Resources and strategies

for

house historiesState Library of Queensland

Stephanie Ryan

Senior Librarian

Family History

State Library of Queensland

Aims

• to familiarize researchers with a range of SLQ resources to find the history of a house

• to examine some strategies forflexible and successful searching

Frequently asked questions at SLQ

• Who was the original home owner?

• When was the house built?

• What was the house name? How do I find it?

• What are the origins of the name?

• How have the house and property changed?

• Are there photographs of the house?

• What life was associated with this place?

How to find the original owner

:

Use a combination of some of the following:

• the property title

• building register, if available for the time

• electoral rolls

• Queensland directories

• Trove newspapers

• clipping files

Finding the owner: directories

• Queensland directories are held

at intermittent periods 1868 -1949

• Residents are recorded until 1939

• The street number is rarely listed

• The exception is in some inner city areas

• In “outer suburbs” and towns the street is listed later,

if at all

Finding the owner: directories• Directories record residents who may not be owners

• Researchers look for the first appearance of a name

in a street to indicate residency

• Directories are on fiche and on CD-ROM

• SLQ has a family history guide on directories online

• See Rod Fisher’s article on the background, changes

and problems of directories; linked to online guide

Directories, electoral rolls• Directories record:

head of household, not all family members

residents in order of house position in street at the

time

• Electoral rolls may give a more precise address, earlier

• Electoral rolls on CD-ROM enable a street name search

1903, 1913, 1922, 1934,1941,1949, 1959

• Some electoral rolls are on Ancestry, fiche and film

• See the family history guide on electoral rolls

Loma Linda in Love St Northgate

Information provided:

• The house was built in 1914

• had only 1 owner for a long time (at least 40 years)

• family had pioneering background

• built from wood milled by a Bundaberg firm for family

Who owned the house?

Finding the original owner in Love Street

1914 Qld directories listed residents for Northgate

by suburb only, not by street

Electoral rolls on CD-ROM

1922, 1934, 1941, 1949, 1959 enable search by street

• A list of 11 family names for 1922 in Love Street

• Only one of the names was on the 1914 electoral roll

• That surname continued at that address to 1954

CD-ROM rollsSearching by address

Electoral roll on CD-ROM

Love Street/Lane

• Bulimba

• Spring Hill

• Valley

• Mundingburra

• Isles & Love Adelaide City

Add subdivision and division

to the search criteria

Electoral roll onCD-ROM

Electoral roll 1922: Love Street

No house name

or number

Electoral roll search on CD-ROM

• Search with Love in ‘place of living’

• Choose the option ‘anywhere in the field’

Various words may precede or follow it

There are a few Love Streets in Queensland;

select division and subdivision specific to Northgate

• House names or the name of the owner with whom

someone is staying may precede the street name

Electoral roll on CD-ROM

Use simplest term

‘Anywhere in field’

Electoral roll on CD-ROM 1959

5 different suburbs

listed for the same

street

If more than one

completely different

suburb, add

subdivision

and division

in search

Electoral roll 1914: Love Street

• No house name listed

• This was the only name listed in Love Street found also on 1922 roll

• It was the earliest record at SLQ of the Skyrings in Northgate

• Electoral rolls provide the names of all those enrolled to vote

• In this case, it provides a more specific address that the post office directory

Post Office Directory 1926

• This was the first year Northgate streets were named.

Previously residents were under suburb, Northgate only

• Many rely on finding a name in the street for the first time

as proof of ownership – not always reliable

• Skyrings recorded in Love Street in 1914 on electoral roll

Brisbane streets are listed alphabetically regardless of

suburb

CD-ROM keyword search the easiest way

Post Office Directory 1939

The last year private residences are

listed in the post office directories

Trove: free newspapers, images etc.

Trove: Skyring link to Bundaberg sawmills

Search terms: Skyring and Northgate

Newspapers: Trove obituary

Mrs Emily Skyring Northgate

Henry Albert Skyring established

a sawmill at BundabergMaryborough Chronicle 3 July 1926

Finding the house nameMay be recorded:

• in Trove newspapers

• on the Brisbane City Council’s detail plan

• in Queensland directories or on electoral rolls

• on the home – gate, door, verandah, wall

Be aware:

• Not all houses were named

• Names could change or move with the owner

• House names were not registered and were a

matter of whim

Trove: finding the house name

Electoral roll on CD-ROM: 1941 Love St

House name Rosellen

combines parts of

Skyring names

Family members record

the address differently

Trove newspapersProperty changes over time

Property changes over timeTrove

Link to Loma Linda in Love Street

No reference to Loma Linda

using Trove newspaper site

The house had 2 names already:

Rosecleer and Rosellen

Where else to look: clipping files

Brisbane – residences – L and R (L4 – request)

Clipping files: photographs & background

Sunday Mail

31 May 1981

Real Estate

Clipping files: Skyrings

• Biographical files are organised by surname

• Skyrings: a pioneer family so extensive information

• Daniel Skyring arrived in NSW with his family in 1833

• He moved to Moreton Bay in 1844

• Henry Albert, was the 2nd born in Brisbane, in 1846

• Emily Jones, Henry’s wife, arrived on the Parsee,1853

• Henry Skyring had interests in Bundaberg lls

among other businesses

Finding photographs: sources

• Clipping files

Brisbane – Residences – alphabetical by

letter/name eg Windermere

Brisbane – Suburbs - Kedron

• Trove

newspapers

articles and advertisements

pictures has images from State Library, Brisbane

City Council and other contributors

Finding photographs

• Google street view has a series of 3 images

per house, at this stage

• Frank Corley house photograph collection

He photographed houses in many suburbs and towns.

