Manumbah

This residence was built circa 1909 for master butcher and grazier Alonzo Sparks, and named after his station in the Burnett district. Sparkes, who resided in nearby Langside Crescent, had commissioned RS Dods to design his own home in 1907 and this smaller house in 1909. The property appears to initially have been for investment purposes. In January 1913 the property was transferred into the name of Sparke’s 18-year old daughter Gwendoline. She married engineer Frederick JT Barnes in 1913, and by 1915 the couple were residing at ‘Manumbah’. They retained the house and land until 1936