Nindooinbah

About 80 km south-west of Brisbane lies the heritage homestead Nindooinbah. There are many stories that intertwine to complete the history of Nindooinbah and I won't have room to tell them all here. But I hope I can provide a potted version that will interest you.

The story begins with Queensland politician AW Compigne who built the original homestead in the 1850s. He was a member of Queensland's Upper House which of course no longer exists. In 1900 the property was leased by William Collins, a grazier. In fact, the Collins family was destined to become grazing aristocracy. The house in those days was a simple L-shape, but William Collins bought the property in 1906 and one of the first things he did was to engage Robin Dods to add extensions to the homestead, converting it to an E-shape. Here are a couple of pictures of Nindooinbah taken in 1908.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #135001)

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #135000)

And here is an undated photograph of William Collins with his wife Gwendoline and daughters Beryl and Dorothea at Nindooinbah. William was a grazier and a company director who died after a heart attack in 1909.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #193507)

The property stayed within the Collins family and was passed down to William's granddaughter Margaret de Burgh Persse who was born at Nindooinbah and lived there all her life. The de Burgh Persse family was another prominent farming and political clan of the era and the union with the Collins dynasty must have made them a formidable presence indeed. 

Margaret married the artist Patrick Hockey in 1983, and together they restored the house and beautified its surrounds. The house became famous for parties and it hosted many important guests over the remaining years of their lives. When Margaret died in 2004 the house was inherited by nephew Tim Stevens, a winemaker in Mudgee. He put the property on the market in 2005 and it was bought by Brisbane entrepreneur Euan Murdoch (of Herron Pharmaceuticals fame) and his wife. 

The Murdochs, too, have wanted to further restore and beautify Nindooinbah. Here are some photographs from the web pages that recorded the five-year transition.

(Photos: www.nindooinbah.com)

Nindooinbah today is a leading cattle breeding business. It is at the forefront of artificial breeding, in particular the Angus Brahman cross known as Ultra Black.

This fabulous place launched Open Gardens Australia last year. I missed it, but if it is on again this year I'm a definite starter!

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Mount Coot-tha Lookout

Brisbane is a hilly city, and the highest hill is Mount Coot-tha, formerly known as One Tree Hill. It probably is a hill rather than a mountain - hardly an Everest, Mount Coot-tha has been measured at 287 metres. In some places a mountain is not a mountain if it is less than 300 metres in height, but mostly local custom determines the status of a hill or mountain. Mount Coot-tha is part of the Taylor Range which runs along the western edge of Brisbane.

Mount Coot-tha is only about 6 km from the CBD, and is a favoured spot for sightseers to look over the city. Here is a recent daytime photograph taken from the top, looking east towards Moreton Bay and North Stradbroke Island.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

Apparently the first recorded European ascent of Mount Coot-tha was in 1828, and the energetic climber was none other than the commandant of the penal settlement Captain Patrick Logan. The Turrbal people had obviously climbed the hill prior to this time though - it was one of the best spots for gathering honey, known to them as ku-ta. In a far-sighted move the area was declared a public recreation reserve in 1880, and the former One Tree Hill was officially called Mount Coot-tha, a nod to the indigenous inhabitants of the area.

Since then the place has become the de-facto tourist hot-spot and buses arrive every day to give visitors a look over Brisbane. Brisbane people are also drawn to the kiosk and restaurant that adjoin the lookout. Here are the Duke and Duchess of York near the lookout during their visit to Brisbane in 1927. 

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #62463)

Here is a 1966 colour photograph of the lookout and the kiosk.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #204785

And here is the kiosk today.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

Although I had a subtle dig at Coot-tha being called a mountain, there are advantages in being taller than the surroundings, even if only slightly. When someone wished to buy One Tree Hill in 1865 the request was knocked back because it was needed as a trigonometrical point for surveying purposes. When television started in Brisbane in 1959 the broadcasters selected Mount Coot-tha as the obvious place to erect the transmission towers which are still based there today. Here is a 1966 photograph of the Channel 7 studio and tower. 

