There are intriguing references to a location called Sailors' Gully in Brisbane's Highgate Hill over a 30 year period at the end of the 19th century. A 1930s description mentions runaway sailors living here in tents and later building houses. My research has identified four of the sailors who gave it this name, and revealed their stories.
Highgate Hill History
“Trevenen” – the Life and Death of a Highgate Hill House
The story of the large house Trevenen on Westbourne Street Highgate Hill follows a pattern that is all too familiar. Built between the 1870s and 1880s to house a large affluent family, it was modernised in the 1920s when it enjoyed its social heyday. Trevenen became a mixed family home and flats for some years before being divided into 7 flats for over 60 years. Over time, its condition has steadily deteriorated and demolition has been approved.
Charlie “Chiller” Jones – a Kurilpa Lionheart
Charles Julius Jones survived leg injuries from a shark attack in the Brisbane River as a boy, and shrapnel wounds to the legs on the Somme in WW1, only for tragedy to strike on his return home to West End, Brisbane.
Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 2
In part 1 of my history of Dornoch Terrace, I looked at its ancient origins as an Aboriginal pathway and early European settlement through the 19th century. This post covers the development of the street into a prestigious "dress circle" in the 1920s and 30s, followed by a period of decline, and finally the emergence … Continue reading Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 2
Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 1
Few of those travelling up and down Dornoch Terrace realise that they are following a path that has been in use for tens of thousands of years. Since the arrival of Europeans , the pathway through the bush has been transformed to a rough dirt track, then to a genteel residential dress circle and finally to a heavily trafficked and at times dangerous thoroughfare. This is its story.
Getting the mail in Kurilpa
The early days A convict colony was established at Moreton Bay in 1824 and postal communications were a military affair. However, in 1833, 9 years before its opening to free European settlement, a Mr. Allman was appointed assistant postmaster. In 1842, Gilbert White became the first non-military postmaster. Brisbane's first post office utilised the convict … Continue reading Getting the mail in Kurilpa
All That Glitters – Brisbane Gold Rushes
On three occasions, inner Southside Brisbane experienced the thrill of a gold discovery but no one got rich.
The Lang Family of Rosecliffe Street
Mr David Lang has lived in Rosecliffe Street, Highgate Hill, since his birth over 90 years ago and the Lang family have owned their property for some 135 years. David has many recollections of daily life in times gone by.
The Three Torbrecks
Since the early 1960s, the Torbreck apartment building on Highgate Hill has been a Brisbane landmark. The original Torbreck on the site was demolished in 1958 but another was built nearby by the same family in 1908.
Sheep, a House and Three Churches
The large house "Marly", later called "St. Malo", was a landmark on Hampstead Road in Highgate Hill for 80 years. It was built by the Appel family on the site of their sheep paddock. A succession of people who lived interesting lives lived there before it was demolished in 1951.
Highgate Hill and Its History 