The Fort

General

Also known as

Regina Coeli Retreat; St Mary’s Retreat

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

25 September 2020

Types

Religion/worship: Monastery

Religion/worship: Retreat

Residential: Detached house

Themes

6.4 Building settlements, towns, cities and dwellings: Dwellings

8.1 Creating social and cultural institutions: Worshipping and religious institutions

Architect

Stanley, Francis Drummond Greville

Construction period

1882, Original house

Historical period

1870s–1890s Late 19th century

Location

Address

199 Fort Road, Oxley

LGA

Brisbane City Council

Coordinates

-27.545618, 152.966116

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Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

The Fort (c1882), a house constructed for the retired pastoralist Henry William Coxen, an early settler of the Darling Downs, is important in demonstrating the pattern of residential development in Queensland, and in particular the establishment of substantial estates by affluent Queenslanders, on high grounds, or near the river, on the suburban periphery of Brisbane in the 19th century. Early mature trees along the Fort Road approach to the place illustrate the extent of the original estate.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Sited on a high bluff above the Brisbane River, The Fort is important for its aesthetic significance, brought about through the relationship between the house and its setting, with sweeping views of the river, Fig Tree Pocket peninsula, and the distant forested hills, Mount Coot-tha, and CBD high-rises. Viewing this panorama from the northern verandah and grounds, combined with The Fort’s secluded setting amidst mature trees and lawns, evokes a sense of contemplative retreat.

Criterion GThe place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

The Fort has a special association with the Passionist Order for spiritual reasons as their only community of priests in Queensland. The house was adapted for their use as a retreat (monastery) in 1955 and has since served as the Order’s base for its Ministries, and the site of their public Sunday masses.  

Criterion HThe place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland’s history.

The Fort has a special association with the early Darling Downs settler and prominent Queensland pastoralist Henry William Coxen (1823-1915), who established the house c1882 after his retirement from pastoralism, and resided there until 1906. While living at The Fort, Coxen remained active in the community, serving on local divisional boards and as a Justice of the Peace.

History

‘The Fort’, located at the north end of Fort Road in Oxley, Brisbane, is a c1882 timber house situated on a high bluff on the south bank of the Brisbane River. It was constructed for the retired pastoralist Henry William Coxen (1823-1915), one of the early European settlers on the Darling Downs, on a 9ha property he had purchased in 1865. The Fort was sold to the Corkran family in 1906, then to the Passionist Order of the Catholic Church (the Congregation of the Passion, or the Passionists) in 1955, at which time the property became the Order’s only Queensland retreat (monastery), and a base for their local community outreach. It is officially known as St Mary’s Retreat. The majority of The Fort property, not including the house, was sold to the Brisbane City Council (BBC) in 2005, and is now The Fort Bushland Reserve.

Oxley, traditionally the land of the Turrbal and Jagera people,[1] is about 11km south-west of the Brisbane Central Business District. In the 1850s the area was known as Boyland’s Pocket, after the pastoralist Thomas Boyland, and in the early 1860s it was subdivided into small farms. Churches, a post office and a hotel were built in the 1860s, near the road between Brisbane and Ipswich, and Oxley Primary School opened nearby in 1870. Although the completion of the railway between Brisbane and Ipswich in 1876 boosted settlement in the district, Oxley remained largely rural until after World War II, with two small areas of settlement: one near Ipswich Road, and the other to the north near the Oxley railway station.[2]

In January 1865, the site of ‘The Fort’ (Portion 189 in the Parish of Oxley) consisting of 22 acres and 1 rood (9ha), was purchased by Henry William Coxen and William Sim of ‘Bendemere’ for £59 15s. Located on the south bank of the Brisbane River, less than 1km northwest of the later location of the Oxley railway station, the land was transferred to Coxen alone in 1866.[3]

Henry William Coxen (1823-1915) was born in Croydon, England, on 3 March 1823.[4] In 1838, aged 15, he travelled to Tasmania with his uncle and aunt, noted ornithologist John Gould and his wife Elizabeth (nee Coxen), where they were guests of Governor Franklin. They soon moved to New South Wales. After learning about sheep and cattle management on various stations owned by his paternal uncle, Stephen Coxen, and under the tutelage of his uncle Charles Coxen, Henry was sent north in 1842 to the Darling Downs, where Patrick Leslie and his brothers had begun European settlement in March 1840.[5] Accompanied by Lieutenant Irving, three men and an Aboriginal boy, Henry took two drays and 300 head of cattle and selected ‘Jondaryan’ station in the northern Downs on behalf of his uncle Charles.[6]

Henry returned to England in 1845, to work for a mercantile firm. He married Mary Ann Shelton in London in January 1848, and after some time in the Cape Colony (South Africa) the couple returned to Sydney in April 1852. He then took up further pastoral stations in what became Queensland, becoming the owner or part-owner of at least 17 large grazing leases, including Bendemere near Yuleba. He divorced in 1865, and married Margaret Moorhead in Victoria in February 1866. Henry disposed of his pastoral interests, and he and Margaret had returned to England by 1867. After unsuccessful investments in foreign securities and the South African sugar industry, Coxen and his family returned to Queensland in 1880.[7] By this time, Henry and Margaret had four children.[8]

