23 portion 9 parish of indooroopilly - wordpress.com · 23.10.2017 · st lucia history group...

Portion 9 Parish of Indooroopilly

Peter Brown

St Lucia History Group Paper 23

ST LUCIA HISTORY GROUP

PGB/History/Papers/23 Portion 9 Page 1 of 20 Printed October 14, 2017

ST LUCIA HISTORY GROUP RESEARCH PAPER

23. PORTION 9 PARISH OF INDOOROOPILLY

Author: Peter Brown © 2017

CONTENTS:

Page

1. Portion 9 1

2. Portion 9A 4

3. Portion 9B 7

4. Portion 9C 9

Cover illustration: Anzac Day Commemoration Committee, Brisbane Mail 21 March 1922.

TA Ryan seated far left on the front row

Peter Brown

2017

Private Study Paper – not for general publication

St Lucia History Group

PO Box 4343

St Lucia South

QLD 4067

Email: [email protected]

Web: brisbanehistorywest.wordpress.com



1. PORTION 9

Following the opening of Moreton Bay for free settlement in 1842, the Government (of New

South Wales) began to sell off Crown land for housing, businesses and farms. The first land

sold in today’s St Lucia was in 1853 and comprised 19 acres in the area of Sandford Street/

Heroes Avenue on the west side of Toowong Creek. Robert Cribb named it Lang Farm and it

became a land mark in the area for many years, and is shown on the left of the following map.

In 1857 the Government subdivided and sold much of the rest of St Lucia as farmland, with a

central track to provide access - now Carmody Road and two access tracks to the river - now

Ryans Road and Mill Road.

Courtesy Professor Prentice Album, Fryer Library University of Queensland

William Rawlins was the first purchaser of Portion 9, shown above adjacent to the river

access track, and spanning from the river to the central track. It is important to understand that

today’s Sir Fred Schonell Drive and Gailey Road with its bridge over Toowong Creek did not

come into existence for another thirty years, and that roads were not named for another forty

years. The following current street map indicates Portion 9 today:



Rawlins purchased his forty acres but subdivided the Portion 9 into three strips, A B and C for

on-sale to farming families. Each strip had both river and road frontage, with subdivision C

also having one of the river access tracks on one side (Ryans Road).

When NSW Surveyor General and explorer John Oxley was rowed up the Brisbane River in

1823 he noted in his journal, when passing the future St Lucia ‘the low land on starboard

shore commences having cypress intermingled with the brush.’1

Years later a newspaper correspondent walked through the brush after visiting Lang Farm, to

reach the new farms and reported: 2

I must…take your readers with me through this bit of scrub-land bordering the Brisbane

River; bearing in mind as you force your way through the pendant vines, or runners,

interlacing and almost obstructing one’s progress in every direction, that great caution need

be exercised to escape the tormenting fangs of the bush lawyer, a very formidable looking

customer…(that has) very little mercy upon those persons who foolishly place themselves

within their clutches…What an immense variety of shrubs, creepers, and botanical

specimens meet the eye in every direction; and the mind of the inquisitive is speedily filled

with wonder and amazement at the beautiful productions of native wild. At last we reach a

clearing:- a spot of some half dozen acres from which the trees and brushwood have been

but recently removed. In this patch we behold a splendid growth of early maize, the well

cobbed stacks of which give the hard working proprietor a sure token that his 30, or

perhaps 50 acre farm, is amply worth all the labor he can bestow upon its clearing and

cultivation…I found in this neighbourhood several other farms, recent purchases from the

Crown, and like the one described, giving unmistakeable evidence of what crops may be

raised. From the scrub and forest lands bordering the rivers and creeks of this district,

splendid potatoes, gigantic mushrooms, huge melons, and other vegetable productions…

Of the area generally between 1857 and 1880, Prof. Robinson says: 3

in the main … [the area] was a farming community, growing potatoes, pumpkins and other

vegetables, maize [corn], lucerne, bananas, pineapples, cotton, and sugar, and even

arrowroot, with some orcharding and dairying…

Early farming houses were small and made from local materials; this is just an example of the

1860s era:

‘Indooroopilly farmers home’ Courtesy SLQ APE-021-01-001 0r

1 J G Steele, The Exploration of Moreton Bay District 1770 – 1830 University of Queensland Press, 1972.p. 111. 2 Moreton Bay Courier, 5 February 1859, p.2.c.5. 3 Prof. Robinson op cit., p 8.



