The House
Queensland Heritage Register Reference
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600216#tab-history
This two storeyed stone residence was erected c1865 at Breakfast Creek for Brisbane businessman James Robert Dickson. Dickson appeared to be living at Breakfast Creek by March 1865, and references to the Dicksons at Toorak appear later that year.
Dickson arrived in Brisbane in 1862, and was in business with Arthur Martin as an auctioneer and land agent until August 1864 when the partnership was dissolved. Martin continued business under his own name, and Dickson formed a new partnership with James Duncan, as general auctioneers and land and commission agents. The firms of A Martin and Dickson and Duncan appear to have been responsible for much of the land subdivision and sales in Brisbane during the mid-late 1860s. Dickson entered Parliament in 1873 as the Member for Enoggera, and held various offices until he resigned in 1887. After failing to regain a seat in the 1888 general election, Dickson did not re-enter politics until 1892 when he won the seat of Bulimba. Dickson became Premier in October 1898, holding this position until December 1899. A strong advocate of Federation, Dickson was a member of the Australian delegation to England for the passage of the Commonwealth bill through the Imperial parliament. Dickson was a member of the first Federal Parliament and appointed the first Commonwealth Minister of Defence. Dickson was involved also in various companies including the Royal Bank of Queensland, the Brisbane Permanent Building and Banking Society, Queensland Trustees and the Queensland Insurance and Land Mortgage Company. Knighted on the day of Federation, he died 10 days later.
William Robert Howe Weekes of Brisbane was granted almost 32 acres of land in 1864. This land included four (4) allotments in the Parish of Toombul, fronting the Brisbane River. Subdivision of this land appeared to commence the following year when Dickson acquired part of the land. By 1873, an area of just under ten (10) acres of land, which included Toorak and grounds, had been transferred into Annie Dickson's name (Dickson's wife). Following Annie's death in 1880, the land was held by Dickson, as trustee.
Toorak was built of stone reputedly from the nearby Petrie quarries at Albion. The design and name of Toorak are believed to have been derived from a house at Toorak in Melbourne designed by a cousin of Dickson. The design of Toorak reflects the influence of the English Picturesque movement on Australian domestic architecture of the late nineteenth century.
A photograph of Toorak taken c1885 shows that the house was originally single storeyed with a two level entry hall protruding through the verandah roof. The second storey appears to have been added by the 1890s. An upper section was added to the tower by the 1890s. Dickson, accompanied by four of his daughters, travelled to Europe in early 1890, returning to Brisbane in late 1891. It is believed that while Dickson was overseas, he acquired the two marble lions which stand at the entrance of Toorak, and that he hired Italian artists to undertake decorative work inside Toorak.
Following Dickson's death in 1901, the land was transferred to Power and Agnes Dickson (two of his children) as trustees. By this time, Toorak stood on an area of just over four (4) acres. Toorak was leased by Eton High School (later St Margaret's School) run by the Sisters of Sacred Advent in 1907. Although Toorak was regarded as an ideal healthy environment for boarders, it was considered to be "too great a climb for day pupils", and the Sisters moved the school to Donatello c1910.
Additions to Toorak were undertaken by Richard Gailey in 1915. Toorak was acquired by grazier George Moffatt in 1916, and then in 1929 by John Gibson of the pioneer sugar family. Subsequent owners were Brisbane businessman Patrick Woulfe, prominent grazier, philanthropist and art collector Harold de Vahl Rubin, and pastoralist Sir William Allen in 1963. Since Allen's death in 1977 Toorak has remained in the Allen family, and stands on an area of 7535m2 (just under two acres).
Wikipedia Reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toorak_House,_Brisbane
Hamilton Today Blog / Newspaper Reference
https://hamiltontoday.com.au/why-toorak-on-annie-st-is-a-house-of-prominence-in-hamilton/
The First Sale
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 13 July 1901, page 14
Auctioneers' Announcements.
TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAIC ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOQRAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE . TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE . TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK- ESTATE.
BREAKFAST CREEK. BREAKFAST CREEK.
