This illustration gives some
idea of the charm of Wickham Terrace in 1865,
when it was inhabited by the high society
of Queensland's capital. Elegantly dressed
ladies in crinolines and poke bonnets walked
their children and their lap-dogs 'on the
Terrace' accompanied by the frock-coated businessmen
of the period, while children were sent to
school on hansom cabs pulled by spirited thoroughbred
horses. Neat paling fences enclosed the well-tended
gardens but the road to the former convict
Windmill, now known as the Brisbane Observatory
with the Signals Station beside it, is still
only a dirt track.
The Windmill itself had been stripped of its
sails since 1841 when it was used as a gallows
for the hanging of two Aboriginals who were
possibly wrongfully convicted of the murder
of Granville Chetwynd-Stapleton, one of Brisbane's
first Government Surveyors and his assistant,
William Tuck. At one period the Windmill stored
items intended for the Natural History Collections
of the proposed Queensland Museum. The collection
grew rapidly and moved to Queen Street in
1868 to the Old Post Office Building and added
a Geology Collection in 1871. In 1879 it moved
to William Street and in 1900 over one hundred
bricklayers worked day and night to build
the Gregory Terrace building to house the
still-expanding Museum.
After 1861 a time ball was installed in the
Mill and from then onwards at precisely one
o'clock every afternoon the time ball was
dropped down inside the Mill. This then served
as a signal for a gun to be fired by which
the citizens of Brisbane could set their clocks.
The Windmill's Observation Galleries can clearly
be seen in this detailed engraving. This circular
walkway around the top of the Mill was part
of the original design, when it was built
by convicts in 1827 to act as a platform for
repairing the sails.
The single flag flying from the Signal Mast
on the left of the picture meant that the
sailing ship, which brought the overseas mail
every month had just arrived at the mouth
of the Brisbane River. This flag was clearly
visible to Brisbane's early residents in the
town below.
The house in the centre of the picture, built
in a rather curious combination of neo-Gothic
and Colonial styles with its large chimney
and pierced and scalloped barge boards round
the gable, was named Alexandra, after the
wife of the original owner. Even when it was
demolished and replaced by a block of medical
and professional rooms, the original name
was retained for the block. On the right is
the handsome double-storey brick Colonial
Wesleyan Manse, with its charming diamond-
latticed balcony, which is now the site of
Anzac House.
An observant journalist on the staff of the
Queensland Daily Guardian in November, 1863
wrote, 'Along Wickham Terrace there is a row
of handsome villa residences, occupied chiefly
by the leading businessmen of the town. When
their day's work is done, they go by a steep
ascent from their money-grubbing counting
houses to their comfortable homes on the Terrace'.
The Terrace retained its social superiority
until the invention of motorised transport
meant that the elite could move into houses
on larger blocks farther away from the City.
Brisbane's wealthy gradually moved to areas
such as Coorparoo, Ascot, Hamilton and Indooroopilly.
The expanding medical profession finally took
over the old mansions for their consulting
rooms, and the area became Brisbane's answer
to Macquarie Street. Today, block s of professional
rooms still carry the names of the original
residents of the 1850s, such as Alexandra
and Ballow Chambers. These were named after
Dr David Ballow, one of Brisbane's earliest
Government Medical Officers. He and his wife
arrived at Moreton Bay in 1838 at the end
of the convict era and lived in the Surgeon's
House beside the Convict Hospital on North
Quay. He later built himself a fine residence
overlooking the river at Eagle Street.
Dr Ballow was a dedicated medical practitioner.
His early death was caused by his professional
involvement with a shipload of immigrants,
who he was treating for their fever at the
Dunwich Quarantine Station, where they were
quarantined with typhus. Dr Ballow stayed
over at Dunwich to help nurse his patients.
There he caught typhus and died on September
29, 1850 still in the prime of his life. |
