History

Before Newstead established itself as a sought-after address and one of the coolest neighbourhoods in Australia, it was teeming with heavy industrial activities and a rich, storied past.

The area has functioned as many things in the city’s 200-year history: From farm land, wool exporting through the network of wharves, to claiming QLD’s oldest surviving house, and of-course the bustling scene of the Gasworks.

Newstead’s locality to the river’s edge, Breakfast Creek Road, and Eagle Farm made it a convenient route along which to locate industries, with early examples being a sawmill and the Waterloo Hotel at the Commercial Road corner (1879-81).

A horse-drawn tramline to the Breakfast Creek Bridge began operating in 1885 and two years later a branch was opened along Commercial Road to the Bulimba ferry. The same year, Newstead welcomed it’s largest industry, Brisbane Gas Co’s gas works between Waterloo Street, the River, Longland Street and Breakfast Creek Road. The gas-manufacturing buildings have since been demolished, and a heritage-listed framework for a gasometer is all that remains within the now popular, bustling Gasworks Precinct where we are located. 

Much of the other industrial activity clustered around the river, which was an important transport corridor. Concentrated industrial development of the river’s edge began in the late nineteenth century, with shipping channels to Bulimba Reach being deepened and wharf facilities moved away from South Brisbane to Newstead and New Farm.

The Colonial Sugar Refinery was constructed in 1893, followed by timber yards, coal yards and the infamous wool stores that stand as luxury heritage apartments today. The first wharf was built by Dalgety and Co in 1907 – their primary business being wool and gold, and so, shortly followed the construction of Teneriffe’s beloved wool stores. Vernon Terrace’s Winchcombe Carson Woolstore was built in 1910, followed by the Australian Mercantile Land and Finance Woolstore in 1911.

During World War II, the navy requisitioned the Woolstores and their wharves to form Australia’s largest submarine base, housing around 60 submarines based at Teneriffe. The facilities were home to both American and British officers, referred to as ‘Capricorn Wharf’. 

It was when prominent local citizens started moving to the area in the 1950s that Newstead began to garner a reputation as a locality for fine houses.

Brisbane’s oldest surviving residence, Newstead House is the suburbs ‘crown jewel’. It was built by Patrick Leslie who had settled on the Darling Downs in 1840, and bought the land at Newstead (35 acres) in 1846 for 51 pounds. He named the original cottage ‘Newstead’ after Newstead Abbey in England. The house has evolved from the original cottage into the grand residence we are now familiar with.

Today, Newstead is regarded for first class-dining, trendy cafes and elegant bars. Born through a bustling commerce centre, the suburb has matured along a rollercoaster journey to be one of Brisbane’s most vibrant destinations, while managing not to disassociate from its original roots.