Wickham Estate, Hamilton, 1885 (Map of the Week)
By Myles Sinnamon, Project Coordinator, State Library of Queensland | 28 November 2016
State Library of Queensland has an extensive collection of historical maps of Queensland, some of which have been digitised and can be viewed online.
This real estate map from 1885 advertises 412 allotments of land for sale at the Wickham Estate in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton. The allotments were situated along Nudgee Road, Winchester Street, Hants Street, Oxford Street, Windsor Street, College Street, William Street (now Jackson Street), John Street (now Allen Street) and Eagle Farm Road (now Kingsford Smith Drive).
Prior to the sale extensive publicity was published in Brisbane newspapers.
"Ready access is provides by the omnibuses, which run all day long to the Hamilton; by the Racecourse Railway, the Station at the Racecourse being within ten minutes walk of the centre of the estate; and by the tranway to Breakfast Creek, and it is announced that pending the extension of the latter to the Hamilton the Company are about to put on vehicles to convey their passengers to and from that place and the Creek, and as the cars run every fifteen minutes, it may truthfully be said that means of access are the best." (Brisbane Courier, November 14, 1885).
A public auction was held at the site on the afternoon of November 14, 1885. The Telegraph newspaper reported the results of the sale –
"John Cameron reports a highly successful sale at the Wickham Estate on Saturday. There was a large company present, and a much larger proportion of buyers than at most sales, which it is evident was due to the fact of there being no luncheon, and therefore no attraction for idlers or loafers. The corner of the Eagle Farm and Nudgee roads was offered first, and was, after a spirited competition, knocked down at £200 to Mr H. Ruhle. A number of the Eagle Farm road frontages were then sold at from £54 to £70, purchasers being allowed to take the lots backing them up at three-fourths of the price of the front ones, a privilege which was freely exercised. Lots in the other parts of the estate sold freely at £20 to £44. The total number of lots sold was £129, for the sum of £4,945 10s." (The Telegraph, November 16, 1885)
A higher resolution image of this map can be viewed through our One Search catalogue.
Prints of this map are also available through the Library Shop.
You can browse a compendium of our previous maps of the week on our blog.
Myles Sinnamon – Project Coordinator, State Library of Queensland
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