THE WELL KNOWN RESIDENCE AND GROUNDS of the late SIR JAMES R. DICKSON, D.O.L., K.O.M.G. TO BE SOLD BY PUBLIC AUCTION, ON THE GROUND, AT 2.39 O'OLOOK P.M., SATURDAY, JULY 27. BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES. AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITY OF SECURING ONE OF BRISBANE'S CHOICEST RESIDENCES and GRANDEST BUILDING SITES Yet offered to public competition in the HISTORY OF THE COLONY.
JAMES R. DICKSON & COMPANY, and POWER L. DICKSON, Auctioneer, in conjunction, have been favoured with instructions from the Trustees to sell by public auction, ON THE GROUND, on SATURDAY, JULY 27, AT 2.30 O'CLOCK P.M. SH ARP, TOORAK HOUSE WITH ABOUT 4 ACRES OF LAND.
Also, ABOUT 20 ACRES, Now being Subdivided for purposes of Sale into MAGNIFICENT BUILDING SITES. IMMEDIATELY OVERLOOKING THE CITY, BRISBANE RIVER, MORETON BAY, AND ITS ISLANDS.
Commanding magnificent panoramic views of the whole surrouuding country, and presenting magnificent scenes far outreaching the wildest imaginations, and fairly baffling description within the limits of an ordinary advertisement.
TOORAK HOUSE is substantially Built of Stone, and Roofed with slate, the whole of the interior containing upwards of 22 rooms and halls is plastered, heavily corniced, and decorated throughout in the latest up-to-date style. Verandas surround tho house on threc sides, having a front of 84 foot, in length, with End Verandas abutting on extensive Bow Windows. The Servants' Quarters', Kitchen, Laundry, Dining Hall, &o., are built of brick, roofed with iron, and connected to the main building by a glass-covered way. Tho whole being supplied with Gas and Water; the Gas Fittings being the best obtainable, even to tho Geyser in the Bathroom.
THE OUTBUILDINGS, being Stables, continuing Five Stalls and Fodder-room, also Coachhouse, Harness, aud Man's Rooms, are all built of brick, roofed with iron, and are in the best of preservation in every respect first-class. The whole of the improvements are all that can be desired by the most exacting and fastidious, and are replete with every convenience.
In addition to the water being laid on. the improvements are supplied with water from TWO EXTENSIVE UNDERGROUND BRICK AND CONCRETE TANKS, with a capacity of 30,000 Gallons, in addition 10 large Galvanised Tanks having a capacity of 29,000 gallons so there is at all times a NEVER FAILING SUPPLY OF THE BEST WATER apart from the Waterworks.
TOORAK is the most Attractive and Comfortably finished Residence, with most comfortable and commodious apartments, admirably arranged and excellently ventilated. The rooms are lofty and spacious, the general arrangements are so convenient, and the internal finishing and fittings so superior that, for comfort, substantiality, durability, aud convenience.
TOORAK stands unequalled in the Colony as a First-class Residence. The situation is incomparable, commanding as it does views marvellous in their magificence and extent, in every direction, forming a varied panorama of ineffable loveliness mid grandeur. It is almost impossible to say too much in placing the merits of this fine property before the public, more- particularly intending purchasers, as this is the the first time such an opportunity has presented itself for placing a property without parallel before the investing public to secure a Magnificent Residence or Sites so Handsomely Situated and Convenient to the city. What is said of the House Property holds equal good with the whole of the TOORAK ESTATE, every subdivision having been surveyed with the greatest euro, giving all sites access at the rear, in addition to the Frontage, where practicable. Opportunities for securing BUILDING SITES such as are presented by the sale of TOORAK ESTATE will never occur again, as they are absolutely unobtainable, having no existence.
TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE stands so conspicuously und confidently to tho front that uiiy person of only ordinary powers of observation cannot havo failed to havo noticed the marvellous growth of this choice suburb during tho past few years, and now, with the trams extended into its midst, with it service every few minutes, eoimcoting with tho city, TOORAK ESTATE TOORAK ESTATE presents opportunities to tho investor nowhere else to be found, either regarding Situation or Certainty of Handsome Return in the immediate future, The Auctioneers, therefore, with the utmost confidence, recommend Intending Purchasers to inspect prior to the DAY or SALE, SATURDAY, JULY 27, . so as to he prepared for action, as the ORDER is to SELL, which will be acted up to to the letter. .......................