Coxen built his house ‘The Fort’ c1882, on the 9ha of land he had purchased in Oxley in 1865.[9] In May 1882, architect Andrea Stombuco sued Coxen for full payment for his preparation of plans and specifications, and taking site levels, for a building for Coxen at Oxley. Stombuco claimed he had been contacted by Coxen in September 1880 to give an estimate for a four-roomed house. Stombuco then drew up his plans, based on sketches received from Coxen, and called for tenders, with the lowest received being £1001.[10] Unhappy with a measurement error on a drawing of a large shed (probably the stables) at the property, which had led to an overestimate of the quantity of timber needed, Coxen employed architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley to revise Stombuco’s plans for the house, and had received a new estimate for the house of £810 from a contractor in Toowoomba. At the time of the court case ‘the building [presumably The Fort house] was now being erected in accordance with the new drawings and specification’. Coxen won the court case.[11]

FDG Stanley (1839-97) was an architect in Queensland 1862-97. Rising to Colonial Architect in 1873, Stanley was responsible for ambitious, substantial public buildings in Brisbane and regional centres of the colony, including schools, banks, churches, hotels, shops, and civic buildings such as Brisbane General Post Office (1871-2) and Telegraph Office extension (1876-9) [Commonwealth Heritage List 105521]. His work is distinguished within early Queensland architects, and his high profile and prolific output has been considered formative in Queensland architecture.[12]

In 1882, Stanley was in private practice and at the height of his career, designing the Queensland National Bank’s headquarters (1880-5) [QHR 600153], and opening a branch office of his practice in Maryborough. During this period Stanley also designed substantial residences, including Sidney House, 1882; Villa for Robert Hart, 1883; Whinstaines, 1886; and Tighnabruaich, 1889-90 [QHR 600229].[13] The Fort was considerably more modest.[14]

In 1932, Florence Eliza Lord described The Fort for The Queenslander newspaper: ‘Its outer walls are formed of wide horizontal boards, and the inner of vertical ones. The house was originally built without a hall of any kind, the four main rooms – the drawing-room, dining-room, and two bedrooms–opening into each other. There are two verandah bedrooms, and a verandah running between two wings projecting from each end of the back of the house. The wing on the right as one steps on to this back verandah from the dining-room comprises the kitchen… and the other contains a storeroom, bathroom, and–in the Coxen’s time–a spare room and Mr Coxen’s office. The three latter all open onto a verandah connecting with that previously mentioned. The store-room opened on the other side of this wing, and below it was a cool cellar…’[15]

The house was located near the highest point on the property, with a sweeping view over the Brisbane River. The remainder of the property, which sloped down to the south, was a mixture of treed and open space by 1936.[16] For affluent Queenslanders, residing on spacious properties on hilltops, or near the river, and away from the crowded city, was a common practice, and The Fort’s site achieved all of the above. [17]

During 1883 and 1884 Coxen purchased more land to the east of Portion 189, on which he built two more houses: ‘Eddystone’ and ‘The Slopes’ (neither extant).[18] Eddystone and The Slopes were described by FE Lord in 1932 as being similar in construction to The Fort, although without rear wings.[19] Eddystone was located amongst trees on the ridge to the east of The Fort, while The Slopes was located on a cleared terrace, down a slope to the east of Eddystone.[20]

While living at The Fort, Coxen was active in both the Freemasons and in local politics. He was a Justice of the Peace, a board member of the Yeerongpilly Divisional Board (Chairman 1889), and later a board member of the Sherwood Divisional Board (which split from Yeerongpilly in 1891), and its Chairman in 1902. Margaret Coxen died during a visit to Sandgate that year.[21] After he sold The Fort in 1906, Henry lived at Slopes, where he died in 1915.[22]

The Fort house and 9.4ha of property was offered for sale by auction in February 1906, at which time it had 15 rooms, along with a garden of 2 acres (0.8ha), stables, stockyard, laundry, and outbuildings, and ‘one of the most beautiful views around Brisbane’.[23] In May 1906 the Fort and 12.6ha of the property was transferred to Thomas Knight Corkran (1852-1937), an Irish-born Catholic, educated at the Marist College in France, who had joined the Queensland police in Western Queensland in the 1870s.[24]

Thomas Corkran ran a dairy herd on the land, which included a dam and a well (dug by Coxen) in the small valley to the south of the house. According to Thomas’s daughter Olivia, during the Corkran period of ownership The Fort included a hall, lounge, dining room, six bedrooms, bathroom, storeroom and kitchen; there were cedar doors and some double walls in the house, and ‘two huge rooms for the men’. The ceilings of The Fort were also unlined when the Corkrans purchased the property, according to Olivia. The Corkrans used its cellar as a dairy, housing a cream separator; and Thomas Corkran built a separate laundry at the rear of the house. The Corkran family used Eddystone Road (previously known as Coxen’s Lane) to access The Fort from the east, and they also had an entrance from Fort Road, west of the house, in addition to the original entrance, further south near the stables.[25] In December 1912, subdivision 1 of Portion 189, 2 roods (0.2ha) at the corner of Fort Road and Cliveden Avenue, was transferred to Gertrude Letitia Corkran. A house was built on this site, but had been removed by 1936. By this time, there were mature trees along the Fort Road approach to The Fort residence, including north of the southwest corner of Portion 189, inside the entrance by the stables, and to the immediate north and south residence, and some of these trees survive today.[26]

