In an interesting peek into John Howard’s ascension using archive ABC film, a home in an expensive neighbourhood near Sydney Harbour was regarded as “quite average” despite its closeness to the city.
The house was featured in a 1978 episode of ABC’s current affairs program This Day Tonight.
The ‘ordinary’ Wollstonecraft home on the city’s lower north shore is now worth millions of dollars.
The profile was written about John Howard, the then-38-year-old federal Liberal treasurer who went on to become Australia’s second longest-serving prime minister.
‘Everything about John Howard is low-key: he lives in a fairly typical three-bedroom suburban home on Sydney’s north shore,’ according to the report.
‘It’s functional and convenient, but it’s far from a status symbol.’
Scroll down to see the video. The old ABC tape then switches to Mr Howard in the kitchen with his wife Janette, with the microphone capturing him saying, ‘Sorry about that.’
‘There’s nothing showy about the interior either, or the Howard lifestyle,’ the narrator says.
Mr Howard also drove a late 1960s English-designed Austin 1800 over video of him reversing out of his driveway, according to the journalist.
‘There will be no showy automobiles for the Howards, either,’ stated the narrator.
‘He’s had this rusted, rattling monstrosity for seven years, and I’m not sure if it’s been near a car wash or a panel beater since he first joined Parliament.’
The clip was shown on an ABC Of special commemorating the national broadcaster’s 90th birthday, which featured actor David Wenham interviewing Mr Howard, 83.
Wollstonecraft is far from’very ordinary’ in 2022, 44 years later.
The area has its own railway station and is just 6 kilometers from Sydney’s city center, accessible by train or automobile over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The 2065 postcode has a median property price of $4.3 million, which is more than quadruple Sydney’s mid-point house price of $1.346 million. Mr Howard’s normalcy proved to be a political benefit, with the Wollstonecraft resident leading the Coalition to a landslide victory in 1996, gaining an outlying constituency like Lindsay, including Penrith in Sydney’s west, that had previously only been a Labor seat.
He was re-elected in 1998, 2001, and 2004, keeping seats such as 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.
However, while Prime Minister from 1996 to 2007, the Howards resided barely 3 kilometers away at Kirribilli House on Sydney Harbour.
In sharp contrast, one of his Liberal successors, Malcolm Turnbull, elected to live in his luxurious Point Piper house on the opposite side of Sydney Harbour rather than move into Kirribilli House.
Mr Howard, a former solicitor, married Janette, herself a Liberal Party member, in 1971, and they had three children: Melanie, Tim, and Richard.
When Mr Howard became the Liberal MP for Bennelong in 1974, they moved into their Wollstonecraft home.
The constituency then encompassed Sydney’s lower north shore until being redistributed farther west.
When Malcolm Fraser was elected Prime Minister in 1975, Mr Howard was appointed Minister for Consumer Affairs before becoming Australia’s youngest Treasurer in November 1977.
Mr Howard revealed to Wenham that after losing his seat to Labor’s Maxine McKew in 2007, when the Coalition was booted out of power, he and his wife sat in the back seat of a vehicle, forgetting they no longer had a driver.
‘It did happen once,’ he said.
‘We used to go in the back a little bit together, forgetting that I was entitled to a driver for quite some time.’
‘However, we adjusted rather well.’