren who all come and visit.”

He said he and his wife were now looking at moving to either Thailand or Perth.

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