After Thomas Corkran died at the Fort in January 1937, subdivision 2 of Portion 189 (21 acres, 3 roods (8.8ha) was transferred to members of the Corkran family, before being sold to the Provincial of the Congregation of the Passion in Australasia, for £6000, in June 1955. Subdivision 1 of Portion 189 (0.2ha), and subdivisions 1 to 4 of Portion 188 (3.4ha), were later transferred to the Passionists in April 1962.[27]

The Passionist Order was founded in Italy in 1720 by St Paul of the Cross (Paolo Danei Massari, 1694-1775). The Passionists, Catholic missionary priests who ‘live in community’ (in a retreat, or monastery), promote the memory of the passion of Jesus. They combine a monastic life of prayer and contemplation with missions and outreach to the communities in which they are located. The Passionists conducted a mission to Stradbroke Island, the traditional land of the Quandamooka people, from 1843-7, the first Catholic outreach to the Aboriginal people of Queensland. The Order later returned to Australia at Marrickville, NSW in 1887. In 2020 the Passionists have a presence in 59 countries, and one Passionist province covers Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Vietnam. In Australia, the Passionists are located at St Brigid’s in Marrickville, Sydney; Holy Cross, Templestowe Melbourne; Endeavour Hills, Melbourne; Glen Osmond, Adelaide; St Joseph’s Church, Hobart; and St Mary’s Retreat (The Fort) at Oxley.[28]

The purchase of The Fort by the Passionists was part of a mid-1950s expansion of the Order, which included sending missionaries to Papua New Guinea in 1955, and Passionists to St Kilda in Melbourne and Hobart in Tasmania in 1956. The Passionist Provincial, Xavier Bates, along with Father Placid and Archbishop James Duhig of Brisbane, scouted Brisbane looking for a site for a Passionist retreat in late 1954, selecting The Fort. Archbishop Duhig formally approved the Passionists’ application to open a house (monastery) for a Passionist community at Oxley in December 1954, and Fathers Placid and John moved into The Fort on 1 April 1955. They were soon joined by Fathers Anselm, Gregory, Hilary, Ignatius and Brother Anthony, and all worked on tidying up the house and grounds. A front room of The Fort was turned into a temporary chapel, and old sheds and stockyards were pulled down, except for the stable building (which was dismantled in 1956, and moved to its present location east of the house) and a small shed. The lookout in front of the house, overlooking the river, was formed in April 1955, and a new wing was added to the rear of the house, running east, with four bedrooms, and a washroom and toilet block.[29] The Corkrans’ gable-roofed laundry was moved and attached to the southern end of the west rear wing (in 2020 there is a skillion-roofed kitchen in this position).[30]

On 6 November 1955, the first mass was celebrated on a new high altar in the chapel, and Archbishop Duhig formally visited The Fort (initially known as the Regina Coeli Retreat, and later St Mary’s Retreat, but commonly known as The Fort) on 2 August 1956, and blessed it. The first public Sunday Mass was held in the chapel on 3 February 1957. Ministries performed by the Passionist community at Oxley have since included Youth Retreats, Family Group, Chaplaincy at the Canossa Hospital (from 1960), School Chaplaincy, assisting at local parishes and the Cathedral of St Stephen, Supplies, Missions, and Retreats. Celebrations are often held in the grounds, including Music under the Stars, Christmas Eve mass and other feast day celebrations, and Mission stalls (markets for charity) are also held on the grounds. Passionist priests stay at The Fort on their way to other locations.[31]

Other changes to The Fort house and grounds during the years of Passionist occupancy have included: a new driveway, from near the former site of the stables, to a circular drive on the west side of the house (in the late 1980s this driveway was concreted, and a new entrance was formed, midway between the two pre-1936 entrances from Fort Road); two cannons being located at The Fort between c1963-71 (one mounted on a concrete slab west of the house; the other mounted on concrete blocks east of the lookout), before they were traded for a figure of Christ on the Cross; and the conversion of the Sacristy (southern part of east verandah) into two visitor’s rooms in 1977, by removing the wall between the core and the verandah. In 1982 a pergola was built between the two original rear wings of the house, with a deck added in the late 1980s. Also in the late 1980s, the 1950s accommodation wing at the rear was extended further to the east. In the early 1990s, due to the growth in numbers of members of the public attending, Sunday Mass was moved into the former stables, known as ‘The Shed’, which has since been damaged by two fires, including one in December 2005.[32]

In 2005, most of The Fort’s grounds (10.6ha), were purchased by the Brisbane City Council, after the local community objected to plans for housing on the land, and it is now the Fort Bushland Reserve. This includes regrowth on the areas cleared for dairy farming, and was initially infested with invasive weeds.[33]

The 1880s house built by Coxen, and 1.8ha of land, remains a Passionist Retreat in 2020. The community of priests at The Fort has served the greater Oxley community for 64 years since 1956.

