Middenbury House is a heritage-listed house at 600 Coronation Drive, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1866. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 July 2014.
History Middenbury, a single-storeyed brick building, rectangular in plan and surrounded by verandahs on three sides, is located in Toowong on an elevated position on the Brisbane River. It was constructed in 1865 as a villa residence on land owned by Mrs Eliza Mary Rogers, who purchased the site of just over in that year. Until 1956, the place was used a residence, with large grounds surrounding the house. Following acquisition of the property in 1957 by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) the site was used for radio and television broadcasting, with Middenbury used primarily for office space.
Free settlement occurred in Brisbane, traditional country of the Yuggera and Turrbal people, from 1842. Land available for private ownership was progressively surveyed and offered for sale by the New South Wales Government (the separation of Queensland as an independent colony being in 1859) Land was categorized as either "town", within gazetted towns and villages, "suburban", within of town boundaries or "country", beyond this radius. Early settlement was largely focussed on town land on opposite sides of the river at North Brisbane and South Brisbane, while suburban areas, such as Toowong (then referred to as Milton or West Milton) developed more slowly.
Moggill Road was surveyed and named in 1849 (later known as River Road, then partly Coronation Drive). It was the first route to Ipswich constructed on the north side of the Brisbane River and was shorter than the Ipswich Road on the other side of the river. The land on which Middenbury was constructed was located along this road. From the early 1850s, land speculators increasingly acquired property in the Milton and Toowong area, much of it initially for agricultural purposes.Gregory, Arcadian Simplicity, pp.26-27Allom, Lovell & Associates, Middenbury: An Historical Survey and Management Plan, pp.6-7.
In July 1853 James Henderson, a manager of the Bank of Australasia in Sydney, purchased Portion 25, Parish of Enoggera, a parcel of over , dissected by the Moggill Road and fronting the Brisbane River. Henderson also purchased the adjacent Portion 26 and by 1860 had acquired around between what is now Toowong and Indooroopilly. In 1865 surveyor and land agent James Warner (on behalf of Henderson) began advertising land parcels for sale in the "Village of Nona", a subdivision plan of most of Portions 25 and 26. The remainder of Portion 25, a parcel of just over between Moggill Road and the river, was sold to Eliza Mary Rogers for £100 an acre, with the Certificate of Title registered in April 1865.Andrew Darbyshire and Marilyn England, "Eliza Mary Rogers: Middenbury built " (pp.11-19), in Marilyn England (comp), Toowong 1863-2011, Toowong History Group, Brisbane, 2012 p.11, (pp.11-19)Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), Queensland Government, Certificate of Title No:11058015.
Born in 1797 at Rogate, in West Sussex, England, Eliza Mary Rogers (née Gardner) arrived in Australia in 1835 with her husband Richard Rogers, their three children Eliza Mary, Louisa Emily, Lewis Gardner and three children from Richard's first marriage, Edward, Richard and Anna Susan. Another child Frank was born in 1837. Richard Rogers was employed as Ordnance Storekeeper in Sydney and for a time was also Colonial Storekeeper. In 1850 he was transferred to Hobart and performed similar duties until his retirement in 1855. The Rogers' returned to Sydney and in 1863, Richard accidentally drowned in a shallow creek in their garden at their Darling Point residence "Springfield".Darbyshire and England, "Eliza Mary Rogers: Middenbury built ", p.12. Eliza Rogers' move from Sydney may have been influenced by her son Lewis Gardner (LG) living and working in Brisbane at this time. LG Rogers (b.1835) was appointed as a first class revenue clerk for the Queensland Treasury in 1862, a relatively high ranking and well paid position.Courier, 11 August 1862, p.2. It is uncertain when Eliza Rogers first came to Brisbane, but by February 1864 she was advertising for domestic servants in Milton.Courier, 15 February 1864, p.3.
Following the separation of Queensland in 1859, the first half of the 1860s was a period of strong growth for Brisbane in the newly established colony of Queensland. Immigration boosted the population dramatically (more than doubling between 1861 and 1864 to over 12,000) and many substantial public and private buildings were constructed during this time. The urban environment of Brisbane's fledgling town centre, where residential dwellings co-existed in close proximity with commercial and industrial activity, was characterised by congestion, noise, and poor sanitation, common among other developing towns and cities in mid-19th century Australia.Gregory, Arcadian Simplicity, p.29Allom Lovell & Associates Pty Ltd, Middenbury: An Historical Survey and Management Plan, p.7. During this period "villa estates", located in the suburban periphery in then semi-rural settings – on elevated locations such as along ridgelines, and in some instances with river frontage - became an increasingly popular type of dwelling for Brisbane's more affluent residents. This demographic included higher-ranking public servants, professionals and successful business people. The flight to residential villa estates by the well-to-do was a development pattern that occurred internationally during the Victorian era. Key elements of villa estates included large and comfortable houses, associated outbuildings such as servant's' quarters and stabling, expansive garden settings, and a good road to town.Gregory, Arcadian Simplicity, pp.29-30Allom Lovell & Associates Pty Ltd, Middenbury: An Historical Survey and Management Plan, p.7Rod Fisher, "In Search of the Brisbane House" in Rod Fisher and Ray Sumner, eds, in Brisbane: Housing, Health, The River and The Arts, Brisbane History Group, 1985, p.43.
