Neilson's Cottage

However, the growth of Coorparoo was limited to particular areas. The land on which this residence was built was part of a purchase of crown land made by Frederick Merry, Joseph Berry Jr, William Ruddle and John Potts on 15 February 1887. This purchase was a relatively late one for crown land in Brisbane, and was largely due to the fact that the area was too far removed from transportation and services to appeal to investors or owner-occupiers. But in 1886, the partners had arranged for the construction of a new bridge, crossing Norman Creek at the end of Stanley Street, appropriately named the Stanley Bridge. Having substantially improved access to the area, they purchased and subdivided a block described as Portion 51 and offered the subdivisions for sale as the Stanley Bridge Estate.

Despite the area’s new accessibility, allotments in the estate were not sold quickly. The opening of the Cleveland railway line in 1889 further improved transportation to the estate, but the line ran through the middle of the estate, with the station still some distance away. Furthermore, much of the land was low-lying and, as was discovered after the floods in the 1890s, flood-prone. Stanley Bridge and the surrounding land were entirely submerged in the 1893 flood. Land in Coorparoo suffered a reduction in value as a result, and very few residents lived in the Stanley Bridge Estate in the nineteenth century. 

This sixteen-perch block (subdivision 460) was purchased in 1889 by Henry Burns and transferred to Ambrose Elmes in 1893. Neither owner appears to have resided on the site. In 1895 Annie Neilson, wife of Anthony, purchased the block. Unusually, the Neilsons had lived in the Stanley Bridge area from around 1890 and had continued their occupation, regardless of its disadvantages. Their Stanley Street East house was constructed by 1897, when Anthony Neilson was first listed in the Queensland Post Office Directories as residing on the street. The house, a vernacular wooden residence with ornamentation including a lace infill over the arched verandah entrance, and lace balustrade, was possibly built by owner Neilson, a carpenter. After the house was built, however, Neilson took up a career as a toy maker, one of very few in Brisbane at the time. He continued to ply this trade until 1937. 

The Neilson house continued to be one of only two residences listed on Stanley Street East until 1912. The unpopularity of the area allowed the Neilsons to add to the size of their property as neighbouring allotments were offered for sale, refining the site to its current size by 1946. After Annie Neilson’s death in 1949, the property passed to her husband Anthony, and then to their son when Anthony died in 1956. The family retained ownership of the property until 1971, when it was sold to a new owner. The house continues to be used as a residence.

1. Brisbane City Council Heritage Unit, various citations 

2. Queensland Places: Coorparoo and Coorparoo Shire (http://queenslandplaces.com.au/coorparoo-and-coorparoo-shire)

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

4. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

5. Brisbane City Council Detail Plan Map, 1935

6. Judy Gale Rechner, The old Coorparoo Shire, Brisbane History Group Inc, 1991

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

8. John Oxley Library, Brisbane Suburbs – Estate Maps

9. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

10. The Brisbane Courier

11. The Courier Mail