Karalee

This factory had opened in 1880 and remained the largest single employer in the district until its closure in 1965. During the 1890s Depression and, again, during the Great Depression (1929-39), Huttons provided the only source of employment for many of the struggling farmers in the district. The factory also became a district store where the local residents were able to buy their meat and milk needs. Because so many local residents worked at the factory, Huttons became an integral part of the Zillmere community, even organising such social events such as picnics, fancy dress parties and cricket matches. While Huttons had a number of worker’s cottages built for its general staff along Zillmere Road and near the Zillmere Station, the factory’s managerial staff had their homes constructed in Weston Street on a hill overlooking the factory. “Karalee” was one of these houses. 

In July 1907, Albert Edward Maundrell purchased 65.2 perches of vacant land from the Westons.  Albert Maundrell was the first son of Sam Maundrell, a Welsh farmer who settled in Aspley.  Albert Maundrell worked as a bacon curer in the local area.  It is probable that Maundrell went to work at J.C. Hutton’s Ham and Bacon Factory, which opened in Zillmere in 1880 and decided to build a house on his land closer to the factory.  In 1908, Albert Maundrell is shown in the post office directories as living in Aspley, but in 1909 he is shown as living in Zillmere.  

In 1913, the property was transferred to Wiliam Frederick August Otto junior, whose father, Bill Otto senior, was an engineer at Hutton’s factory. William jnr may have also worked at Hutton’s factory. A new title was issued in November 1922 to W.F. Otto and his wife Alice Jane Otto. She died on 14 November 1953 while William Otto remained the owner of  “Karalee” until his death on 1 August 1977. The property remained in the hands of the Otto family until 1994. 

Huttons was a major Queensland small goods company with an 85-year connection to the Zillmere District. Yet little remains of Hutton’s links to Zillmere. At the former Hutton’s Ham and Bacon Factory site, only a fig tree planted c1891 remains. Along Zillmere Road, all but two of the ten worker’s cottages built for Hutton’s general staff have been demolished. In Weston Street (the manager’s street), “Karalee” and one other residence are all that are left as reminders that it was a Hutton’s street.

1. Ballard, Kath, The Geebung Story – the Next 50 Years, (Geebung: K. Ballard, 1998)

2. Brisbane City Council 1936 and 1946 aerial photographs

3. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plan 1961

4. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of title and other records.

5. John Oxley Library, Brisbane Suburbs – photographs and clippings files

6. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

7. Teague, D.R., The History of Aspley, (Brisbane: Colonial Press, 1972).