Interested in the history of a house? Discover how to explore its story with this presentation from our House Histories talk held at State Library of Queensland in July 2015. Find out about the importance of determining your purpose, the resources you need, where to find them and the strategies required. You can watch the webcast of this presentation at: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/audio-video/webcasts/family-history or on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/9GFsF9a8lXs?list=PLrqonDHggzO_PSvaJhEWIv4mKi5IQsSEo

1. Resources and strategies
for
house histories
State Library of Queensland
Stephanie Ryan
Senior Librarian
Family History
State Library of Queensland

2. Aims
• to familiarize researchers with a range
of SLQ resources to find the history of a
house
• to examine some strategies for
flexible and successful searching

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. CD-ROM rolls
Searching by
address

11. 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

12. Electoral roll on
CD-ROM

13. Electoral roll 1922: Love Street
No house name
or number

14. 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

15. Electoral roll on CD-ROM
Use simplest term
‘Anywhere in field’

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Post Office Directory 1939
The last year private residences are
listed in the post office directories

20. Trove: free newspapers, images etc.

21. Trove: Skyring link to Bundaberg sawmills
Search terms: Skyring and Northgate

22. Newspapers: Trove obituary
Mrs Emily Skyring Northgate
Henry Albert Skyring established
a sawmill at Bundaberg
Maryborough Chronicle 3 July 1926

23. Finding the house name
May 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

24. Trove: finding the house name

25. Electoral roll on CD-ROM: 1941 Love St
House name Rosellen
combines parts of
Skyring names
Family members record
the address differently

26. Trove newspapers
Property changes over time

27. Property changes over time
Trove

28. 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)

29. Clipping files: photographs & background
Sunday Mail
31 May 1981
Real Estate

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. Photographs: Loma Linda Rosecleer, Rosellen
Google street view 2013

34. Photographs: newspapers, Corley collection
Courier Mail 5 July 1952 p10 Corley photo c 1969

35. Photographs: Google street view

36. 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

37. Photographs Google street view: Nov 2013
Brisbane City Council

38. Google street view: Jan 2008

39. Google street view: Nov 2009

40. 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

41. Albion Hill
Estate map
1899
Local sketch provides
context to the estate
Estate maps indicate
when blocks started
selling

42. Estate map
Albion Hill 1899
Local sketch points out
• area’s main features
• and current owners

43. Real
Estate
Map

44. 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

45. Tenders: A & B Journal

46. Tenders:
Brisbane Courier

47. Steering Wheel and
Society and Home
Magazine 1933
Derrington

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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-

51. Queensland
Deposit Bank
1887

52. Redicut Homes 1918

53. 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

54. First Worker’s dwelling 1909 and today
Google street view 2009Courier Mail 6 June 1989

55. Heritage Register

56. 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

57. 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

58. 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

59. Building and design: 1930s
Derrington

60. 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

61. Trove: transmission of real estate by death

62. Trove: Packer family of Derrington

63. Trove newspaper search: property
description

64. Researching house history: websites
House histories: house and suburban histories from South East Queensland
www.househistories.org
Queensland State Archives Brief Guide: Tracing the history of your house
http://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

65. 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

66. Summary
Important 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