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Queensland's Government Houses

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Queensland's Government Houses 11 The Clem Lack Memorial Oration QUEENSLAND'S GOVERNMENT HOUSES by His Excellency Sir James Ramsay, K.C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.C., Governor of Queensland Delivered to the Royal Historical Society of Queensland on 27 March i 980. INTRODUCTION When I first learned that I might be coming to Queensland, I set about searching for some information on Government House. My search, which was necessarily clandestine, proved quite fruitless. It was a simple matter to find beautifully illustrated descriptions of Government Houses in Canberra and in all the other States, but not a word could I find on Brisbane. When I arrived here on 22 April 1977,1 set about learning the history of the house, formerly called "Fernberg", and I found, much to my dismay, only fragmentary treatment in one or two publications, and in a few internal documents that had not been pubHshed. Curiously enough, one of these fragments was a short section of his Presidential Address given to this Society by Commander Norrnan Pixley in 1973. His subject was "Consuls in Queensland" and in it he gave some attention to Johann Heussler, and this included a photograph of the extensions to Fernberg carried out in 1889 by a later owner. I therefore attribute to our President, the main spur I received to get on and produce a more detailed and more authoritative history of the House, with a view to publishing some sort of brochure on the subject -leading perhaps to qualifying the House for a mention in one of the National Trust books on Historic Houses of Australia. Little did 1 think, as my own ideas for such a publication developed, that Commander Pixley would be so persistent as to be able to persuade me to come forward to give the Clem Lack Oration in 1980. Let me say, however, that his invitation, or his persuasion, has acted as a catalyst. It has made me work faster on the subject; it has caused me to establish an aim to produce what 1 might call a first draft - and to try out my first draft on you - for a very good purpose. What I have discovered in my research to date is a great paucity of information and a lack of con­ tinuity in the story. 12 What 1 hope to achieve tonight is to tell you all that I have so far been able to discover, and in so doing to point out some of the obvious and glaring deficiencies, and then to seek from you any sources of addifional information that may help me complete the history. I feel sure that somewhere, in both official and private archives, a great deal more valuable material, both written and photographic, exists. So, please can you help? When I began, I set my sights firmly on the present Government House, that is the original "Fernberg" house and its various extensions and alterations. But I soon reahsed the story would not be complete without including the old Government House in George Street, with particular reference to the reasons for leaving it and moving to "Fern­ berg" in 1910. And then I realised that if I were to include the George Street Government House, I should also include the previous temporary residence of the first Governor - Adelaide House, now the Deanery. One cannot stop there, because there were residences of the senior government officials before the first Governor arrived to proclaim Queensland as a separate Colony in 1859. So, I will go back to Newstead House which was occupied by Captain Wickham, the Police Magistrate and Government Resident for New South Wales "who was charged with the general interest of government within Moreton Bay and to be representative of the Governor within its limits". Wickham was Police Magistrate from 1843 to 1857 and Govern­ ment Resident from 1853 to 1859. And I will go back even further to the residence of the Military Commandant who was in charge of the Moreton Bay Settlement when it was a closed area - declared exclusively for penal purposes. I will now reverse the order in which I have mentioned these houses and take them in turn, beginning with the Military Commandant's residence. MILITARY COMMANDANT'S RESIDENCE This residence is no longer standing. It was first called the Comman­ dant's Cottage and was designed and built of timber in Sydney for trans­ portation to Redcliffe. When the settlement was moved from Redcliffe to Brisbane in 1825, it was dismantled and re-erected with brick chimneys on the site now occupied by the Government Prindng Office in William Street near Stephens Lane. It was occupied by Lieutenant Miller in 1825, Captain Bishop 1825-26, Captain Logan 1826-30, Captain Clunie 1830-35, Captain Fyans 1835-37, Major Cotton 1837-39, Lieutenant Gravatt 1839, and Lieutenant Gcman 1839-42, the last Military Commandant. 13 Commandant's Cottage. The Military Commandants were also Magistrates, and being the senior government officials in the settlement, they, or some of them, referred to the residence as Government House. There is not a great deal of contemporary writing about the use to which this residence was put, but it is apparent that much official entertaining was done and that some official guests were accommodated, e.g.. Governor Darling stayed in the residence on the occasion of his visit in 1827 and so did Governor Gipps in 1842. The building was allowed to run down after Lieutenant Gorman ceased to be Commandant when the settlement was thrown open to free settlers. Captain Wickham was appointed Police Magistrate in 1843, and he occupied it for a time while looking for a more suitable residence. His office was in the adjoining military barracks. This residence was demolished in about 1862, to make way for the original timber Govern­ ment Printing Office. NEWSTEAD HOUSE Except for continuity, not a great deal needs to be said about Newstead House. It is perhaps the best documented of all the historic homes of Queensland, and it is certainly the best preserved or best restored of those of its period. Newstead House became the centre of the social as well as the official life of the settlement, and it is here that we can begin to introduce the personalities of some of the incumbents of the office. 14 Wickham was a naval officer who played a major part in the explor­ ation and surveying of Australia's vast coastline and off-lying islands. He retired from the Royal Navy, married a Sydney girl - Elizabeth MacArthur - and then became the first Police Magistrate in Brisbane. Initially he took up residence in the Military Commandant's House, but in 1847 he bought Newstead House from his brother-in-law, Patrick Leslie, for one thousand pounds. He then set about enlarging it to enable him better to carry out what he saw as his official duties of entertaining. It must be emphasised that Newstead was a private residence but it was definitely regarded as the Moreton Bay District's unofficial Government House. It is easiest to quote from one of the pubHcations on the subject of Newstead: "In this romantic old mansion, one of Brisbane's few remaining historic homes which have been preserved from the despoiling of time. Captain Wickham entertained the social elite of early Bris­ bane. While the summer moon shed on the river a silvery radiance, and a myriad crickets chirped in the thickets, the great house echoed to the merry scraping of violins and the tap of dancing feet on the poHshed floors. Under the soft glow of the tall candles beauty and gallantry danced the brisk rigaudon, the grace­ ful waltz and the quadrille. This home's wide doors have seen the entry and the passing of a century of beauty and fashion . the frills and furbelows of the days of the crinoline... the frou-frou of voluminous skirts as fair maids swept by on the arms of their escorts . dashing officers of the Brisbane garrison in glittering brass and scarlet uniforms . and young squatters, handsome in sideburns, corded trousers, and riding boots, enjoying a few days among the civilised amenities of the settlement before returning to the lonely life of some station on the Darling Downs, the Burnett, or the broad plains of the Condamine country." On the arrival of Governor Bowen in December 1859, Wickham retired, and he left the colony a few weeks later to return to England. He died in 1864. Before leaving he leased Newstead to George Harris, who bought the house and the property from Wickham's estate in 1867 for four thousand pounds. It is hardly necessary to tell you that it became the headquarters of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland in 1932 and has remained so until this day. Actually three rooms only were leased from the Brisbane City Council at a peppercorn rental. It is fitting that we of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland should wish the Trustees and the Friends of Newstead House every 15 success in their continuing work of restoring and maintaining this wonderful monument to early Brisbane. ADELAIDE HOUSE - NOW THE DEANERY When Queensland separated from the Colony of New South Wales, Sir George Ferguson Bowen was appointed to be the first Governor at the age of 38. Indeed he was appointed Captain General, Governor-in- Chief of the Colony of Queensland and its Dependencies and Vice- Admiral of the same. There was no Government House as such, and it does not appear that any consideration was given by Captain Wickham to move out of Newstead House in favour of Sir George - although clearly Newstead House would have been suitable for the purpose.
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