2. Portion 9 A

Portion 9 Sub A, 14 acres on the eastern side was first registered

to William Werry.4 He and his wife Phillipa (b. 1838) had nine

children, including Fanny born 1868,5 and Emma, Naomi, George

and Mary.6 William’s great-great-grandson Kevin Seeney

advises that when William died in 1871 aged 38, his wife

remarried German migrant Martin Depper (b.1845) who had been

lodging on the farm whilst working in the neighbourhood. Martin

and Phillipa had at least another six children, one of whom was

Martin Jnr born in 1875.7

In 1874 the Carmody Road boundary was described as ‘fenced

forest’.8

Martin Depper became the formal land owner in 1882 and in the

mid 1880s sold the riverfront part of his fourteen acres, (Sub 1)

north of the new St Lucia Road to the developers of the Ironside

Estate.9 He subsequently purchased two allotments in the

Ironside Estate on the corner of Depper St and Ryans Rd where

he built a house facing Ryans Road for his extensive family and

remained there until just before his death in 1914.10 He named his

new house Rheingan after the similarly named wine-growing area

in Germany that he presumably came from.11

Frederick Depper in front of his St Lucia home 1908

Courtesy PictureQueensland

4 Certificate of Title No. 3017 Vol. XXX Folio 35 Portion 9A. 5 Toowong Primary School register undated possibly 1873 QSA Z2501. 6 Ironside State School Diamond Jubilee Book 1930. 7 Keith Seeney Depper St St Lucia signed note, 2003; QFHS Pedigree chart 2162 Depper. 8 Queensland Government Gazette 1874 p 662. 9 Certificate of Title No. 3017 Vol. XXX Folio 35 Portion 9A. 10 Certificate of Title No. 3013 Vol XXX Folio 31; Certificate of Title No 111305 Vol 715 Folio 45; Keith

Seeney Depper St St Lucia signed note, 2003; Post office Directory 1893. 11 Post Office Directories



In 1913 the property was bought by his neighbour Henry Monteith of 80 Ryans Road, who

demolished the house and excavated the ground to make a croquet lawn, later a tennis court,

which remains to this day.

In 1888 Depper sold another four acres (Resub 2 of Sub 2) south of and adjoining St Lucia

Road to Charles Highfield but he, Highfield, continued to reside at Toowong.12 He took out a

mortgage for one thousand pounds in 1894 but in 1921 the mortgagee sold the land to Albert

E Marsh, who had been a member of the 3rd Pioneers AIF.

13 His wife was Susan (Spiller), son

Albert Henry, and daughters Ivy Gladys and Lily Doris.14

Throughout the 1920s the Marsh family grew vegetables – carrots, beetroot, and cabbage etc

and customers went and picked their requirements and hosed them off near the house before

paying for them. Albert Marsh won awards for vegetables at the St Lucia Show in 1923 and

continued doing so until 1930; he also contributed at the Church of England flower show in

1930.15 If Mr or Mrs Marsh entered in later years they did not win awards. Jim Mackenzie

says that from about 1930 they converted much of the farm to growing strawberries and

became one of the largest growers in Queensland. The land was finally subdivided into at

least 19 residential blocks in 1950, and land was dedicated for a road – probably the extension

of Sisley Street through to Brisbane Street.16 No estate sale notice has been found for the land

but Mr Marsh withdrew it from ‘all agents’ in 1951 by which time approximately a quarter of

the land had been sold.17 Land prices at this time were about £50 per Lot. Sales continued and

by the time Mr Marsh died in 1954 the rest of the land had been sold, or was sold soon after;

the Marsh house was on Lots 15-17 and it was left to his widow.18

Purchasers of land were Kenneth Crouch (a doctor?), George Hoskins, John Leaver, Francis

Cole, Stanley Neil, Les Hodges, Edith Halliday (Sub 9 of sub 1 of Resub 2 of Sub 2 of resub 2

of sub 1 of Sub A of Portion 9), 68 Sisley St 1953, re-sold in 1980 to Edward Bach, in 1981 to

Mary Cochrane and in 1996 it passed to her daughter Dotti Kemp), Ronald Bowler, Herbert

Pitty, Joseph Costigan (Sub 10, 66 Sisley St 1954, re-sold in 1956 to Colin Kable and in 1965

to Dorothy and Edith Hill), Herbert and Eileen Pitty (Sub 8, 70 Sisley St), Graham (Sub ? 67

Sisley St, re-sold to R J (Dotti) Kemp, and in 1992 to Dr Lee).

