A look at Bardon through its historical houses.
Bardon House.
Bardon House was built in 1863 by Joshua Jeays, an early Brisbane businessman and local government official. It is now part of St Joseph’s Bardon school grounds.
Rainworth.
Rainworth was the home of Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1819-1905), the surveyor and explorer. Gregory drew the southern boundary of the new colony of Queensland, before becoming the colony’s first commissioner of crown lands and surveyor-general.
Gregory’s modest, but no doubt well-surveyed, residence still stands, carefully renovated, today.
Fernberg
Fernberg was built as a country estate/villa by Johann Heussler in 1865. By 1887, when this photo was taken, Fernberg was being renovated and enlarged into a rather grander residence. The house and its 14-hectare estate became Government House in 1910, and State Governors have been giving Royal Assent to things, swearing in people, and hosting events there ever since.
The 1887 photo is a reminder that there was no “Australian Army” when we were a colony. Those eager chappies who lined up to drill, march and practice shooting in various designated parks were pretty much all that stood between Queensland and invading hordes of, well, I don’t really know what.
Chiefswood.
According to the caption, this is “Dr John Lockhart Gibson, ophthalmologist, his wife Mary and his mother Annie Bush Gibson on the verandah of ‘Chiefswood’, in Simpsons Road, Upper Ithaca Creek.” Chiefswood was a family home between 1892 and 1946, when it was purchased by the Sisters of Mercy, who rather unmercifully demolished it. It was a Queenslander-style house on stumps with a verandah. Presumably, Dr and Mrs Gibson didn’t have any toddlers, given that said verandah is not enclosed.
Simpson’s Road.
Two views of Simpson’s Road, Bardon, 1890.
Simpson’s Road is a winding, largely residential, street along the summit of Bardon. It’s hard to imagine it looking so … rural.
Ulla Dilleya.
Ulla Dilleya was built in 1900 for John Devoy who seemed to enjoy having impressive suburban residences being built for him (see Devoy House in the Ashgrove post). The house was later moved to The Gap, and its site is now a complex of townhouses on the summit of Simpsons Road.
Pen-y-lan House.
Pen-y-lan House still exists. Marianne Taylor, The House Detective, has done some wonderful research on the house, its owners and history. There is nothing I could add to her work, so please check it out on the link.
Photographs:
Moreton Bay and More 