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #204790)

Mount Coot-tha today is not only the kiosk and the lookout. There are walking tracks from adjoining suburbs such as The Gap and Chapel Hills. Barbecue and picnic areas dot the entire summit, and there is a botanical gardens and a planetarium too.

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The Petrie family - Andrew Petrie

It would be difficult to imagine a family that had a greater impact on the earliest days of Brisbane than the Petries. Patriarch Andrew Petrie (pictured above) trained in Edinburgh as a builder and architect. With his wife Mary and four children, Petrie emigrated to New South Wales in 1831 on Captain James Fraser's ship Stirling Castle (which was to be shipwrecked in 1836, creating the famous Eliza Fraser story) at the suggestion of Dr JD Lang who was promoting the transporting of Scottish craftsmen to the penal colony. After completing a building for Lang, Andrew Petrie worked for the New South Wales government as Clerk of Works for the Royal Engineers.

Petrie was then recommended to become Clerk of Works at the infamous Moreton Bay settlement, a position he accepted. In 1837 the Petries, who now numbered seven following two more births in Sydney (unfortunately the youngest, William, did not survive) were to become the first free family to inhabit Brisbane Town. They made the move north aboard the steamer James Watt, co-incidentally the first steamer to enter Moreton Bay, pictured below.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #35574)

What must they thought of the primitive settlement? The only suitable accommodation for the large family was the Female Factory that until recently had housed female convicts. Those prisoners had just been banished to Eagle Farm in a move designed to improve the morals of the settlement by separating them from the male convicts and soldiers. Here is a photograph of the Female Factory from about 1850 - Andrew Petrie described it as a "terrible hole". The original Catholic church that became the Cathedral of St Stephen is just behind it.  

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #153725) 

Mary Petrie gave birth to the last of Petrie children in the Female Factory, attended by Dr Ballow and his wife. It became a necessity for more suitable accommodation to be found and Andrew began the task of constructing his own house downriver of their temporary residence in a place that quickly became known as Petrie's Bight. Ironically the Female Factory was later demolished by the Petries as a prelude to their construction of the GPO on that site. Here is a photograph of their house that was situated on the corner of Queen St and Wharf St in the area we now call Petrie Bight. 

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #64402)

Andrew Petrie was an explorer, as well as an architect and a builder. A bi-centennial monument called The Petrie Tableau is pictured below. It used to stand outside city hall, but was removed to allow alterations to King George Square. I hope it is returned. It depicts Andrew Petrie astride a horse that is held by son John, leaving Brisbane on one of his expeditions. His wife Mary is passing him his drinking water as daughter Isabella looks on. At the front is young son Tom wearing a cap, depicted at the river bank in the company of two aboriginal playmates.  

(Photo: © 2005 the foto fanatic)

Andrew Petrie's first task on reaching the Moreton Bay settlement was to repair the convict-built windmill sitting on the hill above the settlement. At that time it worked only as a treadmill and was mainly used as a draconian method of punishing misbehaving convicts. Petrie disassembled the whole mechanism, found that it had been incorrectly put together, and then rebuilt it.

When Brisbane was opened to free settlement Andrew Petrie could have returned to Sydney or even to Britain, but he opted instead to remain in Brisbane, understanding that there may be commercial opportunities as the town developed. His three oldest boys - John, Andrew and Walter - worked as unpaid apprentices to their father, with oldest son John being groomed to take over the business in time.

Andrew Petrie went blind in 1848 after one of his exploratory trips in the region, and tragically his son Walter was drowned in Wheat Creek in the same year. Andrew continued to run the construction business, and although he came to depend more and more on John, many major Queensland buildings were erected by them after he lost his sight. Some of them we have seen before in this blog: Adelaide House which became Queensland's first government house and is now The Deanery at St John's Cathedral; Bulimba House; Brisbane Gaol at Green Hills (now Petrie Terrrace), currently a shopping mall known as The Barracks. 