He sold images as greeting card or calendar inserts.

Those he did not sell are at the State Library.

Some are online but more, organised by suburb, need

to be requested from closed collection

• Local history societies

Photographs: Loma Linda Rosecleer, Rosellen

Google street view 2013

Photographs: newspapers, Corley collection

Courier Mail 5 July 1952 p10 Corley photo c 1969

Photographs: Google street view

When was it built?

• Building contract 22 February 1927

• Building register 27 April 1927

• Owner made payments April, May, June 1927

• On electoral roll at this address 1928

• (no roll for 1927)

• First in post office directory 1928-29

Telegraph 28 September 1927 p13

Photographs Google street view: Nov 2013

Brisbane City Council

Google street view: Jan 2008

Google street view: Nov 2009

Estate maps• The State Library has an extensive collection

increasingly available in digitised format

Many maps require preservation first

• indicate when an area was available for residential development

• provide an idea of desirable features of the time and the cost

• show the main landmarks and early settlers in the ‘local sketch’

• Inducements to purchase included free transport and luncheon

Albion HillEstate map1899

Local sketch provides

context to the estate

Estate maps indicate

when blocks started

selling

Estate mapAlbion Hill 1899

Local sketch points out

• area’s main features

• and current owners

RealEstateMap

Card indexes of building articles: L4

• Society and Home Magazine, Steering Wheel

Search by Brisbane-residences-house name

• Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland

Search by suburb – residences/building names

Magazines indexed are on microform L3

• Old subject catalogue

search by Brisbane-residence-house name

Tenders: A & B Journal

Tenders:

Brisbane Courier

Steering Wheel and

Society and Home

Magazine 1933

Derrington

Queensland directories

The house address is first in the directories in 1934

Derrington was finished in March 1931

William and Margaret Packer on electoral roll here in 1931

Note: absence of house name, street numbers

Architectural plans

• John Oxley Library L4 – some digitised online

Stombuco, Dods,

• Fryer Library (Uni of Qld)– Google map of

Queensland with overlay detail of UQ holdings

• Most workers’ houses did not have an architect

House plans L4 and online

• Queensland Deposit and Loan 1897

• Queensland worker’s dwellings 1909

• Queensland State Advances Corp 1925

• Queensland Housing Commission 1945 -

• War service homes 1919 -

• Queensland bungalows 1937 online

• Campbell Redicut Homes 192-

Queensland

Deposit Bank

1887

Redicut Homes 1918

Conditions:

• Possess an unencumbered title in own name of

suitable land in residential locality for the dwelling

• Not already be a home owner

• On application, have a total income

exceeding £416 pa

• The home was to be for himself and family,

no other purpose

Worker’s Dwelling Scheme 1909

First Worker’s dwelling 1909 and today

Google street view 2009Courier Mail 6 June 1989

Heritage Register

War service homes 1919-• Try Trove tags in Queensland: war service homes

• One Search with ‘exact phrase,’ war service homes

books and some photographs

• Qld Votes & Proceedings

Queensland Housing Commission 1945-• Dept of Housing annual report Qld Votes Proceedings

• Search One Search using the phrase, ‘Queensland

Housing Commission’

• Building communities : celebrating the achievements

of the Queensland Housing Commission 1945-2003.

(2004) P 728.3 bui

• Many suburban images online;

some include house plans

Street name changes• Street names may have changed several times:

Graham St, Robert St, Yardley Av

• Check old directories online

• Check Renamed places in Queensland

http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/FamilyHistory/Other/

Renamed-Places-in-Queensland.html

• Greater Brisbane area : atlases and street directories : set of 4 1931-c1948. QCFS 912.431 2009

Building and design: 1930s

Derrington

Derrington: The Packer family

Joseph Packer:

• came from Doynton in Gloucestershire

• arrived in Queensland in 1878, aged 25. Cost £1.

• In 1891, started Packer and Knox Tannery.

• In 1898 moved tannery to Hamilton Rd, Downfall Ck.

• His son, William built Derrington

Trove: transmission of real estate by death

Trove: Packer family of Derrington

Trove newspaper search: property description

Researching house history: websitesHouse histories: house and suburban histories from South East Queensland

www.househistories.org

Queensland State Archives Brief Guide: Tracing the history of your househttp://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/CollectionsDownloads/Documents/BG27House.pdf

Research the history of your house : Brisbane City Council

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/do-i-need-approval/

restoring-researching-heritage-properties/research-history-your-house

Includes a 10 step procedure to research a house history

Every house has a history : Ipswich City Council

http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/7698/

Every_House_Has_History.pdf

Researching the history of your Central Queensland home

http://www.mocq.org.au/resources/MoCQ%20History%20of%20Home_Lay4.pdf

Summary

• The strategy of tracing a house history varies

according to:

the purpose

available information and where it is

• Use at least 2 different sources for verification

SummaryImportant resources at SLQ include:

• Qld electoral rolls, post office and street directories,

indexed records of street name changes

• newspapers including Trove clippings for suburbs,

houses and Queensland surnames

• photographs, estate maps, building periodicals,

plans, trade catalogues, manuals of house

designs, books on styles of architecture and

architects, local histories

.