gardens

Also see www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/2430716846/

With its heritage buildings, towering palms, and ancient figs, the grounds of the residence are strikingly beautiful — but its rich history is what makes Jimbour unforgettable. The Russell family has restored the house and gardens to their former grandeur and today, Jimbour offers a picturesque location for truly unique events, weddings or a country drive stopover. Experience a timeless place beneath the big skies of the Darling Downs. Source: jimbour.com/

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by members of the Barungam Aboriginal language group. Jimbour is an English language interpretation of the Aboriginal word Gimba, which meant “little white clouds” and was their interpretation of sheep (which they hadn’t previously experienced) moving over grasslands. Jimbour Station came into existence in 1841 when Henry Dennis settled in the area and took up the Jimbour run on behalf of the first owner, Richard Scougall, who had come to Australia from Scotland in 1832. 1870 Thomas Bell built a two-storey residence for the family, of blue stone and cedar. The lower storey of this house still stands today. 1912 After the decline of the Bell family fortune, the house was sold and its contents auctioned off. Jimbour fell into disrepair. The Bell family left a legacy to Jimbour in the trees they planted - particularly three Moreton Bay figs. They also laid out the basic plan of the southern garden - a central round garden, two triangular lawns, and the current gravel driveways. However at that time, there was not much water available, and an extensive garden was not attempted. It wasn’t until the property was purchased by the Russell family that the history of Jimbour’s garden began. With the assistance of Brisbane landscape gardener Harry Stokes in 1924, the basic plan of the garden as it is today was laid out – a central rose garden, lawns with palms and shrubs, and garden beds. A row of olive trees was planted along the southern stone wall (today chrysanthemums are planted in their place) as well as tropical figs, bauhinias, macadamias, and colourful bougainvilleas. The Douglas firs, silky oaks, and Queen palms date from this time. Source: jimbour.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1020_Jimbour_Histo...

No. 113 Woodstock Road, North Oxford, seen from southeast. Built in 1863 by W. Wilkinson for wine merchant Edwin Butler. Named "Newton Lodge", this house was located opposite St. Philip & St. James Church. One of the houses which were demolished in the late 1960s to make way for the 'Butlers' Close' apartment building. Illustrated (in the same perspective) on plates IX and X of Mr. Wilkinsons's book 'English Country Houses'. Stylistically similar to No. 31 Banbury Road by Wilkinson, i.e. it shares the same elements (e.g. bay windows, tower) using a different layout. The bay window on the left is that of the dining room, next to the drawing room behind. The kitchen is (typical for WIlkinson) not in the basement but on ground level (on the right side). Four bedrooms on the first floor, with a dressing room in the "tower" above the entrance door. Sources: - T. Hinchcliffe: North Oxford (Yale Univ. Press) - Internet Archive (archive.org) for 'English Country Houses' - Picture Oxon, photographs by P. S. Spokes and R. F. Wills