This building at 9 Methodist Street was originally a two-storey dwelling but the top storey was removed, possibly in the 1940s. Initially part of Section 276, the land was first granted to Christopher Rawson in May 1840.
Sampson Bastian junior owned the property from at least 1848 if not earlier. Sampson was the manager of Bastian’s Slate quarry and was a foundation member of the Wesleyan Church, a Willunga Councillor and an active supporter of the Willunga Cricket and Football clubs. The two-storey house was built by George Sara sometime between 1848 and 1853 and it is likely that the Bastian family lived there for a while, but this has not been verified.
Sampson Bastian sold the property to Robert Eaton of Willunga in September 1882 after Eaton had rented it for some years in the 1860s and 1870s. Robert Eaton was married to Mary Jane Dawe who was the stepdaughter of Sampson Bastian. They had 13 children between 1864 and 1885 some of whom did not survive to adulthood. Robert Eaton worked as a labourer in Willunga. In about 1888 the family moved to Victoria where Robert became a successful farmer leaving an estate of 7000 pounds when he died in 1930.
9 Methodist St was sold in 1889 to Francis Douglas Powell (1861-1937) a farmer of Willunga. He was the oldest son of Harrison Powell (1821-1879) who lived in ‘Carisbrooke’ Cottage in Willunga and was involved with many of the town’s activities. Francis married Susanna Wodhouse in 1888, and the following year he acquired the Methodist Street property. They had four children: Edward Harrison (1889-1978), Nellie Francis (1893-1987), May Violet (1898-1901) and Godfrey Baden (1900-1984). The family lived at 9 Methodist St until moving to the Woodville/ Croydon area around 1903. In the mid-1920s Francis was homeless in the city and being looked after by the Salvation Army. He died in 1937 at Magill and was buried at St Stephen’s Church of England Cemetery in Willunga.
After the Powells moved away from Willunga, the property was owned for five years by Charles Lipson, carpenter of Willunga, then Walter Henry Wadey, solicitor of Medindie, from 1908. In 1930 it was transferred to Alfred Ernest Wadey as executor of Walter Wadey’s will. In June 1956 the house was transferred to the three surviving children of Francis Douglas Powell as tenants in common. It remained in Powell family ownership until it was sold to Elizabeth Stillwell in 1986 after the incapacity and/or death of the remaining Powell siblings.
