A House of Sticks
A History of Queenslander Houses in Maryborough
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2012.6Keywords:
Queenslander houses in Maryborough, Tuscan villas, Italianate architectureAbstract
Some years ago, when South-East Queensland was threatened with being overrun with Tuscan villas, the Brisbane architect John Simpson proposed that revenge should be taken on Italy by exporting timber and tin shacks in large numbers to Tuscany. The Queenslanders would be going home – albeit as colonial cousins – taking with them their experience of the sub-tropics. Without their verandahs but with their pediments intact, the form and planning, fenestration and detailing can be interpreted as Palladian, translated into timber, the material originally available in abundance for building construction. ‘High-set’, the local term for South-East Queensland's raised houses, denotes a feature that is very much the traditional Italian piano nobile [‘noble floor’]: the principal living areas on a first floor with a rusticated façade of battens infilling between stumps and shaped on the principal elevation as a superfluous arcade to a non-existent basement storey. Queensland houses were very Italianate.
References
Andrew Petrie (1798–1872) was Clerk of Works at the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement and occasional explorer. When the settlement was opened to free settlers, Petrie stayed on. See AA Morrison, ‘Petrie, Andrew (1798–1872)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 2, 325–6, http://adb.anu.edu.au. Accessed 20 April 2012. ‘In 1842 with a small party in a boat he discovered the Mary River and brought back to the settlement two “wild white men”, James Davis or “Duramboi” and David Bracewell or “Wandi”‘.
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 25 June 1842: 2
Lewis, Miles, Victorian Primitive (Melbourne: Greenhouse, 1977).
‘The Cotton Plantation of Townsvale, Logan River’, Queenslander, 17 November 1866: 7: ‘There is . . . a large new building, 60 feet by 40, divided into two rooms . . . The building is built of weatherboard, and covered with grass . . . Across the end of this run the ginning sheds or rather houses, built of galvanised iron and covered with grass.’ The grass is also referred to as thatch.
For example, Hambledon House near Cairns. John Oxley Library Photograph APU 25/41.
‘The Value of Swamps in Australia’, Brisbane Courier, 29 December 1865: 4, reprinted from Melbourne Argus, 10 December 1866): ‘The report of the professional board, which was appointed to examine into the advisability of dispensing with various swamps, for which such numerous proposals of reclamation have been lately made, advises, we see, the exception of a long list of marshes from the reclaiming process; and the general tenor of the report abundantly confirms the impression that any extensive drainage of our water covered “waste lands” would be productive of very dangerous consequences.’
Watson, Don, ‘Clearing the Scrubs of South-East Queensland’, in Frawley, K.J. and Semple, N. (eds), Australia's Ever Changing Forests Proceedings of the First National Conference on Australian Forest History (Canberra: ANU, 1988), 365–92.
For example, Cunningham Report, 26.6.1829 [at Mount Davidson] in Steele, J.G., The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770–1830 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1972), 320.
Watson ‘Clearing the Scrubs’, 376.
Maryborough Chronicle, 15 March 1870: 2.
The coincidence was the subject of a lecture I gave at the University of Queensland in 2009: ‘Was Queensland Architecture Changed on 3rd August 1865?’
Designed by George Negus (1836–1908, builder and railway carriage contractor) in 1895. See Loyau, G.E., The History of Maryborough and Wide Bay and Burnett Districts from the Year 1850 to 1895 (Brisbane: Pole, Outridge & Co., 1897), ill. 155, 307.
The architect Hugo Durietz witnessed the early decay of outside studded schools built at Gympie, which led to exposed walls being protected by verandahs or sheeted externally. See entry for Hugo Wilhelm Durietz (1831–1908) in Watson, D. and McKay, J., A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Library, 1984), 57–9.
Including Albert and Central Schools, Maryborough. See entry for Robert Ferguson (1840–1906) in Watson and McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects, 67–8. The Teacher's Residence of 1881–82 survives at the Central School – see Queensland Heritage Register 601264.
The structural performance of the unbraced partition frame (post and rails sheeted with vertical T&G boarding), which was ubiquitous in the early twentieth century, proved superior to the various earlier forms of braced frames, which concentrated structural loads at the joints causing the frame to fail. In the partition frame, the lining acted as a membrane to brace the frame. See Timothy Shane O'Donnell, ‘The Fassifern Connection: Russell Hall and the Exposed Stud Frame’, BArch thesis, University of Queensland, 1897.
