villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
at 4–6 Fernside Street,
East Toowoomba
East Toowoomba is a residential Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in Toowoomba in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , East Toowoomba had a population of 5,953 people.
Geography
East Toowoomba is by road from the T ...
,
Toowoomba
Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...
,
Toowoomba Region
The Toowoomba Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area (LGA) on the border of Darling Downs and South East Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, the LGA was preceded by several other local go ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia. It was built from to . It was added to the
Queensland Heritage Register
The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...
on 21 October 1992.
History
Fernside, a low symmetrical brick building, was built for John Alexander Boyce who arrived in Toowoomba from
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
in August 1870.
From the mid-1870s, JA Boyce accumulated land around what are now Fernside, Arthur and Curzon Streets, including the transferral of two acres on 1 July 1876 and a further two acres on 20 August 1877.
JA Boyce was Clerk of Petty Sessions in Toowoomba from 1870 until at least 1893. In 1895, Boyce was appointed relieving Police Magistrate in Winton and in 1896 was stationed at
Thargomindah
Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the Shire of Bulloo. In the , the locality of Thargomindah h ...
and
Muttaburra
Muttaburra is an outback town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. Muttaburra was the discovery site of the ''Muttaburrasaurus'', one of Australia's most famous dinosaurs.
In the , t ...
. Boyce travelled further afield in later years, holding positions at Barcaldine,
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
People, characters, figures, names
* Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas.
* Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun
* Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
and
Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla () is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, Queensland, Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 Au ...
from 1897 and was appointed Police Magistrate at
Townsville
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
in 1903. In 1909, Boyce retired to Sandgate and died in 1927. His obituary was placed in the
Brisbane Courier
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...
on 8 December 1927.
The house remained in the Boyce family for over 100 years, six generations of the family living there over the period of time, from William Boyce, father of JA Boyce to Lesley Anne, Colin, Rodney and Michael, the children of Peter Boyce, JA Boyce's great grandson.
JA Boyce sold Fernside to his daughter-in-law, Margaret Annie Griffiths, in February 1902. Annie owned it until she died in 1969, aged 100 years. Annie Griffiths was the daughter of George Washington Griffiths who established the Toowoomba Foundry in 1871. The Brisbane Courier reports on 8 June 1886 that "three or four years after starting, Mr eorge WGriffiths took in his brother and brother-in- law to the business." At this time the Foundry was known as Griffith Bros and Company, later, , the name was changed to the Toowoomba Foundry Company Limited.
Annie married Gerard Boyce, JA Boyce's son in Toowoomba on 21 May 1896. News of the couple's marriage was printed in the
Toowoomba Chronicle
''The Toowoomba Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs regional areas in Queensland, Australia.
As of 2016, the newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia, and forms part of their Regional Medi ...
on 4 June 1896. Annie Boyce took out a mortgage on the property in 1915, it is likely that renovations to the eastern elevation were undertaken at this time. By 1955, the street was known as Fernside Street, having been formerly known as Curzon Street.
After Annie's death, Fernside passed to her grandson, Peter Boyce, who owned the property until 1978. In 1978, Fernside was sold to people outside the Boyce family. The current owners have resided at Fernside since 1993.
The grandeur and position of the house were recognised as desirable from very early on. Sir
Arthur Kennedy
John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...
,
Governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...
from 1877 to 1883, used the house as his summer residence. The use of the residence as a summer retreat for the governor continued the trend of using several Toowoomba residences in this manner.
Harlaxton House
Harlaxton House is a heritage-listed villa at 6 Munro Street, Harlaxton, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1869 to 1870 to 1910s circa. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
History
Harlaxton House is ...
was rented by Lord
Lamington
A lamington is an Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, ...
, the eighth governor of Queensland (1896-1901). From 1906 to 1909, Gabbinbar was used as a place of summer residence by
Lord Chelmsford
Viscount Chelmsford, of Chelmsford in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1921 for Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford, the former Viceroy of India. The title of Baron Chelmsford, of Chelms ...