While some early Brisbane suburban villa residences were located in relative isolation (such as St Johns Wood, in present-day Ashgrove), in other instances they were established in closer proximity, as occurred along the ridges and on the Brisbane River between Milton and Toowong. At the time of Eliza's Rogers' land purchase there were only a small number of residences in the area. Early substantial residences in the area included: Milton House , built for retired chemist Ambrose Eldridge; "Minto", built for WLG Drew, Queensland's Auditor-General (1877–1889); "Dovercourt" (1864), the residence of architect William Ellerker; Moorland Villa (by 1862) for John Markwell, and Richard Langler Drew's "Karslake", later residence of early Toowong memoir writer John Bowden Fewings.See Gregory, Arcadian Simplicity, pp.26-45 and Marilyn England (comp), Toowong 1863-2011, and for early settlement and establishment of villa residences in Toowong/Milton area. Inhabitants. This early pattern of suburban settlement can be seen as both a geographic and built expression of the emerging socio-economic structure in Brisbane.
In 1862 Richard Langler Drew bought and subdivided land on the outskirts of Brisbane, setting up a signboard: "This is the village of Toowong".The name "Toowong" is thought to derive from an Aboriginal word describing a bird, or the call of a bird, possibly the Koel or Cooee bird, a species of Cuckoo. Source: . However, closer suburban settlement did not occur in the area until the 1870s, spurred on by the arrival of the Main Line railway to Brisbane from Ipswich which passed through Toowong. By 1881 there 1275 people living in Toowong in 300 dwellings.Gregory, Arcadian Simplicity, p.39.
In March 1865, the Brisbane Courier noted, "substantial brick villas, instead of wooden houses are on the increase".Brisbane Courier, 17 March 1865, p.2. A later article in September stated, "numerous villa residences have been erected during the past 12 months in the suburbs of the town...No greater proof of the prosperity of a city as a whole can be afforded than that derived from the disposition of its citizens to plant and build on its environs, and to make it their home socially as well as professionally...Scarcely a day passes but our advertising columns invite tenders for the erection of villa residences...".Brisbane Courier, 29 September 1865, p.2.
The house was built for Eliza Mary Rogers and completed by December 1866.Tony Moore, "1860s home on ABC Toowong site heritage listed" , Brisbane Times, 21 July 2014."Heritage listing for house on former ABC site" , Press release, Queensland Heritage Council, retrieved 3 September 2014. The design of Middenbury has been attributed to architect James Cowlishaw although there is no firm evidence of this.Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1994, p.44. Cowlishaw advertised tenders for the erection of a cottage of brick at Milton in the Brisbane Courier 17 May 1865, p.1. An October newspaper advertisement for villa sites on the Nona Estate noted their location next to the residence '"recently erected for L.G. Rogers, Esq."'Brisbane Courier, 30 October 1865, p.5. indicating Middenbury was constructed at this time.
A 1984 conservation management plan describes Middenbury when it was completed:Allom Lovell & Associates Pty Ltd, Middenbury: An Historical Survey and Management Plan, p.10."Middenbury...followed the detached villa pattern. The main part of the house was built in brick with a slate roof and was surrounded by verandahs on three sides. A large room, able to be divided by cedar folding doors, occupied the front of the house. Each end of this room was fitted with a cedar mantlepiece. The interior joinery was of cedar. The main door opened into a short hall which led from the verandah on the northern side into a long hall which extended through the centre of the house to a back verandah. It is believed that during the Rogers' occupancy of the house, one half of the large divided room at the east of the house was used as a dining room. The original breakfast room was situated behind the main entrance hall."Middenbury took advantage of its elevated waterfront location, oriented to face a broad reach of the Brisbane River.
By June 1866, the house was known as "Middenbury".Brisbane Courier, 27 June 1866, p.1. The source of the name has not been verified; one suggested link is the suburb of Midanbury, in Southampton, England, which took its name from a large house Middenbury, built in the 1700s.Darbyshire and England, Eliza Mary Rogers: Middenbury built , pp.12-13. Both Lewis and Eliza Rogers' name appear in notices related to Middenbury from the time of its completion, and the house appears to have been used as residence by both members of the family. Middenbury was let out for a few months in both 1868 and 1869; at this time it was identified as the house of Eliza Rogers.Brisbane Courier, 20 October 1866, p.329 December 1866, p.17 November 1868, p.13 November 1869 p 1. In 1874, of the Middenbury property was acquired by the Commissioner of Railways for the railway extension to Brisbane from Ipswich.DNRM, Queensland Government, Certificate of Title No: CT10058015, CT10227147Darbyshire and England, "Eliza Mary Rogers: Middenbury built ", pp.12. An 1875 survey map conducted as part of this process shows Middenbury with verandahs on its northeast and southeast elevations, with the rear of the house flanked by service wings, and a building on the site of the stables.Reproduced in Darbyshire and England, "Eliza Mary Rogers: Middenbury built ", p.10.