The Fort is a heritage-listed monastery, spiritual retreat and house at 199 Fort Road, Oxley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Drummond Greville Stanley and built in 1882. It is also known as Regina Coeli Retreat and St Mary's Retreat. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 September 2020.
History The Fort, located at the north end of Fort Road in Oxley is a timber house situated on a high bluff on the south bank of the Brisbane River. It was constructed for the retired pastoralist Henry William Coxen (1823–1915), one of the early European settlers on the Darling Downs, on a property he had purchased in 1865. The Fort was sold to the Corkran family in 1906, then to the Passionist Order of the Catholic Church (the Congregation of the Passion, or the Passionists) in 1955, at which time the property became the order's only Queensland retreat (monastery) and a base for their local community outreach. It is officially known as St Mary's Retreat. The majority of The Fort property, not including the house, was sold to the Brisbane City Council (BBC) in 2005, and is now The Fort Bushland Reserve.
Oxley, traditionally the land of the Turrbal and Jagera people,Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, "Public map and resources", https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (accessed 23 April 2020) is about south-west of the Brisbane central business district. In the 1850s, the area was known as Boyland's Pocket, after the pastoralist Thomas Boyland, and in the early 1860s it was subdivided into small farms. Churches, a post office and a hotel were built in the 1860s, near Ipswich Road between Brisbane and Ipswich, and Oxley Primary School opened nearby in 1870. The Main Line railway towards Brisbane, over a bridge at Indooroopilly, opened as far as Oxley West (Sherwood) on 1 October 1874.'Opening of the railway to Oxley', Brisbane Courier, 6 October 1874, p.3 Although the completion of the Main Line railway between Brisbane and Ipswich in 1876 boosted settlement in the district, Oxley remained largely rural until after World War II, with two small areas of settlement: one near Ipswich Road, and the other to the north near the Oxley railway station.DNRME aerial photographs ADA00136653 and ADA00126587, 20 April 1936 (two areas of settlement at Oxley)
In January 1865, the site of "The Fort" (Portion 189 in the Parish of Oxley) consisting of , was purchased by Henry William Coxen and William Sim of "Bendemere" for £59 15s. Located on the south bank of the Brisbane River, less than northwest of the later location of the Oxley railway station, the land was transferred to Coxen alone in 1866. It has previously been claimed that the site of The Fort was purchased by Coxen in 1873, after he passed the property while travelling by boat to Ipswich and its position reminded him of a Fort in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) Survey Plan M3184, 1862DNRME Deed of Grant 10063182, 1865.The Fort at Oxley and its early owners', adapted from talk given by Olivia Corkran, published in The Dynamic and the Genteel, edited by Ralph Fones, Oxley-Chelmer History Group Papers, IV, 2004, pages 10-13.
Henry William Coxen (1823–1915) was born in Croydon, England, on 3 March 1823, the son of Lieutenant Henry Holman Coxen, of the 14th Light Infantry. A firearms accident in 1836, during his time at Eton College, badly injured Henry's right hand. In 1838, aged 15, Henry travelled to Tasmania with his uncle and aunt, noted ornithologist John Gould and his wife Elizabeth (née Coxen), where they were guests of Governor John Franklin. They soon moved to New South Wales. After learning about sheep and cattle management on various stations owned by his paternal uncle, Stephen Coxen, and under the tutelage of his uncle Charles Coxen, Henry was sent north in 1842 to the Darling Downs, where Patrick Leslie and his brothers had begun European settlement in March 1840. Accompanied by Lieutenant Irving, three men and an Aboriginal boy, Henry took two drays and 300 head of cattle and selected Jondaryan station in the northern Darling Downs on behalf of his uncle Charles. Jondaryan station was first selected by Henry Dennis in 1841, while he was in the area to select Jimbour for Richard Todd Scougall, and Myall Creek for Charles Coxen.'Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family', HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10.M French, "Conflict on the Condamine: Aborigines and the European invasion", Toowoomba, Darling Downs Institute Press, 1989, pp.71-2'Echoes of the past', by "Ben Bolt", Darling Downs Gazette, 24 May 1919, p.2
Henry returned to England in 1845 to work for a mercantile firm. He married Mary Ann Shelton in London in January 1848, and after some time in the Cape Colony (now within South Africa) the couple returned to Sydney in April 1852. He then took up further pastoral stations in what became Queensland, becoming the owner or part-owner of at least 17 large grazing leases, including Bendemere near Yuleba. Bendemere was advertised for sale in 1864,Advertising' The Argus, 20 May 1864, p.3 and was later sold to the Macfarlane family.'Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family' HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10 He divorced in 1865,'Law Report', Argus, 23 September 1865, p.6 (divorce) and married Margaret Moorhead in Victoria in February 1866.'Marriages', Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 20 February 1866, p.2 Henry disposed of his pastoral interests, and he and Margaret had returned to England by 1867. After unsuccessful investments in foreign securities and the South African sugar industry, Coxen and his family returned to Queensland in 1880."News and Notes", Brisbane Courier, 2 October 1865, p.4'Personal', The Brisbane Courier, 26 August 1915, p.11 (death of Henry William Coxen'Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family', HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10'Brisbane's historic homes, CVII - The Fort', FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34.'Mr HT Macfarlane', The Queenslander, 27 October 1927, p.16 (Macfarlane family to Bendemere in 1865). By this time, Henry and Margaret had four children. Henry and Margaret's eldest child was Sarah Moorhead Coxen (b.1861). Their eldest son, Henry Charles Coxen (b.1869) became the chief of staff of the Queensland Department of Public Works. Their younger son, Major-General Walter Adams Coxen CB, CMG, DSO (b.1870) fought in World War I, rising to command the Royal Artillery of the Australian Corps, and by 1930 was Chief of the Australian Section of the Imperial General Staff.'Brisbane's Historic Homes, CVIII-Eddystone and The Slopes', FE Lord, Queenslander, 26 May 1932, p.34 The youngest daughter was Ella Margaret Coxen (b.-80).
