Sketching Brisbane Oldest Residence..

What a wonderful morning with friends sketching the Historic Newstead House.

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Brisbane's oldest surviving residence, Newstead House, is based in Newstead. It was built by Patrick Leslie who had settled on the Darling Downs in 1840, and bought the land at Newstead (35 acres) in 1846 for 51 pounds. He named the original cottage 'Newstead' after Newstead Abbey in England. The house has evolved from the original cottage into the grand residence we are now familiar with.

The Leslie family only lived in the house for a year before it was sold to Captain John Wickham, the first police magistrate and government resident for the Moreton Bay District. He was also Patrick Leslie's brother-in-law. Wickham was the commander of the Beagle upon which Charles Darwin also sailed.

In 1939, the Queensland Government enacted the Newstead House Trust, which was the first legislation in Queensland to preserve an historic structure.

 A4 Holcroft Sketchbook Mechanical pencil - Unipin pen and watercolour.

Sketching at Kangaroo Point Brisbane.

I had the pleasure to sketch 2 beautiful historic buildings yesterday.  Leckhampton House with the Brisbane City Sketchers, and Shafston House with my friend Lisa, from Singapore.

 Leckhampton House; It is leased by College of Surgeons.
Leckhampton House was designed by Alexander Brown Wilson and built from 1889 to 1890 for Charles William Snow. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992

Shafston House.

It is also known as Anzac Hostel, Ravenscott, and Shafston International College. (which is what it is today)
Shafston House comprises a group of buildings constructed between 1851 and the 1930s, set in substantial grounds with frontage to the Brisbane River. The main house was constructed in several stages between 1851 and 1904  Charles and Mary Foster bought the property in 1883, and are reputed to have demolished the original structure and commissioned FDG Stanley to design a new house on the land. This was the basis for the Gothic structure that stands there now.
The house has a varied history with multiple uses.
After WWI, the property was acquired by the Commonwealth who renamed it Anzac House, using it as a repatriation hospital until around 1969.
After 1969, the property was used by the RAAF as offices and a mess, and a lot of internal restructure occurred at that time.

 

Queen Street Shop Facade

Sketching with the Brisbane City Sketchers in Queen Street Mall

 A4 sketchbook Lamy pen and Watercolour.

Roma Street Parkland - Brisbane

The Brisbane City Sketchers went to the Parkland today to sketch.  It is the middle of winter here, and it was 26 deg C  a little above average, and it was gorgeous.

Roma Street parkland has quite a History;

The area  has a long and varied history; from a meeting place for local Aboriginal people prior to European settlement, a gazetted park in the 1870s to a railway goods yard. The area that is now called Roma Street Parkland has been a focal point for the people and commerce of Brisbane. 

The Turrbal people used the area around Roma Street Parkland for a variety of purposes prior to the arrival of the first Europeans, uses which included recreation, hunting and camping. On at least occasion in the 1840s it is recorded that the Roma Street area was used for a major gathering of Aboriginal groups from south-east Queensland and was probably the last of such gatherings in the Brisbane area. 

One of Brisbanes Oldest Cemeteries.

Dutton Park Cemetery

One of Queensland’s oldest burial grounds, Dutton Park Cemetery was reserved as a supplement to the overflowing Paddington Cemetery in 1864. The first official burial of a woman by the name of Jane Hocking, occurred until 1870. The stately entrance gates were added in 1888 to a design by high profile architect AB Wilson and the graves in its early days represented a cross section of the good the bad and the ugly.

The last of Australia’s bush-rangers Patrick Kenniff, who was incarcerated and hung on the gallows across the road at Boggo Road Gaol, is buried here as are some 41 of his fellow prisoners including the child-killer and last man executed in Queensland, Ernest Austin.

Many of the early Russian migrants, who arrived in the area after the Communist take over, are interred here as are post World War II Greek and Italian immigrants and fifty soldiers who died in World War II.

In contrast to the pauper’s graves, many of the monuments in this cemetery are fine examples of craftsmanship throughout the century of operation.

 

 

 

Dr Hobbs House

Queensland scientist Dr William Hobbs  (1822-1890) house, known as Adelaide House because it was built on Adelaide street, was built in 1855.  It sits in the grounds of St Johns Cathedral, and is heritage listed. Dr Hobbs  arrived at Moreton Bay on 1 May 1849 as surgeon of the Chaseley, the second of John Dunmore Lang's migrant ships.

In 1889 the house was leased by the government for the Governor General, because Government House at George street was not yet finished.  This made Dr Hobbs house the First Government House in Brisbane.

On December 10th 1859, Governor George Bowen read the proclamation of the new colony of Queensland - separate from New South Wales - from the verandah of Adelaide House to the people of Brisbane.

