Hartley Farmhouse

One of the last of these allotments to be sold was Subdivisions 1 to 12 of Section 1 of Portion 184. On 31 October, 1892, Harry Hartley bought this allotment which totalled 2 acres, 1 rood and 24 perches of farmland. At the time of purchase, Hartley was a resident of Albion. The opening of the nearby Virginia railway station in 1888 probably attracted men like Hartley to settle in the area. The railway gave small farmers the means by which they could move their produce to the markets in Brisbane. 

The area around 62 Blinzinger Road has been considered to be part of two suburbs over the years – Virginia and Banyo. The Queensland Post Office Directories do not list a Harry Hartley as living anywhere within Brisbane after 1892, when he bought the land on Blinzinger Road. The name Harry Hartley does not appear in the Queensland Post Office Directories until the 1934 edition, yet the house at 62 Blinzinger Road is clearly of a style that was not normally built in Brisbane in the 1930s. 

There is a Henry Hartley listed in the 1900 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories and it is possible that this is a misspelling and it should read as Harry Hartley. Henry Hartley is listed as a carpenter residing at Northgate. He was not listed as a carpenter in subsequent editions so he may have given up his trade to become a farmer. Hartley continued to be a resident of Northgate until 1904. The 1906 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories indicates a change of address for Hartley, as he was listed as a resident of Virginia. As the surveys conducted for the purposes of compiling the Queensland Post Office Directories was conducted in the year prior to publication, then it can be assumed that Hartley moved to Virginia in 1905. Thus it is assumed that the house at 62 Blinzinger Road was built for Hartley in 1905.

On 6 December 1912, Hartley transferred 1 rood and 24 perches of his land to a relative, Arthur Hartley. This transferral allowed the creation of streets suitable for  house blocks. Hartley gave his name to the street at the back of his farm and Musgrave Road and Easton Street had also been formed by 1926. In 1934, Harry Hartley’s address is listed at Wellington Road, Banyo. By that time, the area around Hartley’s farm was gradually changing from farms to small housing developments, a change that was to accelerate in the post-war period

On 11 July 1946, Harry Hartley transferred a 32 perch block to the Nundah Baptist Church. This was the beginning of the breaking-up of Hartley’s remaining farmland. Between 19 August 1946 and 15 June 1948, Harry Hartley disposed of seven 32 perch house blocks drawn from his farm. Harold Arthur Hartley and his wife Norma, Richard and Dora Daley, William and Jean Emanuelle, Robert Balke Gordon Monorseft, Leonard Adermann and the Nundah Baptist Church (again) all obtained blocks from Hartley. This left him with just 1 rood and 24 perches of land that included his house. Harry Hartley died on 29 June 1949 and the estate passed to his heir Harold Hartley. 

Michael Austin Carey bought the Hartley property on 20 November 1949. He transferred title to Leslie Davis on 3 August 1950. Davis mortgaged the property a number of times before selling to George and Edith Bryett on 34 December 1954. The Bryetts gained Brisbane City Council approval in 1956 to enclose a verandah on the house and convert it into a bedroom. George Bryett died on 11 January 1962 and Edith remained in the house for another five years. On 9 August 1967, in a sale involving two competing purchasers, Ronald Keith Smith and his wife Norma Beryl Smith bought the property. They held the property until 23 April 1979, when Clem Francis Warham and Joanne Margaret Warham became the new owners. Lorraine Geraldine Hayes and Gary Maxwell Hayes bought the property from the Warhams on 20 June 1985. The current owner, Dean Peter Mahan acquired 62 Blinzinger Road on 7 August 1992.

1. Bangee Festival, Banyo Nudgee Heritage Trail, (Brisbane: Bangee, 2000)

2. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website, post-1946 building cards

3. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

4. Brisbane City Council’s Central Library, local history sheets - Virginia

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

6. John Oxley Library, Brisbane Suburbs – Estate Maps

7. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949