In late 1881, Coxen was still living at Russell Street, Toowoomba. At this time he requested that the owners of Portion 188 in Oxley (located to the east of Portion 189, between it and today's Blackheath Road) pay for half of the dividing fence.'Classified advertising', Brisbane Courier, 17 August 1881, p.1 His Toowoomba address was also listed on the Quarterly Electoral list, Electoral District of Oxley, in July 1881.'Classified advertising', Queenslander, 23 July 1881, p.124
Coxen built his house "The Fort" , on the of land he had purchased in Oxley in 1865. In May 1882, architect Andrea Stombuco sued Coxen for full payment for his preparation of plans and specifications, and taking site levels, for a building for Coxen at Oxley. Stombuco claimed he had been contacted by Coxen in September 1880 to give an estimate for a four-roomed house. Stombuco then drew up his plans, based on sketches received from Coxen, and called for tenders, with the lowest received being £1001.'Southern District Court', Telegraph, 5 May 1882, p.3. Unhappy with a measurement error on a drawing of a large shed (probably the stables) at the property, which had led to an overestimate of the quantity of timber needed, Coxen employed architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley to revise Stombuco's plans for the house, and had received a new estimate for the house of £810 from a contractor in Toowoomba. At the time of the court case "the building was now being erected in accordance with the new drawings and specification". Coxen won the court case.'Southern District Court', Telegraph 6 May 1882, p.5.
FDG Stanley (1839–97) was an architect in Queensland 1862 from 1897. Rising to Colonial Architect in 1873, Stanley was responsible for ambitious, substantial public buildings in Brisbane and regional centres of the colony, including schools, banks, churches, hotels, shops, and civic buildings such as Brisbane General Post Office (1871–2) and its Telegraph Office extension (1876–9). His work is distinguished within early Queensland architects, and his high profile and prolific output has been considered formative in Queensland architecture.D Watson and J McKay, Architects of the 19th Century, Brisbane, Queensland Museum, 1994, pp.166-178S King, "Eclecticism in the Work of Queensland Colonial Architect FDG Stanley, 1871-1881", Fabrications, 21:2, 2012, p.37-60.
In 1882, Stanley was in private practice and, at the height of his career, designing the Queensland National Bank's headquarters (1880–5) in Brisbane, and opening a branch office of his practice in Maryborough. During this period, Stanley also designed substantial residences, including Sidney House, (1882), a villa for Robert Hart (1883), Whinstaines (1886); and Tighnabruaich in Indooroopilly (1889–90).Watson and McKay, Architects of the 19th Century, p.166-178. The Fort was considerably more modest. Little of Stanley's modest residential designs is recorded or studied and it is not clear how much, if any, of Stombuco's existing design was used by Stanley However, The Fort does not have any obvious Stanley hallmarks.D Watson, "A House of Sticks: A History of Queenslander Houses in Maryborough", Queensland Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, June 2012, pp.56-59
In 1932, Florence Eliza Lord described The Fort for The Queenslander newspaper:'Brisbane's historic homes, CVII - The Fort', FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34"Its outer walls are formed of wide horizontal boards, and the inner of vertical ones. The house was originally built without a hall of any kind, the four main rooms - the drawing-room, dining-room, and two bedrooms-opening into each other. There are two verandah bedrooms, and a verandah running between two wings projecting from each end of the back of the house. The wing on the right as one steps on to this back verandah from the dining-room comprises the kitchen... and the other contains a storeroom, bathroom, and-in the Coxen's time-a spare room and Mr Coxen's office. The three latter all open onto a verandah connecting with that previously mentioned. The store-room opened on the other side of this wing, and below it was a cool cellar..."
The house was located near the highest point on the property, with a sweeping view over the Brisbane River. The remainder of the property, which sloped down to the south, was a mixture of treed and open space by 1936.DNRME Aerial photograph ADA00126586, 20 April 1936 For affluent Queenslanders, residing on spacious properties on hilltops, or near the river, and away from the crowded city, was a common practice. Some other examples are the 19th century residences "Tighnabruaich" at Indooroopilly (1889–90), "Middenbury" at Toowong (1865), "Bertholme" at New Farm (), and "Amity" at New Farm (1892). The Fort's site achieved all of the above.