17 Wooloowin Avenue Wooloowin

When the line first opened, stations had been constructed at Lutwyche (later renamed Wooloowin, and moved north by 140 metres in 1900), Thorroldtown (inserted in 1885 600 metres north of Lutwyche), and Eagle Junction. The 1882 Lutwyche Station was regarded as being at the fringes of suburban development, but development was proceeding quickly, as indicated by the 1885 construction of Thorroldtown Station as a part of a private land development. Thorroldtown closed in 1890, after only five years.

The land on which this house is situated was part of over fifty acres originally purchased by brothers Aaron and John Adsett in the land sales of 1858-9.  In 1866 John Adsett acquired title to a twenty-five acre portion, holding it for many years before selling it to John Lloyd Bale in August 1883. Bale engaged surveyors Hamilton & Raff to subdivided the land into 197 lots (virtually all of sixteen perches except for nine smaller lots). These were marketed by auctioneers E. Hooker & Son as Maida Hill Estate, from December 1884 onwards. 

The Wooloowin Avenue area (formerly called Lutwyche Street) was one of the earliest local streets to undergo housing construction. The area was originally called Maida Hill, the local topography said to resemble London’s Maida Hill. This is probably how the estate began to be marketed, given the hyperbole surrounding many of the real estate sales during this era. Unlike the exclusive area close to Regent’s Park and West End, Brisbane’s Maida Hill was predominantly working class. Numerous small cottages were built for tradesmen, many of whom were kept busy building more housing for this rapidly expanding area. By 1887 Lutwyche Street was home to a carpenter, engineer, labourer and builder, in addition to coach builder, ironmonger, surveyor, shipwright and bootmaker.

The land at 17 Wooloowin Avenue was bought by Elizabeth Edgar, wife of potter/labourer James Edgar, in November 1885. It passed quickly to Charles Reeve Birch in April 1887, and subsequently to Alice Agnes Scott, wife of grocer Gregory Grant Scott in June 1887. Although all of these people appear to have been resident in Maida Hill at the time of their purchase, the house may not have been built until Mrs Scott acquired the land. In November 1887 Alice Scott obtained a £70 mortgage from the Brisbane Permanent Building Company – this money seems to have been used to construct the house.

A succession of owner-occupiers followed, mainly unskilled workers or tradesmen. One, labourer Alexander Buchanan junior, had the property transferred to his mortgagee, presumably for a default in payments. Subsequent owners lived in the house for longer periods, including Mrs Florence Cliff, who spent almost the last four decades of her life here.

1. Brisbane City Council Building Registers & Building Cards

2. Brisbane City Council Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Detail Plans

3. Department of Natural Resources, Certificates of Title.

4. Kerr, J 1988, Brunswick Street, Bowen Hills and Beyond: the Railways of the Northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australian Railway Historical Society, Brisbane

5. John Oxley Library photographs & clippings files

6. Lawson, Ronald 1973, Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia

7. McKellar’s Estate Maps of Brisbane, 1895

8. Nundah & District Historical Society files

9. Queensland Pioneers Index 1829-1889, Qld Registrar-General, March 2000

10. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1887-1949

11. Watson, Donald & Judith McKay 1994, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia

12. Windsor & Districts Historical Society 2000, A Walk Through the History of Thorroldtown and Maida Hill

13. Windsor & Districts Historical Society 2000, A Walk Through the History of Thorroldtown