Andrew was still a frequent visitor to the various projects around the town until a couple of years before his death in February 1872.

Reference: "The Petrie Family", Dimity Dornan & Denis Cryle; "Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland", Constance Campbell Petrie.

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Rayner's Gourmet Meats, New Farm

On the right side of this little building is my local butcher, Rayners Gourmet Meats. We always refer to it as "going to see Mr Rayner" or "this beautiful beef comes from Mr Rayner", even though there is no Mr Rayner there. The current owner is the ebullient Mike, and the produce from his shop is simply superb. His gourmet sausages are made on the premises and are a local legend, sold to restaurants and hotels across Brisbane. I love his spicy Italian sausages! Drop in one day - you'll be sure to find something you like.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

The original Mr Rayner was a butcher with a real estate penchant. Sidney Rayner came to Australia from Lancashire in 1909 at the age of 22 and was originally part-owner of a butcher shop at Auchenflower. After WWI he had a shop at New Farm, and he and his family lived at the rear of the building.  A large block of flats now occupies this site.

(Photo: Sam Rayner)

In 1925 he moved further down Brunswick St to a butcher shop that had just been completed. This is the building still in use today, and it is on the Brisbane City Council's heritage register. Here is a photograph of the shop being built.

(Photo: Sam Rayner)
 
In 1928 Sidney bought a block of land across the road from the site of his first New Farm shop and built a substantial brick building on it in 1930. It was one of the early blocks of flats in New Farm, and the Rayner family was to live in the top floor with two flats on the lower floor available for rental.

(Photo: google.com)

The building was named "Hamel" by Rayner, evidently after the WWI battle at Le Hamel (won by the AIF under Lt Gen Sir John Monash) in which Rayner served as a signaller with the AIF's 43rd Battalion. This building is also on the heritage list at BCC.

Sid Rayner and his wife Gladys had four children: Sam, who served in the AIF during WWII and then became Registrar at UQ; Madge, who served as a coder in the WRANS during WWII; Ken, who also served in WWII (and later died of war injuries), became a butcher and followed on in Sid's shop; and Keith, who became an Anglican priest in 1953 and rose to be Bishop of Adelaide. 

This is a New Farm family we should all be proud of.

Note: I am indebted to the book "Reflections on New Farm" published by New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc. for most of this information as well as Sam Rayner's photographs. 

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York's Hollow (Victoria Park), Spring Hill

Situated pretty much in the centre of Brisbane's large metropolitan area is a green space that we know as Victoria Park. It has been the the landscape behind many of Brisbane's famous and infamous incidents.

For centuries before the white man came to Australia the Turrbal people roamed the area around the Brisbane River, and the area we call Victoria Park was one of their important meeting grounds. The Turrbal called it "Barrambbin", meaning "windy place". Various mobs would gather there to share corrobborees or settle disputes. Some of those gatherings that were observed by white men consisted of as many as 700 or 800 participants. Here is a current picture of the Gregory Terrace side of Victoria Park showing the Brisbane City Council's sign that (barely) acknowledges the indigenous history. The Royal Brisbane Hopsital at Herston can be seen in the distance.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

When Europeans came to Moreton Bay to set up a penal colony, they felled the trees in Barrambbin for timber and used the water to make bricks to construct their dwellings. The area borders Spring Hill, one of the city's earliest suburbs, and the indigenous inhabitants were forced out - sometimes in the most brutal way - as white settlers moved in. Nonetheless, the area became known as York's Hollow, named after an aboriginal elder known by whites as the Duke of York. This man was an acknowledged leader of the local Turrbul mob and some of the European settlers of the time thought that the title was a sarcastic barb at his regal bearing. However aboriginal spokeswoman Maroochy Barambah has a slightly different story. She claims to be a direct descendant of the Duke of York and says that this name was an anglicised version of his indigenous name Daki Yakka. One of the Duke of York's daughters and her unborn child were killed in York's Hollow, the result of a police chase of another person that went wrong. Boundary Street in Spring Hill was the "boundary" separating blacks from whites after curfew - to keep them out of Brisbane, the aborigines were not allowed to venture past this street at night.

