QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Fernberg: a vision splendid

Fernberg was erected in 1864-65 on 22 acres (9ha), one of two parcels of land totalling around 40 acres (16ha) bought from the government in 1860 and 1862. Designed by Benjamin Backhouse, it was built from stone excavated on-site, finished with cement and lime. At that time, the roads were little better than bush tracks, with hills so steep negotiation, even by drays, was difficult. Around 1870, access was improved by cutting through the steepest hill and filling swampland at its foot. The building itself stands about 100m above sea level.

Sadly, he suffered a similar fate to Heussler, the financial crisis of the 1890s costing him both his fortune and his ownership of Fernberg . The mortgagees – two directors of a Mount Morgan gold mine in central Queensland – allowed Stevenson and his wife to stay on, however and, in 1901, the title was transferred to his sister-in-law. Fernberg was to replace the ‘Old’ Government House at Gardens Point in the city, which had served since Queensland’s first governor, Sir George Bowen, and his family moved in to the elegant sandstone building in May 1862.

That building served vice-regal needs for almost 48 years, before it was outgrown for its official duties, and given to the newly-founded University of Queensland in 1909 (today the heritage-listed property is administered on lease by the QUT as part of its Gardens Point campus). In November 1909, the search had begun for temporary accommodation while the proposed new Government House inVictoria Park was under construction. Fernberg was one of five homes shortlisted and the government signed a three-year lease in March 1910. The badly run down building was painted, electricity installed and connected (replacing the gas lighting), the cow shed repaired and a chook run installed, and the gardens and roads upgraded before Governor and Lady MacGregor moved in that July. Although the Victoria Park property had progressed to its footings, the project was abandoned, and the government bought Fernberg and the land outright in early 1911 for £10,000.

The Heussler family occupied Fernberg until 1872 when reverses in the sugar industry and the high cost of upkeep forced foreclosure of the property, its sale, and contributed to Heussler’s bankruptcy. Fernberg ’s next resident was Sir Arthur Palmer, Queensland’s Premier 1870-1874. Two successors followed in the early 1880s before, on 21 October 1884, Fernberg was purchased by John Stevenson. He commissioned architect Richard Gailey to extend the building, doubling its size and changing it from an 1860s villa to an ‘Italianate mansion’. As well as adding the fine frontage to the building, Stevenson considerably extended the grounds by acquiring adjacent land. He also installed the stained glass window of Robert The Bruce, King of Scotland (1306-1329) in the main stairway. This beautiful ink-and-watercolour-wash perspective of ‘Villa Fernberg’ dates from 1864 and clearly expresses the architect’s intention to blend the best of Europe with Queensland’s sub- tropical setting. Image (digital ID 124056) courtesy State Library of Queensland

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