Today I want to share with you the history of Annerley – the suburb of south side Brisbane where I moved in some three years ago. Annerley is located about 6 kilometres south of Brisbane CBD. Annerley covers the central part of the former Shire of Stephens I wrote about here and here. In this post, I’m focusing on the early days of the area from the times of the Boggo Track linking One Mile Swamp with Boggo Ridge, to renaming the area as Annerley.
The Boggo Road
From the opening of Brisbane to free settlement in 1842, South Brisbane developed rapidly as the area linking Brisbane with Cowper’s Plains (now Coopers Plains), Redbank, Limestone (now Ipswich), Cleveland and the Logan. The Slacks Track (Logan Rd) was connecting settlers from Logan and Albert areas with Brisbane market. Also, in the 1850s, the Boggo Road was formed, it was linking One Mile Swamp (Woolloongabba) with a pathway up to the top of the Boggo (Annerley) ridge, connecting with Ipswich Road.
ONE of the most thickly-populated districts of Brisbane is Annerley, which sprang into existence along the bustling highway between Brisbane and Ipswich. These were the two rival capital cities of Queensland, and bullock drivers from the latter town brought their wool-laden teams along the Ipswich-road to the South Brisbane wharves from where the product was shipped to Sydney. [The Brisbane Courier 1931]
Before the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859, the land was surveyed and mapped. The large divisions called Counties were divided into Parishes. Annerley was then part of the Parish of Yeerongpilly in the County of Stanley. In July 1857, George Pratten finished surveying for “small farms” in the area. Below is the description of the Boggo area which was bigger than current Annerley.
It may not be altogether unnecessary for me to inform you where the above district is situated, and had the question been asked twelve months since, the oldest inhabitant would not have been able to reply decisively. It has now been definitely settled, however, and the boundaries are- the new cemetery, the Ipswich road, the Rocky Waterholes Creek and the Brisbane River. Within those limits there is settled a thriving population of farmers and market gardeners, and some thousands of pounds sterling are made yearly by these persevering colonists. The district possesses a distillery, a sugar mill, and an arrowroot mill-both the latter driven by steam, and we possess a name, not ephonious-but, as the immortal William has said, “What’s in a name?” [The Brisbane Courier 1871]
Early settlers
Thomas Blacket Stephens arrived in Australia in 1849 at the age of 30. Firstly he lived in Sydney but in the early 1850s moved to Brisbane and built a house at current Somerville House school. He named the house Cumbooquepa after the aboriginal name for the waterholes behind the house. In 1856, he purchased 206 acres in Coorparoo area and at the government land sale on 29 December 1857 land on the Ekibin Creek. This area Aborigines called “Yee Ke Bin” meaning “good eating”. The western and southern boundaries of Stephens’ lands in later years became Ekibin Road and Sexton Roads respectively. Adjoining this land on the east was Captain Sexton’s land, he became one of the first orchardists of Brisbane. In 1859, further land sales were held and blocks of land were sold to Joseph Thompson, John Cockerill and James Toohey.
One of the earliest industries in the district was the wool scour and tannery the late Mr. T. B. Stephens erected on the Ekibin Creek, while the Stephen mountain near by was the site for the rifle range during the period of the Boer War. [The Brisbane Courier 1931]
New estates
From 1859 Joseph Thompson developed a career as a rural entrepreneur. Thompson and a partner shipped to Melbourne 40,000 pine shingles from the Boggo Road scrub on the boundary of Fairfield. In the mid-1880s, he created the Thompson Estate when he sub-divided his paddocks.
Joseph Thompson, has been handed down to posterity, but old maps record that he was the owner of a substantial block of land in South Brisbane, bounded on the north by O’Keefe-street, on the west by Ipswich-road, near the Diamantina Hospital, on the- south by Juliette street, and on the east by the “tail” of the serpentine Norman Creek. [The Brisbane Courier 1931]
Yet, one of the earliest estates divided and sold was St Kilda Estate in a triangle between Annerley and Ipswich Roads. Below are notes from 1864 describing the value of the properties. Also, you can see St Kilda Estate marked on the Richter Estate sale poster below.
The attention of the public generally is solicited to the important sale of the St. Kilda Estate, situate on the old and new roads to Ipswich, just beyond the One-mile Swamp, and only a few minutes’ walk from the ferry. For the information of those not aware of the fact, we may state that the Brisbane bridge work has commenced, and in four months from this date there will be a foot passengers’ tram rail spanning our majestic river, and the bridge itself will be finished for traffic in one year from this date. [The Brisbane Courier 1864]
Boggo Junction, Ekibin, Ipswich Rd or Richmond?
For a long time, there was no definite name of the district at the junction of Boggo and Ipswich roads. Some residents called it Boggo Junction, others Ekibin and yet others Ipswich Rd. The members of Stephens Division Board with Hon Digby Denham, who later became Premier of Queensland decided to end the confusion when they selected the name Annerley after town Annerly in Surrey, England. However there was a proposal to call the area Richmond, yet Post and Telegraphs office declined it.
From the Under Secretary of Post and Telegraphs, stating that the substitution of the name Richmond for the post office now known as Boggo could not be adopted, as it would lead to confusion with similar offices in North Queensland and New South Wales. [The Brisbane Courier 1892]
“Notices for November” for the Post and Telegraph Department announce the following changes and alterations:—Post office: Boggo is now known as Annerley. [The Queensland 1892]
In the second post, I write about the development of Annerley from the late 1800s onwards.
References:
Mackenzie, Annie 1992, Memories along the Boggo track, Boolarong Publications, Bowen Hills, Qld
Kerr, John, 1942-2003 & Royal Historical Society of Queensland 1997, The Annals of Annerley : proceedings of the Annerley Conference, 17 July 1994, Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Brisbane
