Bankfoot House

Bankfoot House, on the Old Gympie Road at Glass House Mountains, owes its origins to an 1868 slab building, where William Grigor established a Cobb and Co Coaches’ depot which later included a post office. Essentially he was capitalising on providing accommodation and services to travellers seeking their fortunes on the Gympie goldfields. His wife Mary, a former governess for Captain Wickham at Newstead House, hailed from Bankfoot in Scotland. Grigor initially worked in the local timber industry with James Low and William Pettigrew. Grigor and Low built a pair of adjacent semi-detached stone houses at Spring Hill. Low eventually moved to Yandina, while Grigor established his coaching station at Glass House Mountains. The core of the current Bankfoot House was built in 1878, linked by walkway to the first house. The 1868 house constructed of pit-sawn Blackbutt weatherboards was dismantled in 1930. The property contains many significant trees including figs, Bunya pines, guava, eucalyptus and mangoes. The house remained in the Grigor family until 2004. The Friends of Bankfoot House and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council continue to manage the property as a house museum, including the Mary Grigor Archive which opened in May 2015.