Melrose Park (includes stormwater drain)

There was substantial speculative investment in the Clayfield/ Wooloowin area. Farms and large estates established in the 1870s-1880s were bought up and sub-divided for housing. From the 1870s, there were a number of large land holdings each with a grand house. They tended to be on high ground and most of them housed families who had a commercial undertakings nearby. (In the Albion area especially, John Petrie, James Little, James Campbell, Edwin Ford and William Hudson). In other areas, Thomas Melrose, Thomas Kob, Frank Mann and the Lethem families (who owned a claypit and brickworks on the corner of Franz Road and Bowley Streets).

The completion of Brisbane’s first suburban rail line, which ran through the district to Sandgate in 1882, stimulated more suburban development in the area. As the population grew, local government became more localised. In 1883 when the population was about 3,000 in 640 dwellings, the parish of Toombul was severed from the Division of Nundah and became a separate area under the control of the Toombul Divisional Board. During 1890 the southern portion of the division passed to the Hamilton Divisional Board and in 1902 the Division of Toombul became the Shire of Toombul.

Speculators such as Charles Sheldon and T. Killikelly in the Kalinga/Kedron area were among the first to engage the services of noted architects to design and build several houses some for themselves, some for re-sale and others for rental. Thomas Melrose sub-divided his farm and orchard selling it as the Melrose Estate, and sold the land for Melrose Park to the local council.

The family appears to have stayed in the area with a number of Melrose family members living in and around Thorroldtown that comprised about 48 acres south of Rose Street, bounded by Bonney Avenue, Stopford and Inwood Streets and Kedron Park Road. Carrington, a large house located in the subdivisions along the Rose Street boundary of the park, and Roseleigh in Kent Road are closely associated with the family.

By 1912 most of the district had a water supply connection with the exception of a small area along Kedron Brook. That year Toombul Shire Council began the task of draining Kalinga. After World War One the rapid expansion of the city into the inner suburbs and the freeing of loan moneys at the end of the war encouraged the local authorities to undertake drainage works. Toombul Shire Council carried out extensive drainage works at Kalinga, Clayfield, Hendra, Nundah and Northgate, while Hamilton Shire Council met most of the needs of the districts of Albion Heights, Hamilton and Ascot and parts of Clayfield and Doomben. It is likely that the culvert in Melrose Park dates from some time between 1912 and 1936 when it is clearly shown on

the Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plan.

The timing of Council’s acquisition of Melrose Park is not currently known but the named park appears in the 1916 Street Directory, thus placing it clearly in the hands of the Toombul Shire Council and predating the formation of Greater Brisbane

in 1925.

Melrose Park has a long association with local sporting activities. In 1937 the Kedron Australian Rules Football Club was formed by amalgamating the Kedron and Wooloowin schools’ past pupil football associations and was based at Melrose Park. In 1946, the Kalinga Bowling Club premises was opened in the park and they have retained a leasing agreement up to the present. The Northern Districts Rugby Football Club has also leased the park, as have the Brisbane Bears Softball Club (c.1983), Brisbane Women’s Cricko Club (early 1980s) and the Trans Tasman Club which used the park for night training until a neighbour complained of the nuisance from the lights. There were also tennis courts near Roseleigh Street.

Stormwater Culvert

At the point of discharge beneath Rose Street the stormwater drain is striking as a picturesque feature in the landscape. The large tunnel mouth has a base of concrete and the sides and top to Rose Street are of cut and hammered porphyry stone. Further into the tunnel beneath Rose Street where the tunnel radius diminishes the tunnel is formed by a brick arch and concrete sides and base.

 

A brief visual inspection of the place reveals that the park is generally in good condition. The stormwater culvert appears to be in a satisfactory condition with some stone loss to the structure at Rose Street.

1. Brisbane City Council - City Assets Branch Conservation Management Study Stage 1 Report. November 2002