Description

The Fort comprises a detached riverside house and its setting in Oxley, approximately 10.5km southwest of Brisbane CBD. Accessed from Fort Road on its southwest side, the house stands on a large allotment near the edge of a steep bank of the Brisbane River and has spectacular panoramic views spanning northwest to northeast. The setting of the house comprises part of the surrounding house yard and part of the adjacent public park, which was originally part of The Fort’s large property.

Features of The Fort of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• The House (c1882)
• The Setting – Grounds, Views, and Mature Trees

The House (c1882)

The house is a single-storey lowset timber-framed and -clad structure. It faces north toward the view and has a square core with a hipped roof surrounded by a verandah with an ogee roof. Projecting from each end of the south verandah are matching pyramid-roofed service wings and a face brick chimney projects from the core’s roof. A cross is mounted on the centre ridge of the main roof and the kitchen wing’s chimney (western side of the house) has been converted to form a grotto.

The front (north) verandah is open to the view and the northern verandah wall is symmetrical, retaining original step-through double-hung windows either side of an entrance door. Parts of the east, west, and south verandahs have been enclosed (in stages, likely pre-1906) to form a number of smaller interconnected rooms and some have had the verandah wall demolished and the enclosed verandah incorporated into the core.[34]

Internally, the core comprises a large front entrance room, which is used a chapel (formerly two rooms – drawing room and bedroom) with an altar at the east end in the enclosed verandah and a small choir alcove in the enclosed north east corner verandah. The core’s two rear rooms are a former dining room with fireplace, and a former bedroom, which has been partitioned to form two passageways and two bedrooms, incorporating the enclosed eastern verandah. The core’s ceilings are notably high. The western service wing comprises a former kitchen (now dining room) and the eastern service wing accommodates two rooms and a short open verandah (the two rooms are possibly a former storeroom, now passageway, and a bathroom, now office). The former cellar under this wing has been replaced by a concreted open space.

Features of the house of state-level cultural heritage significance also include:

• original fabric and alterations made prior to 1906
• original and early enclosures of verandahs (c1882-1906)
• location and orientation of house, facing north toward the Brisbane River
• lowset bungalow form with a hipped roof with box gutter, surrounding ogee verandah, and projecting pyramid roofed service wings
• corrugated metal roof sheets, metal ogee-profile gutters, round metal downpipes
• face brick chimney with cement cap
• wide timber chamferboard exterior cladding
• verandahs with timber board floor, timber posts with moulded caps, no balustrade, ogee profile rafters, unlined ceiling, and stop chamfering to posts, verandah beam, and rafters (where these elements survive concealed by later linings they are also of state-level cultural heritage significance)
• original layout of core and surviving marks on floor, walls, ceiling, and joinery showing location of removed partitions and walls (former partition in front room has left marks on ceiling and cornice)
• interior timber floors
• timber beaded board linings to interior walls and ceilings
• moulded timber skirting boards, architraves, and cornices
• original low-waisted, panelled timber doors (some re-hung as sliding doors, and some relocated within the house)
• original and early timber-framed windows: large double-hung windows of front rooms (two are step-through windows); and small double-hung two-pane sash window in west wall of east service wing (sole remaining example of type that has been otherwise replaced)
• centre-pivoting glazed fanlights
• early clear-finished timber fire surround
• early door, window, and fanlight hardware including rimlocks
• roof-mounted cross (c1955)
• chapel conversion of front rooms (1955), limited to: removed partition between front rooms of core; exposed studs and opening made in eastern verandah wall through to altar area in enclosed verandah; choir area in enclosed verandah north of altar (now enclosed as a room)
• conversion of kitchen chimney breast into grotto, including statue within the former chimney breast, and cross above

Features of the house not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• fabric, extensions, and alterations made after 1906, excluding previously mentioned
• other alterations for chapel, including floor, wall and ceiling linings, and later partition in east verandah to enclose the choir into a separate room
• deck and pergola between service wings
• extensions to service wings (distinguishable by use of weatherboards as cladding), including large extension for semi-self-contained living quarters (1955 and late-1980s)
• non-original openings, doors (including high-waisted timber door in south verandah wall), windows, screens, awnings, ramps, and walls
• electrical and other services
• understorey stumps (all are concrete replacements) and cellar (originally under eastern service wing, replaced with concrete part-height walls)

The Setting – Grounds, Views, and Mature Trees

The house is approached from the southwest from Fort Street via a long drive arriving at its western side. It stands roughly in the centre of its large house yard, which comprises terraced lawns dotted with mature ornamental trees. To its north, the land slopes steeply down to the Brisbane River waterline and is lightly-forested, permitting distant northerly views from the house and northern grounds.

Other mature ornamental trees stand in the adjacent public park that indicate the extent of The Fort’s former property size. These trees line the Fort Street boundary and stand near a former, pre-1936 entrance.

