Stage Number: MBSH.03.02.24
Group: Southern
Local Study Area: Kangaroo Point-East Brisbane
Epoch: Early 19th Century
Street Address: Riverfront, Mowbray Park, East Brisbane
Latitude & Longitude: -27.47861111,153.04502778
Time Link: 1851
Map Link: TBA
Image Time Point: TBA
Reverend Thomas Mowbray arrived in Moreton Bay in 1847 to establish a local presence for the Presbyterian church. In 1851 Mowbray and his wife Williamina purchased a large plot of land to the east of Brisbane, and had their house ‘Riversdale’ built there, the same year that he opened Brisbane’s first Presbyterian Church in Grey Street, South Brisbane. Thomas also conducted a private school in Riversdale. Thomas died in 1867, aged 55, and Williamina sold most of their land for subdivision, with the resulting estate being named ‘Mowbraytown’. She retained the family residence on the land between Lytton Road and the river until 1904, when it was bought by the South Brisbane City Council. The house was demolished and the riverfront property renamed as Mowbray Park. Since that time it has been used as a popular recreational area.
Brisbane Courier, 24 January 1931; Leslie E. Slaughter, ‘Norman Creek (Brisbane) and Surroundings’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. RHSQ, volume 5 issue 1: pp. 849-860, 1954.
Reverend Thomas Mowbray and his wife Williamina Mowbray. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Record number: 64775.
Currently Searching