CSIRO, Preliminary Survey of the Heavy Clay Industry in Southern Queensland (Canberra: CSIRO, 1951).
Pedro Guedes (University of Queensland) says that the earliest instances of such raised buildings are Dutch.
Queensland Heritage Register ID 600706. Information on Eskdale is taken from the citation.
In 1861, Messrs Gladwell and Greathead arrived from Sydney steamer to establish a steam saw-mill on the banks of the Mary River (Rockhampton Bulletin, 3 August 1861: 2), but in October they were still awaiting the arrival of machinery (Rockhampton Bulletin, 26 October 1861: 3). Their Union Steam Saw-mills commenced cutting in December (Maryborough Chronicle, 19 December 1861: 2). In June 1862, plans were announced for a second mill (Courier, 14 June 1862: 2) and William Pettigrew purchased a site at Dundathu for his saw-mill (Courier, 29 August 1862: 4). Considerable damage resulted from floods in February 1863. A fourth mill was announced in July 1863 (Maryborough Chronicle, 23 July 1863: 2).
A hipped roof continuous over the core of the building and its perimeter verandah is called a bungalow roof. Where a verandah was roofed separately to the core of a dwelling, it was called a box roof.
For example, Rosalie Villa, North Quay and Makerston Street, Brisbane (1865), illustrated in Watson & McKay (1994) 12
Including the paired columns and label moulding, as well as the slight naivety. See Watson, D. and McKay, J., Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994), 67–8.
The Hockleys purchased the house in January 1890.
Aston was also architect in 1879 for a ten-roomed house for J.V. Williams at 16–18 Churchill Street (Lot 6, Section 135). See Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 8. Like Glenlinden, Williams’ house seems to have been raised ‘with basement accommodation for washing, harness room, etc.’ (Maryborough Chronicle, 19 January 1882: 3).
Maryborough Chronicle, 17 May 1882: 2. The distant prominence is not particularly informative.
Queenslander, 19 May 1883: 792.
Queenslander, 18 February 1893: 324.
Application 5217, Real Property Act of 1861. Walker was a Sydney merchant, banker and benefactor who was also a director of the Australian Steam Navigation Co. and President of the Bank of New South Wales from 1869–86.
Said to be at Churchill Street.
Brisbane Courier, 13 June 1879: 2.
Prior to the purchase of Lot 1 of Section 134 by R.M. Hyne, it was owned by Thomas Walker (1804–1886), merchant, banker and benefactor. Walker was also a director of the Australian Steam Navigation Co. and President of the Bank of New South Wales from 1869-86. In 1874 a house called Riversleigh was occupied by F.A. Forbes, manager of the Bank of NSW (Brisbane Courier, 24 October 1874: 4). It would not have been required after 1877 when the bank built new two-storey premises at the corner of Richmond and Wharf Streets with accommodation for the manager on the first floor.
See Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 146–8.
Maryborough Chronicle, 29 April 1882: 2.
Maryborough Chronicle, 17 June 1882: 1.
Brisbane Courier, 24 October 1874: 4.
The Maryborough historian, Jan Downman, says that a house was built ca 1870.
Maryborough Heritage Centre, 164 Richmond St (Queensland Heritage Register ID 600711). The architect is thought to be James Cowlishaw (1834–1929), possibly based on a design by the Sydney architect G.A. Mansfield (1834–1908).
Information from Jan Downman.
Maryborough Chronicle, 22 November 1886: 4. It was described as the best site for a private house at Maryborough, with a garden well laid out with ornamental scrubs. There is no mention of the house as being recently constructed – only that it was in good order.
Certificate of Title 63283, Vol. 430 Folio 13.
Maryborough Chronicle, 21 June 1884, 1. The unusual (but not unique) windows in the box roof may be original.
Maryborough Chronicle, 3 October 1883: 1.
Brisbane Courier, 3 January 1924: 7. Harry Nicholas Hansen (?–1948).
Tenders were called by Powell for a two-storey brick villa residence in July 1883 (Maryborough Chronicle, 21 July 1883: 1).
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 166–78.
Maryborough Chronicle, 13 January 1881: 2.
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 63–5.
Watson & McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 54.
John Oxley Library Negative 97695.
Allotment 11 of Section 84 (Certificate of Title 79166, Vol. 538 Folio 156).
Maryborough Chronicle, 6 September 1882: 1.
