Pontresina

In 1896, Sophia Montefiore purchased five allotments in the Riverton Estate between Albert Street (now Longman Terrace) and River Terrace (now Laurel Avenue). Sophia acquired an adjoining three allotments to the north in 1889 before building her new home across four allotments. 

It appears likely that Sophia Montefiore engaged prominent Brisbane architect, FDG Stanley, to design ‘Pontresina’.  The Montefiore family had a connection to Stanley as the architect had designed several bank buildings for the Queensland National Bank. ‘Pontresina’ is probably the  “two storey brick house at Riverton” put out for tender by FDG Stanley in the Brisbane Courier on 19 October 1889. 

Sophia and Arthur Montefiore resided at their new home during the late 1880s and early 1890s. Sophia continued to live at ‘Pontresina’ after Arthur’s death in 1893, but in 1902, she sold the property and moved to her new home, ‘Wahgunya’ on the other side of Victoria Avenue (then named Albert Street.  

‘Pontresina’ was purchased by Rachel Cecilia MacQueen, wife of Reverend William Sweyn MacQueen, of the Ann St Presbyterian Church. The MacQueens added to the grounds of their new home by purchasing an additional seven allotments to the north in 1906 and 1907 and advertised the property for lease during this period before offering it for sale in 1909. An advertisement in the Telegraph on 10 Sept 1909 described ‘Pontresina’ as a “charming suburban residence” with six bedrooms, verandahs on all sides and “Servants’ Rooms”. It went on to emphasise the beauty of the position and grounds:

‘Pontresina’ is very beautifully situated on a grassy knoll above flood level, and overlooking the Brisbane River; within two or three minutes’ walk of Chelmer railway station…. [T]he grounds are prettily laid out in fruit and flower gardens, lawns and well –matured evergreen shrubs and ornamental trees….Additional areas for cow paddock and stable yard, with stable &c., thereon, can be purchased if required.

After the death of Rev MacQueen in 1914, the property was sold once again. From 1916 Pontresina, with its grounds of one and half acres (6092 m²) was owned by William Coleman Woodhouse, until it was transferred in 1920 to William Bramwell Booth, Director of Social Work of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army operated charitable institutions for the care of children in all states of Australia from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was instrumental in establishing industrial schools in Australia. 

The move to establish a new form of residential care and schooling of destitute children originated in England and Ireland in the 1850s. England’s 1857 Industrial Schools Act allowed for impoverished, orphaned or neglected children to be placed in boarding schools where they were given some education and training in a trade. The Act also provided for disorderly children to be placed in these schools with the aim of providing moral instruction and preventing future criminal behaviour. Similar legislation followed in Ireland and Scotland in the 1860s. 

Victoria was the first of the Australian colonies to pass similar legislation in 1864. Queensland followed - passing the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act in 1865. This Act enabled both neglected children and young offenders younger than 15 years to be paced in special “industrial schools” or orphanages. All Aboriginal children were considered to be neglected and could be therefore removed to these institutions or to Missions which were declared under the Act to be industrial schools.  At this time, most orphanages were operated by the churches, predominantly the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army.

There was some debate in the nineteenth century in Queensland about the most suitable model of care for neglected children and many children were “boarded out” to foster families. However, the Government saw institutions as more economically viable and continued to support the use of children’s homes run by the various religious denominations. After the economic collapse of 1866, Brisbane’s orphanages were overflowing. The Diamantina Orphanage, privately established at Roma Street in 1865, came under the control of Queensland  Government control after the passing of the Orphanages Act of 1879. The 1865 Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act was repealed by the State Children Act 1911 and by the 1930s, there were 22 residential institutions in Queensland for children, five of which were run by the Salvation Army. 

The industrial schools had a specific focus on “delinquent” girls who had committed crimes or transgressed the sexual mores of the time. Industrial schools for girls in Brisbane included the Home of the Good Shepherd at Mitchelton (1930-1966) and the Industrial School for Girls at Nudgee (1903-1942) – both established by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy and the Anglican Industrial School for Girls at Clayfield (1903 -1920). The Salvation Army established the Industrial School for Girls, Toowong (1907-1956) before opening a second home at ‘Pontresina’ in 1923. The State Government paid a weekly sum to these organisations towards the costs of caring for the girls.

The semi-rural environment of Chelmer and surrounding suburbs during the early decades of the twentieth century was seen as providing an ideal location for neglected and impoverished children. The Sunday Mail noted on 24 March 1929, that:

… scattered among the four suburbs are institutions with a wider appeal, and a wider field of service, attracted to the district by its healthy climate. Among these are the Home for Girls, established by the Salvation Army at Chelmer, the Red Cross Convalescent Home at Corinda, and the W.R. Black Home for Children at Chelmer.

The Salvation Army continued to care for girls in the home at Chelmer until 1961, however, after 1941, girls under the care of the State were no longer placed there.  By the 1950s, the Queensland Government was moving towards a “welfare” model of care for children which favoured family group homes and transition hostels and many of the Industrial School type institutions were closed or adapted for a different model of care. The Children’s Service Act 1965 introduced legislation that reflected this change of philosophy.  

Under Salvation Army ownership, the house and grounds were subsequently developed and used as a women’s refuge, centre for the mentally handicapped and eventually as Warrina Village Nursing Home, an aged care facility. 

The Salvation Army vacated the property at 66 Longman Terrace in 2012 and sold the site in 2014. The buildings around the former ‘Pontresina’ have been removed and there are plans to develop a new aged care facility on the site.

1. Title deeds, Department of Natural Resources

2. Walter Taylor South Character and Heritage Study, BCC Heritage Unit, 1997

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

5. Chelmer Through the Years 1860-1973, Cyril Bodes

6. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, 1851-1890

7. www.apex.net.au/~tmj/montefiore.htm

8. Find and Connect website. http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00090b.htm#tab5. Viewed 13 Mar 2015

9. Salvation Army Institutions for children in Australia. Submissions to Australian Senate Enquiry 2003. http://salvos.org.au/scribe/sites/safesalvos/files/List_of_TSA_Childrens_homes.pdf. Viewed 13 Mar 2015

10. Commission of Enquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland institutions. (Leneen Forde AC). 1999

11. Sunday Mail, 24 Mar 1929

12. Ivan McDonald Architects. Mt Maria College Conservation Management Plan. 2011

13. Brisbane History West website. Viewed 27 Apr 2015. https://brisbanehistorywest.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/reflections-on-2014/

14. Brisbane Courier, 19 Oct 1889, 4 Oct 1918

15. Telegraph, 10 Sept 1909

16. Sunday Mail noted on 24 Mar 1929