The Southern and Western Railway Brisbane Extension - Toowong to Indooroopilly
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The Southern and Western Railway Brisbane Extension - Toowong to Indooroopilly Pre-existing conditions along the line of the railway in the early 1870s and railway infrastructure developments to the 1950s Andrew Darbyshire St Lucia History Group – Research Notes St Lucia History Group CONTENTS Authors Note and Introduction 2 References and Illustrations 2 Land Acquisition 3 Books of Reference Summary 9 The Western Suburbs, FWS Cumbrae Stewart 15 (transcript of handwritten notes) Hotels adjacent to the Railway 17 Infrastructure and Improvements, Structures and Stations 24 Brisbane Extension & Odds Toowong Station High Street Bridge Burns Road Bridge Whitmore Street Bridge (Toowong Creek) Beatrice Street Bridge Taringa Station Swann Road Bridge Keating Street Bridge Allwood Street Bridge Westminster Road Bridge Indooroopilly Station Albert Siding/Oxley Point Albert Bridge 59 Railway Development in South East Queensland – Key Dates 75 Andrew Darbyshire January 2010 Private Study Paper – not for general publication Issue No 1 – May 2007 Draft for comment Issue No 2 – Jan 09 general update (thanks to Percy H for the prompt) Issue No 3 – June 2009 minor additions Indooroopilly Station Formatting only – January 2010 St Lucia History Group PO Box 4343 St Lucia South QLD 4067 [email protected] www.brisbanehistorywest.wordpress.com.au ad/history/railways/research notes Page 1 of 79 St Lucia History Group Author’s Note and Introduction This research, primarily based on Railway files held at the State Archives, was undertaken to build on the information already gathered on government services provided in St Lucia and (as they are closely inter-twined) the adjoining suburbs of Toowong, Taringa and Indooroopilly. It was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the extent of development prior to the construction of the line, and the comparative status of the above centres. St Lucia’s relative isolation and limited population meant that it often had to rely on neighbouring activity centres to provide basic services such as policing and postal services. The building of the railway in the early 1870s compounded this issue as the subsequent residential sub-division ‘boom’ favoured developments along the line and particularly within easy walking distance of any of the stations. Whilst I was intrigued by the discovery that there was Railway land in St Lucia, this was short lived, turning out to be a Titles Office error corrected in 1900. The study of the material has been complementary to previous research on Local Government (Representing St Lucia), other government services (Posties, Cops and Ferrymen) and identifying James Henderson (original purchaser of major landholdings in St Lucia, Taringa and Indooroopilly). A number of long standing queries/anomalies have also been clarified including the probable location of the original St Thomas’ Church, and the configuration and timing of road construction in the vicinity of Indooroopilly Station. New queries have arisen though and these will be the subject of further research. References/Sources Queensland Rail Files held at Queensland State Archives, various Series incl: Books of Reference Land Resumption Files Plans of Railway Station Buildings, Residences, Bridges & Station Equipment Chief Engineers Letterbooks Various files under ‘Records of the Qld Railways Historical Centre’ General Correspondence Files – Accommodation Plans and Sections of Various Queensland Railway Lines – Drawings And as noted in text Illustrations Cover – Author’s interpretation of the extent of roads originally surveyed at the time of initial land sales in the local area. Each land parcel was provided with road access (even if no road building was undertaken). The early settlers would no doubt have supplemented these with practical tracks, these becoming regularised as the land was further sub-divided. As noted in text ad/history/railways/research notes Page 2 of 79 St Lucia History Group Land Acquisition Books of Reference and Land Acquisition Files – Queensland State Archives 1873 QS&WR Books of Reference, original and supplement amending details for part of the Toowong – Indooroopilly section, scheduling the land required to be acquired for the initial construction of the railway. The schedule includes a Plan Reference number for each parcel of land to be puurchased, however, the plans (and it is assumed long section) have not been located, hence, this reference number has not been included in the summary table. It can be sseen from the cover that distances were measured from Ipswich, which is logical as this was the Brisbane Extension of the eexisting network (Books of Referrence, Working – QSA) The information in this section is gathered froom both the ‘Books of Reference’ foor land resumption and indiividual correspondence files for each property. Books of Reference appear to be the documents tabled as part of the Parliamentary approval process – the subtlety