Glindemann Farmhouse

During the first land sales in January 1865, brothers Conrad and Andreas Glindemann purchased 26 acres 2 roods and 5 perches of portion 190 at the foot of Holland Park Hill on Logan Rd. The brothers had left Hamburg in April 1863 bound for Australia aboard the ship ‘Cesar Goddefory’. This area became known as German Bridge, after a structure that crossed the creek at the foot of the hill. Conrad had recently married Magdalena in August of 1864 with their first of three children arriving in June 1865. Many German settlers had come through the connection of the Lutheran church and the German Mission at Nundah. During the late nineteenth century, Chinese families also farmed in the district, one family leasing land on the Glindemann property for a short period. 

The first structure to be built on the site was a slab built home with a later house being built on the hill near Cavendish Road. Circa 1891, the family built a residence, vineyard and dairy on Logan Road that became known as the Mt. Gravatt Dairy, the first in the district. The house still faces Logan Road in 2001. This is on the boundary of the suburbs of Holland Park West and Holland Park. 

In the 1870s, Andreas left the farm to build the German Bridge Hotel and dance hall. Located on the family’s land, it was situated opposite Sterculia Street on Logan Road, at the foot of Holland Park Hill. Both hotel and farm became rest stops for Cobb & Co., bullock wagons, timber jinkers and other traffic. Later, the business was noted on the Windsor Castle Estate 1884 land auction as Glindemann’s Hotel.

Conrad survived until September 1912 and his wife Magdalene passed away in December 1939 at the age of 95. Title for the property was subsequently transmitted to August George Glindemann in January 1941. 

By 1943, American war casualties began arriving in large numbers in Brisbane. It was decided to build Queensland’s largest hospital for American and Australian troops on the Glindemann farm, with the home on Logan Road being retained. Known as the Holland Park Military hospital, it provided 1 000 beds and catered for surgical, medical and mentally disturbed patients. 

Since World War II, suburbia has encroached on the former Glindemann farmhouse. The house is now one of row of homes along this part of Logan Road, sheltered from the main road by a service street.

In 2001, the Glindemann name is remembered by nearby Glindemann Drive and a large park running to the rear of the family home; land that would have been included in the original 1865 purchase.

The house has a pyramid corrugated iron main roof with short eaves and a lower curved roof over the verandah encircling the building. At the rear of the house (and most likely attached to it) is a small building with a hipped roof and a brick fireplace with a short chimney, likely to have housed the kitchen and laundry in the fashion of many dwellings of its time.

The timber verandah is gracefully designed with slender posts, simple decorative brackets and two-rail dowel balustrades. 

The house appears to be in exceptional original condition.

1. A History of the Seville Road Area 1864 – 1981, Silver Jubilee 1956 – 1981. Seville Road State School

2. Department of Natural Resources. Queensland Certificates of Title

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

4. Mt. Gravatt – Bush to Suburb. Australia 1788-1988 Committee

5. Queensland Post Office Directories