Researching Your Families Home
Researching Your Families Home
A brief Guide with hyperlinks
Brisbane City Council Archives
How do I start?
If you have a “Queensland” style home try looking at different house styles and dates through the following:
Brisbane Images – type in search phrase “Queensland Homes”
Brisbane house styles 1880 to 1940 : a guide to the affordable house / Judy Rechner (Brisbane History Group, 1998) Copies available from Brisbane City Council Libraries
Your house has a history: keys to unlocking its past
A simple guide to Brisbane's heritage places and character homes
How I can I quickly determine whether my house was constructed before or after 1946 for character housing determinations, insurance or other purposes?
You can use Council’s Planning and Development Online site to see a 1946 view of you property with the current property boundaries overlaid – You need to search through to the Interactive mapping Section on the second screen and then use the mapping tools to select the 1946 aerial view.
City Archives also holds a hard copy of these and other aerial photographs for the City of Brisbane. Digital versions can also be viewed and hard copy prints purchased through Council Customer Service Centres.
Rate Ledgers can also be consulted to determine whether the land was improved or vacant.
Researching a Pre 1925 Constructed property
Prior to October 1925 responsibility for building approvals within the greater Brisbane area was shared by different local authorities.
The only existing local authority building registers for the Brisbane area in this period area are:
the pre 1925 building registers held by Brisbane City Archives. Covers suburbs of New farm, Spring Hill, Kangaroo Point, Woolloongabba, Petrie Tce, Fortitude Valley, Newstead.
An early Wynnum building register for the period 1919- 1926 exist for the Wynnum Town Council Area and is held by Queensland State Archives.
You will need to do an historic Title Search to determine the name of owners of the property. Records used to determine when the house was constructed need to match to the owners name to confirm construction. You must know CURRENT street address of property
You may get an indication of when the house was constructed by the presence of an additional “Bill of mortgage “ stamp on the title records, Often people purchase the land and then took a mortgage out over the property to build the house.
Use Post Office directories or electoral rolls at the State Library of Queensland to try and locate owner residing at that address. Note some directories are included on the Find My Past website. BCC Libraries have a subscription which can be accessed IN A LIBRARY from their genealogy databases
Researching a property constructed between 1925 – 1946
City Archives holds building registers covering the Brisbane City Council area from October 1925 (some small gaps). Arranged chronologically in years and have street references. Most years are indexed by Street and Owners name.
Lands Title Search is recommended to determine name of the owner
Detail plans and survey field books are useful for determining the date of construction and any updates when the field surveys were updated, but the date the detail plan was produced will vary depending on when the suburb was surveyed. (Building survey work was undertaken between 1911 – c1960 with the inner suburbs generally being earlier)
Rate Ledgers can also be used for post 1940 construction as entries will state whether land was ‘Improved” ( ie had dwelling) or vacant. (VL)
Post Office directories also useful
Researching a property constructed after 1946
From 1946 all building applications were recorded on individual property cards which are held by the City Archives.
If the property required special registration as a multiple dwelling or business this application and approval will also be noted on the card.
From 1980 all building application and approval information is recorded in Council’s property databases and application for copies must be directed to a Council Customer Service Centres.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I find through family records that my family owned/resided in a property but don’t know the current street number how can I find out about the house?
You can only a request a Title Search if you know the current street number. Street numbers are fairly recent ( uncommon prior to 1940s)
Parish maps will show early property owners name, but be aware Parish maps were often reprinted are used by Council and government departments as base maps for other maps but the date of the reprint and the land owners name do not necessarily match. ( ie the date of land ownership is earlier than the printed date on the map)
The City Archives hold some Parish maps also Queensland State Archives
Council’s Detail plans are accurate date wise but the date the detail plan was produced will vary depending on when the suburb was surveyed. ( building survey work was undertaken between 1911 – c1960 with the inner suburbs generally being earlier)
Detail plans can be used to assist in determining street numbers as they sometimes have street numbers on the properties and can also used to determine subdivision layout which can be cross referenced to current subdivision layouts (use goggle earth) to determine current street number.
Post Office directories and electoral rolls will assist in locating people residing at an address but will not indicate whether they owned the property. Entries do not have street numbers. Entry in the directories was not compulsory.
How can I find out if my house had a name?
House names were a common way of identifying properties prior to street numbers. They were not compulsory so no formal “register” exists. It was not uncommon for people to rename a house.
House names appear in Post Office directories, electoral rolls and on the detail plans which can be used to match a name with a dwelling.
Can I get a plan of my house?
Domestic dwelling plans were not required to be retained by Council permanently until 1986.
Some early commercial plans including Unit blocks are extant – A list is available from the City Archives
Detail plans, especially the survey field books provide good building floor plans for houses constructed prior to 1946 ( the quality of drawings is not as high post this date)
If your house was built by the Workers Dwelling Board or Queensland Department of Housing it will appear in the Department of Housing Annual Reports published in the parliamentary papers.
A selection of these have been scanned by the City Archives and available through Brisbane Images under heading Queensland Home Series
Queensland State Archives holds Workers dwelling board files. ( SRS 3962)
homes built by the Commonwealth Government contact National Archives.
The booklet Brisbane house styles 1880 to 1940 : a guide to the affordable house by Judy Rechner and published by the Brisbane History Group in 1988 contains floor plans, photographs and architectural details to assist in dating and identifying a home. Copies can be viewed and borrowed through the Brisbane Council Library Service. City Archives also has a copy.
Images
Picture Australia
Brisbane Images
Local History Groups
Suburb Development and Character information.
Estate maps – These were produced to advertise Land sales and show existing subdivision layouts and sometimes contemporary images and existing buildings. City Archives holds some and Queensland State library has an extensive collection online -
Newspapers –
major ones online through TROVE
Smaller ones available through BCC Library databases
Local history publications
Local History Groups
Heritage Issues
Is the property on a heritage register?
For Australia.
For Queensland
For Brisbane
From the National Trust
Further information
Your house has a history: keys to unlocking its past
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To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
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