From the 1840s onwards York's Hollow gradually became the home of white itinerants who lived in tents in the area. The influx of Dr JD Lang's Scottish migrants, who found out when they arrived that the free land they had been promised did not exist, saw more inhabitants added to the mix. They brought a new name to an adjoining suburb, Fortitude Valley, so named after one of the ships that transported them here. Once again there was trouble with the aborigines as these new settlers defended their belongings zealously, often with the use of firearms.

The following photograph of York's Hollow is from around 1864 and shows some of the rudimentary accommodation.  

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #108131)

After separation from New South Wales York's Hollow had contrasting fortune. Officially named Victoria Park in 1875, a Board of Trustees was establish to ensure its future as the "lungs of the city". Progress, however, made demands on the park. The railway to Sandgate was built through the middle of it to save money. A fair chunk of it was carved off for the Brisbane Exhibition, a rifle range was constructed in one corner, and the hospital, a golf course and some nearby schools also won some of the land for their own purposes. It could have been worse - there was a proposal to build a Government House here but an alternative was found. Similarly, the park was proposed as the site for a new university but thankfully benefactors the Mayne family donated more suitable land at St Lucia for this purpose. Here is a picture of Victoria Park from 1936, looking from the hospital toward Brisbane city. The railway line can be seen bisecting the park, and the building at bottom centre is likely the golf clubhouse that was constructed in 1931.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #68798)

During the depression, public works were undertaken here to provide employment. Gilchrist Avenue was constructed in this manner. Tents dotted the park again during WWII as it was used to accommodate US service personnel.

In the post-war period the park was once again robbed of land. The Centenary Pool complex was constructed in time to celebrate Queensland's centenary. The rest of the park was used in various ways - I played rugby there in the sixties, cricket pitches had good use and the golf course continued to flourish. Cars are parked there during the annual Exhibition. Unfortunately it was seen fit to run the Inner City Bypass through the park at the beginning of the new millennium - it runs parallel to the railway line and now we have traffic snarling its way through the trees too.

Despite the encroachment of modern life, the park is still a restful part of the city. In 1988 the lake area of the park was named York's Hollow.

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Eastwood, East Brisbane

I just stumbled across this superbly presented Federation house in East Brisbane that is currently listed for sale. It appeared in The Weekend Australian Magazine of 13 April.

(Photo: realestate.com.au)

The house, Eastwood, was built in 1908 for Llewellyn Stephens, a Brisbane lawyer and council alderman. It was designed by the distinguished architect Robin Dods, who must have done a good job because three short years later he was engaged to design nearby Kitawah for the same client. 

The Stephens family was prominent in Brisbane. Llewellyn's father Thomas Blacket Stephens was himself an alderman and mayor as well as being elected to the Queensland parliament. His business interests were diverse, evidenced by his owning of a tannery at Ekibin and the newspaper The Brisbane Courier.

Llewellyn's older brother William took over the family interests after their father's death, and he was instrumental in the construction of two other fine residences that we have seen on these pages, Waldheim and Cumbooquepa.

About Eastwood, the newspaper piece says "Shifted to one side of its sizeable block to make way for townhouses, the owners set about restoring four-bedroom Eastwood to as-new 1901-style. They used the plans of the architect, Robin Dods (1868-1920), whose designs still pervade the city in the form of homes, schools, hotels, churches and public buildings." The photographs for the real estate advertising are spectacular.

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Submariners' Walk Heritage Trail, Teneriffe

Of course, Anzac Day always makes me think of young men going to war, and in particular those who didn't return. I have never experienced armed conflict first hand and have absolutely no desire to do so. My (almost) 21 year-old nephew is a soldier and I hope that he never gets sent off to some overseas military operation. I know we have to have armed forces and that we therefore need people to join the military services, but while I acknowledge their service and thank them for it I hope that most of them never have to be involved in an actual war.

