With its huge spreading shade trees and pleasant breezy riverside location, Orleigh Park is understandably a great favourite with many residents and visitors. However, this pleasant place of recreation had its origins in tragedy.
1920 – 1940
Daphne Mayo – Brisbane Sculptor
Daphne Mayo is most famous for her work on Brisbane's City Hall. She was highly successful in both an artistic and commercial sense thriving as a women sculptor in the Depression years. She lived in Highgate Hill on and off for 40 years.
More Tales from Musgrave Park
After reaching a peak of social prominence in the early 20th century, Musgrave Park underwent many changes, survived numerous threats to its existence and has emerged with a new identity.
South Brisbane War Memorial Park and the Disappearing Ridge
The little South Brisbane Memorial Park is not well known, but it sits in the centre of a late 19th century precinct, split by busy Vulture Street.
A Mystery Murder of Married Lovers
On the morning of Christmas Eve 1926, the first train from Sunnybank came to a halt just before Park Road Station at Woolloongabba, waiting for a green signal to continue. Passengers on the left side of the train were startled to see a man and woman lying together partly undressed on a bank next to the railway line. They had been murdered and the perpetrator was never found.
Ernie and Mabel Lane – Radical Activists
Ernie and Mabel Lane were both dedicated communists. After spending some time in an Australian socialist colony in Paraguay, they settled into a home in Dauphine Terrace, Highgate Hill. Both continued to be activists for social change.
Doctor A. Jefferis Turner – “Gentle Annie”
Doctor Jefferis Turner made great contributions to children’s health in Queensland. He was also an expert in moths.
The Pastor’s House
After the unusual beginnings of this house as a home built for a man estranged from his family and his new companion, it was sold to the Lutheran church. From here the Church’s missions in New Guinea were run, with some unexpected episodes.
The Mistress’s House
A distinctive old house on Dornoch Terrace was built by a man, estranged from his family, for his new companion but it was taken from her after his death by the Supreme Court.
From Telegraph To Telephone
Nowadays the internet and mobile phones are our preferred technologies for telecommunication. However the introduction of the automatic telephone to Brisbane in the last century was a great leap forward at the time.
Highgate Hill and Its History 