Addresses
Type of place
House
Period
Victorian 1860-1890
Style
Queenslander
This is an image of the local heritage place known as Residence `Dockorie'
Dockorie
Addresses
Type of place
House
Period
Victorian 1860-1890
Style
Queenslander
‘Dockerie’ was built c1883 for Robert Love Snr. His son, Robert Jnr. had bought the land in parts between 1875 and 1878 and combined them into a house allotment for his father. While most of the land in this, the South Brisbane peninsular area, converted to industrial use early in the twentieth century, this cottage and its Norfolk Road neighbours were retained, primarily as cheap rental properties for local workers. ‘Dockerie’ features an unusual double-curve verandah roof plus an attic window located at the side rather than the front of the house.
Lot plan
L1_RP51894
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Roof: Corrugated iron;Walls: Timber
Criterion for listing
(A) Historical; (B) Rarity; (C) ScientificInteractive mapping
Lot plan
L1_RP51894
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Roof: Corrugated iron;Walls: Timber
Criterion for listing
(A) Historical; (B) Rarity; (C) ScientificInteractive mapping
History
‘Dockerie’, as this house was known in the first decades of the twentieth century, was built for Robert Love, a tailor. His son had acquired the two parts of the site in 1875 and then in 1878, before it was transferred to Robert Love (Senior) in 1883. He was in residence there by 1883-84. He died interstate and the property passed on his widow, Margaret Guilland Love. It appears to have become a rental property in 1887. As a rental property it was finally transferred to George Young, one of the original mortgagees in 1901. Mary Macmillan, who with her husband Robert occupied Ailsa Craig the property on the opposite side of the road, bought ‘Dockerie’ in 1919. Its use as a rental property continued until 1936 when the Macmillan family sold it to Mary Bergin whose family appear to have resided there from early in the 1930s.1
The site forms part of Western Suburban Allotment 24 that was acquired by Thomas Dowse under Deed of Grant on 27 December 1845 at one of the very early land sales held in Brisbane. In 1866 and 1867, the rich farming flats of which this block formed part were gradually subdivided for residential purposes. The two blocks of which this site forms a part (subdivision 17 plus resubdivision A of subdivisions 18 and 19) passed through several speculator’s hands until both were acquired first by Robert Love junior in 1875 and 1878 and then by his father in 1883.1 Love had invested in several blocks on either side of Norfolk Road.
By 1886, horse drawn trams running from the Boundary Hotel West End to Breakfast Creek provided transport facilities for residents of Norfolk Road.2 The proximity to one’s place of work ensured that once this area was subdivided, it would become a desirable location for skilled artisans, and for the upwardly mobile sections of Brisbane’s population. The provision of transport facilities enhanced the potential of the area and ensured that rental properties provided a sound investment. The numbers of residence constructed in this area in the late 1870s and 1880s are indicative of the rapid growth of population and the boom in building at this time.
In the twentieth century, industrial development encroached on the area. While Norfolk Road remained relatively intact as a residential neighbourhood, the cordial manufacturing works on the adjacent lot signalled the changing patterns of development. The several resubdivisions of the site in 1936 and 1937 are perhaps indicative of twentieth century attempts to overcome some of the legacies of the more arbitrary subdivisions of land which preceded the moves towards orderly development signalled by the Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act of 1885.
One of the few surviving artisans’ residences from that early wave of residential building in the South Brisbane/West End area, it underscores the continued importance of the South Brisbane peninsula in the nineteenth century. The extended period over which the property was used as an investment property, and the long-term tenancies that it attracted provided further indication of the status of this residential neighbourhood. Its prolonged pattern of same family occupancy until the 1970s is also unusual for West End.
Description
This is a timber and corrugated iron gable roofed cottage. The double-curve verandah roof is supported on paired verandah posts, dividing the front broadly into three bays. A separate pair of posts stands to either side of the entry stairs. The three bays are also reflected on the front wall with a central timber entry door surrounded by partially glazed panels flanked by a pair of French doors on each side.
The side elevation features a central upper level attic window in the gable end and two windows with pressed metal sunhoods on the level below. The ridge features two metal ventilators further dividing the building into three sections. The whole house is raised on low timber stumps.
Statement of significance
Relevant assessment criteria
This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:
References
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Post Office Directories: Titles Office Records
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Titles Office Records
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Greenwood, G and Laverty, J, Brisbane 1859 1959
Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised September 2020)