Shauna Dengate said that when her 96-year-old mother died, she and her two siblings were faced with the "very, very, very difficult" challenge of selling an Illawarra home.
Ms Dengate was born in the Port Kembla home during the 1950s to parents who had also grown up in the suburb.
The family has been in area for more than 100 years, and owned businesses along Port Kembla's main street.
Ms Dengate's mother lived in the three-bedroom Donaldson Street home for 70 years until she died in 2024.
"I look at the house and I see her," Ms Dengate said. "I think we all do."
Original finishes
The home was built in 1939 at the tail end of the Art Deco period and some elements have been retained from that era.
It has panoramic views of the ocean and Lake Illawarra from an open balcony that Ms Dengate remembers many Christmas lunches were held on.
"She [my mother] loved the house and she took great pride in the house," Ms Dengate said.
"She use to scrub the back steps and the gardens were really extensive."
For the siblings, selling the house meant more than finding a buyer for the right price, it was about saying goodbye to a key memory of their parents and childhood.
Their fear was that a developer would buy the property and knock and rebuild the home that they've known for their whole lives.
Neighbours also expressed their worry that a home might be rebuilt when it hit the market.
"It became very, very, very difficult for us to leave the house," she said.
"The association we had with the house and our parents, and the house that we love."
Real estate agent Sam O'Halloran said when the home hit the market in mid October, there was interest from local families who loved the history of the home.
"Lots of people coming through saying 'I hope someone buys it and keeps it as is'," the Belle Property agent said.
"The majority of the parties who were keen ... a lot of them were looking on the basis to keep it as is and update what's there."
The owner was a buyer from Sydney who has no plans to knock down the original home.
It is understood the property will be rented out until the owner renovates and moves into the home in several years.
Parting ways with memories
As the siblings went through their mother's possessions in preparation for the auction, they found items of incredible sentimental value including old furniture.
Many of the items were sold or given away to members of the extended family.
But Ms Dengate was pleased to save several paintings from the home, and has kept them in her own house in Figtree.
"She had lots of quality furniture and pieces like that, but nobody wants that any more," she said.
Although the house has been sold Ms Dengate said she has no plans to stop visiting the house to simply look at it and remember her mother and father.
The street is still home to members of her extended family who have called Port Kembla their home for generations.
The deceased estate sold at an undisclosed price at the auction on November 15.
The median sale price of houses in Port Kembla is $900,000 according to CoreLogic.
