Hamilton's Cottage

On 13 December 1862, Charles George Skinner acquired 1 rood and 4.5 perches of land described as subdivisions 29 and 30 of portion 235. Skinner mortgaged the land for £200 through the Trust and Mortgage Company of Australasia on 27 September 1865. It is possible that Skinner used this money to pay for the construction of the residence at 22 Rogers Street. The earliest edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories was published in 1868 but simply lists Skinner as a commission agent living in Brisbane. At that time, Skinner's land also encompassed the current site at 58-60 St Paul's Terrace. The two-storey brick shop now occupying this site dates from 1856 and so it is possible that Skinner had a brick residence built down the hill from this shop sometime during the 1860s.

George Hamilton purchased subdivisions 29 and 30 on 29 November 1872. Hamilton was a grocer and he first appeared as a resident of Leichhardt Street, Spring Hill in the 1874 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories. It shows, however, that he lived in the block situated between Hope and Boundary Streets.

Hamilton is not listed as living at the corner of Rogers and Leichhardt Streets until the 1883-84 edition of the POD. Hamilton's property fronted Leichhardt Street so it seems likely that his street address would be listed under Leichhardt Street rather than Rogers Street. As the research for the POD was compiled in the year prior to publication, it may be assumed Hamilton's residence was built by 1882.

 Hamilton continued to reside at this property until his death on 26 January 1899. His estate was passed to Thomas Hamilton and Catherine King Hamilton on 3 October 1899. Thomas Hamilton was a storekeeper and he continued to live at the family's Rogers Street home. The Hamilton family maintained their links with the property until the death of Catherine King Hamilton on 16 March 1937.

This is a rare brick nineteenth century cottage surviving in what was one of Brisbane's earliest suburbs.

1. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

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

3. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of Title and other records

4. John Oxley Library, Parish of Nundah, County of Stanley, L.A.D. of Brisbane map, (1899 land grant map).

5. John Oxley Library, Brisbane Suburbs – Estate Maps

6. Queensland Government, Queensland Pioneers Index 1829-1889, (Brisbane: Department of Justice and Attorney General, 2000)

7. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949