There is a saying that a home is every person's castle. Regardless of the size, style, cost, or placement a home is a place where memories are made and stories are created. Every home begins as a drawing on a piece of paper or an idea in a person's mind. Once created it does become the central part of people's lives. A place to grow in or a place just to shelter in. Regardless of what the walls of a home provide in time those walls do provide a link to our lives as we lived them. Some homes are wonderful architectural creations that stand the test of time. Some make bold statements of who the owners are or who lived in it. Others are simple in design and maybe just a rectangular box with a roof and internal walls. Regardless of what the home structure is there is always the possibility that once gone the history that was contained also goes. The recording and documenting of our homes styles is an important part of connecting with our history. In the period of 1930 and 1933 the newspaper "The Queenslander" published a series titled "Homes of Brisbane" by F. E. Lord. This would have been the first documentation of the history of the homes of Brisbane.
I am a life long educator with interests in family history, photography and the history of Brisbane, Queensland and the colonisation of Australia.In 2020 I decided to expand my knowledge of the houses of Brisbane. Initially I only knew about the well known "Queenslander" style as that is what we Queenslanders grew up knowing as the house style that typically identifies us.
I quickly found out that there is much more than just timber homes. Initially I would take a picture of a house, record the address and then go back and research the digitised information available relating to the home. What started out as taking some pictures of old Queensland timber homes has turned into a historical journey of discovery involving a house and the stories of the people who initially lived in them. More than the physical housew the people and their indivdual stories have formed their own unique part of our history.
I have learnt about the categories of homes which include Federation, Queen Anne, Edwardian, Californian Bungalow, Grand Villas, Spanish Mission, Georgian, Ready Cut - Kits, Workers Cottages, the inter war years, and post war years. The house we call a Queenslander may be one that is transverse gable, a pyramid roof style, asymmetrical bungalow, triple gable or californian bungalow.
The books available on the topic are extensive due to the interest in the "restoration" of the Queenslander. Apart from the range of commercial books available the Brisbane City Council provides a free documnet titled "A simple guide to Brisbane’s heritage places and character homes." Authors such as Judy Rechner, Peter Bell, Rod Fisher, Ian Evans and Beth Wilson are just a small collection of names to look for in your local library.
An excellent web site is www.federation-house.com/queenslander-style which does provide a good overview of what you can see out in the suburbs if you want to start your own investigation on the topic.
Some useful links below for those who like to web surf.
www.househistories.org/research-the-history-of-your-house
https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/research-collections/queensland/built-heritage/house-histories
This is the link to my FLIKR Album of Brisbane homes taken during 2020
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96771066@N05/
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