Stromness Guesthouse on Sydney Street Huskisson

William Flett Wood was born in Stromness, Orkney Island, about 1824. His parents were John Wood and Margaret Flett. He arrived in Sydney on the ship “Duke of Richmond” on 30/9/1842       William Wood married in Sydney to Susannah Jane Thomas in 1862 and had a family;               

Margaret E     b 1864 m Frederick C Dent 1886               

William G      b 1865 d 1867 of scarlet fever               

Elizabeth      b 1867 not married               

Amy Rebecca    b 1869 m Richard Dent 1891               

Florence A     b 1871 not married

William Wood died on 19 Feb 1871 at the residence of his brother-in-law, off Windmill Street, Sydney at the age of 47 from an internal haemorrhage. His wife dying in 1871.Not much is known of his early years in Australia but it is known that he was articled to a shipwright which trade he followed, firstly in Sydney and then in Huskisson. Shortly after he was married he joined George R Dent in beginning the ship building trade in Huskisson.George R Dent built a shipyard roughly at the place where dent Street runs down to Currambene Creek adjacent to the lady Denman Museum site while William Wood built his yard nearby also on Currambene Creek a little closer too the mouth. The house he built for his family he named “Stromness” which after the death of William and Susannah became the property of his eldest daughter Margaret, who in 1886 married Frederick Charles Dent.When a newer house was built it too was called “Stromness” and when enlarged was operated by Frederick Dent and his daughters Hilda and Madge as a Guest House.It was very popular place and was well known for many years in the tourist trade.It eventually passed from Dent hands and lost its identity as “Stromness”. It was eventually destroyed by fire.