Features of the setting of state-level cultural heritage significance also include:

• open vegetated space of terraced lawns and grassed berms, trees, and garden beds surrounding house
• mature mango trees (mangifera indica) and camphor laurels (cinnamomum camphora) around the house, marking historical house yard boundaries in places
• a group of mature hoop pines and one fig tree (ficus sp.) standing in the park near the Fort Street boundary, marking the former location of the stables
• a line of mature mango trees and hoop pines standing in the park near the Fort Street boundary
• the routes of two former early driveways: northern driveway, which ran east from Fort Road (at its intersection with Gordon Court) to the drive turnaround west of the house; and southern driveway, which ran from Fort Road diagonally northeast through what is now the park, joining the existing driveway and arriving at the turnaround (excluding concrete surface)
• panoramic views from northern verandah and northern parts of grounds to the sweep of the Brisbane River and beyond across Fig Tree Pocket to distant mountains and the CBD (panoramic from northwest to northeast)

Features of the setting not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• new planting schemes or species after 1906
• avenue of trees of entrance drive (c1960) and lines of boundary trees, excluding those previously mentioned
• concrete (added 1988) of circular drive turnaround
• earthen viewing platform (c1950s) projecting from river bank on north side of house
• sheds, including relocated stable east of house (in 2020 used as a chapel; has undergone substantial alterations), carports, pergolas, and other structures
• paving, statues, flagpoles, seats, paths, ramps, fences, electrical services including lights

References

[1] Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, ‘Public map and resources’, https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (accessed 23 April 2020)
[2] ‘Oxley’, https://queenslandplaces.com.au/oxley (accessed 23 April 2020); ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); DNRME aerial photographs ADA00136653 and ADA00126587, 20 April 1936 (two areas of settlement at Oxley). The railway towards Brisbane, over a bridge at Indooroopilly, opened as far as Oxley West (Sherwood) on 1 October 1874 (‘Opening of the railway to Oxley’, Brisbane Courier, 6 October 1874, p.3)
[3] Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) Survey Plan M3184, 1862; DNRME Deed of Grant 10063182, 1865. It has previously been claimed that the site of The Fort was purchased by Coxen in 1873, after he passed the property while travelling by boat to Ipswich and its position reminded him of a Fort in Bombay (Mumbai), India (‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’, (Adapted from talk given by Olivia Corkran, published in The Dynamic and the Genteel, edited by Ralph Fones, Oxley-Chelmer History Group Papers, IV, 2004, pages 10-13), in  ‘Fort Bushland Reserve’, https://fortbushlandreserve.wordpress.com/history/fort-early-owners/   (accessed 19 March 2020)).
[4] A firearms accident in 1836, during his time at Eton College, badly injured Henry’s right hand. Although Henry has been recorded as the eldest son of Henry Cunningham Coxen, an officer in the 14th Regiment, and his wife Eliza (née Adams), in 1866, his father was reported as being Lieutenant Henry Holman Coxen, of the 14th Light Infantry (‘Marriages’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 20 February 1866, p.2); and in A List of the Officers of the Army and Royal Marines on full and half-pay: with an index, Great Britain, War Office, 1821, an Ensign (from 16 November 1815) ‘Henry Conyngham Coxen’ is listed (on half-pay from 25 March 1816) under the 14th Regiment of Foot (p.533).
[5] Information from Applicant; ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); AH Chisholm, ‘Coxen, Charles’ (1809-1876)’, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coxen-charles-3281 (accessed 28 April 2020);

AH Chisholm, ‘Coxen, Henry William (1823-1915)’, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coxen-henry-william-3282 (accessed 28 April 2020);