Ms Dotti Kemp says Mr Pitty at number 70 used to be in the stone trade in some way, so had

access to off-cuts of marble, granite etc which he used to pave his multicoloured front

veranda/patio. Mr Pitty remembered the strawberry fields near 67 Sisley before the creek was

filled with coke etc and a house built on the block.

Martin Depper, or his descendents upon his death in 1914, or others sold the Carmody Road

end of his property before 1922. The following Plate VI is a series of adverts for the Ferry

Estate which appeared in 1922 and is for this component as it mentions 6 Lots on Carmody

Road and a house in later follow up advertisements. A 1946 aerial photograph shows those

allotments and also a large house and grounds on the corner of Carmody Road and Brisbane

Street.19 The land would have been approximately four and a half acres. Maps show that

Depper Street was extended through to Brisbane Street at about this time.

12 Post Office Directories 1885 – 1898.

13 Certificate of Title 111692 Vol 717 Folio 182 Highfield 1888

14 Queensland State Electoral Roll 1934

15 The Brisbane Courier 9 June 1923 p 11; 4 June 1930 p 14 13 November 1930 p21.

16 Certificate of Title 111692 Vol 717 Folio 182 Highfield 1888.

17 The Courier-Mail 17 January 1951 p14.

18 The Courier-Mail 15 April 1954 p 14.

19 The Brisbane Courier 8 July 1922 p 10 c 1; BCC 1946 aerial photograph of St Lucia.



Plate VI Advert for Ferry Estate

Courtesy The Brisbane Courier 8 July 1922

Courtesy The Brisbane Courier 26 July 1922 p16



Courtesy The Brisbane Courier 24 June 1925 p13.

3. Portion 9 B

The Sub B, some 6 acres, was registered to Richard Meddleton in 1864,

and he on-sold it to Thomas Strong in 1878. Meddleton signed the road

opening petition in 1865, and went on to become a timber-getter and

long time resident of Brookfield.20 Strong on-sold Sub B in 1885 to

William Wilson to become part of Ironside Estate.21

Of note in this area is Mobolon, the residence of several notable people;

see Paper 16 DROUGHTS, FLOODS, LAND VALUES, HERITAGE

LISTINGS and HOUSES

Also of note in this area is the Woodhead family. Charles was the

managing director of Bryce Ltd, a pioneer transport company that his

father had been with, finally as senior director, for fifty years.22 The

nearby Bryce Street was not named after this company, but after Robert

Lee Bryce who lived in Hiron Street in the 1890s.

Charles Woodhead married Mary Ann Rose (Rosie) Moore in 1913 and

they had their first daughter Arlie, in 1915 whilst living at west End.23

The family had moved to Romany Rye Sisley Street St Lucia by 1933.24

A daughter Arlie married Hugh Stewart in August 1936.25

20 Wager Libby, ‘Different Tracks’, p.88, M England private papers.

21 Certificate of Title No 3016 Vol XXX Folio 34 Portion 9B.

22 The Courier Mail 3 Auguust 1936 p4.

23 The Brisbane Courier 30 January 1915 p4.

24 The Courier Mail 30 November 1933 p 20, 3 August 1934 p 23.

25 The Courier Mail 26 February 1936 p21; Queensland Figaro 21 March 1936 p 11



The youngest daughter was Neridah who got engaged to Jack Rennick in 1942.26 Another

daughter married Major General F W De Guingand in Cairo in 1942 and a daughter was born

in London in 1944, at which time her parents were still living in St Lucia.27

A son Keith died in 1943. Another son Jack was born in 1916 and went on to become

managing director of Bryce and Co when his father retired. The Woodheads sold the house in

1949 and moved to Cleveland:28The Woodhead house in 1946 (centre)

26 The Courier Mail 11 June 1942 p8

27 The Courier Mail 24 February 1944 p5; Commonwealth Electoral Roll 1959

28 The Courier Mail 8 October 1949 p 15 near end.



4. Portion 9 C

George Smith purchased Subdivision 9 C, twenty acres between

the river and the central track, bounding the river access track.

