Toowong Street Name Origins
The origins of street names in Toowong.
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Toowong Street Name Origins
| Street Name | Origins | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Annerley Street | ||
| Archer Street | Archer Street is named after Alexander Archer the Bank of New South Wales manager, part of the Rockhampton Archer family. His house Arley. | John Bray |
| Ascog Terrace | Ascog Hall was built in 1844 by the Rev. James Monteith of Dalkeith who moved to Bute at the time of the Disruptions, when he joined the Free Church. | |
| “ASCOG, bay, village, lake, and estate on east side of Bute Island, Buteshire. The bay is about 1 1/2 miles south-east of Rothesay. The estate, with mansion, was sold in 1876 for £39,420." | The Gazetteer of Scotland, by Rev. John Wilson, 1882. | |
| Asc Askr (Old Norse), an ash. Ascaig Ascog | ||
| Augustus Street | Most likely named after Sir Augustus Charles Gregory who lived at Rainworth House which now faces Barton Street Rainworth. Gregory Street is almost a straight line from his house to the Town Council chambers. He was endearingly referred to as 'Gregory of Rainworth' after receiving his knighthood. | |
| Ballara Lane | ||
| Bent Street | ||
| Broseley Road | My ancestor Thomas James Vickers Wood and his family migrated to Brisbane from England in 1877 on the Windsor Castle. He died on the 27 May 1915 in at Broseley Road, Toowong. The notice in the paper attached talks of him dying at his residence Broseley in Toowong. His father Henry Wood was from Broseley in Shropshire. | Jenny Wood |
| Bywong Street | Some place name books claim that "Bywong" means "big hill". That meaning would be appropriate, given the hill at the end of the street. | M. Draheim |
| Camp Street | ||
| Clayton Lane | ||
| Coram Lane | ||
| Dampier Street | ||
| Dean Street | ||
| Dempster Street | The Dempster family had a house in Kapundra Street, they originally owned the land thereabouts and it was a dairy farm. | |
| Depper Street | These streets were named I believe after my great grandfather Martin Depper who came to Brisbane on the “La Rochelle” in 1863 . He was from a little village called Oestrich on the Rhine near Rudesheim in Hessen. Martin died in a house in Depper Street in 1914. His father Michael grew grapes in Patrick’s Lane in Toowong-supposed to be the first to do so in Brisbane , but he in c.1876 left Brisbane and travelled down to NSW and then back to Germany. The Deppers in QLD phone book are all related and descend from Martin and Michael. Martin despite not being able to speak English in 1863 worked hard to establish himself and later became the manager of the Queensland Deposit Bank. Martin Depper in the Queenslander newspaper 15 Sept 1883 is refusing to give land for road purposes through portion 9 Indooroopilly. The street was named Depper Street in St Lucia – 1891. It written up in the papers 31 Dec 1891 page 3 of 8 . | Erla Angell |
| Devon Street | ||
| Dovercourt Road | Named when the Dovercourt land was subdivided in 1919 by B. Palmer (son of Sir Arthur Palmer). Dovercourt is still standing. | J. & J. Bigge, Dovercourt. |
| Duke Street | ||
| Elizabeth Street | ||
| Emerson Street | ||
| Explorer Street | Probably named after Sir Augustus Charles Gregory is arguably Australia's greatest explorer. His 1855-56 North Australia Expedition was brilliantly led, produced the final pieces in the jig-saw map of Australia, solved the riddle of the inland sea, resulted in no loss of life, produced some of the greatest colonial art of the nineteenth century and made a prodigious contribution to the understanding of Australian botany. | John Bray |
| Fewings Street | Named after Fewings who owned Karslake. | Arcadian simplicity: J. B. Fewings memoirs of Toowong |
| Fewings owned the large house on the left in Sherwood Road before you get to Miskin Street. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association. | |
| JB Fewings, headmaster of the Petrie-Terrace School and chronicler of life in early Toowong. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 | |
| Frederick Street | Mr Ray Wall's grandparents William and Janet were the first to settle in what is now called Frederick Street. It was named after their first son, Frederick, who w born in 1891. | Mr Wall |
