Newstead House

Newstead House is Brisbane’s oldest surviving residence and is located on the Breakfast Creek bank of the Brisbane River, in the northern Brisbane suburb of Newstead, in Queensland, Australia. Built as a small cottage in the Colonial-Georgian style in 1846, the cottage was extended and today is painted and furnished in a late Victorian style.

Newstead House is the oldest surviving home in Brisbane, but not the oldest surviving building, built in 1846, for Patrick Leslie and his wife Catherine (née McArthur). In 1847 he sold Newstead House to his brother-in-law (married to Anna McArthur), the Police Magistrate and Government Resident.

History

Newstead House is said to have taken its name from Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, England, a former Augustinian priory which became the Byron family home.

The property was referred to as Newstead until it left the possession of J.C. Wickham in 1859 after which it became known as Newstead House.

Newstead house was built as a residence by Brisbane's first architect and builder Andrew Petrie for fellow Scottish settler Patrick Leslie; it was soon acquired by Captain John Wickham. Then it was leased to Attorney-General Ratcliffe Pring. It was later leased, then sold, then leased again to merchant and Member of the Queensland Legislative Council George Harris. George Harris and his wife Jane (nee Thorn) lived in the house for 27 years. The Lysaght Brothers bought the property in March 1898 with the intention to demolish the house and build a factory that produced iron and rabbit-proof wire fencing. These plans to establish a factory at the property were abandoned due to the downturn in the agricultural sector.