Recently a ceremony took place quite close to where I live. It was a memorial to the Australian and US submariners who were based at the Capricorn Wharf at Teneriffe during WWII. 

At the sunset ceremony on 23 March, the Governor of Queensland opened the Submariners' Walk Heritage Trail along the river where the subs used to dock. Along the trail are plaques and seats commemorating the men, the ships and their service during WWII.

(Photos: © Harry E Haxton)

The following photograph shows some of the American subs with their tender at the wharf during the war.

(Photo: ozatwar.com)

Submarine warfare was dangerous. Five of the US submarines that left Teneriffe to go on patrol never came back - lost with all their crew. USS Growler, part of the US sub fleet based here, was involved in action against a Japanese convoy when it collided with the convoy's escort Hayasaki, almost sinking the sub. After the collision the Japanese ship opened fire on Growler, wounding her commanding officer Howard W Gilmore and killing two others. Selflessly Gilmore gave the order for the submarine to dive, even though he was unable to get off the bridge into the vessel. The boat submerged and Gilmore perished, but Growler was able to return to Brisbane for repair. Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the first submariner to receive that award. Here is a photograph of the damaged USS Growler at Teneriffe (that's the Powerhouse in the background). USS Growler was lost in action in November 1944.  

(Photo: wikipedia)

About seventy US submarines used the Capricorn Wharf for maintenance and repairs during the war, and for the last three months of 1942 there were as many US submarines operating from Brisbane as from Pearl Harbor. About 800 US service personnel were involved at Capricorn Wharf and there were further men and women at the store depot at Windsor. In addition, Archbishop Duhig's Benedict Stone factory was acquired for torpedo maintenance and storage.

The walkway along the river is now a beautiful and peaceful place, used by cyclists, runners, walkers and sightseers alike. I hope that the Submariners' Walk Heritage Trail reminds them of the sacrifices made by others so that they are able to enjoy it.

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The Commander's Residence, Enoggera

In 1908 the Australian Government acquired some 1200 acres of land about seven kilometres from Brisbane for the purposes of military training - we know it now as Gallipoli Barracks, but when I was younger it was referred to as the Enoggera Army Barracks.

In 1910 when the first buildings were erected on the land, this one in the photograph below was constructed for the purposes of weapons training and as a magazine for small arms ammunition. 

(Photo: © 1979 National Trust of Queensland; R Stringer)

WWI saw the building become Northern Command Training School, a tactical training centre for all ranks, and the building was used for this purpose until after the Second World War. During WWI accommodation for soldiers must have been scarce - many of the men lived like this.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #35264)

After WWII the building became a supply depot, and in 1960 it was converted into a residence for the senior RAEME officer in the state. It now operates as a chapel - the sign on the lawn in front says "All Saints Chapel erected 1910 as School of Musketry".

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

I took advantage of the Army's Open Day on 14 April to visit Gollipoli Barracks to take this picture of the chapel which is in terrific condition. It was a busy scene on the grounds with people clambering over helicopters, trucks and all manner of huge guns. Although I didn't see it, I believe paratroopers dropped in as well, making the army's first open day here in a decade a great success.

It is Anzac Day on Thursday and I thank all military personnel, past and present, for their service. 

LEST WE FORGET

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Grangehill, Spring Hill

This expansive home situated on Gregory Terrace opposite Victoria Park was built in the early 1860s for Alexander Raff, a Scottish immigrant who arrived in Brisbane in 1851. He bought the land on which the house has been constructed in 1860. This first photograph we have of the house is from 2008.

(Photo: DERM)

Alexander Raff was quickly active in the Brisbane community after his arrival. He was treasurer of the School of Arts and also of the Queensland Philosophical Society; he was a director of the National Mutual Life Association and the Brisbane Gas Company; he was on the Board of National Education and the steering committee for the Children's Hospital.

