Moana

In 1885, businessman Theodore Unmack began the construction of a family residence on the land at 88 Moray Street. Unmack was a German migrant who had arrived in Brisbane in the 1860s. He developed a successful wholesale merchant business and he became a director of the Royal Bank of Queensland and a president of the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce. He also took on the responsibility of being the Queensland consul for the German Empire. 

The house was completed by 1886 and Unmack named his home Moana after a prominent hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii where his family had stayed while on holidays. Alfred Banks and Victor Carandini designed the residence. They were architects for the Queensland Building Land Society and they became partners in 1885. They worked on the designs of stables, fences, villas and three houses until their partnership dissolved in June 1887. Moana is possibly the only surviving example of their work. They designed an unusual three storey brick residence that featured a large kitchen wing, a detached maid’s quarters and a coach-house. 

Unmack was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as the member for Toowong on 19 May 1888. The proximity of Unmack’s home to Griffith’s residence may be an indication that the two men were friends, for two years after entering parliament, Griffith made Unmack his Secretary of Railways and Post Master General. Unmack held these posts until the month before he retired, on 29 April 1893. 

Moana remained the Unmack family residence until Theodore’s death on 17 December 1919. Soon after, a Miss M. Campbell purchased the property. With the New Farm tramline running past the door of Moana and because of its size, the property was ideal for conversion into flats. Miss Campbell had completed the conversion by 1922 and her Moana Flats began to take in tenants in that year. By 1925, another shed, possibly for use as a tenants’ garage, was added to the site.  

Miss Campbell ran the flats through the 1930s-40s but by 1951 the property had changed hands. Subsequent owners such as T.M. May, M.A. Atkinson and U. Balanzino continued to operate Moana as flats through to the 1960s. During this time, the only major changes made to Moana were an addition to the flats in 1949 and the erection of a laundry in 1963. By the late 1990s, Moana had returned to its original usage as a family residence and it also housed a private art gallery. In 1998, Moana featured prominently in an exhibition entitled “Watercolours of New Farm” by Brisbane artist Gladys Blundell.

1. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website

2. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

3. Brisbane City Council’s Central Library, local history sheets

4. Brisbane City Council, Sewerage Map, 31 January 1925

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

6. New Farm and Districts Historical Society, A Companion to the Watercolours of New Farm – an exhibition by Gladys Blundell, (Brisbane: New Farm and Districts Historical Society, 1998)

7. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

8. Schiavo, John, New Farm: A Study of Land Use and Settlement to 1999. (Brisbane: Schiavo, 1999)

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