The relationship between George Smith the purchaser, a

business man in Brisbane, and Jesse Smith the eventual farmer

is not known, possibly father and son. A Mr and Mrs J Smith

are recorded as arriving in Brisbane by ship in 1850.29

Fifty years later a long-term resident of the area wrote:30

The first attempt to arrange locally for the education of the

children of this district was made about the year 1864, when Mrs

Smith, wife of Mr Jesse Smith, a farmer occupying the land

adjoining the water trough and tank opposite Guyatt’s store acted

as teacher. She was not a qualified teacher. No provision was

made for a school building; the children used to assemble at Mrs

Smith’s house. Mrs Smith was not equal to the task and did not

continue the work for more than a few months.

Some twenty years later in 1878 George Smith sold the farm to

Thomas Strong, and just a few months later neighbour

Meddleton also sold his adjoining six acre property to Strong,

Subdivision 9B.31 Thomas Strong had been a successful cane

farmer at Oxley Creek and Long Pocket for a number of years,

winning a Gold Medal at the East Moreton Agricultural and Horticultural Association Show

in 1878, and no doubt continued farming his new purchase of Portion 9B and C.32

Strong raised a £700 mortgage against the properties in 1879 and may have then built a new

home, possibly named Rose Hill (see later) which was described as a large and substantial

wooden house, with outhouses and beautiful flower garden.33

According to Professor Robinsons:34

Between 1878 and 1888 there were moves by other local farmers to have a new road

dedicated from Toowong Creek through Mr Depper and Mr Strong’s property and others to

the end of the peninsular, to improve access to the new Railway Station at Toowong and

Brisbane City. Mr Strong and Mr Depper (and Depper’s immediate neighbours Corbett)

formally objected, because the proposed road would divide their farms in two and pass

between Strong’s house and stables, and also close to Depper’s house thus destroying their

peaceful existence..

29 The Moreton Bay Courier 5 October 1850 p2

30 ‘St Lucia and Long Pocket – Early Educational Arrangements’, c.1916 provenance unknown, RHSQ

Ref Archive Box 23 Folder No 5 Document 4. 31 Certificate of Titles No 3013 Vol XXX Folio 34, No 3016 Vol XXX Folio 34

32 The Brisbane Courier 16 January 1878 p 5.

33 The Brisbane Courier 2 May 1885 p7 c 2, 9 May 1885 p 7 c 1. Ironside Estate

34 As quoted RHSQ Journal 2005 Vol 19 No 2 “William Dart” by Marilyn England.



In 1885 Strong, having purchased other land at Sandgate, sold the two subdivisions 9C 9B

and the house to residential developers W A Wilson and J Potts, who then marketed the land

together with part of Subdivision 9A, as Ironside Estate.35 The auction advertisements

mentioned the Strong house and showed it on the lithograph as Lot 154; the litho also showed

a proposed new road between the house and the stables (now known as Sir Fred Schonell

Drive):36

In 1886 Thomas Augustine Ryan a well known property agent and coincidentally the

auctioneer for the estate, purchased a large part of the Estate including the Thomas Strong

house and stables37

He incorporated those Lots which were bounded by the future Hiron Street to the North,

Bryce Street, Sir Fred Schonell Drive and Ryans Road, including the house into one Title

shown below, comprising 3½ acres (he didn’t own the Lots 160-164 or 166 on Hiron

Street):38

35 Certificate of Title No 3013 dated1864

36 Sales lithograph for IRONSIDE ESTATE, 1888 John Oxley Library Ref 2545

37 Certificate of Title No 3013 dated 1864.

38 Certificate of Title 91090 Vol 606 Folio 80 T A Ryan 1886



He previously lived at Boundary Street West End, but the house at Ryans Rd became his new

home:39

Mr Thomas Augustine Ryan (1847-1923) was married to Susan nee Devine (1859-1927) with

one spinster daughter Beatrice (1883-1956) and one son. The son was Augustus (Gus)

Maxwell Ryan who married Marguerite Broadley in 1930; he joined his father’s valuation

business in 1919. Mr T A Ryan played an active role in, and was a respected member of the

community; he was an elected member of the Indooroopilly Divisional Board in 1887 and

1888, and a member of the Toowong Bowls Club for many years. In recognition of his

services the street in which he lived was named Ryan’s Road after him in 1893. Mrs Ryan

was a member of the Toowong Branch of the Queensland Women’s Electoral Lobby.

Soon after he gave his address as Rose Hill Indooroopilly:40

In this context the name Indooroopilly referred to the Indooroopilly Divisional Board, of

which Mr Ryan was the elected representative for Division 3 – St Lucia. Rose Hill was

possibly the name that Mr Strong had earlier given the house as Ryan later gave his address as

Tomona which is believed to refer to the same house. Rose Hill of course is a famous name

from its original use for today’s Parramatta.

The house appears in the following c.1890 photograph:

39 Post Office Directories 1885; T A Ryan obituary, The Brisbane Courier 29 December 1923 page 6

40 The Brisbane Courier 18 April 1887 p 6.



Brisbane Past and Present RHSQ 1901

Also State Library of Queensland Neg 142828

Also in the following 1891 photograph, just left of centre towards the horizon:

St Lucia Flats 1891 courtesy JOL

Mr Ryan’s house burnt down in February 1892:41

As Mr Ryan’s house was probably very close to the recently built St Lucia Road (Sir Fred

Schonell Drive) he seems to have rebuilt his house a little closer to the river, and lived there

until 1897.42

41 Brisbane Courier 15 February 1892 p 2.

42 Post Office Directories 1894, 1895, 1896 p 128.



Ryan had taken out a mortgage of £1040 in 1886, replaced it with one for £2 200 in 1887, and

replaced it again with one for £2 500 in 1890, this time with the London owned Queensland

Investment and Land Mortgage Co Ltd. The mortgage may have been registered over other

land he owned as well. This mortgage was due for repayment in 1893 but it was not paid out,

and like many individuals and companies at that time it is possible either Ryan or the

Mortgagee ran into financial difficulties.

Postal records show Mr Ryan moved to rented premises in Emma St/Glenn Rd Toowong after

1897 to a house he also named Tomona, by 1913 to a house in Bennett St Toowong, and then

to a house he purchased at Wienholt Street Auchenflower.

It is not known who if anybody lived in the house after 1897 and the name Tomona seems to

have not been continued at this location.

T A Ryan died in 1923:

He is credited with being the first person to propose what became ANZAC day, following his

son Gus’s involvement as a Major in the First World War: 43

43 Thomas Augustine Ryan, obituary, The Brisbane Courier 29 December 1923 page 6, The Telegraph 29

December 1923 page 8, The Queenslander 5 January 1924 p 40.



The family grave at Toowong (Portion 7A Sect 3 No 1A) according to the sexton’s records

contains Thomas, Susan and Beatrice; it has an unusual headstone:

In 1912 Ryan’s land and a ‘nice residence’ were advertised for sale as the Shire Estate:44

44 The Brisbane Courier 5 Oct 1912 p.8; 23 October 1912 p 8; 2 November 1912 p 16



The new plans would have shown the original 23 Lots re-subdivided into 36 Lots, but these

new ones did not take into account that the house sat on more than one lot and had certain

fencing around it. The sale was reported as being ‘fairly successful’ by the auctioneer, and

unsold blocks were advertised later the same month:45

45 The Brisbane Courier 4 November 1912 p.7; 20 November 1912 p.8.



No mention is made of who organised the sale but it is interesting to note that Mr Ryan, a

longstanding auctioneer, was not the auctioneer for this estate and the subsequent land sales

are notated to show the transfer was by the mortgagee rather than Mr Ryan.

The ‘residence together with four blocks’ (Lots 6 to Part 11/12 being the house and the fenced

garden either side) were sold to William Frederick Turk and the fence location is shown by

the new boundaries established by re-survey.46 The fence around the house and garden was

according to Jim Mackenzie made of ‘K-Wire’, the St Lucia-produced chain link fencing.

Mr Turk came originally from Gympie and in 1911 married a Brisbane girl and established W

F Turk Motors Pty Ltd in Adelaide Street in the city selling Maxwell cars amongst other

mechanical items. The couple were noted as living at Ryans Rd in May 1913 just months after

the purchase of the house and land.47 The Post Office Directory for 1914 indicates only Raven

Jno, Raven Frederick and Turk W living on Ryans Road between the river and St Lucia Road.

Mr Raven was a cooper and actually lived on the riverfront on Hiron Street, not on the corner

of Ryans Road, but the directory in those days did not always include side streets separately.

A year later in 1914 Mr Turk bought the adjoining Lots part 11/12 to 15.48

A month later he on-sold Lots 13, snd part 11 and 12, which totalled 54 perches on the corner

of Ryans Rd and Sir Fred Schonell Drive, to Henry Sampson.