JAMES R. DICKSON & COMPANY, AND POWER L. DICKSON, AUCTIONEERS (in Conjuction). Offices : 88a and 359 Queen Street.
James R Dickson
The following is taken from Scootle
https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L9557/about1.html
James Dickson (1832–1901)
DICKSON, Sir JAMES ROBERT (1832–1901), businessman and premier, was born on 30 November 1832 at Plymouth, Devon, England, only son of James Dickson and his wife Mary Maria, née Palmer. He was educated at Glasgow High School, and served as a junior clerk in the City of Glasgow Bank before migrating to Victoria in 1854. He worked first in the Bank of Australasia and then in his merchant cousin's firm, Rae, Dickson & Co. In 1862 he moved to Queensland, taking a position with the estate agent Arthur Martin until establishing his own business in the early 1870s. As an auctioneer and estate agent he acquired wealth and built Toorak House on a magnificent site near the Brisbane River, where he enjoyed what the family firm, in characteristic style, described as 'views marvellous in their magnificence' and 'a varied panorama of ineffable loveliness and grandeur'. Despite these distractions he remained assiduous in his attentions to business and was chairman of the Brisbane Permanent Building and Banking Co. from 1876, foundation chairman of the Queensland Trustees from 1883, and chairman of the Royal Bank of Queensland in the crisis year of 1893.
In 1873 Dickson won the Enoggera seat in the Legislative Assembly. Ministerial office followed rapidly; he was secretary for public works and mines in May–June 1876, and colonial treasurer from June 1876 to January 1879 and from December 1883 to August 1887. In this era of optimism and lavish borrowing he showed his expertise by handling the £10 million loan of 1884. He resigned in August 1887 after disagreement with more radical colleagues over their proposals for a land tax and with the ringing pronouncement that he had yet to learn why it should be 'a crime to be a freeholder'. His constituents seem to have approved the resignation, for his vacation of his assembly seat, to test their judgment, was followed by overwhelming victory in a keenly contested by-election in September. But his seat was less secure than this win suggested: after a redistribution of constituencies and the intervention of a rival Liberal candidate he was defeated in the Toombul portion of his old electorate in the 1888 general election.
Next year Dickson retired from his auctioneering business and travelled widely in Europe. Soon after his return, at a by-election in April 1892, he won the Bulimba seat by supporting Sir Samuel Griffith on the need to resume the importation of South Sea islanders for labour in the Queensland tropics. However, he had to wait for ministerial office until February 1897 when he was appointed to the minor role of secretary for railways in the Nelson government. Thereafter, Dickson's rise was rapid; he became postmaster-general in March, home secretary in March 1898, retaining this place in the Byrnes ministry, and premier, however stopgap, in October after Byrnes died suddenly and (Sir) Robert Philp was reluctant to accept the office. Alfred Deakin later maintained that Philp, favoured for the premiership by the Liberal caucus, withheld his candidature on the understanding that Dickson, who, as Queensland's representative in the Federal councils of 1886 and 1888 had opposed the colony's participation in the Convention movement, should now fight the Brisbane commercial-oriented opposition to Federation and rally support for the cause. Whatever the truth of this contention, or of Sir Thomas McIlwraith's less-charitable observation that Dickson supported Federation primarily to promote his own self-esteem, the ministry was chiefly notable for its successful conduct of the Queensland referendum on the Commonwealth bill, on 2 September 1899. Deakin was to acknowledge Dickson's 'invaluable assistance' in the contest, noting that 'his government was by no means unanimous for federation, Parliament distinctly critical, the Assembly about equally divided, the Council emphatically hostile', and the metropolis opposed to a measure which seemed to threaten Brisbane's trade. Prudently Dickson had introduced a provision whereby Queensland might be divided for the purpose of electing members of the Senate, and this prospect, naturally attractive to the sparsely inhabited north, was a factor, if only minor, in solidifying North Queensland's overwhelming and decisive vote for Federation.
