Talking Tram Tracks…
Paddington Then and Now’s History Display,
December 2020 Latrobe Terrace
In 2020, when we had a stall in our local Street Fair as Paddington Then and Now, Kerry, Annette and I met so many interesting people from the area who stopped for a chat, and to admire the old photographs we were displaying.
Imagine my surprise when I recognised one of my daughter Kitty’s favourite kindy teachers, from the Montessori Children’s House, in Auchenflower.
Lucy McGinley had grown up outside of the area, visiting Paddington as a child to hang out in all the cool places with her best friend, who lived here. She now has a special affinity with the suburb, as a long-term resident, and has recently earned the role as the Director of the Children’s House.
After asking after Kitty, Lucy mentioned that she lived in a Paddington Queenslander that might be of interest to us… I recently had the opportunity to visit Lucy’s home, and find out a little more about the secrets hidden underneath!
Lucy doesn’t actually need to hold up her house with two arms… a special iron beam does that for her!
Lucy’s family home is a Queenslander, which has had a few modifications over the years. The one she wanted to show me was the addition of a couple of tram lines that are holding up the downstairs ceiling, and the upstairs floorboards!
The house in Wilden Street was built between 1891 and 1913, and has had a lot of changes made, often by the owner rather than a builder. It still has a lot of original features like very high ceilings, VJ’s, polished floors and coloured glass windows.
It was a dusky pink when Lucy and her husband bought it, and while they were getting it painted, the previous owners came to colour match the pink! They’d loved it so much they wanted to use it again!
At some point during their own renovations, they had a structural engineer come to the property to make sure the house was safe. Fortunately, he was confident in the strength of the house, because a massive railroad sleeper and iron tramlines were doing a good job holding everything up!
Steel Tracks resting on Besser block columns
Railway Sleeper Beams at the front of the house, still with hardware attached
Can anyone tell us what’s going on here? A Packer of sorts?
That’s a huge piece of timber!
A little more about Lucy…
I’m the Director of the Children’s House, which means I’m the Teacher and I manage the centre. We have a Montessori Kindergarten for 3-5 year olds, and a Playgroup for toddlers-3 year olds.
Many years ago, I took my son, now 15, to the Playgroup, and then for two years at the Kindergarten. I began working as the Playgroup Co-ordinator while he was at Kindy, after which time I started there.
Even though I left after eight years to get my Degree, I always felt connected. Now I’m back, I just want every child to have the experience my child had - of being in a warm and loving home-like environment where they feel safe to explore and make their own discoveries.
It’s also important to me that staff feel valued and families feel welcome. I love making connections within the community, too. Families are very welcome to come and have a trial session at the Playgroup and a tour of the Kindergarten. We are located in Auchenflower in the original horse stables and chapel on the hill!
Over the holidays, we tidied out the extensive library at the Kindergarten and come across quite a few books that illustrate the changing attitudes towards children and education, and the norms of our community.
The horse stable on top of the hill in Wienholt Street in Auchenflower, was built in 1865 as the original stable of Randall MacDonnell’s great Rathdonnell Estate. A neighbouring estate called Auchenflower, meaning “field of flowers”, later gave its name to the area.
Photographs courtesy of Montessori Children’s House, Auchenflower
Lucy has kindly donated those historical education books to the Paddington Then and Now Library, and they will be available to view soon. We are so thankful she took the time to speak to us, and invite us to see these unusual structures in her home!
One comment on the PT&N Facebook page was from Andrew, who shared this with us:
Here’s a photo of a piece of Brisbane Tram line that was given to me back in 1981. The old fella I got it from said it came from the Paddington Tram Depot, before the fire. Apparently he was a Storeman there and used it as a door stop.
Has anybody else got any relics from the Paddington Tram Depot?
