Fig Tree Lodge

Much of the land in the Moggill district was cleared through logging, thus opening the way for farming. Dairy farms were established in the Moggill district throughout the late nineteenth century. Crops such as arrowroot, potatoes and corn were planted to provide extra income for dairy farmers. Livestock and poultry farms were also established in the district. Pineapple farms were an important feature of the Moggill landscape. As the population gradually increased in the district, the need for certain services arose. By 1866 the district had a post office, a school and a cemetery. 

The peninsular of land delineated by the Brisbane River at Moggill when first cleared was originally called Toocoobah. In the 1851 survey map of the land it shows all the portions were owned by Thomas Prior. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior was a pastoralist and at this time owned a large station in the Logan district named ‘Broomelton’, he then moved to another large station in the Burnett district. Murray-Prior served as Queensland’s first postmaster-general. In 1876 a large portion of his land at Moggill was transferred to his son Thomas De Montorenci Murray-Prior. 

In 1879 Joseph Sinnamon purchased thirty-four acres of this land on the peninsular. Joseph had arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1862. As part of the pioneering Sinnamon family, Joseph originally lived at Seventeen Mile Rocks until he could establish his own farm. Joseph was one of ten children that came to Brisbane with their parents, James and Margaret, from Ireland in 1862. After acquiring land at Seventeen Mile Rocks, the Sinnamon family established a successful farm and contributed to the progress of the district. 

The first evidence of Joseph Sinnamon residing at his farm in Moggill is found in the Electoral Rolls. In 1889 he is first recorded in Moggill, prior to this he is listed at Seventeen Mile Rocks. This coincides with the evidence provided in the Post Office Directories that also first lists him at an address in Moggill in 1889. Therefore, it is likely that the house was constructed in the late 1880s. 

Joseph Sinnamon was an important figure in the Queensland dairy industry in this period. As early as 1896 Sinnamon was winning agricultural show prizes for his Jersey cows. His farm became known as the ‘Trinity Stud’ and was well regarded for the breeding of these cows. In 1930 his farm was mentioned in a feature about the Moggill district in the Brisbane Courier, it stated “Some dairymen…have consistently maintained Jersey herds. Mr. J. Sinnamon is notable in this respect, his stock being of excellent quality. He owns a particularly good looking Jersey bull, valued at 200 guineas, and some young stock in his paddocks looked very promising” (The Brisbane Courier, Saturday 25 February 1928, p20). Sinnamon’s Trinity Stud continued to be one of the best Jersey breeding farms in Queensland until well into the 1940s. 

It is not clear when the nineteenth-century farm house became known as ‘Fig Tree Lodge’ but it is repeatedly referred to in the social pages of several Brisbane newspapers from as early as 1916. The large timber house has had only a few alterations made to it over the years. The house is situated in an exceptional pastoral setting, on a gentle rise from the Brisbane River.

 

1. Cameron, Ian, A Green and Pleasant Land: An Account of the Pullenvale-Moggill District of South-East Queensland, Ian Cameron, Pullenvale, 1999

2. Wager, Libby. Mud-maps of Moggill, Pullenvale Field Study Centre, 1988

3. Queensland Places, Moggill and Bellbowrie, University of Queensland, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/home

4. Sugars, Bruce and Mabel Kelly, A Time to Remember: Descendants of Moggill Pioneers, Souvenir Booklet, 1988

5. Lawson, Ronald. Brisbane in the 1890s: a study of an Australian urban society ( St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1973)

6. Historic Titles, Department of Environment and Resource Management

7. Queensland Post Office Directories

8. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Survey Map

9. Queensland Electoral Rolls

10. Sinnamon, H. V, The Gentleman Farmer’s Paradise, 1980

11. The Brisbane Courier, Monday 28 April 1930, p20

12. The Brisbane Courier. Thursday 13 August 1896, p5, 6

13. The Courier Mail, Saturday 3 July 1937, p21

14. The Courier Mail, Thursday 8 February 1945, p4

15. The Brisbane Courier, Saturday 25 February 1928, p20