Turk had a separate Title issued for Lots 14 and 15 which was possibly sold to a Percy

Atkinson who is recorded as living there from 1918 (now apartments 116 Sir Fred Schonell

Drive).49

46 Certificate of Title 211928 Vol 1244 Folio 168 W F Turk 1913.

47 The Brisbane Courier 14 May 1913 p17.

48 Certificate of Title 219602 Vol 1279 Folio 92.dated 1914 William Turk

49 Certificate of Title 219602 Vol 1279 Folio 92.dated 1914 William Turk; Post Office Directory 1918-1922



Five years later Henry Sampson sold his land, as Jim Mackenzie reports that his mother Mrs

Myra Mackenzie, a war widow, purchased that land in 1919 and had a new house built for her

and infant son Jim.50 Jim reports that the house was no more than a very basic cottage built by

Mrs Mackenzie’s stepbrother, comprising one bedroom, a lounge, a bathroom and a wrap-

around verandah; the construction was of unpainted ‘second class’ pine with malthoid felt

used as flooring in the bathroom. That original part of the house is incorporated in the present

house.

Mrs Mackenzie later subdivided off and sold the rear of her block, now a house,114 Sir Fred

Schonell Drive. In 1950 Brisbane City Council resumed from Mrs Mackenzie some 20 feet of

St Lucia Rd frontage for road widening; she was paid £20 for 1.33 perch [equivalent to £240

per 16 perch Lot] and Council paid for a new fence.51

Briastra 40 Ryans Road 2012

Jim lived there at No 40 Ryans Rd, using the verandah as his bedroom until selling the house

after his mother died in 1969. Jim married Mavis in 1971 and they now, 2012 live in Chapel

Hill. The house was and still is named Briastra after a town on the Belgium/French border

where Jim’s father died in WW I. The house was sold initially to Mr Bell a barrister who

rented it out.

Jim confirms that the original house Tomona had burnt down and he remembers finding the

base of a brick chimney, and large charred gate posts. The gate itself was made of iron with

25mm vertical bars and it was so heavy the bottom edge swung out along an arced steel

support; Jim took the gate to his sister-in-laws property at Mt Tambourine. Jim also found a

badly charred pair of map dividers near the posts that were probably used by Mr Ryan before

the house burnt down.

50 The Queensland Post Office and Official Directory 1920, Wises Directories, CD Archive Books

51 Brisbane City Council Minutes 22 August 1950 p 124, 125.



Mr Turk sold his house and land in 1917 to Alice, wife of Robert Thompson from Gympie,

but seems to have rented the house back as the family lived there until about 1921. In 1921

there were still only the Ravens, the Turks and the Mackenzies living on that stretch of Ryans

Road.52 Alice sold the property in 1921 to Morgan Hugh Simon and it was occupied by he

and Mrs Marion and Miss Simon; Simon was a timber merchant from Toowoomba.53

Returning briefly to Mr Turk, he was involved in the first aeroplane visits to Brisbane during

the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1920, and arranged for one of the planes to go to Gympie

for joy flights.54 Mrs Turk was closely involved with the newly established Toowong Reach

Methodist Church just up Ryans Road from her house and was given a farewell party in 1921

when she left for Sydney.55 W F Turk Motors went into voluntary liquidation in 1923 and Mr

Turk moved to Sydney.56

In 1926 the house and land was purchased from the Thompsons by returned soldier Captain

Francis Basil Bolton and his wife Florence; he (and his wife and three children) were recorded

as living at Rathnascer in 1928 (phone Toowong 216).57 Mrs Bolton was closely involved in

the St Lucia branch of the Red Cross during WWII, and she exhibited at the St Lucia Show in

the 1930s. Mr Bolton was a keen writer of ‘letters to the editor’ of local newspapers. One of

the twin sons, Geoffrey, married in 1943, and the daughter Elizabeth became engaged in

1944.58

In 1937 Bolton sold off 36 perches on the south side, between his house and the Mackenzies

to Andrew M Marsh by 1937; he built a house and was living there in 1940 at No 36 Ryans

Road but Jim says it was later occupied by Doris Williams and later still the Gurton family59.