The Dickson ministry did not long survive the referendum, but its successor, the Anderson Dawson Labor ministry was promptly rejected by the assembly, and Dickson returned to office as chief secretary in Philp's administration. He thus became a member of the Australian delegation to England in connexion with the passage of the Commonwealth bill through the Imperial parliament. In England he sided with Joseph Chamberlain in opposing the proposed abolition of the right of appeal from the High Court of Australia to the Privy Council. Dickson's stand symbolized the man: the enthusiastic Imperialist, whose ministry had seen that Queensland was the first colony to offer troops to vindicate the Imperial cause against the Transvaal, and who disapproved of colonial separatism; and the 'commercial man' who welcomed the British House of Lords as a security for property and business interests in a Federation which might move in a radical direction. It also reflected, according to Deakin, the continuing influence of Griffith, still manipulating the affairs of Queensland from the Queensland bench. In the event Chamberlain, Griffith and Dickson secured only a severely qualified success.
The final stage of Dickson's career was tragic, dramatic and brief. Appointed K.C.M.G. in January 1901 and minister of defence in the first Federal administration, he was taken ill at the Commonwealth's inaugural ceremonies in Sydney, and died there on 10 January after one week in office he had been a diabetic for about eighteen years. Queensland provided a state funeral for the businessman-politician who somewhat accidentally had become one of its leading Federal spokesmen. He was buried in Nundah cemetery. Dickson was for many years a prominent layman in the Church of England, particularly as financial adviser to the diocese of Brisbane. He was a justice of the peace and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain and of the Royal Colonial and Imperial Institute. He married first Annie Ely (1838–1880) on 8 November 1855 at Collingwood, Victoria, and second, on 5 January 1882 at Carcoar, New South Wales, Mary MacKinlay (1841–1902) who became the first headmistress of the Brisbane Girls' Grammar School. He was survived by six sons and seven daughters of the first marriage. His second son, Frederick (1859–1928), became Crown prosecutor in Brisbane and as acting judge of the Arbitration Court handed down the Dickson award for the sugar industry in 1916. Portraits are in Parliament House, Canberra, and in the board room of the Brisbane Permanent Building & Banking Co.
Queensland, 1900 (Brisbane, no date); C. A. Bernays, Queensland Politics During Sixty Years (Brisbane, 1919); A. Deakin, The Federal Story, J. A. La Nauze ed (Melbourne, 1963); Brisbane Courier, 10, 14 Jan 1901; private information.
D. D. CUTHBERT
Reproduced by kind permission of the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au, The Australian National University.
Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Saturday 12 January 1901, page 5
THE LATE SIR J. R. DICKSON.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL.
CLOSURE OF PUBLIC OFFICES.
THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SOUTHERN COLONIES.
FURTHER EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY.
ARRIVAL OF SPECIAL TRAIN.
The coffin containing the remains of Sir James R. Dickson came from Sydney by special train, reaching the Central Railway Station at 4.20 p.m. yesterday. Mrs. Cyrus Williams, Mrs. Leeper, Miss Dickson, Miss Lucy Dickson, and Mr. Power Dickson, members of the family, were passengers in the same train. As it was considered that the returning relatives would prefer their arrival in Brisbane to be as quiet as possible, there was nothing in the shape of a formal reception, and the Government was not represented. A large number of people had, however, assembled in the vicinity of the station, though the platform itself was kept perfectly clear by the police, under Sub-inspector Burke, and the railway officials, under Mr. J. F. Thallon, the Deputy Commissioner, and Mr. R. Dunbar, the district traffic manager. Among those present were the Bishop of Brisbane, the Rev. A. Maclean, the Rev. S. C. Harris, the Hon. A. H. Barlow, M.L.C., the Hon. P. Macpherson, M.L.C., and Mr. S. Grimes, M.L.A. As the train steamed into the station it was seen that the front car, containing the coffin, was heavily draped with black. Those who were awaiting the tram immediately bared their heads, and remained uncovered while the coffin was borne by the railway officials to the hearse standing by in readinoss. A number of beautiful wreaths from Sydney were placed in the hearse, which was then driven to Sir James's late residence.
Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 19 January 1901, page 124
THE LATE SIR JAMES DICKSON.
AN IMPRESSIVE STATE FUNERAL.