AH Chisholm, ‘Gould, John (1804-1881)’, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gould-john-2113 (accessed 28 April 2020); ‘The Sherwood Divisional Board’, Queenslander, 29 March 1902, p.688; ’Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family’, HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10; ‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34.
[6] Information supplied by Applicant; ‘Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family’, HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10. Jondaryan station was first selected by Henry Dennis in 1841, while he was in the area to select Jimbour for Richard Todd Scougall, and Myall Creek for Charles Coxen; but as Dennis did not register his claim, Jondaryan went to Charles Coxen (M French, ‘Conflict on the Condamine: Aborigines and the European invasion’, Toowoomba, Darling Downs Institute Press, 1989, pp.71-2; ‘Echoes of the past’, by “Ben Bolt”, Darling Downs Gazette, 24 May 1919, p.2). It has been stated that Henry William Coxen exported the first Cotswold sheep into Australia (‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34), but the breed was apparently introduced by the Van Diemen’s Land Company in 1826 (IM Parsonson, The Australian ark: a history of domesticated animals in Australia, Collingwood Victoria, CSIRO Publishing, 2000, p.44).
[7] Henry first returned to England a result of NSW’s economic depression of 1843-44. Information from Applicant; ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); AH Chisholm, ‘Coxen, Henry William (1823-1915)’, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coxen-henry-william-3282 (accessed 28 April 2020); ‘Law Report’, Argus, 23 September 1865, p.6 (divorce); and ‘News and Notes’, Brisbane Courier, 2 October 1865, p.4; ‘Marriages’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 20 February 1866, p.2; ‘Personal’, The Brisbane Courier, 26 August 1915, p.11 (death of Henry William Coxen; he disposed of his pastoral interests prior to returning to England in 1867); ’Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family’, HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10; ‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34. Bendemere was advertised for sale in 1864 (‘Advertising’ The Argus, 20 May 1864, p.3), and was later sold to the Macfarlane family (’Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family’ HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10; ‘Mr HT Macfarlane’, The Queenslander, 27 October 1927, p.16 (Macfarlane family to Bendemere in 1865).
[8] Henry and Margaret’s eldest child was Sarah Moorhead Coxen (b.1861). Their eldest son, Henry Charles Coxen (b.1869) became the chief of staff of the Queensland Department of Public Works. Their younger son, Major-General Walter Adams Coxen CB, CMG, DSO (b.1870) fought in World War I, rising to command the Royal Artillery of the Australian Corps, and by 1930 was Chief of the Australian Section of the Imperial General Staff. The youngest daughter was Ella Margaret Coxen (b.c1879-80). (‘Brisbane’s Historic Homes, CVIII–Eddystone and The Slopes’, FE Lord, Queenslander, 26 May 1932, p.34 (WA Coxen); Chisholm, AH, ‘Coxen, Henry William (1823-1915)’, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coxen-henry-william-3282 (accessed 28 April 2020); ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); ‘Unnamed (F) Moorhead’, Queensland Birth Index 1861/C/14,  https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/details/e03df83a13da6961d73c790779a5adcd2fe9ac60cfb68433230c869e20b17869 (accessed 6 May 2020); Grave of Sarah Moorhead Hassall, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49857767/sarah-moorhead-hassall#view-photo=193184906  (Accessed 5 May 2020); ‘Walter Adams Coxen CB CMG DSO (1870 - 1949)’ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Coxen-59; ‘Henry Charles Coxen (1869 - 1944)’ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Coxen-80; and ‘Ella Margaret (Coxen) Blanton (bef. 1880 - 1959)’ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Coxen-81 (accessed 5 May 2020)).
[9] In late 1881, Coxen was still living at Russell Street, Toowoomba (‘Classified advertising’, Brisbane Courier, 17 August 1881, p.1). At this time he requested that the owners of Portion 188 in Oxley (located to the east of Portion 189, between it and today’s Blackheath Road) pay for half of the dividing fence. His Toowoomba address was also listed on the Quarterly Electoral list, Electoral District of Oxley, in July 1881 (‘Classified advertising’, Queenslander, 23 July 1881, p.124).
[10] ‘Southern District Court’, Telegraph, 5 May 1882, p.3.
[11] ‘Southern District Court’, Telegraph 6 May 1882, p.5.
[12] D Watson and J McKay, Architects of the 19th Century, Brisbane, Queensland Museum, 1994, pp.166-178; S King, ‘Eclecticism in the Work of Queensland Colonial Architect FDG Stanley, 1871-1881’, Fabrications, 21:2, 2012, p.37-60.
[13] Watson and McKay, Architects of the 19th Century, p.166-178.
[14] Little of Stanley’s modest residential designs is recorded or studied and it is not clear how much, if any, of Stombuco’s existing design for Coxen Stanley utilised. For comparative purposes, The Fort does not bear obvious Stanley hallmarks (D Watson, ‘A House of Sticks: A History of Queenslander Houses in Maryborough’, Queensland Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, June 2012, pp.56-59).
[15] ‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34. This article claims Mr Coxen used the cellar for his stores from England.
[16] DNRME Aerial photograph ADA00126586, 20 April 1936; ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’ (‘In those days [the Corkran period] there were large grassy patches on the hill and many of the trees had been cleared, so that most of the thick vegetation of later years was re-growth’).
