Looking Back history feature: The man who sold Sandon Point

By MICK ROBERTS ©

Henry Cotterell out on the job

JUST what Bulli pioneer real estate agent Henry Cotterell would have thought of land prices at Sandon Point today is difficult to imagine.

Cotterell, known as “Cottie” to friends, was one time editor of the Bulli Times newspaper, but more interestingly he was the agent who sold the original Sandon Point Estate on Boxing Day 1913.

A model farm – owned by George Adams the proprietor of the Bulli Colliery, and later of Tattersall’s Lottery fame – was subdivided and auctioned by Cotterell on behalf of the trustees of the deceased estate.

In extreme contrast to small blocks of land selling in the remaining former Bulli Colliery almost a century later to the south for around a million dollars, Cotterell sold 60 feet beach frontages for around £60 ($120) in 1913. Also in disparity to the controversy surrounding the sale…