| Gower Street | ||
| Grove Cresent | Sherwood Road and Grove Street were named for the house Sherwood Grove, which is a reference to the legendary Sherwood Forest. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 |
| Gregory Street | Named after Sir Augustus Charles Gregory who lived at Rainworth House which now faces Barton Street Rainworth. Gregory Street is almost a straight line from his house to the Town Council chambers. He was endearingly referred to as 'Gregory of Rainworth' after receiving his knighthood. | John Bray |
| Kerr Street | Kerr Street was subdivided in c1903 . It was named after Rev. Kerr who was in Stanthorpe when I was a child. | D.C. Cowley |
| High Street | Originally called Moggill Road. Moggill Road originally started in the central City but got called "The River Road" which later became Coronation Drive after the Coronation of King George and the section in Toowong Village became High Street when the ornamental planting was done up the centre so it now starts at St Thomas Church. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association. |
| Howitt Street | ||
| Hunter Street | Possibly named after Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer KCMG. The titles to the surrounding land (4 Jan 1923) were owned by Mary Jessie Hunter Palmer and Estelle Georgina Hunter Palmer | |
| Ivy Street | Ivy Estate was sold 7 June 1884. | |
| Jephson Street | Named after Letitia Jephson who lived at Mallow. House was built by a Mr Bennett. | Prue Firth |
| Jephson Street was previously Church Street. There were at least four churches in the street at one time. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association. | |
| Jones Street | Named after Samuel Williams Jones was born in Wales, 1838. He arrived in Brisbane on the sailing ship "Wanata" in 1863 and married Emily Amos at Dalby in 1865. S.W. Jones established himself as a blacksmith and wheelwright in the township of Condamine 1866-78 beside the Condamine River. A replica of his bell 6 feet in height tells how he was the maker of the now famous Condamine Bells. He left Condamine for Toowong in 1878, and built a smithy at the rear of his shingle-roofed cottage at 23 Maryvale Street, Toowong. He died aged 88 years on 30 April 1927 and was buried in Toowong Cemetery. S. W. Jones was a councillor on Toowong Shire Council 1881-1885. | John Bray. Toowong Estate, Parish of Enoggera, Resub 37 of subs 45-46 of Portion 248 granted to J. C. Laycock in 1875 |
| Kapunda Street | ||
| Keltie Street | ||
| Kensington Terrace | ||
| Kent Street | ||
| Land Street | Named after William Land, a master butcher in the High St, with a residence in Sylvan Rd, who established a significant wholesale and retail meat business. He was also prominent on the Toowong Town Council, serving as Mayor several times, and was active in local philanthropic causes. He died in 1933. | Courier Mail of 3 Jan 1933 |
| Landsborough Parade | Mrs Lewis said that Landsborough Parade used to be called Paradise Avenue. She said that the lane ran behind the hotel. It could have become the road leading up to the bottle shop. According to Mrs Lewis the lane lead to the Cobb and Co Stables, which were behind the hotel. | Mrs Lewis |
| Landsborough Pde is quite possibly named after a Miss FW Carr who lived in Burns Road and married a Mr Landsborough. | John Sinclair | |
| Named after William Landsborough, explorer, who lived at Toowong in the 1870s in a house called Curragbawm. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 | |
| Old maps show it once was three Streets Paradise Avenue next to the Regatta boathouse, then Landsborough Street, then Theresa Street alongside the rail line. There never was a Cobb and Co stables behind the Regatta. The hotel was built after they lost the mail contract in 1875 to the railways and they travelled from South Brisbane via Rocklea to Ipswich. | John Bray | |
| Lodge Street | Said to be named after the gate keepers lodge for the Palmer Estate which was located in this street. | |
| Maraket Street | ||
| Market Street | ||
| Maryvale Street | ||
| McGrath Street | ||
