Information

In 1860, builder Joshua Jeays negotiated to buy 40 acres on the river at Wolston (Wacol) for a quarry. Jeays had been involved in the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales (1859), was a member of the first Brisbane Municipal Council (1859-67), and the fourth Mayor of Brisbane (1864). Woogaroo stone was good sandstone, strong but easily worked. It was used locally in Wolston House and in numerous Asylum buildings. There is evidence that the stone was used by local Aborigines. The quarry was on the riverbank, making it relatively easy to transport stone by barge up river to Ipswich or down river to Brisbane.

Jeays’ quarry provided stone for most government buildings in the new colony of Queensland. The first was Government House (1862) – Queensland’s first significant public building (heritage listed 1992). Jeays also supplied Woogaroo stone for Parliament House (1868), plus the first Supreme Court and Town Hall (neither of which survives). He also built his own Bardon House of Woogaroo stone. Over time, good Woogaroo stone became less accessible and other quarries took over. In 1910, the quarry land was added to Hospital land and today evidence of the quarries remains near the lake.

Citations

Meg Gordon and Lynda Young, ‘Pastoralists of Brisbane’s Town Fringe’, Brisbane: Centenary Suburbs Historical Society Inc., 2013; Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage, Queensland Heritage Register ‘Wolston Park Hospital Complex’.

Image Citations

Joshua Jeays, 1909. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Record number: 108116.

Map References

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