Later he was a partner of Smellie & Co and from 1884 until 1910 he was a Member of the Legislative Council, Queensland's upper house of parliament. He married in 1862 and The Courier reported that the birth of his first child occurred at Grangehill on 18 April 1863.

Grangehill may have been designed by fellow Scott James Cowlishaw who was a friend of Alexander and his brother George. The Brisbane tuff and sandstone residence had verandahs added to it in the 1880s or 1890s, giving it more of a Queenslander appearance. Here is a current photograph. 

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

Alexander Raff died in January 1914 and the property was passed to his son James, the eldest of the Raff's six surviving children. James Raff allowed the Red Cross to use Grangehill as a convalescent home after WWI. Then in 1924 James engaged architects Chambers and Ford to prepare plans to convert the house into two flats. It was later used as a boarding house and was inhabited by US servicemen in WWII. James Cluny Raff, the nephew of James Raff sold the property in 1949. It was bought by the Carmelite Fathers who owned it until 1995.

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Coorparoo Shire Hall, Coorparoo

Just up the road from Coorparoo State School, the building once known as Coorparoo Shire Hall was opened on 7 October 1892, four years after the proclamation of the Shire of Coorparoo. A memorial roll of honour for the shire's WWI fallen soldiers was hung inside in 1916.

(Photos: www.qldwarmemorials.com.au)

 In 1925, when the various local councils were amalgamated into the Greater Brisbane City Council, the Shire Hall became the School of Arts, and local residents agreed to purchase the building from the City Council for £1,000. After WWII, Brisbane City Council demanded payment of £750 still outstanding on that debt. Community action and assistance from the local RSL club enabled the community to keep the hall, now renamed Coorparoo School of Arts and Memorial Hall.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

The hall still stands on Cavendish Road.

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Victoria Flats, Spring Hill

Kilroe was here.

Mrs Frances (Fanny) Kilroe was the original owner of these four flats, built in 1923 on the high side of Gregory Terrace. The flats, originally known as Kilroe's Flats, have views over Victoria Park from the front and the towards the city at the rear.

(Photo: © 2013 the foto fanatic)

Frances Elliott and Joseph Kilroe were both immigrants to Brisbane from Ireland. They married at Gympie on 13 February 1895.

(Photos: ancestry.com)

(Source: Brisbane Courier 23 February 1895 via trove)

Joseph Kilroe was a draper. On 1 August 1899 he was made a partner at the successful firm of Finney Isles.  

(Source: Brisbane Courier 18 November 1899 via trove)

The Kilroes never lived in the flats - for a time they lived in the next door property called Mirrunya and later moved to Paddington. The flats were designed by architect TBM Wightman and were among the first purpose-designed flats in Brisbane. The flats stayed in the Kilroe family until Fanny's death in 1948 when they were sold.

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Archibald House (Glenugie), New Farm

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #191906)

This man is John Archibald who was a successful businessman as well as a member of Queensland's upper house of parliament.

Archibald was born in 1845 near Edinburgh in Scotland and migrated to Queensland in 1863, working firstly at Cribb & Foote's department store and then joining the Queensland civil service. In April 1888 he left government employment and became a partner in a flour milling enterprise, later forming the Dominion Milling Co Ltd. He was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1897. He was also elected as mayor of Warwick in 1890 and 1897.

In 1902 he settled in a house in New Farm called Glenugie. Archibald passed away in 1907 and his wife remained in the house until her death in 1929. Glenugie was listed for auction on 1 December 1926, as advertised in the Brisbane Courier of 13 November that year. I can only assume that the property did not sell, as further articles in the paper indicate that the house became  "a gift" to the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. The Archibalds were staunch Methodists and at that time the house passed to the churches to be used as a hostel for girls. It was renamed Archibald House.     

(Brisbane Courier 13 November 1926 via trove)

(Brisbane Courier 5 July 1930 via trove)

(Brisbane Courier 1 August 1930 via trove)

The charming house still stands. It is once again a private residence and here are a couple of photographs of it.

(Photo: DERM)

(Photo: google.com)

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