Bold new vision revealed for Little Milton, Wollongong's oldest residential building

As a couple, they’re icons in the Illawarra’s food, beverage, events and entertainment sector, with a stunning track record, and into their fifth decade on the hospitality industry's front-line.

Now, Jim and Deborah McCallum are about to embark on an exciting, new adventure just a stone’s throw from the heart of Wollongong.

Many Wollongong residents know Jim and Deb as the long-time operators of the award-winning Ruby’s restaurant in heritage-listed Kembla Heights.

They’ve watched on with interest, and serious concerns, as their former chef Scott Woods has battled with the restaurant building’s owner, the nearby GM3 coal mine. The mine originally served an eviction notice but after public outcry, it allowed the business to trade on a month-by-month lease, as reported earlier in The Illawarra Flame.

“When we started Ruby’s on the 11th of November 1983, we basically had a handshake agreement to maintain the heritage building, and that worked for many years,” Jim said. But that deal ended with a change in the mine’s management.

The McCallums sold in 2008, enabling Scott to take over the restaurant. “And he’s done a fantastic job for all those years,” Jim said.

Jim and Deb then focused their energies on operating another historic gem, Ravensthorpe at Albion Park, a grand 1890s manor house, which they’d purchased in the year 2000. With the entrepreneurial couple in charge, the property quickly became one of the most popular venues for weddings and other special events south of Sydney.

 A grand vision for the future

More than two decades later, and after the sale of Ravensthorpe, Jim and Deb are now putting their skills, experience and their hard-earned money into Little Milton, their third heritage home, but the first in suburban Wollongong, on inner-city Smith Street.

Sitting down with the couple to enjoy Deb’s famous home-made crumpets and a morning cuppa, you quickly appreciate the love they have for this hidden gem, which they say is the oldest residential building in Wollongong, dating back to the 1830s.

When you hear the McCallums' long-term vision for Little Milton, it’s clear they plan to still be going strong when this heritage-listed gem clocks up its 200th birthday next decade.

The main home has been lovingly restored, in the process capturing the history, craftsmanship and charm of this wondrous piece of Wollongong’s residential history.

 The many stories of Little Milton

Having dedicated most of their lives together to retaining, restoring and honouring the heritage of the places they’ve called home, Jim and Deb have done their research and can tell quite the story of Little Milton’s rich history.

From Wollongong’s first Congregational Minister, Reverend Charter, and his garden of white blooms grown specially for the altar, to Dr Timothy Wood Lee’s corner surgery, where he was operating from when the Mt Kembla mine blew up in 1902, killing 96 men and boys. In a twist of fate, Dr Lee was the first medic on the scene, transforming the Mt Kembla building that now houses Ruby’s restaurant into a temporary hospital and surgery to triage the injured.

Jim and Deb have converted Dr Lee’s former surgery fronting Smith Street into cosy, comfortable boutique accommodation, which has welcomed numerous guests since opening for business during Easter this year.

As I discovered, a cuppa and a yarn with Jim and Deb is educational and captivating. They have a trove of tales from the region’s colonial past. I won’t give away all their stories here but be sure to ask them about David Jones’s (yes, that David Jones) regular visits to Wollongong and Little Milton, after he founded the world’s oldest continuously operating department store in Sydney in 1838.

As Jim recounts the story, he had a special reason to venture to the Gong, choosing to come on a steamship into Wollongong Harbour rather than taking the rough track down the escarpment in a horse and buggy. While we’re name-dropping, John Fairfax, Australia’s original media baron, was also a regular visitor to Little Milton. It’s for Jim and Deb to fill in the blanks (another great reason to catch up with them).

Plans revealed for a special new venue

And there’ll be plenty more opportunity to share their company in the years ahead as this ambitious duo revealed exciting plans to build a multi-purpose space in Little Milton’s back garden, transforming the area where a coach house, stables, croquet lawn and tennis court were located more than 100 years ago.

They’re creating a light and airy pavilion-style space that the couple believe will meet demand in the region for high teas and smaller events.

With a freshwater spring running beneath the property, early excavation works have unearthed a former well that provided drinking water for Little Milton’s residents. That historic well will become a centrepiece for the landscape plans, connecting the main house to the yet-to-be-named pavilion.

“We think it will be the perfect location for high teas served in the courtyard,” Deb said.

The home’s chequered history

Over nearly 200 years, Little Milton has had a fascinating history. During the past 50 years, it’s fallen in and out of favour with its owners and the community. Jim says it was “in such a terrible state” at one time it appeared certain to be demolished. It failed to sell at auction on several occasions and in 1977 Wollongong Council was offered the property for $135,000 but rejected it.

Thankfully, Jim and Deb McCallum are determined to do what they’ve always done: restore a special piece of this region’s history, give the property a new lease of life and purpose, and embark on a new adventure together.

Little Milton is in very good hands.