The funeral of the late Sir James Dickson, which took place on Saturday afternoon, war one of the largest and most impressive ever seen in Brisbane. It was marked by the fullest expressions of public esteem and regret. The whole city was in gloom, and on the part of the great mass of the people sympathy with the bereaved family was mingled with a realisation of the loss which the State of Queensland has sustained in the termination of a career which might, even in its closing years, have wrought much good to the State and to the Commonwealth. Business was practically suspended throughout the city, and all who could possibly do so issued forth to take some part in showing how deeply the popular reelings have been stirred.
Those who were unable to take any part in the procession showed their sympathy by lining on either side the streets along which it passed, and reverently baring the head as the hearse moved slowly by. From the starting point and along the Breakfast Creek road the ranks of those who thus looked on were, as might have been expected, not so crowded but when the cortege turned into Ann street and reached the junction of Brunswick street it had to pass through a densely packed throng. At the meeting of Wickham and Boundary streets the density of the gathering was even greater, and a large stream of people to right and left accompanied the procession up to All Saints Church, where the memorial service was held. After the service the procession was continued to Roma street station, where it entrained for Nundah.
On arrival at Nundah Station the coffin was transferred to a gun carriage, in charge of Lieutenant Macartney, of the Royal Australian Artillery. A large number of local residents lent their presence and their sympathy to the melancholy ceremonies. The Bishop of Brisbane, who accompanied by Archdeacon David, the Rev. T. Jones, and the Rev. A. J. Maclean, had driven out from town, joined in this final procession to the German Station Cemetery. A score or more of vehicles fell in behind. The march played by the band was Beethoven's. Less than a mile away, on a gentle knoll, the marble tablets and monuments of the little cemetery glistened in the sunlight. It was a quiet spot. A large number of people had collected in the vicinity of the grave, and the great number of vehicles outside the ground showed that many of them had driven miles to be present at the rites. At the cemetery gates gates the choir boys took their place at the head of the cortege. There are degrees of impressiveness. The scene at the grave, as is fitting, was the most impressive of all. Pride of place or authority no longer carried with any distinction. Self reemed to be forgotten in the presence of the augurt dead-in the presence of those whose grief at his loss was not to be measured by words. "Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of trouble." The words were intoned by the Rev. T. Jones amid a silence that was broken only by the rustling of the leaves of a solitary palm tree overhead. Alongside the coffin stood the men of the Naval Brigade, who had carried it to its resting place, and who were finally to lower it into the opening into which, for the last time, the sun's rays were penetrating. The priest had scarsely finished the prayer when the choir, with voices had seemed to come from afar, broke into the strains of a beautiful hymn. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." The music was plaintively touching. It rent the heart strings of a few, and brought tears to the eyes or raised lumps in the throat, of the many. His Lordship the Bishop recited the concluding portion of the service. The coffin was committed to the ground, and sorrow stricken ladies bent over the grave, into which they threw flowers, expressive of affection and reremembrance. The tension was at its highest when the choir struck a cheering note. " Jesus lives ! No longer now can thy terrors, Death. appal us." As the last " Alleluia" died away the Bishop prenounced the benediction, and all was over. The last rites had been performed with a solemnity befitting the occasion. Queensland had done its duty by the remains of its respected public servant, as Sir James R. Dickson, in life, had done his by Queensland.
George Moffatt Esq.
Not a lot is known about George Moffatt apart from him being a grazier and pastoralist. It is obvious that those who purchased Toorak House were people of considerable wealth.
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 22 April 1922, page 16
John Gibson and Family
From my research I am of the opinion that the Gibsons may have rented Toorak House for a short period of time in the late 1920s to early 1930s. Research states that John Gibson was part of the Gibson family who were pioneers in the sugar industry in Queensland. The John Gibson of Toorak Houe was brother to Angus Gibson M.L.C. and the son of William Gibson founder of the Gigson family sugar empire.
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 29 May 1920, page 7
Death of Hon. A. Gibson, M.L.C SUGAR GROWING PIONEER.
