Newstead House - Official Re-opening

Minister Grace and Minister Linnard; Councillors; Newstead House Chair, Ms Claire Moore and the Board of Trustees; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and any First Nations people with us today.

In particular, I thank Aunty Theresa for welcoming us to this special place where Yowoggera Creek meets the Maiwar River, and I acknowledge that her ancestors lived on these fertile lands and gathered here for celebrations for thousands of years before the arrival of John Oxley in 1824.

The famous White Fig tree on this site was already ancient when Oxley arrived and has since survived 200 years of subsequent change, but the reason Patrick Leslie selected this particular pocket of land in 1845 is as evident today as it was then… as he wrote in a letter to his father in Scotland, it is “a most lovely situation for a cottage, commanding a magnificent view”

Leslie called his cottage Newstead House, but just over a year after its completion in 1846, he sold both house and land to his brother-in-law, Captain Wickham, Queensland’s first Government Resident.

With that, Newstead House began to acquire the reputation for extravagance that would reach its peak when it was purchased by George Harris and became the finest home in the colony.

As Brisbane’s ‘merchant prince’, Harris is reputed to have spent a staggering 20-thousand pounds a year on entertainment and housekeeping – the equivalent of around three-and-a-half million dollars today!

Newstead House may no longer echo to the laughter of guests at those lavish parties, and we can only imagine Captain Wickham’s coachmen washing his buggy in the shade of the fig tree, but the stories of the past have remained and live on in the timber, bricks and stone of this wonderful house, and in the extraordinary collection of more than 6,000 historical items on display.

Graeme and I are very proud and pleased to see this important part of our State’s history and architectural heritage restored and revitalised.

On behalf of all Queenslanders, I thank the Queensland Government for the generous commitment of funds to this important conservation project and also congratulate and thank everyone who has contributed to the re-opening of Brisbane’s oldest surviving European home as a living museum.

As Joint Patrons of initiatives such as the National Trust of Australia in Queensland, and the South-East-Queensland Open House programs, Graeme and I are committed to supporting those organisations that help ensure that the history of our built environment is honoured and preserved, and similarly, those like the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, that are dedicated to keeping history alive.

I do this because, as many wise people have said in various ways, understanding the past helps us to avoid repeating our mistakes and allows us to influence the future in a positive way.

I will shortly cut the ribbon to officially re-open Newstead House. In doing so, I hope that every Queenslander will take the opportunity to explore this extraordinary house and learn from the many stories it has to tell.