151 Lynne Grove Avenue, Corinda

In 1882 Robert Francis Hassall, the son of the Reverend James Samuel Hassall, purchased 5 acres of land from Robert Donaldson. Robert Hassall was not listed in the postal directories, and he died in 1888, aged 33. Another 22 acres of land was purchased off Donaldson in 1884 and 1885. 

The Reverend J. S. Hassall, the grandson of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who introduced Christianity to the NZ Maori, was born in 1823 at Parramatta (died 1904), and was ordained in the Church of England in 1848. Arriving in Brisbane in 1873, with his wife Francis (nee Dixon), the niece of John Oxley, the Rev. Hassall became the first resident Minister of the C of E church at Sherwood, serving from 1876 to 1899. St Matthews was built in 1868 next to the cemetery on Sherwood road, was rebuilt in 1893, and was burnt down in 1921, being replaced by the current St Matthews on the corner of Oxley and Sherwood Roads.

According to an article in “The Queenslander”, May 12th, 1932, the Rev. Hassall built a house called “Matavi” in 1883, off Lynne Grove Ave. However, this house stood to the south of 151 Lynne Grove Ave, where Corinda High School is now, and was demolished in 1966. 

In 1967 the Sherwood District Weekly claimed that “Lynne Grove House” (151 Lynne Grove Ave) was built by the Hassall family in 1880, and was occupied by them for 3 years. However, since they did not purchase the land until 1882, this appears to be incorrect. As a ₤450 mortgage was taken out on the property in 1883, and a mortgage for ₤1000 was taken out in 1887, Lynne Grove House was probably built by the Hassalls between 1883 and 1888. 

The next owner, Thomas Murray Hall, purchased the property in 1889; the same year that he is first listed in the POD as living in Corinda. T.M. Hall was born in 1859 in New South Wales. He worked as a surveyor’s assistant, as an insurance clerk and as an accountant, before he arrived in Brisbane in 1888 to open a branch of his own firm, Hall’s Mercantile Agency. In 1894 the Hall-Gibbs Merchantile Agency was established. Hall was a member of the Sherwood Shire Council for 15 years, acting as Chairman for 3 years. He was also in the Brisbane City Council as Alderman for the West Ward from 1898-1900, being on the Victoria Bridge Board and the Traffic Board. He was called to the Legislative Council in 1906, serving until 1923. By 1917 he was a director in Finney, Isles and Co. Ltd, the Canada Motor Cycle Agency (Queensland) Ltd, the Union Box and Timber Co. Ltd, and Beales (Queensland) Ltd. He had also acted as president of the Brisbane Club, as well as president of the Graceville Bowling Club. In addition, he was a founder of the Institute of Accountancy, and Chairman of the Queensland Protestant League. He died in 1927, aged 68.

The Hall’s sold the property in 1914, and subdivision of the 5 acres did not begin until the late 1960s.

1. Title deeds, Department of Natural Resources and Mines

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

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Queensland Electoral Rolls

5. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

6. Queensland Pioneers Index 1829-1889. Births, Deaths and Marriages

7. Anglican Church of Australasia, Parish of Sherwood, (Brisbane), Cemetery and Columbarium Wall, Monumental Inscriptions. Rosemary and Eric Kopittke, Queensland Family History Society. 1995

8. Sherwood District Weekly, Sherwood Centenary 1867-1967, March 1967

9. Pugh’s Almanac, 1912

10. Brisbane City Council Minutes

11. Alexander, Joseph A. Who’s who in Australia, 1944

12. “The Queenslander”, May 12th, 1932