Hon. Angus Gibson, for 21 years a distinguished member of the Legislative Council, and one of the pioneers of the sngar growing industry in Queensland, died in Brisbane yesterday, after along illness. He passed away at his home, Kilmaurah, Hampstead road1, named atfer his birthplace in Scotland. Mr. Gibson was 78 years of age, and had spent 57 years of his life in Queensland, having come to this country with his father in 1863, to be followed shortly afterwards by his mother and brothers. They settled on Doughboy Creek, at what is now Hemmant, and tried market gardening. Sugar growing was then beginning to excite, interest, and the family ventured into this new iudustry on the Brisbane River, with much success. The crushing of the cane was effected under novel conditions, the necessary plant having been installed on a river boat, the Walrus, which steamed from the plantation to the city, carrying out the crushing en route. Later the family set up their own crushing plant. In 1884 the Gibsons sold out and joining the Howes brothers turned their activities to the more tropical Bundaberg district, where , they acquired the Bingera plantation, which until two years ago remained the chief seat of Mr. Angus Gibson's remarkable activities. He was a thorough student of the whole sugar Industry, and when in 1899 he was given a seat in the. Legislative Council he quickly established his value as an authority. on this subject. He was thus enabled to bring most important influences to bear on all the legislative movements affecting the Industry. He continued to be a leading light in the Upper House until a year or two ago, When advancing age drew him into comparative retirement. During his 36 years in the Bundaberg district, he threw himself heart, and soul into the task of advancing the interests of that part of the State. ..........................................
The deceased gentleman is survived by his widow and five daughters, and three sons, Mesdames A. Al. Wilde (South Brisbane), Boreham (wife of Lieutenant-Colonel J, F. Borehain, Bundaberg), A. C. Wiles (Sydney), I,. A. Westcott (Wellington Point), H. S. Westcott (Catumnal station), and Messrs. W. G. Gibson (Bingera)l, D. L. Gibson (Melmoth station), and Angus Gibson (Mount Morgan"). Mr. John Gibson (of the Thornhill and Gibson Pastoral Company), is the only surviving brother of the deceased, and his sisters still living - are -Mrs. W. Stirling and Mrs.Aird. both of South Brisbane. Mrs. Thomas Gillies, of South Brisbane, is a sister-in-law. At the expressed wish of the deceased, the interment, which has been arranged for tomorrow afternoon, will take place in the South Kolan Cemetery, near Bingera plantation.
Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 19 August 1927, page 27
MRS. JOHN GIBSON
The sudden death of Mrs. John Gibson, Toorak, Hamilton, Brisbane, came as a shock to a wide circle of friends. Mrs. Gibson, who was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Kennedy, was of Scottish birth. In her youth she was a teacher, and served at the Petrie Terrace and Normal Schools. She was extremely popular with her pupils. She was the possessor of a beautiful contralto voice, and her duets with her sister, Mrs. James Maitland (then Miss Annie Kennedy) were fea-tures of many of the city's concerts. She also sang frequently at the services of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. After her marriage Mrs. John Gibson settled at Bingera. Subsequently Mr. Gibson took up Thornhill, Leura, and Maryland stations. Mrs. Gibson for some time past had been a resident of Brisbane, living first at Bowen Terrace and later at Toorak. She is survived by her husband, five daughters, who are married, reside at Clifford and Chainwood. The single daughters are Misses Jessie, Olive, and Lorna Gibson, and the son Mr. Douglas Gibson, Hunter's Hill, Gore.
Patrick Woulfe
Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1922 - 1933), Wednesday 18 March 1931, page 8
REDUCED PRICES. WOULFE AND SON'S SUITS.
Messrs. Woulfe and Son, tailors, announce that they have decided on drastic reductions in selling prices in the hope that increased business will make further price reductions possible. Mr. P. Woulfe, manager of the firm, states that the success of their business was due to volume in trade, keen buying, and the adoption of the most efficient methods of production. The firm, he pointed out, bought direct from the textile mills, and the 2.5 per cent, discount allowed by the manufacturers of cloth more than wiped out the handling charges between mill and workrooms. In Woulfe and Son's extensive premises in Little Roma-street overhead costs were worked out to fractions of pence. Pointing to the offers of low-priced suits to the public, Mr. Woulfe said that the firm was alive to every opportunity such as was presented at the beginning of the week, when, in face of a rise in the price of wool, he was able to make a big purchase of woollen fabrics at former prices. This material would be used in the making of winter suits. A separate section of the Woulfe workrooms is entirely devoted to the execution of Government contracts, which include the manufacture of police, railway and fire brigade uniforms. While cutting machines tend to reduce production costs, a large squad of expert cuttcrs with manual shears devotes attention to the cutting of suits, graded according to price. Similarly, while in the sewing-room 100 girl operatives, all highly trained, are busily engaged at a huge battery of machines, which include eyelet and button-holers and padding machines, a similar number of tailors and tailoresses are plying their needles.
