Buildings of Interest: The House of Oscar Speck

In 1952 much of the area of the heights above Killcare, not suitable for farmland but commanding magnificent views over Brisbane Water and the Pacific, consisted of steep rocky bushland generally considered unsuitable for building. Levelling in some cases was possible only by hand using shovels and wheelbarrows. This did not faze the German-born opal merchant Oskar Speck when he purchased several acres off the now Scenic Road and designed and built what the Australian Women's Weekly described in the House of the Week feature in 1968 as "a haven for an adventurous traveller".

Almost an understatement! Oskar Speck spent seven and a half years travelling from Germany to Australia , alone, in an eighteen foot kayak. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he arrived here in 1939 and was immediately interned for the duration of the war. Fortunately because he learnt the intricacies of opal cutting from a fellow inmate and after the war ended he headed for the opal fields of Lightning Ridge and made his fortune.

His journey to Australia has become folklore in kayaking circles and has been the subject of many articles and documentaries both here and in his native Germany. He left Germany in 1932 basically to get a job - there were 7 million unemployed in the country at the time. Paddling down the Danube through Austria and Yugoslavia he finally entered the sea at Salonica in Greece. He lugged his kayak across Syria and then paddled down the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf and three years after leaving Germany reached Colombo. His equipment consisted of a compass, two small sails and a paddle. He apparently headed for Australia goaded by comments that he hadn't tackled a 'real' ocean crossing.

He moved from the opal fields to Sydney and established himself as a highly successful opal merchant. In 1952 he decided to build his dream home at Killcare. He designed and built his house essentially as a one person home, doing much of the building and landscaping himself. He later built an apartment above his nearby workshop to house his lady partner.

 (Click on image to view large photo)

The home quickly became a landmark and featured on postcards  promoting the Killcare-Wagstaffe area.

In 1978, with Speck now in his seventies, the property was listed for sale. An advertisement in the Financial Review stated: "price negotiable for approved buyer, vicinity $90,000" and described the property as a "country or retirement house, cavity brick, 13 squares plus attic, brick garage, terraces, patios, laid out gardens approx one acre. Views over ocean to Palm Beach and over Brisbane Water... Unique position can never be built out. Not suitable for large family but ideally suited for active retired garden lovers who require guest accommodation as well."

The property was not sold at the time and remained in Speck's hands until his death in 1995, aged 88. The property, which passed to his life partner Nancy Steel, had been subdivided into two lots- Oskar's house on one and Nancy's on the other. Oskar's house remains essentially as he designed and built it except that the original brick walls have been rendered. It is now linked by an atrium to a large extension in keeping with the original building.

Fortunately the present owners Wolf and Herta Gruber fit the bill of that 1978 advert as far as the garden is concerned. In the four years since they moved in they have extended the garden down the steep slopes towards Hardy's Bay creating one of the most attractive and dramatic gardens in the Killcare area.  - 2007