of ‘Working’ iin the title suggests the versions examined at Archives may be second pass versions, perhaps following initial approval. The acquisition files, which contain correspondence dating from 1873/74 to well iinto the 1880s (and beyond), are a valuable snapshot of local land ownership at the time and a fair guiide to the relative stage of development along the line. Determining the ownership of the various parcels of land would have been the Railway’s best guess at the time, as land title registration was still in a transitional stage. Land owners appear to have been notified in writing and there may also have been public advertising noting the land to be resumed [GG or Press not checked at this stage].. Location, ownership, occupation and usage were noted in the Books of Reference together with a description of the land (refer example following page). Categories of land used foor this section of the line ranged from ‘Waste Land’ to ‘Fenced Paddock’, with notes of other improvemments to the properties as appropriate. Waste land is taken to mean pretty much virgin bush, with progressive stages of land clearance and development moving up the scale. ad/history/railways/research notes Page 3 ofof 79 St Lucia History Group Extract from the Books of Reference showing thee last few entries to Oxley Point and the first ffor the section under consideration. The red ink line shows the start of the Amended Booko of Reference which covered Portions 43 to 256, the properties between Swann and Burns Road [no attempt to cross check changes at tthis stage] (Books of Reference, Working – QSA) ad/history/railways/research notes Page 4 ofof 79 St Lucia History Group Interestingly only two buildings along the length of this section of the line (and perhaps only one that needed demolition/reemoval) are identified. Residenttial sub-division of the land had commmmenced with reference to the West Milton Estate, current day Taringa and James Henderson’s Village of Nona, current day Toowong [refer also to the separate ‘Research Notes on James Henderson’ by the Author]. A number of owners had held these residential blocks since the (mid ?) 1860s, however, they don’t seem to have built on or occupied the land. Estate roads are referred to as ‘Private’ roads and were generally diverted, or simply clossed (Curlew Street and the streets running off Moggill Road down to Taringa Station are examples). ‘Public’ roads (assumed the dedicated roads already identified for the original land sales in the late 1850s/early 60s) received a little more attention being bridged under or over the liine. Current day High Street, Burns and Swann Roads where bridged, Alpha appears to have been the exception, being closed where it would have connected with Moggill Road. Minor sections of the Moggill Road Reserve appear to have been purchased, although no significant re-alignment is evident other than the major change for Toowong Station/High Street bridge. The above drawing for the Toowong Station locationn shows the alterations required to Moggill Road to accommodate the railway line (diversion and a bridge). Sherwood Roadd, by now extended to Moggill, is diverted via a new reserve creating the road arrangement we have today. Eliza Rodgers hoouse Middenbury can be identified on the plan together with the small waterhole she describes as having recently planted and improved in her correspondence regarding compensation. No description has been found of the blue marked buildings/fenced area west of the line nearer the moorre sizable waterhole (this may have been a subsequent addition to the plan as are the line of individual allotments of Portion 26), perhaps they were the remains of a small paddock/holding area from eaarlier times. James Henderson purchased Porrtions 25 and 26 in 1853, however, does not seem to have sub-divided and commenced selling allotments until c1865 when he sold 6 acres to the Rodgers and 4 or 5 residential blocks from Portion 26 (river side of Moggill Rooad). (Drawing, Q Raail Correspondence Files – QSAA) There is no evidence of residential sub-division activity in the early 1870s for the land between the Brisbane River (Indooroopilly) to Swann Roaad which Louis Stamm had acquired from the original land purchasers Henderson and Smith. The Stamm ‘estate’ appears to have been progressively released at a more leisurely pace, some areass not being marketed until the early 1900s. ad/history/railways/research notes Page 5 ofof 79 St Lucia History Group None of the landowners were particularly happy with the Railway’s original valuations and offers made in compensation and a large number choose to go to arbitration. The more experienced hands (Henderson/Cribb etc) put together strong reasoned cases, however, in the end they generally had to accept less than their own estimates of worth. The opening of the railway, however, would have been of benefit to the larger land owners, making the remainder of their holdings more valuable as transport services improved (access to a Railway Station was a feature of subsequent real estate marketing).