St Johns Wood, Queensland - Original Development and The Name St John's Wood

Original Development and The Name St John's Wood

The first Europeans were presented with well watered alluvial flats along Enoggera Creek, partly covered with scrub and presumably seen to include land suitable for cultivation. The land beyond the creek flats and in the foothills of the Taylor Range had better soil derived from the granite and was suitable for grazing. These were the factors that set the pattern for the sale of firstly leasehold and then freehold land by the crown in the pre-separation period.

The earliest known formal occupancy and use of the area by Europeans dates from 1849 when the first crown leases along Enoggera Creek were offered at Public auction. The annual rent was 10 shillings per square mile. The area grossing 7020 acres which contained St Johns Wood was taken up by Darby McGrath in 1851 and was known as 'The Gap Station' on which he ran sheep. It is presumed that the lease of 'The Gap Station' was later extinguished by the crown as the granting of freehold land tenure spread along Enoggera Creek from 1856.

The original St John's Wood estate comprised an area 67 acres (27 ha) of the portions 165 and 381, Parish of Enoggera, part of which was originally purchased by John Frederick McDougall for a price of £70 4s 0d on 14 September 1858. This estate had been established as a cattle station by the Hon Mr. McDougall who employed fencer Simon Kelly to fence its perimeter. This work was completed by the middle of 1859. He sold it and portion 164 to Arthur Martin, auctioneer, during the economic crash of the mid-1860s. On 5 August 1864 Daniel Rowntree Somerset, Registrar of Pensions, purchased the land with final registrations of the titles on 10 July 1865 and later on 29 August 1867 purchased portion 381 making up the total of the estate. Somerset began to build "a magnificent home on his landed estate" in a U-shape, utilising the granite from the local hillside. There is evidence to suggest that Somerset first named the house St John's Wood after his son, Henry St John Somerset, as the funeral notice for Somerset's wife in February 1867 states that the procession moved from his residence, St John's Wood, Water Works Road.