190 Annie Street, New Farm

New Farm was originally known as Binkinba, an Aboriginal word meaning, “place of the land tortoise”. By the 1850s it had acquired the title “new farm” to distinguish it from the older plantations in North and South Brisbane. By the late Nineteenth Century the area had been transformed from its use as farmland in the convict era, to an area of extensive suburban development which incorporated a range of families from diverse social levels.

During the 1850s, one of the early property investors in the area was the Hon James Gibbon MLC, a member of the Legislative Council in Queensland between 1866 and 1887. Gibbon purchased over 100 acres of land in Brisbane during the early 1850s at Teneriffe and New Farm, building his own residence at Teneriffe. A large purchaser of corner allotments, he earned himself the sobriquet “Street Corner Jimmy”. 

Gibbon purchased the land upon which 190 Annie Street would be built as part of a larger portion in June 1854. During the 1870s and 1880s, portions were sold off resulting in great profit, and by September 1874 Gibbon had sold the property to Eyles Browne.

160 Annie Street was constructed circa 1887-88 for John Garner Johnson, a civil engineer employed as a Surveyor at the Chief Engineer’s Branch of the Secretary of Railways between 1882 and 1888. Bearing the name Blenheim House, it first appeared in the 1888 Post Office directory, this particular year being the only one where it bears this title. Johnson purchased the property in August 1886, with a mortgage being taken in December of that year for two hundred and thirty pounds. The property remained in his name until March 1893.  

Blenheim House underwent several name changes during the Twentieth Century. Between 1903 and 1911 when Frederick Holland held title it was named Warley. From 1912 until 1920 it was called Bid-a-wee (meaning stay awhile) while occupied by Colin V Munro. By 1921 it had changed again, becoming Dalveen while Henrietta Johnstone resided there. Henrietta had purchased the property in 1911, and it is likely the house was named after the town her husband had passed away in, twenty years previously. Founded in 1878, Dalveen was situated 26 miles south of Warwick and had been named after a pass on the border of Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1929 Dalveen became listed as no.190, which it retains to this day.

This northern side of New Farm originally bore the unofficial name “Kingsholme”. Additionally the house is located on what was once known as Kingsholme Hill (90 feet) and was part of the “Kingsholme Estate”. To continue links with this early name, the present owners have named it after this title. The eventual decline of the name “Kingsholme” appears to date from when horse drawn omnibuses ceased in 1912, after which the name was no longer seen on their signboards. This, combined with the placing of the New Farm State School in the heart of Kingsholme, diminished the name. Links to the previous name are also maintained by nearby Kingsholme Street, which intersects Annie Street on the northern side of the house. 

During the course of research, the publication Queensland Architects of the 19th Century was consulted. A photograph of the house is displayed on page 117 with the following information provided;

1892 – Dalgarven, for R L Armour, cnr Bowen Tce and Langshaw Rd, New Farm

The house pictured is clearly the Annie Street property, and does not resemble the dwelling at the address stated. Additionally, primary material proves that this information is incorrect.

1. Brisbane City Council Sewerage Maps

2. Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages

3. Certificates of Title.

4. Post Office Directories

5. Queensland Blue Books

6. Queensland Electoral Roll

7. State Library John Oxley Collection

8. Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994