Brisbane Courier, 29 September 1902: 12.
In turn, the club was replaced by the Fraser Coast TESS (Training Employment Support Services).
Brisbane Courier, 9 August 1881: 3.
Brisbane Courier, 22 October 1881: 4.
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 23 March 1882: 2.
The site of the saw mill is now occupied by the Brolga Theatre.
Subdivisions 8 and 9 of Lot 1 of Section 134, purchased from R.M. Hyne (Certificates of title: 78322 (Vol. 417, Folio 236) and 78319 (Vol. 417, Folio 237).
Maryborough Chronicle, 25 September 1883: 1.
Death certificate reference no. 1960/C2238.
Lots 1 and 2, Section 134, Certificate of Title No. 60817, Vol. 413, Folio 57, 1 February 1882.
Lot 3 of Section 147 (Certificate of Title 66664, Vol. 454, Folio 144, 30.3.1883; Lot 2 of Section 147. Certificate of Tile 127001, Vol. 800, Folio 241
Peter Graham was a pioneering Gympie storekeeper and Mount Perry Copper mining investor who had been declared insolvent in 1878 (Brisbane Courier, 18 October 1878: 1). He was later charged but acquitted of fraudulent insolvency (Brisbane Courier, 25 April 1879: 3). By 1880, he was working as a labour agent at Maryborough (Queenslander, 2 October 1880: 420). He still had funds to paint and decorate Douneville before selling it (Maryborough Chronicle, 1 September 1881: 3). No photograph of Douneville was found at the John Oxley Library.
Loyau, The History of Maryborough, 15–17.
John Oxley Library (JOL) Negative 145109 was the only photograph found.
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 28 January 1953: 6.
It is not known when No. 22 was first called Green Gables, but it was probably named after L.M. Montgomery's 1908 book or the silent movie, which was shown at Maryborough in 1922.
Allotment 19 of Section 87. Certificate of Title 14934 (Vol. 114, Folio 204). The site was subdivided in 1911 into Subdivision 1 (22 North St, Green Gables) and Subdivision 2 (20 North Street, Mistly).
Stanley's plans were considered in December 1886 (Maryborough Chronicle, 9 December 1886: 2). Tenders were called in January (Maryborough Chronicle, 12 January 1887 and he visited Maryborough to confer with the board and Henry Neale, the successful tenderer in April (Maryborough Chronicle, 26 April 1887: 2). He was present at the laying of the foundation stone on 29 June (Maryborough Chronicle, 30 June 1887: 3) and for completion of the building (Maryborough Chronicle, 13 January 1888: 2).
Including Northam (1886) and Erneton (1887) – see Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 175–6.
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 225–7.
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 30.
Queensland Heritage Register IDs 600691 and 600699.
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 154.
Maryborough Chronicle, 30 May 1882: 1.
For example, (first) Baddow House JOL Negative No. 54638; [Lennox St house] JOL Negative No. 67120.
Queenslander, 29 October 1870: 10.
Maryborough Chronicle, 15 August 1885: 3.
JOL Negatives 171397, 186487, 171396, 138752, 65361.
JOL Negative 145763.
The Queensland Post Office Directory (1889), 180–9 lists the following gardeners at Maryborough: James Bray, Cheapside; Thomas Brennan, Pallas St; John Croft, Sussex St; Charles Evans; Thomas Howe, Walker St; James Kelly, Saltwater Creek Rd; Frederick Lambert, Ann St; Henry Macklin, Cheapside; William Mitchell, Sussex St; Lewis Parke, Alice St; John Rooney, Alice St; Martin Seader, Lennox St; John Sewell, Richmond St; John Simpson, John St; J.R. Vanderwolfe, South St; Thomas Warner, Frederick St; John Winn, Ferry St. There is some overlap of gardeners with nurserymen: J. Cheyne, Bazaar St and The Glen, Tinana; W. Perry, Richmond St and Woodman's River Bank and J. Vanderwolfe, Ferry St; and seedsmen: J. Cheyne; W. Perry and D. Clarke.
The garden was described in 1887 as ‘a recreation ground for picnics and private parties, fairly abounding with what is pleasurable and romantic both in nature and art’. Guests could spread themselves over the fresh green lawns or along the beautiful walks bordered by many sweet and familiar flowers. For luncheon, guests entered a fernery – a combination of a conservatory and plant house where fruit grown on the property were displayed and Cheyne's home brewed wines were sampled. There were lawn and croquet courts and numerous summer houses and seats, ‘some in quaint and artistic shapes made of a rare kind of myrtle’ (Maryborough Chronicle, 7 January 1887: 2; Loyau, The History of Maryborough, 285–6.
