Fernfield

John and James Bryden were Irish immigrants. Their father, James Bryden, of Newry, County Down, was also a cabinetmaker. John Bryden emigrated to Sydney in 1841, arriving in Brisbane shortly after.  James Bryden, his sister, Isabella and their niece, Martha Brennan arrived in Australia during the mid-1850s. They spent some 3 years in Victoria before joining John Bryden in Brisbane. By 1863, James Bryden had established an upholstery business in Queen Street. Tenders for the construction of a house for James Bryden were called by architect John Hall in March 1873. The house cost £700 to build.

John Hall was a British architect who emigrated to Australia in the mid-19th century. In 1859 he was appointed to the Queensland Colonial Architect’s Office as a works foreman. From 1864, he was in private practice in Brisbane, becoming the Queensland National Bank architect in 1872. One of Brisbane’s more successful and prolific architects, he built several substantial residences for Brisbane’s elite, including Greylands at Indooroopilly, now entered on the Queensland Heritage Register. He was also responsible for additions to James Bryden’s shops in Queen Street in 1878.

Situated just 50 metres to the north of Fernfield, is the two-storey brick house, Skilmorlie, which was built for John Bryden, probably also around 1873.  Both houses are built of dark reddish-brown bricks, similar to those used in the Government Printing Office in William Street, constructed in 1874. The Printing Office was built from bricks made at William Williams’ brickworks at Lutwyche. It is possible that the bricks used to build Fernfield and Skilmorlie were also from this brickworks. 

John Bryden and his wife, Susanna, lived at Skilmorlie and James, Isabella and Martha Brennan resided at Fernfield. After the deaths of James Bryden in 1888 and Isabella Bryden in 1889, ownership of Fernfield passed to Martha Brennan. Martha’s brother, David Brennan, a master mariner, emigrated to Brisbane with his family and lived in Skilmorlie from around 1890. Martha Brennan later married Alfred Jago. She died in 1923. The property was subdivided from 1939 with subdivisions passing to various members of the Brennan and Bryden families. Fernfield remained in the Brennan family until at least the 1970s.

Fernfield is one of a group of surviving 19th century houses along this section of Lutwyche Road. Not far to the south of Fernfield is Nyamber (now the Marooma Nursing Home) built for the family of George Byrne circa the 1890s. Dumbarton, also built for George Byrne, was situated between Fernfield and Nyamber but was removed from the site in the 1990s. Another 19th century house, Rosemount, is situated in the grounds of Rosemount Hospital to the immediate north west of Skilmorlie. These houses were originally built on large allotments extending to Lutwyche Road (then known as Bowen Bridge Road) but have since been separated from the road by later housing development. The residents of these homes were members of the professional classes who could afford to build substantial houses on prime land and had access to private transportation to the city. 

Today, Fernfield, remains as a private home. Extensions have been added to the original house. It is a significant building in terms of the evidence it provides of the early European history of Windsor.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Brisbane Courier, 17 February 1866, 4 August 1891, 7 November 1921

3. Department of Environment and Heritage. Entry in the Queensland Heritage Register 6001830. Skilmorlie

4. Department of Environment and Heritage. Suburb File - Windsor. 4 February 1998

5. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of title and other records.

6. JOL Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

7. Lawson, Ronald 1973, Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia

8. Surveyor-General’s Office.  McKellar’s Official Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane, 1895

9. Watson, Donald & Judith McKay 1994, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia