Staigersleigh

Born in Kunzelsaw, Germany in 1833, Karl Staiger was the son of a university teacher, Professor John James Staiger. Karl studied chemistry at the Stuttgart Pyrotechnical School before migrating to Australia. He worked as an assayer at the Stanthorpe mining fields in 1872 and was appointed as the analytical chemist and custodian of the Queensland Museum in January 1873. In 1874, Karl married Henrietta, with whom he had two sons. He became the first secretary to the new board of trustees of the Queensland Museum Board in 1876, just prior to building ‘Staigersleigh’. Staiger was effectively the first curator of the Queensland Museum, although this title was only bestowed later to his successor. He was highly regarded by the Brisbane community for his work in developing the Queensland Museum, which was housed during the 1870s in the Old Post Office building in Queen Street. He collected mineral specimens for the museum, worked on a monograph on Queensland grasses with F.M Bailey and was a Queensland Government commissioner responsible for organising displays for the Vienna, London and Sydney Exhibitions. 

Stagier left the museum in November 1879 and then worked as the state government assayer where he rendered valuable service to Queensland’s fledgling mining industry. In May 1880, Staiger assisted in the development of new preserving fluids used in the cranial research being undertaken by noted Russian anthropologist and zoologist, Nicolai Miklouho-Maclay during the latter’s visit to Brisbane. After June 1880, Staiger worked from home as a commercial assayer and would later combine this with a job as public analyst for the Brisbane Municipal Council. Karl Staiger died at “Staigersleigh’ on 5 October 1888 after a lengthy battle with tuberculosis. 

Henrietta Staiger continued to live at ‘Staigersleigh’ after her husband’s death. Henrietta Staiger lived at ‘Staigersleigh’ at least until 1923, sharing the property with her son, Augustus Staiger, and his wife, Valetta. The Staiger family moved from 23 Edmondstone Street address around 1923-24 and placed the property on the rental market. Mrs May Barber and Michi J Fogarty began leasing it from 1925. 

In 1935, the Staigers renamed ‘Staigersleigh’ ‘Valetta Flats’, presumably in honour of Henrietta’s daughter-in-law. Henrietta died on 10 August 1941 and the property was passed to her son Augustus William Miskin England, who had probably changed his surname due to anti-German feeling aroused by World War One.    

Ownership of 23 Edmondstone Street remained in the hands of the Staiger family until March 1968 when it was transferred to Alexander Kenneth Herschell and William Campbell. Nicholas and Allen Pappas bought the property in October 1969 with Nicholas Pappas gaining sole ownership in May 1984. Joseph Alexander Mackay and Catherine Cynthia Heather Mackay acquired ‘Valetta’ in July 1985 and they began the painstaking task of restoring the house back to its original state.

The entry to the verandah is framed by paired verandah post with lattice above balustrade height and enclosed with a pair of lattice doors. A timber stair provides access to the verandah, with balustrades that match the verandah. Arched, timber battened skirts, between the timber stumps of the house, decorate the subfloor level of the verandah. The verandah entry is off axis with the house’s front door and entry gate. The external walls of the house fronting onto the verandah have exposed timber frames with vertical cladding. The wall framing is expressed as diamond patterning that complements the balustrades of the verandah.

A rendered brick pier and simple metal fence runs along the front alignment of the property with an arched metal gate in front of several concrete steps. A number of healthy shrubs complement the streetscape and provide a soft edge to the property amongst its larger two-storey neighbours.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

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

3. JOL Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

4. Lawson, Ronald. Brisbane in the 1890s: a study of an Australian urban society ( St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1973)

5. Mather, P. (ed) A Time for a Museum: The History of the Queensland Museum 1862-1976, (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1986)

6. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895