[17] Some other examples are the 19th century residences ‘Tighnabruaich’ at Indooroopilly, [1889-90, QHR 600229], ‘Middenbury’, Toowong [1865, QHR 600330], ‘Bertholme’, New Farm [c1885 QHR 600263], and ‘Amity’, New Farm [1892, QHR 600264].
[18] In July 1883, Coxen obtained the western half (6.6ha) of Portion 188 from Henry Lucock. This included eight subdivisions, north and south of a road easement, plus the road. The four subdivisions (3ha) north of the road became the site of Eddystone (DNRME Survey Plan RP29775, 1863 (Portion 188 subdivided); DNRME COT 10470109, July 1883). Portion 188 had been purchased by Henry Lucock in 1863; and the half purchased by Coxen in 1883 had been transferred to John Lucock and Arthur Rolls, as tenants in common, in 1870, before reverting to Henry Lucock in 1881 (DNRME Deed of Grant 10017019, 1863 (Portion 188. Sub 12A (the road), 0.15ha, to Coxen 1883); DNRME COT 10170068, December 1870 (subs 1-4 of Portion 188, 3.4ha, to Coxen 1883); DNRME COT 10170065, December 1870 (subs 9-12 of Portion 188, 3ha, to Coxen 1883)). Subdivision 12A and Subs 1-4 of Portion 188 were later subdivided into Resubs A and B by Coxen in 1885 (COT 10575119 and 10575120). In October 1884, Coxen obtained another four subdivisions of Portion 188 (2.9ha), north of the road and further east, from Emanuel Sutton, and this became the site of The Slopes (DNRME COT 10020131, August 1863 (subs 13-15 of Portion 188 from Henry Lucock to Sutton in 1863, then Coxen in 1884); DNRME Deed of Grant 10017019, 1863 (sub 16, Portion 188 from Lucock to Sutton 1869); DNRME COT 10150002, June 1869 (sub 16 of Portion 188 to Coxen 1884)).
[19] ‘Brisbane’s Historic Homes, CVIII–Eddystone and The Slopes’, FE Lord, Queenslander, 26 May 1932, p.34.
[20] ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; ‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34; ‘Brisbane’s Historic Homes, CVIII–Eddystone and The Slopes’, FE Lord, Queenslander, 26 May 1932, p.34. Eddystone was built as a wedding gift for Coxen’s daughter Sarah when she married in August 1883, and was sold out of family ownership in 1920 (‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); ‘Marriages’, The Brisbane Courier, 13 August 1883, p.1 (Sarah was married to James Charles Hassall, the second son of the local Anglican Minister, by his father at St Matthews Anglican Church in Sherwood. Sarah’s father Henry was noted as living at The Fort by this time); DNRME COT 10470109, July 1883 (In 1885, the Eddystone property was transferred to FDG Stanley, Henry Charles Coxen and Stephen Henry Mitchell as trustees); DNRME COT 10560154, July 1885 (to Sarah Morehead [sic] Hassall in 1900, to Charles Smith in 1920). Eddystone was later sold to Alexander and Louisa Green in 1924. It was demolished or removed between 1969 and 1974 (DNRME aerial photographs QAP1871182, 25 January 1969 and QAP27591579, 1 March 1974)).The Slopes was given to Walter Adam Coxen, but he did not reside there; and it was sold out of family ownership in 1920 (DNRME COT 10020131 (The Slopes to Walter Adams Coxen in 1906; to Frederick William Perret in 1920, and to Harriet Smith later the same year)). The Slopes was demolished or removed during the 1960s (DNRME aerial photographs QAP1043107, 9 September 1960, and QAP1871182, 25 January 1969)).
[21] St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); ‘The Sherwood Divisional Board’, Queenslander, 29 March 1902, p.688; newspaper articles relating to meetings of the Yeerongpilly and Sherwood divisional boards, 1885-1903; ‘Brisbane’s historic homes, CVII – The Fort’, FE Lord, Queenslander 19 May 1932, p.34 (Margaret died 1902); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49857818/margaret-coxen  (Margaret Coxen’s grave, Accessed 5 May 2020).
[22] ‘Personal’, The Brisbane Courier, 26 August 1915, p.11; ’Pioneer Queenslanders. Early Squatters and their homes: VIII The Coxen Family’ HM Challinor, Daily Mail, 17 May 1919, p.10; ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; Secret Brisbane: History, people, places, tracing the history of The Fort’, Susan Prior, https://www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/2/14/tracing-the-history-of-the-fort  (accessed 19 March 2020).
[23] ‘Advertising’, Telegraph, 9 February 1906, p.8. Portion 189 had been transferred to Francis Drummond Greville Stanley, Stephen Henry Mitchell and Walter Adams Coxen as trustees in 1887, and to Henry Charles Coxen in January 1906 (DNRME COT 10093087).
[24] ‘Mr Thomas Knight Corkran’, Catholic Freeman's Journal (Sydney) 4 February 1937, p.41, cited by Applicant; DNRME COT 10093087 (Portion 189 to Corkran 1906); DNRME COT 10575119 and 10575120 (subdivisions 12A, and 1-4 of Portion 188 to Corkran 1906).
[25] ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; Secret Brisbane: History, people, places, tracing the history of The Fort’, Susan Prior, https://www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/2/14/tracing-the-history-of-the-fort  (accessed 19 March 2020). DNRME Aerial photograph ADA00126586, 20 April 1936 shows a track from Eddystone Road (reportedly located slightly further south in Coxen’s time, according to Olivia Corkran) that headed northwest to the rear of The Fort, and a track continuing southwest to the stables near Fort Road. There is also an entrance further north on Fort Road, immediately west of The Fort residence. Another track runs east from The Fort, to Eddystone.
[26] ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; DNRME Survey Plan RP29778, December 1912; DNRME COT 10093087; DNRME COT 11230055; DNRME Aerial photograph ADA00126586, 20 April 1936.
[27] Information from Applicant; DNRME COT 11230044 (Sub 2 of Portion 189); DNRME COT 11230055 (Sub 1 of Portion 189); DNRME COT 10575119 and 11276053 (Subs 1-4 of portion 188 to Passionists). Thomas Corkran was survived by his wife, three sons and six daughters (‘Mr Thomas Knight Corkran’, Catholic Freeman’s Journal, 4 February 1937, p.41).