Ms Williams was a well respected London trained optometrist in the City who was very active

in many community organisations.60 The house is constructed of timber frame with a chicken

wire and concrete render external façade. Mr Marsh sold the house in 1953 to St Lucia

History Group member Ron Scott and his wife Irene.61

In 1938 Bolton sold off 31 perches on the north side of his house, part of Lots 6 and 7, to Dr

Cecil Norman Sinnamon the local GP who built a house there in the 1930s (phone Toowong

716); his wife was also closely involved in the St Lucia branch of the Red Cross during

WWII.62 Dr Sinnamon moved away c.1951 and the house was then occupied by the

Robinsons; it can be seen in the background of this photograph of Jerdanefield:63

52 Post Office Directories 1919-1922.

53 Post office Directory 1923-4 p 99.

54 The Brisbane Courier 4 August 1920 p7.

55 The Brisbane Courier 10 September 1921 p14.

56 The Brisbane Courier 5 May 1923 p3; 1 November 1924 p23.

57 Simmons information by Jim Mackenzie; The Brisbane Courier 21 April 1928 p 9. Post Office Directory 1928

Certificate of Title 211928 Vol 1244 Folio 168 W F Turk 1913. 58 The CourierMail 31 August 1943 p4, 26 February 1944 p6.

59 Post Office Directory 1937 p 141,1940

60 Post Office Directory 1937 p 141,1940

61 Conservations with R Scott 2005-2012; Certificate of Title 378718 Vol 1995 Folio 58 Marsh 1937; Post office

Directory 1940. 62 The Courier Mail 24 February 1940 p13; Telephone Directory 1947; not in electoral roll for 1939.

63 The Courier Mail 10 March 1937 p22; 27 November 1939 p13; R Scott 2005.



Jerdanefield with Dr Sinnamon’s house in the background

Photograph courtesy Jim Mackenzie.

The house burnt down c.2000 and is being replaced by a block of apartments in 2012.

Bolton continued to live in the original house which must have been on Lots 7-9 until it was

demolished in 1963, and replaced by apartments now No 30 Ryans Road.64

Of the remaining land in the 1912 Shire Estate sale, Scotsman Henry Monteith editor the The

Brisbane Courier and later Chairman of Directors of The Brisbane Newspaper Co Ltd,

purchased Lots 4 and 5 on Ryans Road, Lot 25 immediately behind it facing on to Bryce

Street, and separate Lots 30 and 31 facing onto Hiron Street.

In 1913 Monteith built a house named Clynder, not on this land but further up Ryans Road

between Sisley Street and Depper Street and lived there until his death in 1930. He or his

estate eventually sold Lots 4 and 5 (No 24 Ryans Road)

The Chittleboroughs were living at No 20, which was on Lots 1 and 2 of Shire Estate and Lot

160 of the original Ironside Estate, by 1947 [phone Toowong 1244] with the house

demolished and rebuilt about 2000.65 The Boyles lived at No 14 on the corner with Hiron

Street which was Lots 161 and 162 of Ironside Estate possibly from the 1940s and that house

was rebuilt in the late 1990’s.66

The remaining Lots 1-3, 16 – 24, 26 – 36 of the Shire Estate were re-advertised in 1923 under

the heading South Toowong Estate despite there already being an estate of that name

elsewhere in South Toowong.67

64 The Brisbane Courier 5 June 1926 p 12; 21 April 1928 p 9; The Courier Mail 3 November 1939 p6; Electoral

Roll 1939; Post Office Directory 1935,1940; Telephone Directory 1947. 65 Telephone Directory 1947; not in electoral roll 1939.

66 Per Ron Scott 2003; not on 1939 electoral roll.

67 The Brisbane Courier 27 June 1923 p20; 4 July 1923 p 20.



The Estate was advertised again in 1926 with the Lots for sale at £55 each.68 Wm Probst

operated a butchery on the corner Lot by 1937, and it was operated by Gregory & Son in the

1940s.69

The following aerial photograph taken in 1946 illustrates much of the above, including

showing the replacement Tomona, the third house in from Sir Fred Schonell Drive.

The conclusion may be drawn that the first house Rose Hill / Tomona (1878) was probably

situated approximately where Jim Mackenzie’s house No 40 Ryans Rd is today, and that the

second Tomona (1893) was built and became home to Ryan/Turk/Simon/Boltons as No 30

Ryans Road until it was demolished in 1963.

Aerial Photograph Courtesy BCC 1946

68 The Brisbane Courier 14 August 1926 p13.

69 Post Office Directory 1937 p 141, 1949

23 portion 9 parish of indooroopilly - wordpress.com · 23.10.2017 · st lucia history group...

Documents