| Miskin Street | Moggill Road originally started in the central City but got called "The River Road" which later became Coronation Drive after the Coronation of King George and the section in Toowong Village became High Street when the ornamental planting was done up the centre so it now starts at St Thomas Church. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association. |
| Moggill Road | ||
| Mossman Street | ||
| Mount Street | ||
| Norwood Street | ||
| Oakman Park | The Union Athletic Club Sports Ground, part of which is now known as Oakman Park, appeared on maps and plans from the mid 1880s (McKellar plan, sheet 7, DGI). The correct name of the sports ground explains the origin of UnionStreet which runs beside it. It was usually called simply the Toowong Sports Ground by local residents. By the early 1940s the simpler name appeared in official maps and documentation and has remained; although the name Oakman Park, which dates from the 1960s and applies only to half the park, has largely obliterated the old name from general usage. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 |
| Okeden Street | Okeden Street was named after the Commissioner for Police and later Protector of Aborigines, William Edward Parry-Okeden. His granddaughter said his biography makes brief mention of Ascog House. Perry, Charles, 1926, 'A Son of Australia' "moved to the then sparsely populated and exclusive suburb of Toowong" "close by his lifetime friend Henry Stuart of Stuartholme" Henry Stuart was godfather of her father. The book says he lived in the house for a short period when the subdivision of the Ascog House estate was taking place. The street was named in his honour. His granddaughter is unsure of how long or when he lived in the house but guesses it was during the 1880's. Her father born in 1874, remembered living in the house. They built a very substantial home at Kedron which is now centred in a retirement community. | John Bray |
| Orchard Street | ||
| Oxford Road | ||
| Palmer Street | Probably named after Sir Arthur Palmer, owner of the estate in the 1800s and early 1900s. In the 1950's there were the remnants of a derelict house where the Toowong High School now stands. The land was just overgrown bush which we called "Palmers Paddock". There were horses kept there but the house was vacant. On the other side of the Creek was a Chinese Market garden facing Vera Street, which is now included in the school grounds. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association, and Arthur Beau Palmer. |
| Patrick Lane | Named after AMG Patrick, who lived in a house called Clayton, then it was later used by the late JB Dixon; AV Drury, Clark of the Executive Council; JR Atkinson, Surveyor of Ipswich; AM Cooper, Manager of the Bank of Australasia and JB Fewings. Mr Patrick was once an officer in the native police force. | |
| Pictavia Street | ||
| Pioneer Street | Pioneer St was originally called Gregory Street and it and Explorer St were part of the Pioneer Estate. Already being a Gregory St, the name was changed to Pioneer as it was the name of the estate. | Dr. Hilda Maclean, Friends of Toowong Cemetery |
| Quinn Street | ||
| Richer Street | Named after William Richer, founding minister Baptist Church, Toowong. Richer arrived in Australia in 1869. He lived in Toowong from 1875. Richer was a builder, architect and a minister. | Jim Gibson, Indooroopilly |
| Ryans Road, St Lucia | ||
| Sandford Street | Sandford Street, currently in St Lucia, used to be in Toowong and was the site of Richard Gailey’s original house Glenolive. The house and grounds were purchased by Dr Sandford Jackson in 1901 as his family home. He subdivided some of the grounds in 1921, and Glenolive and the remaining grounds in 1924. The new road created was originally named Glen Olive Drive but was renamed Sandford Street in 1943. It was originally called Glen Olive Drive, because of the grove that grew there. | Peter Brown |
| Sherwood Road | Sherwood Road and Grove Street were named for the house Sherwood Grove, which is a reference to the legendary Sherwood Forest. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 |