[28] Information from Applicant; ‘The Passionists’, https://www.cam.org.au/endeavourhills/The-Passionists (accessed 15 April 2020); ‘Our Communities, Parishes and Retreat Centres’, https://www.passionists.com/our-ministry/our-parishes/ (accessed 15 April 2020); ‘St Paul of the Cross’ https://www.passionists.com/about-the-passionists/st-paul-cross/  (accessed 15 April 2020); ‘Who Are We?’ https://www.passionists.com/about-the-passionists/our-passionist-charism/who-are-we/ (accessed 15 April 2020); ‘Passionist Fathers’ failed outreach to Queensland Aboriginal people actually deemed a success 175 years on’, The Catholic Leader, 26 May 2018,  https://catholicleader.com.au/news/passionist-fathers-failed-outreach-to-queensland-aboriginal-people-actually-deemed-a-success-175-years-on  (accessed 15 April 2020).
[29] ‘50 Years of Passionist Presence at the ‘Fort’, Oxley’, PowerPoint presentation 2006, supplied by Applicant (Gregory, Anselm, Hilary and Ignatius continued on to PNG on 16 May 1955); ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’ (three quarters of a shed was moved to east of the residence by Brother Anthony and Father John); photo album held at The Fort (stables dismantled and re-erected 1956); DNRME Aerial photograph QAP0537072, 27 July 1955 (the new wing is visible to the east side of the original east rear wing of the residence; plus there are small southern additions to the rear wings); DNRME Aerial photograph QAP1043107, 9 September 1960 (the stable building has been relocated from near Fort Road, to east of the residence, post-July 1955. A smaller shed, southeast of the relocated stables, and extant in 2020, was erected between 1955 and 1960).
[30] DNRME Aerial photographs ADA00126586, 20 April 1936 and QAP0537072, 27 July 1955 (laundry moved northwards to rear of west rear wing by July 1955); Late 1950s/early 1960s oblique aerial provided by Applicant (shows gabled laundry attached to south side of west wing).
[31] ‘50 Years of Passionist Presence at the ‘Fort’; ‘Fort’ified in spirit’, The Catholic Leader, August 6, 2006, https://catholicleader.com.au/news/fortified-in-spirit_41954 (accessed 19 March 2020); ‘St Mary’s Retreat Oxley’ https://www.passionists.com/our-people/our-province/australia/st-marys-retreat-oxley/ (accessed 19 March 2020); Information from Applicant. The number of Passionists living at The Fort seems to have fluctuated between 5 and 7 men over the years to 2006. By mid-2020 there were two priests resident. The fiftieth anniversary of the Passionist community at Oxley was celebrated in August 2006 – dating from Duhig’s blessing of the retreat in 1956, rather than its first occupation by Passionist priests in April 1955.
[32] ‘50 Years of Passionist Presence at the ‘Fort’ (indicates that Sunday Mass was moved to The Shed in the late 1980s); ‘The Fort at Oxley and its early owners’; ‘Fort’ified in spirit’ (claims that Sunday Mass was moved to The Shed in the early 1990s); ‘St Mary’s Retreat’, Brisbane City Council local heritage place, https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1322 (accessed 17 April 2020); DNRME aerial photograph QAP1043107, 9 September 1960 (new driveway formed from near old stable site, to west of residence). DNRME Aerial photograph QAP37707905, 19 June 1980, shows that The Fort was still using its two early entrances at this time: the entrance just west of the residence, and the entrance further south on Fort Road, near the former site of the stables. The origin of the cannons, the date of the Passionists’ acquisition of them, and their type, is currently not confirmed. A Pers. Comm. from Brian Rough, 7 May 2020, indicates that in late 1963 the Brisbane City Council approved giving two obsolete cannons, located at the Colmslie Reserve (former Central Ordnance Small Craft Depot), to the Passionists, as requested by the Rev J Cummins. However, Gary Condon, who obtained the cannons from the Passionists in the early 1970s, was informed that they had come from Fort Lytton, and had been gifted to the Order by an American Officer. (Pers. Comm, Gary Condon, 8 May 2020). An old photograph of one of the guns at the Fort appears to show a 75mm or 77mm German field gun – possibly a World War I trophy.
[33] However, the Fort Bushland Bushcare Group have been removing weeds. ‘Secret Brisbane: History, people, places, The Fort Bushland Reserve’, Susan Prior, https://www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/2/15/the-fort-bushland-reserve (accessed 15 April 2020); DNRME COT 50561531; DNRME Survey Plan SP172192, 2005.

[34] It is estimated none of the verandahs were enclosed when the house was built (c1882) but likely occurred prior to 1906, however, this is undetermined. The post-1955 internal linings of the eastern and western verandahs may conceal original fabric: if stop-chamfered verandah posts and beams are found concealed it is likely this was original an open verandah but if no stop-chamfering is found it is likely this was an original enclosure. The verandahs were enclosed progressively in stages: the internal side of two walls in two adjacent rooms in the eastern service wing are lined with chamferboards, indicating these walls were external when built, and vertical joins in chamferboards show where enclosures were extended. At least one partition in the verandah enclosures uses beaded timber boards, which may have been reused from elsewhere in the house, such as the bedroom walls. The use of chamferboards for the enclosures and small timber-framed double-hung sash windows of multiple panes (now all removed) supports the verandahs were likely enclosed prior to the 1920s.

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