Moorlands - 451 Coronation Dr - Auchenflower - QLD - Australia - Australian Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Moorlands
Here is John Oxley's Long Reach of the Brisbane River, which he named in the field notes of his exploration journey in December 1823 when he first discovered the river. This is now the Toowong Reach. Behind is the hill where the Mayne family mansion Moorlands has stood since 1892. on the site of an earlier house Moorland Villa built by the Markwell family in the 1850s. This sign tells about some of the people who have lived here since the Milton area was first settled in the 1850s.

Early days
In 1842 Moreton Bay was opened up to free settlement, with land subdivision and sale occurring from the early 1850s under the New South Wales Government.
Some of the first immigrants to Brisbane came on the ships commissioned by John Dunmore Lang. Among the arrivals on the first Lang ship Chaseley in 1849 were the Markwell family from Lincolnshire in England.
In the early 1850s John Markwell married his second wife Georgina, daughter of the wealthy butcher George Edmonstone who owned large tracts of land in Milton. As a wedding gift, the Markwell family built a house on the high ground overlooking the flat, open valley of Langsville Creek and named the house Moorland Villa.
The house had a sad history, with Georgina and three of her children dying early. Two children died at 10 months, one at 15 months, a seven-year-old drowned and their daughter did not survive her 12th year. The sixth child, the first son Henry John Markwell, was thrown from a galloping horse in River Road and died aged 23.
When John Markwell died in 1881, the house was sold to Mary Mayne, the widower of Patrick Mayne. Mary died in 1889 and her children Mary Emelia, Isaac, William and James inherited her substantial estate.

1890-1930s
In 1892 the foundation stone for a new house Moorlands was laid by Mai Emelia, and the house was built that stands here today.
The architect was Richard Galley, who had also designed the Regatta Hotel in 1886.
None of the children married and the last surviving siblings Dr James ()Nei Mayne (1861-1939) and his sister Mary Emelia (1858-1940) financed th.: purchase in 1926-29 of the site for the University of Queensland, at Lucia. They also donated rural land at Moggill for the university and o their deaths willed the income from their estates to its medical school.

1940-present
Moorlands was sold by the university in 1944 and the house and ground, are now part of the Wesley Hospital.
James Mayne is remembered through a perpetual trophy of the Toowor Rowing Club, of which he was a long-term supporter and life member.

References Siemon, Rosamond, 1997, The Mayne Inheritance, University of Queensland Press Pritchard, Jack, 2011, Toowong Rowing Club: 100 Years (plus a few), Brisbane Entry in the Queensland Heritage Register Ref,600052, Moorlands

Age/Event Date: 1823, 1892, 1850, 1842, 1881, 1889, 1892, 1886, 1926-29, 1940 Type of Historic Marker: Monument Related Website: [Web Link] Historic Resources.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorlands Type of Historic Marker if other: Not listed

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