When the construction of Government House at the river end of George St was completed in 1862, Governor Bowen moved there; this allowed Dr Hobbs to return to his house. He decided to rename it Bowen House in honour of the governor. Dr Hobbs sold the property in 1883 to the then wealthy dentist-entrepreneur Moses Ward, who decided to call it Adelaide House once again. Ward never lived there.

In 1899, the property was acquired by the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane for the new cathedral. Originally to be demolished, the house ended up being used as the residence for the deans and their families. Robin Dods was engaged to renovate the house for this purpose, and that was completed in 1910.   The house is now known as "The Deanery" 

 In his day, Dr Hobbs would walk up towards Adelaide House, or ride in a buggy, up from Petrie Bight through the site of Grocon's 480 Queen Street tower which sits between Queen and Adelaide streets.

The natural flow of the land in the mid-1850s rolled down from the cathedral grounds, down across what is now Adelaide Street towards the bend in Queen Street and across Petrie Bight before the Story Bridge was built. 

Adelaide House sat on top of the hill by itself until the 12-metre high road road cutting for the Adelaide Street extension towards what became Fortitude Valley was built in the 1870s. At the time Adelaide House was known as "Hobb's Folly" because it was so far from the main Brisbane settlement.  Grocon's chief executive Carolyn Viney said the company had decided to name the park Hobbs Park because the general public could finally see Adelaide House.

 A4 sketchbook and ink.

It was on this balcony that Governor George Bowen read the proclamation of the new colony of Queensland - separate from New South Wales.

 

 Brisbane City Sketchers

Sketching Heritage Listed Shafston House

Shafston House South Brisbane;

It is also known as Anzac Hostel, Ravenscott, and Shafston International College. (which is what it is today)

Shafston House comprises a group of buildings constructed between 1851 and the 1930s, set in substantial grounds with frontage to the Brisbane River. The main house was constructed in several stages between 1851 and 1904

Charles and Mary Foster bought the property in 1883, and are reputed to have demolished the original structure and commissioned FDG Stanley to design a new house on the land. This was the basis for the Gothic structure that stands there now.

The house has a varied history with multiple uses.

After WWI, the property was acquired by the Commonwealth who renamed it Anzac House, using it as a repatriation hospital until around 1969. Here is a photograph of Shafston that was taken in 1930

After 1969, the property was used by the RAAF as offices and a mess, and a lot of internal restructure occurred at that time.

Sketched in my A3 Holcroft Sketchbook Lamy Pen and Watercolour.

 

 

 

 

Sketching in Brisbane River west of Brisbane

Wacol today is known for its diverse community, historic 'Wolston House', semi-industrial areas and correctional centres. The origin of the name Wacol is linked to the local weighbridge which was used to 'weigh coal'. In 1851, Dr Stephan Simpson bought the first property in the area then known as Woogaroo.

The former Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum, later named the Goodna Asylum for the Insane, then the Brisbane Mental Hospital, then the Brisbane Special Hospital, and then the Wolston Park ­Hospital Complex 

Mowbray Park Brisbane Australia

A4 Holcroft 225gsm sketchbook with Lamy Pen

Mowbray Park and East Brisbane War Memorial are a heritage-listed park.  The park was named after Rev. Thomas Mowbray, who bought the land in 1851 (Mowbray was instrumental in bringing the Presbyterian Church to Brisbane)

He built his family home, "Riversdale", on this site. Thomas Mowbray died in 1867, but the family retained the property until its sale to the South Brisbane City Council in 1904

The following is what was written when considering the property for a public park; "Mowbray's property is in every way suitable for a public Park or garden having suitable soil, and undulating land reaching to the water's edge, and in addition it will also provide the necessary accommodation for bowling greens, Tennis Courts, and Croquet lawns. The property has a North Easterly aspect, and has an extended view of two reaches of the river, is above flood level, and is situated on the East Brisbane Tramway route. There is no public park or reserve in this locality, and no other piece of land in the neighbourhood so suitable for this purpose."

Mowbray Park is understood to have been the site of a "tent city" for homeless families in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression

Brisbane City Sketchers at QPAC

What an awesome day!  We sketched in the gorgeous winters sun at South Bank.  My first sketch was of No 1 Williams Street (Tower of Power) in pen and ink.  Next I headed down to the old Victoria Bridge Abutment.  I love sketching this structure.  The present Victoria bridge is the 5th bridge, and the 3rd permanent bridge across the Brisbane River in this area. The Victoria Bridge Abutment is the remnant of the fourth Victoria Bridge (the second permanent bridge) to cross the Brisbane River at this point.The abutment is all that is left of this bridge, and in my mind the most beautiful of all of them.

There is a plaque on the left side of the abutment in memory of an 11 year old Greek boy Hector Vasyli who was tragically killed when greeting returned soldiers from the First World War.

Both sketches in my 6"x9" sketchbook