It's nice to get to know who you will be working with. As a proud Sydney girl, I stand not only on the strength of my own multi-disciplinary journey, but on the legacy of those who shaped our city and our family with real courage, creativity, and exemplary service. This page is dedicated with deep gratitude, to you for sharing your time, and to my family before me — who gave their lives, talents, and passions to leave Sydney better than they found it.

 

Harold Daveney — My Grandfather

King's Engineer, Sydney Harbour Bridge Project | Builder | Quiet Visionary

 

Harold Daveney (my 'Pa') served with the King's Engineers as a respected leading engineer for and during the construction of our iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, also in the design of the Cahill Expressway and its iconic stone pylons — enduring symbols of strength, balance, and beauty. His legacy isn’t just written in stone and steel, but in the ways he shaped my childhood. 

 

I grew up making wooden toys in his garage, watching him sharpen flat pencils with a knife, sketching what he called “architectural snippets” — bold black-and-white line drawings that hinted at something bigger. Having built his own home in Wahroonga, when he retired, he carved wooden sculptures with the same gentle hands that once helped build a city. Through him, I learned to see differently, how things were made, to value detail, integrity, and the enduring aesthetics of period architecture, which then lead me to start my career as a high school art teacher specialising in period architecture.

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Refs -

Sydney Harbour Bridge – NSW State Archives

Cahill Expressway – Engineering Heritage Australia

 

Graeme Cutler — My Father

Property Developer | Business Leader | Mentor of Integrity

 

My father, Graeme Cutler, is a respected figure in Sydney’s business and property development communities. He led with quiet strength, strategic clarity, and an unshakable drive to negotiate any terms fairly with honesty— a quality I now strive to embody in every negotiation and client relationship.

 

Our family vacations were never just holidays — they were immersive experiences in beachside living, boating, and the thrill of game fishing, where patience and preparation met with bursts of wild excitement (and seasickness!). His deep love for the sea and marine life led me to proudly serve in Marine Rescue NSW with my son, offering others the safety he always gives us.

 

Betty Cutler — My Grandmother

Encourager | War-Era Region Provider | Advocate of Architectural Living

 

Betty Cutler, my grandmother, was married to John Cutler, and together they raised five children during World War II, providing much-needed provisions and support to the Walcha region of country NSW. In an era of ration books and air-raid drills, she taught her children — and later, her grandchildren — how to be practical, endure, inspire, and quietly serve others.

 

She was a woman of substance, simple style, and influence — both in our family and in the nation. She famously encouraged grandpa's cousin, Roden Cutler VC (later 'Sir') — Australia’s longest-serving Governor of NSW, war amputee and Australian-wide recognised hero in battle — to enter politics after WWII. Her belief in purpose, dignity, and public service helped shape post-war New South Wales.

 

To me, she was the voice of both wisdom and dry wit, often reminding me: “It’s character development!” which my family hear from me way too much now!

 

But one of the most quietly profound gifts she gave me was my first experience of architectural living. As a young child, I visited her in my father’s childhood home - in a Walter Burley Griffin-designed home, though I didn’t realise the huge significance until later. On a school excursion to Canberra, I realised then the very  same visionary who designed Canberra’ with its circular road network and central lake in 1912 (called Lake Burley Griffin), had left his imprint on our own everyday life. 

 

I remember in my grandmother's home, the small red bricks, the rounded walls in the front lounge room, the sense of spatial design that was intentional, harmonious, and human. It planted seeds I wouldn’t understand until much later — when period homes, Edwardian - Arts & Crafts and pre-modernist features, and architectural stories became part of my own life’s work.
Hint: Please read on Sir Walter Burley Griffin’s amazing life and work (especially as he also designed suburbs including Castlecrag!)

 

Refs -

Sir Roden Cutler – Australian War Memorial

Victoria Cross for Australia – Department of Defence

Sir Walter Burley Griffin – Canberra’s Visionary Designer

 

From Legacy to Living Service

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Each of these lives reminds me that true leadership is measured not just by what we build, but who we are, and by how we serve. Their care, character, and convictions that run through my veins are now the foundations of my own work — for you - the people’s agent, property strategist, published author, and a proud citizen of this great city and country.

 

To continue their work, in gratitude and to exemplify their love of Australia in our world today, I guarantee sincere service with genuine care for you.

 

Yours Warmly, 

Karen xx

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