12 Boyd Street, Nundah

From the time of the opening of the railway line to Sandgate in 1882, the building boom characteristic of many other suburban areas in Brisbane began to make its mark in Nundah. With large numbers of immigrants seeking work and accommodation,  housing estates and industrial development encroached on what had been to that time, a predominantly farming area. Though the Moravian missionaries had been granted 640 acres at Zion’s Hill in 1838 on which to establish their mission the Aborigines, it was not until 1850 that the land was resumed for closer settlement. In the 1850s, the land in the vicinity of the German Station as the area was known was surveyed and then sold at auction.   

George Bridges, who would prove to be a notable local entrepreneur and hotelier, acquired allotments eight and seven of portion 6 - an area of 66 acres, two roods and eight perches by Deed of Grant in 1855.  Over the next twenty years, his acreage was broken up and in 1883, John Westphal a local farmer purchased 3 acres 30 perches from Bridges. This included the land on which the house is situated. With its proximity to facilities such as the railway, the school and the main road to Sandgate most of Westphal’s land was subdivided and sold between 1883-1888. Leonard Henry Hathaway purchased two of the blocks, one of 14.5 perches facing what we now know as Chapel Street in 1886 from Carl Goeldner and one of 13.6 perches fronting 1887 from Westphal. The two blocks shared a common rear boundary.

It appears that Hathaway had this property built on the block fronting Boyd Street between 1887 when he was granted title to the block and 1891 when he took out a mortgage to Charles George Preston. The whole property remained in Hathaway’s possession until 1912. At that time the Corporation of the Baptist Church acquired the block facing Chapel Street for fear Hathaway may build another cottage on the land and inhibit future expansion. The house and land fronting Boyd Street was acquired by Henry Frank Irvine. In 1916 Irvine’s widow Violet acquired the property and in 1920 she took out a Mortgage for £650. The property was transferred to Clara Hill a widow in 1934 and soon after she takes up residence there. She appears to have been resident there until her death in 1937 when the property passed to another member of the Hill family. It remained in the hands of the Hill family until 1993.

1. 150 Years: Nundah Families 1838-1988

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Queensland Certificates of Title

5. Nundah and Districts’ Historical Society, historical material on the district