Rosebank

This substantial residence, Rosebank, is a private home and not publically accessible. Rosebank was built in 1886 for Rose and Andrew Ball. Andrew was manager of Woodstock Station for pastoralist Robert Towns and John Melton Black. Ball, along with Mark Reid, and two Aboriginal stockmen explored the mouth of Ross River in 1864, around which Townsville was surveyed in 1865. Ball continued with pastoral work until his marriage in 1877 to widow Rose O’Neill, licensee of the Exchange Hotel in Flinders Street. Ball acquired the licence in 1877, but the congenial Rose continued as manager. In 1886, they built their home, thought to have been designed and built by Matthew Rooney. Rosebank was developed as a self-sufficient rural estate with a grand driveway via a causeway and two bridges over the creek, lined with bunya pines and mango trees, surrounding a large rose garden. Andrew Ball died in 1894, and Rose remained here until her death in 1925. Her daughter Annie and her husband, lawyer Robert Johnstone Douglas inherited it, having lived at the house since their marriage in 1912. They undertook renovations to the property at that time and it remained in the family until 1972.