Mary Howells: Historian

Written in response to an enquiry from the current owner of
Birkdale House - ( photo from Place Real Estate advertising on Realestate.com)
Excerpt from the detailed history I wrote in June 2000.
This house was built by James Baron, who was the engineer for Gilbert Burnett's sugar mill (later sawmill) in Fernbourne Road, Wellington Point. The land had been sold, by Burnett, to Baron, on 13 September 1882. However, the Cleveland Divisional Board rate books show Baron living in Wellington Point, possibly in the house adjacent to the pedestrian path to the station, from Station Street.
He did not occupy the Birkdale property until 1888. While he had taken out a substantial mortgage on the property in 1882, he owned multiple land parcels in the area, so it is impossible to say if the mortgage was to build a house or to further speculate in property.
Burnett gave evidence at an 1886 Select Committee to investigate the viability of the proposed railway to Cleveland, and the best route.
The railway was built to service agriculture. The idea of commuting to the city for work, was not part of the consideration in 1886.
Essentially, the site of the Wellington Point station was chosen specifically to be close to Burnett's sawmill, James Baron's ingenuity had allowed for the transformation of the sugar mill to a prosperous sawmill, and a tramway was constructed from Hilliards Creek, and across what is now the Geoff Skinner Reserve to bring logs to the mill. (See my PG Dip Thesis - A History of Fernbourne Precinct - available from Cleveland Library. ) Rural reporters of the day said that James Baron was possessed with a genius for invention and adaptation.
Many properties were resumed to build the railway ( completed 1889), and some have said that Birkdale House was originally located in Wellington Point, but there is no way of proving or disproving this. (Council approval was not required to build or move houses, so there are no records.)
Burnett went into liquidation in 1891, and while his sawmill continued to operate until a fire in 1895, it is unclear if Baron continued to work for Burnett.
Baron was listed as vigneron in the Post Office Directories from 1894. At one time, the house included a cellar.
Following Burnett's liquidation , Fernbourne (Whepstead) was acquired by Edward Drury, the manager of the Queensland National Bank, to which, Burnett was indebted.
Drury's nephew Victor Drury occupied Birkdale House from 1904, although Baron remained owner. Victor Drury was chairman (Mayor) of the Cleveland Shire Council between March 1906 and July 1907. Both James Baron and his wife Ann died in early 1907, so the property was put up for sale.
The subsequent owners from 1909, John and Mary Tompkinson, farmed the property, and it is thought that officers of the troops training here during WWI may have used the house.
The next owner, Peter Airey, was a teacher and Member of Parliament. He retired to Birkdale House in 1921. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/airey-peter-4984
Airey Died in 1950, and the process of winding up his estate, meant the house was not sold again until 1960. The adjacent land was substantially subdivided at this time.
At the time of my report in 2000, there had been five subsequent owners: Honor Richards from 1962, John and Ruby Smith from 1974. I no longer have the titles search documents to name the subsequent owners, although the most recent owner, interior designer Anna Spiro advertised her skills through online and hard copy publications, featuring the house.
So Yes!!!, I write house histories and I can also help you with your family histories. If you would like further details of my fees, please direct message me.
Kind Regards
Mary Howells: Historian
BA. PG Dip, Applied History, M Phil History
State Library Fellow