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The land, on which this residence is situated was part of 12 acres of crown land that was purchased by Ambrose Holland on 8 September 1866. Holland sold the land (portion 231) to James Robinson, a prominent local farmer in 1875. Robinson was among the early free settlers to come to Queensland, after the Moreton Bay penal settlement closed in 1842. He was part of a group, organised by the Reverend J.D. Lang, which sailed for Queensland (then part of the colony of New South Wales) on 14 September 1848. The vessel Fortitude delivered Robinson to Moreton Bay on 21 January 1849. He established a farm at Eagle Farm. After marrying Mary Walton in 1852, Robinson moved to Nudgee to continue farming.  Portion 231 was a late addition to Robinson’s holdings in the district.

The district received a major boost when, on 11 May 1882, the Nudgee Railway Station and Goods Shed opened. The station ensured a regular transport service for the local residents, most of who were small farmers. Their crops of oats, corn, grapes and pineapples could now be more quickly transported to markets and the station also ensured a better mail service for the district. Already, James Robinson had subdivided some his farmland and sold it as 16 and 20 perch housing blocks. Robinson’s land sale was aimed at “Mechanics, Working Men and persons of limited means” who were asked to place a deposit of ₤2 and pay monthly instalments of ₤1.1 Robinson’s housing estate created three unnamed roads that were the first streets of the new Nudgee Township. These would later be named Hayden, Oakmere and St Achs Streets.

Robinson disposed of Portion 231 on 22 October 1883. The new owners were David Joseph Childs and Thomas Smith Henzell. Both Childs and Henzell had established farms in the Nudgee district and they bought Portion 321 for investment purposes. The two partners followed Robinson’s example by continuing to subdivide Portion 231 into residential allotments and putting them up for sale in 1884. In 1888, two subdivisions (52 and 53) in St Achs Street were purchased by William Joseph Cox (junior). Cox’s parents William and Celia Cox had bought the adjoining subdivision 51 in 1885 and built a residence there circa 1888. 

Apart from Celia Cox’s house, the rest of this section of St Achs Street remained undeveloped until the beginning of the twentieth century. In June 1910, William Cox sold subdivisions 52 and 53 to Frederick Francis Coombs and his wife, Alice Militia Victoria Coombs. Fred and Alice Coombs had lived in the Nudgee area since 1904. Their new home would be within a short walking distance of Nudgee Station which was enlarged with the addition of a northern platform in 1901.

The  Coombs mortgaged both lots in 1912 to local farmer Benjamin Foote Cribb, possibly to finance construction of their house. The home, a modest timber cottage was completed by 1912. The adjoining subdivision 54 was not added to their property for another nine years. Their daughter Ethel Coombs bought subdivisions 55 and 56 (now 50 St Achs Street) from Kunde on the same day. 

 

Sometime during the interwar period, the Coombs’ home was possibly enlarged with the addition of a front bedroom. This bedroom would have replaced a section of the original verandah that ran along the length of the front of the house. Alice Coombs died on 30 August 1931 and ownership of her property reverted to her husband Fred. 

During World War Two, the Nudgee area saw an influx of United States Army personnel who were based at the U.S. General Depot situated along Northgate (later Earnshaw) Road. At the end of St Achs Street, two U.S. warehouses were built beside the Sandgate rail line in 1943. Due to security concerns, no new buildings were permitted within the proximity of these warehouses and so, by 1946, Numbers 40 and 46 remained isolated on their side of St Achs Street. In fact, they were two of only five houses that had been built along one side of St Achs Street. Coombes continued to live at his home until his death on 4 July 1951. His estate then came under the control of the state government’s Queensland Trustees Limited. The Public Trustee put the Coombs residence up for sale in 1953 and on 11 September, the property was purchased by Clement Augustinus Panaske and Nellie Panaske. By 1966, a home was finally constructed at 50 St Achs Street, next door to the Coombs’ residence. After Nellie Panaske’s death, the property was transferred, on 31 May 1999, to Micks Investment Trust.

1. John Oxley Library, Estate Maps – Nudgee

2. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website, post-1946 building cards

3. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

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

5. John Oxley Library, Estate Maps – Town of Nudgee Estate (1880s)

6. John Oxley Library, Suburban clippings file - Nudgee

7. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

8. Tremayne, Jean and Pechey, Sue, Pioneers, Picnics and Pineapples, (Brisbane: A.E.B.I.S., 1994)