Loyau, The History of Maryborough, 285–6
Maryborough Chronicle, 19 February 1882: 3; Queenslander, 19 May 1883: 792.
Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 139–41.
Queensland Heritage Register 600639. Ellen Lawless was the widow of Paul Lawless who, with his brother Clement, took up Booubyjan in the 1840s. Booubyjan is approximately due west of Maryborough in the Burnett River catchment.
Entry for Frederick Herbert Faircloth (1870–1925) in Watson and McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, 66.
Entry for Henry Francis Walter Palmer (1888–1972) in Watson and McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, 150.
Sue Hug, ‘The Life and Works of P.O.E. Hawkes’, BArch thesis, University of Queensland, 1987, and entry for Philip Olliver Ellard Hawkes in Watson and McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, 101.
Brisbane Courier, 7 October 1905, 8.
Marriage certificate 1912/C2374.
Jan Downman says that a Maryborough builder called Kaminski extended Glenolive in the 1920s.
For example, the Smith residence, Lower Kent St (JOL Negative 54522).
F.L. Klingender and R.H. Alsop, 1906–21. See George Tibbits, ‘Alsop, Rodney Howard (1881–1932)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 7, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography. Accessed 20 May 2012.
JOL Negative 167399.
The advent of stylistic change is more dependable than its demise.
Allotments 6–8 of Section 46.
Watson and McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, 57–59. Elaine Brown has worked on Durietz more recently (Gympie Times, 10 February 2007 – not viewed).
1 Church Street, Gympie (now called the Jessie Witham Centre). Wendouree survived intact for 90 years in one family, but has now lost its ogee roof, belvedere and colour scheme.
Daniel O'Neill acquired Subdivision 7 in 1900 and Subdivision 8 in 1904. His sister Hannah acquired Subdivision 6 in 1911 and sold it to Daniel in 1918, when the properties were reconfigured as two. Both were immediately transferred to John O'Brien (Subdivision 8 and Resubdivision 1 of Subdivision 7) and his sister Anastasia Bradshaw (Subdivision 6 and Resubdivision 2 of Subdivision 7).
Maryborough Chronicle, 13 January 1920, cited in Catalogue 1920/2 in Hug, ‘The Life and Works of P.O.E. Hawkes’, 68.
Subdivisions 5–7 of Allotment 4 of Section 137.
John Oxley Library Negative 167410.
Certificate of Title 161575, Vol. 987, Folio 65.
Before and after photographs: JOL Negatives 164922 and 164971.
The conference program is incorrect in reporting that this house was built initially by Robert Hart. Hart never owned the land. Instead, in February 1882, he acquired Subdivisions 8 and 9 (15 Elizabeth Street), where he built Fairview in 1883.
See Riversleigh and Fairview.
W.M. Eyre or E.W. Russell, who replaced Eyre in Maryborough 1884–85, or the clerk of works, William Devon, who later undertook additions to Hyne's Royal Hotel.
Hawke's originals plans are held by the Maryborough Wide Bay and Burnett Historical Society.
Carinya was one of a fairly small number of residences in the pioneering study: Gardiner, Fiona, Significant Twentieth Century Architecture: Queensland (Brisbane: Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Queensland Chapter, 1988), 284–5.
Gardiner, Significant Twentieth Century Architecture, 284–5; Hug, ‘The Life and Works of P.O.E. Hawkes’.
See Andrew John Gildea, ‘Horace George Driver: Architect 1902–1982 Beaux-arts to Our House’, BArch thesis, University of Queensland, 1988.
Riverview and 327 Lennox Street for Mrs Horsborough (1948).
Tender of L.L. Davies accepted for a Maryborough residence (wood), July 1935, Architecture and Building Journal of Queensland; Kennedy, Michael Owen, Domestic Architecture in Queensland Between the Wars (Sydney: UNSW Press, 1989), 176.
21 September 1936: Ivy Beresford, wife of James Quentin Beresford purchased Resubdivision 3 of Subdivision 33 of Lot 1 of Section 146.
Faircloth's Barambah homestead is an example. Despite being well cared for, the roof has been greatly simplified, as can be seen by comparing original and present-day photographs.