All Woulfe and Son's suits, the firm emphasises, are hand-finished. Pressors using gas-and-air irons are fully occupied, and here again the efficiency of the plant tends to reduce cost. At the end of the long process a staff of examiners ensures that every suit sent out is without flaw. The country order department, on an average, deals with between 80 and 90 orders daily. The firm posts to all inquirers full range of patterns, together with a scientifically-planned self -measurement form. Mr. Woulfe said that, although it was difficult for a country customer to make a mistake in measurements, the details of every order were checked by experts, who were quick to see technical mistakes, and the client was advised accordingly. Mr. Woulfe says that the price range of suits from £3/3/ to £6/10/, was in accord with the drop in national income: he was desirous of meeting the requirements of the public in a difficult time.
Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Thursday 1 April 1948, page 2
DEATH OF MR. PATRICK WOULFE
Mr. Patrick Woulfe, who died at his home, Toorak Hill, Hamilton, this morning, was well known in business circles. Mr. Woulfe, who was 59, was born at Paddington and had lived practically his whole life in Brisbane. He was founder of the tailoring firm of Woulfe and Son, Adelaide Street. In 1913 he was making eight suits a week, but by 1939 the total had risen to between 700 and 800 a week. He was a generous benefactor to the Roman Catholic Church and other religious bodies. His wife, seven children and two grandchildren survive him.
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Tuesday 13 July 1948, page 3
Estate of £95,235
Patrick Woulfe, a company director, of Hamilton, Brisbane, who died intestate on April 1, left £95,235, of which realty represented £12,506 and personalty £82,729. Letters of administration were granted in his estate yesterday.
Harold De Vahl Rubin
The following is taken from the Australian Dictionary of Biography by Lynn Seear published 2002
Harold De Vahl Rubin (1899-1964), grazier, art-collector and philanthropist, was born on 3 January 1899 at Carlton, Melbourne, younger son of Mark Rubin, a diamond merchant from Kovno, Russia (Lithuania), and his Victorian-born wife Rebecca, née Davis. Harold began his education at Broome, Western Australia, where his father owned a pearling fleet. After the family moved to London, he attended University College School, Hampstead (1908-15), and Eton College (1916). Commissioned in the 5th Battalion, Coldstream Guards, in February 1917, he served with the 38th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and was promoted lieutenant in January 1918. He returned to civilian life in 1919.
On 8 July 1925 at the Synagogue, Hampstead, Rubin married Marcelle Yvonne Raphael; the marriage was to end in divorce. Left a fortune by his father (who had died in 1919), he set up as a pearl merchant in London in the mid-1920s. During the 1930s he expanded the family's pastoral holdings in Queensland and Western Australia, and began to collect paintings. His next three marriages also ended in divorce: at the register office, Westminster, he married 20-year-old Leila Hyde on 17 October 1940, 25-year-old Elizabeth Wilkie Cameron on 11 July 1945, and 24-year-old Marie Spain on 30 December 1948. He was again commissioned in the British Army in October 1941. Demobilized in 1945 with the honorary rank of major, he worked as an art dealer at 20 Brook Street, London.
Major Rubin returned to Australia in 1950 to run his extensive grazing interests which included Queensland Pastoral Estates and properties on the De Grey River in Western Australia. He lived at Toorak House, a mansion built by Sir James Dickson at Hamilton, Brisbane, but regularly visited his 17,000-acre (6880 ha) property Pikedale, near Stanthorpe, and kept a flat at the Astor in Macquarie Street, Sydney. On 18 November 1959 at the general registry office, Brisbane, he married Julia Eleanora Gvozdic, née Hanselman, a 30-year-old divorcee known as Julie Muller.