, Governor of Queensland from 1905 to 1909.
Vernon Redwood
Vernon Charles Redwood (14 April 1873 – 15 February 1954) was a maltster and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Biography
Redwood was born at Riverlands near Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand,MLA, rented Fernside in the early part of this century, as did other Toowoomba notables.
Description
Fernside is built on a levelled area rising from Fernside Street to the west, the levelled area falls away to an escarpment to the east. The siting of Fernside provides views from the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
to the east. Fernside's well established garden setting incorporates a carriage drive located at the front, or western side of the house and native and exotic conifers.
The house is a low, symmetrical, rendered brick building, with a hipped roof clad with colourbond sheeting and gutters. The house has verandahs, under a separate roof, located on the western and eastern sides. Two moulded, rendered brick
chimney
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...
s are located at the northern and southern elevations of the house. The original section of Fernside was constructed with several additions at later stages, including an enclosed verandah along northern elevation, a
bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...
and dormer window added to the eastern elevation, possibly and an extension to the southern elevation during the 1990s.
The western elevation, the facade to Fernside Street, faces the carriageway, and is accessed via a set of wide concrete steps. The centred porticoed entrance, topped by a timber fretwork
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
, supported by paired timber posts with timber
brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
, leads to the front entrance, a timber panelled door, with
sidelight
A sidelight or sidelite in a building is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door or a larger window. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent to doorways.Barr, Peter.Illustrated Glossary", ...
and fanlight assemblies. Bay windows with simple timber
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...
s and a verandah rail with
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
balustrading, not originally from Fernside, are also located along the western elevation. A second panelled timber door, with sidelight and fanlight assemblies is located at the southern end of the western elevation.
The eastern elevation faces magnificent views from the Great Dividing Range. The verandah is supported by timber posts and brackets and the brick is marked out to resemble
ashlar
Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.
Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
. The centred bay window with gabled roof has a French door and three sets of elongated windows with small square paned glass and breezeways. Two other timber, panelled French doors are located in the eastern facade. The dormer window is located to the north of the gabled bay window.
The northern elevation is timber framed and enclosed with glass windows and French doors, and houses service facilities. The southern elevation, extended during the 1990s, is timber framed with large windows with breezeway, French doors and a corrugated iron roof.
Internally, Fernside's core remains reasonably intact. Some original detail remains, including moulded
pressed metal ceiling
A tin ceiling is an architectural element, consisting of a ceiling finished with tinplate with designs pressed into them, that was very popular in Victorian buildings in North America in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were also popu ...
s in the living and dining rooms. Fireplaces, one with moulded timber surrounds and another with marble surrounds and consoles, are situated in the living and dining rooms.
A number of doorways retain original cedar joinery including a door from the living room to the dining room which also has a breezeway with diamond shaped timber panels surrounded by decorative glass.
Fernside has a concrete fence with moulded concrete pillars with a non-original cast iron gate at the front.
Heritage listing
Fernside was listed on the
Queensland Heritage Register
The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...
on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
Fernside follows the pattern of the construction of substantial houses on the Darling Downs which came to be used as summer resorts by various Governors, demonstrating the development of the Darling Downs from a sparsely populated pastoral region to one of prosperity.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
Fernside is significant as an example of well-to-do domestic building from the 1870s, reflecting the wealth and status of a public servant in Toowoomba, a major regional centre in colonial Queensland.
The siting of the house and subsequent landscape works are highly significant. Its location and verandahed design provide spectacular views from the Great Dividing Range, demonstrating the importance of topography for early settlers when choosing a suitable site on which to build.
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
Fernside has special association with the community of Toowoomba and surrounding area as a well-known early residence and summer resort of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883.
The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.
Fernside has special association with the community of Toowoomba and surrounding area as a well-known early residence and summer resort of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883.