Girrawheen

During the 1920s, Enderley Road and the surrounding area were undergoing a wave  of housing development as the large “gentlemen’s estates” of the late nineteenth century were subdivided. The new houses, for example the Spanish Mission style, Breffney, on the corner of Enderley and Alexandra Roads, were often built on several allotments allowing large houses with generous grounds to be established. In comparison, the Milnes’ new home was a more modest one, a gabled, interwar style “Queenslander” built on two sixteen perch allotments. 

James and Edna Milne purchased the 32 perch block of land in February 1922. In July of that year, they mortgaged the property for ₤950 possibly to finance construction of their new home. Such a sum would have been more than sufficient to build a substantial timber house at that time. The Milnes lived in the house, which they named Girrawheen,  until at least 1940, and sold the house in 1950. It was purchased in 1956 by Walter Campbell and his wife, Georgina.

Sir Walter Campbell was born in 1921 in Burringbar, NSW and educated in Lismore and Toowoomba. He served as an RAAF flying instructor in World War II before completing degrees in Arts and Law. In 1942 he married Georgina Pearce with whom he had three children. 

Sir Walter  was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1948 and had a distinguished legal career. He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1960 and served as Queensland’s Chief Justice for three and a half years before being appointed Governor of Queensland in 1985. Another significant role was the Chancellorship of the University of Queensland, which he held from 1977 until 1985. Sir Walter Campbell retired from the Governor’s Office in July 1992 but continued to be active in public life.  He died at 83 on 4 September 2004.

The house at 71 Enderley Road was the home of Sir Walter Campbell and his family from circa 1956 until his appointment as Governor of Queensland in 1985. Council records show that Sir Walter applied to build a “bush house” in 1961 and carry out extensions and alterations in 1972. After his retirement in 1992, he lived at Ascot. In 1993, the ownership of 71 Enderley Road was transferred to Sir Walter’s son, Wallace, and his wife Heather and became their family home. It was sold to the present owner in 2002.

The house has undergone some alterations over time, including an extension at the rear, but has retained its essential character as a gabled Interwar home. More recent extensions (2010) have slightly changed the front façade of the house.

A small square verandah was originally located on the eastern side of the front of the house. The verandah was enclosed with a set of three paned casement windows. In 1910, alterations to the house extended the front verandah, opening up the enclosed eastern corner section.

1. Brisbane City Council Building Cards

2. Brisbane City Council aerial photographs 1946, 2001, 2007

3. Brisbane City Council Detail Plan No. 336, 1933

4. Commonwealth Electoral Rolls. Division of Lilley. 1913, 1924, 1936

5. De Jersey, Chief Justice Paul AC. In memory of the late the honourable Sir Walter Campbell AC QC State Funeral, St John’s Cathedral, 13 Sept 2004. Panegyric

6. Queensland Post Office Directories

7. Judy Gale Rechner, Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940: a guide to the affordable house, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Studies No. 2, 1998

8. Telegraph.co.uk. Obituary Sir Walter Campbell. 17 Sept 2004

9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/1471877/Sir-Walter-Campbell.html, viewed 13 August 2009