In 1959 Rubin facilitated the Queensland Art Gallery's acquisition of seven important European paintings from his private collection, comprising works by Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vlaminck which were valued in all at £126,504. The most significant was Picasso's 'La Belle Hollandaise' (1905), painted in the years between the artist's 'blue' and 'rose' periods. Rubin was prescient in recognizing what he called its 'exquisite tenderness'. The painting is frequently requested for inclusion in major international exhibitions of Picasso's art.
After undergoing a major operation in 1956 at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Rubin became a benefactor of the hospital. In 1958 he financed St Vincent's purchase of Babworth House, Sir Samuel Hordern's home at Darling Point, and provided the money needed to equip it as an after-care annexe, which was opened in August 1961. Overall, he gave an estimated £500,000 to hospitals and medical research.
Rubin was a man of eccentric habits, but he initiated many of the bizarre stories about himself, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. In the late 1950s he founded the Queensland chapter of the International Goldfish Club (membership was restricted to those who were prepared to swallow a live goldfish) to raise money for the Miss Australia Quest. His city residences were filled with paintings, stacked face to face, as well as with live and stuffed exotic and domestic birds—'parrots, lorikeets, budgies, canaries, finches and sparrows'. He bought entire exhibitions of work by young painters; Robert Hughes, who became an art critic, benefited from his largesse.
In 1962 Rubin was converted to Catholicism. He died of cancer on 7 March 1964 at St Helen's Hospital, South Brisbane, and was buried with Catholic rites in Canberra cemetery. His wife and their son survived him, as did the son of each of his first and third marriages; the son of his fourth marriage predeceased him. Rubin's estate was sworn for probate at $949,342. He bequeathed eighteen paintings to the government of Israel. The bulk of his art collection, which had once numbered four hundred works, including sixty paintings by (Sir) William Dobell, was sold by auction between 1971 and 1973.
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Saturday 31 March 1951, page 1
£200,000 ON NEW LAND IDEAS:
THE QUIET MAJOR PLANS AN EMPIRE By R. F. CORNISH
MAJOR Harold Rubin has spent more than £200, 000 in Queensland to back his ideas on new sheep land management. Unassuming and quietly-spoken. Harold Rubin, who is in his early fifties, looks more the part of a retired Army officer than the chief figure in vast land enterprise. In an interview yesterday he and his newly-appointed general manager in Queensland, Mr H. G. (Rex) Whitty, told something of the aims and ambitions of the Pastoral Estates. This is the all over name registered to cover the activities of the 10 Rubin properties in Queensland.
Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 18 March 1951, page 3
Wealth of pearls and pastures
PEARLS have played a big part in the life of rich pastoralist Major Harold Rubin, who last week added another to his string of Queensland stations. His father, Mark Rubin, became one of the biggest pearling men in Broome (W.A.), and Harold later was one of the best-known pearl dealers in the Persian Gulf.
The father, once rated in Paris as a millionaire, acquired wide pastoral interests in Western Australia. Then, early in the century, Queensland entered the picture —and there was a new touch of pearling—when Mark Rubin formed a partnership with other pastoral pioneers, James Clark ("The Pearl King"), and Peter Tait, to Northampton Downs station, in the Blackall district. Last week Major Rubin bought North Toolburra, in the Warwick district, for about £80,000, including stock. This brought his station purchases in the south-east Queensland corner to around £250,000 in less than a year. North Toolburra was part of the first station occupied on the Darling Downs by the Leslie brothers. Major Rubin's other properties around the Downs are Melrose, one of the oldest properties in the Killarney district, and part of historic Pikedale in the Stanthorpe district. He also owns Northampton Downs and Alice Downs, and West Hill, in the Blackall area. These three properties can run more than 67,000 sheep. In Western Australia, he is principal shareholder to the big De Grey River Pastoral Company.
KEEPS COUNSEL Out Blackall way, people know Major Rubin as a man who keeps his own counsel. He is middle-aged, of medium height, and has a military moustache. In Brisbane he bought Toorak House, Hamilton, recently for £23,000, and there he has valuable pictures and antique furniture collected in world travels. And he has a luxury launch in the river waiting to take him out to his favourite hobby fishing in Moreton Bay. Recently Major Rubin said that he had served to two wars, had served with Montgomery's Eighth Army, returned to Australia last August, and wanted to live permanently to Brisbane.
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