| Sleath Street | Sleath Street was named after Henry Walter Sleath: Henry apparently had a music business in George Street (city) in the late 1800's, where he and family lived before moving to Glenn Rd Toowong. In 1881 he was elected as a councillor for Toowong. Two streets were named after him - Sleath Street in Toowong and Sleath Street in Ormiston. | Koss Siwers |
| Soudan Street | Soudan Street on the Ivy Estate in the West Toowong area which was first advertised for sale in 1884. Soudan is the old spelling of the Sudan in Africa. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 |
| Stanley Terrace | Francis Drummond Greville Stanley lived in what become Stanley Terrace for a while in a house called Ormlie which he built in about 1869 (Fewings, letter 9). Stanley later moved to the Kensington Terrace Area. Ormlie became known as Easton Grey when it was owned by the squatter-politician Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer, premier of Queensland 1870-74. The Easton Grey estate was sub-divided in the late 1880s (Easton Grey Estate plan, JOL). It seems most likely that Stanley Terrace was named for FDG Stanley and not for his brother, Henry Charles Stanley, the railways engineer, who lived further west in Toowong before moving to Tighnabruaich in Indooroopilly in the early 1890s. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 |
| St. Osyth Street | Perhaps this has a connection to St. Osyth a parish within the Tendring District Council administrative area and in the County of Essex. The centre of the village is dominated by the medieval remains of the Priory on its 383 acres of land, building of which began in the year 1118. | |
| Sussex Street | ||
| Sylvan Road | Previously known as Cemetery Road | Leigh Chamberlain |
| Sylvan Road ran from a railway platform where the Scout hut is now to the cemetery gates. Coffins were unloaded of the train and taken by horse drawn hearse to the cemetery. | John Bray, President, Bardon Community Association | |
| A newspaper article in 1930 described Toowong as a 'sylvan suburb'. Not surprisingly, therefore, there is a Sylvan Road in Toowong. | Helen Gregory, Brisbane History Group, Papers No.9 | |
| Terrace Street | ||
| Vera Street | Named after the builder (Hughes) daughter Vera. My Mum told me that. | Kev |
| Valentine Street | James Valentine was a Toowong Shire Councillor and is buried at Toowong Cemetery. He was born 1849 at Haughton Green, Cheshire, England, and died 17 January 1904 in Brisbane. He married Louisa Seager 5 September 1869 in St Peter's Blackburn, Lancashire, England. They migrated on the ship "Indus" which arrived in Brisbane on 29 Dec 1874. James and Louisa had 8 children: James, Herbert Jackson, Edward, Louisa, James Edward, Henry Percy, Florence Margaret and May Evelyn. | |
| Warrawee Street | Warrawee is believed to have been built in the mid 1880s, for Albert Henry White, owner of the three acre site. E. John White, manager of the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, was then in residence. We believe that the estate below the grand house was called "Warrawee". | |
| Whitmore Street | Whitmore Street used to be called Wilson Street until the 1930s. | John Sinclair |
| Wienholt Street | Named after the original owner (as shown on map from 1887) - A. Wienholt, who owned most of the land bordered by what is now Milton Road, Birdwood Tce, Gregory Street and Wienholt Street. | |
| Wilmac Street | ||
| Woodstock Road | ||
| Wool Street | John Lover Wool was 11 years old when he arrived in Queensland. We don't know at this point where he spent his early years but by 1874 he had married Mary Ann Cunnington. In the Queensland Post Office Directories from 1892 - 1897 the Wool family is living at Church Street Toowong although there is an earlier entry in 1888 at Maryvale Street. In any case the family were fruiterers or involved in the fruit and vegetable trade. At the time of Mary Ann (Cunningtons) death in 1911 they are living at Maryvale Street Toowong which is quite close to Wool St. We don't know when Wool Street came into being but we assume it was named for John Lover and/or wife Mary Ann. Mary Ann seems to have been quite a formidable woman and in her will it lists two properties owned by herself. John Lover Wool and wife Mary Ann are buried in the Toowong Cemetery as are many of their nine children. | Pat Wales |