52 View Street, Wooloowin

Mrs Finney purchased subdivisions 668-671 of portion 197 on 30 July 1901, two months after her husband’s death. It is possible that she used funds from her husband’s estate to purchase the land.  In September of that year, she sold approximately half the land, subdivisions 668 and 669 to Ida Gwendoline Jones. A residence named “Idaville” was subsequently built on this 32 perch allotment. It is likely that Mrs Finney used the capital from the sale of this land to build this house on subdivisions 670 and 671.

Mrs Finney lived in the house until 1904 and then moved out of the area. From 1915-1922, she lived in Wynnum. She resided in View Street (then known as Bayview Street) again in 1923 until 1933 when George Frederick Finney, her son lived there.

George Finney was born in February 1901. Two months later, his father, Alfred Richard Finney died. Alfred’s brother was Thomas Finney, who with James Isles established the Finney Isles & Co drapery company in Brisbane in 1864. This company continued to expand and in 1909 built large premises with frontage on Queen and Adelaide Streets.

At the turn of the century, View Street was known as Bayview Street, and Wooloowin was known as Thorroldtown. Robert Lock Thorrold was the first land holder in the area, purchasing 48 acres for £48 in 1859. Being near the railway line, this was one of the first sections of the Thorrold Town Estate to be settled and developed. The house was built 40 years after the land was first available for sale.

1. Australian Dictionary of Biography, v.4, p.170

2. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

3. Brisbane City Council, Water Supply and Sewerage Department Detail Plan 464, 1936

4. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificate of Title records

5. McKellar’s Estate Maps of Brisbane, 1895

6. Queensland Death Index, 1829-1954

7. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1887-1939

8. Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages Index, 1890-1914