Duncragan - a house with a big history

A Townsville property that continues to pop up time and again in my research, and in surprising places, is Duncragan.[1] So I thought it was time I wrote something about it, and the many different functions it has fulfilled over the years. Situated in Cleveland Terrace, on Melton Hill, adjacent to the old Supreme Court building, Duncragan was built around 1917 for William Duncan, managing director of Messrs Brand and Dryborough’s Cleveland Foundry.

Duncragan, Melton Hill, Townsville, 1960s.
Photo: University College of Townsville Handbook. 

It was described by the Townsville Daily Bulletin at one time as “one of the most commodious residential buildings in Townsville, with a panoramic view unexcelled anywhere, from all points of the compass.” [2]  The home was large and spacious, with four bedrooms plus a maid’s bedroom, a lounge room with a skylight, a large living room, a billiards room and a lookout turret. The house was surrounded on three sides by 12ft-wide verandahs.

Duncragan's floor plan at the time of the State Government's purchase of the house from the Misses Duncan. Note the location of the former turret, indicated lower left-hand corner.
Source: Queensland State Archives.

World War II

According to Peter Dunn’s ozatwar.com website, during World War II Duncragan was “commandeered by the US Army and used as a private residence for at least one US General”. Stories exist about the parties held there in those years, and according to one report, American officers used to dance on the billiard table![3] It was during WWII that the house’s turret was taken down.

Maternal and Child Welfare Home

In November 1949, William Duncan’s daughters – Olive Duncan and Nita Duncan – sold the property to the State Government for £10,000.[4] The government wanted to convert the property for use as a Maternal and Child Welfare Home. It had been canvassing properties in Townsville since the mid-1940s but had not found anything suitable until Duncragan was offered for sale. In June 1950, the government declared the land as a Reserve for Health (Maternal and Child Welfare) Purposes.[5] 1n 1951 the government proceeded to plan alterations and additions to the property that would “add to the efficiency and convenience of the home”.

The work encompassed conversion of the main building to provide an infants’ nursery, a toddlers’ nursery, bedrooms for mothers, sitting and dining rooms, various specialised kitchens, a sun room, a toddlers’ play area, and a trainee lecture room. Outbuildings were converted into modern laundry facilities. Plans also included a new annexe that provided a suite for the Matron, six bedrooms for Sisters, sitting room for the Sisters, a kitchenette and other general amenities.[6] It was important that the facility have a “homelike and bright appearance” as the mothers who would be staying there were not ill. Every care was taken with furnishings and fittings, with most pieces made from silky oak timber - stained walnut - and “all linoleums to be green inlay jasper or marble – not plain brown”.

The overall purpose of the Maternal and Child Welfare Homes were to provide specialised care for infants with an intellectual disability, without removing the child from its mother. But at the same time as planning for the improvements was progressing, the Hospital Board in Townsville requested that Duncragan be made available for the accommodation of nursing staff of the Townsville General Hospital. The need was intended to be temporary, while new Nurses’ Quarters were completed at the hospital.[7]

Nurses Quarters

In February 1954, it was announced that Duncragan would be used as temporary nurses’ quarters.[8] In December, the Townsville Daily Bulletin reported on a Christmas function held there.

“Duncragon, the nurses’ quarters at Melton Hill, was the venue for the gaieties… guests including ships’ personnel from the Paringa and Ribera, members of the Surf Life Saving clubs and RAAF. A special guest was Matron E. McCarthy, who wished all the joys of Christmas and New Year. There was dancing until midnight to orchestral music supplied by a trio of nurses and to add to the social enjoyment small tables and chairs were set up for conversation in a garden setting of sloping lawns. Some very special and delicious dainties were submitted for supper which was served buffet-style.”[9]

University students, outside Duncragan, 1960s.
Photo: University College of Townsville Handbook.

University Student Accommodation

In 1961 Duncragan became a hostel for female university students. The North Queensland University Association, through an appeal to the people of North Queensland, established two Halls of Residence in Townsville for male and female students of the University College of Townsville (later James Cook University).[10] Duncragan was used to accommodate 22 women, in “agreeably furnished single and double rooms”. Full board at the Halls of Residence cost £6 per week, and at Duncragan a “simply but adequately furnished common room” with a “very attractive panoramic view” was provided for recreational purposes. [11] 

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[1] There seem to be many variations on the spelling of this house – variously Duncragan, Duncraigen, Duncragen, Duncragon.

[2]  Townsville Daily Bulletin, 13 February 1954, p. 2

[3] ‘Melton Hill’s Duncraigan’, ABC North Queensland radio broadcast, 3 August 2010.

[4] Letter to the Public Curator, dated 11 May 1949, which included a contract to sell the property, signed by Olive Duncan on behalf of herself and her sister Nita Duncan. Held by Queensland State Archives; see also Memorandum from Assistant Supervisor of Works to Department of Public Works dated 11 November 1949, held by Queensland State Archives.

[5] Queensland Government Gazette, 24 June 1950, p. 3082.

[6] Memorandum from Acting Chief Architect to Department of Public Works, dated 27 June 1952, held by Queensland State Archives.

[7] Letter from Secretary of Hospitals Board, Townsville to Under Secretary, Department of Health and Home Affairs, dated 20 June 1952, held by Queensland State Archives.

[8] Townsville Daily Bulletin, 13 February 1954, p. 2.

[9] Townsville Daily Bulletin, 27 December 1954, p. 5.

[10] The other property was Stuart House, in Wulguru, which could accommodate 66 men; while Olsen House, in Stagpole Street, West End, was established in 1963 and accommodated 38 men. University College of Townsville Handbook, 1965.

[11] University College of Townsville Handbook, 1965.

Establishment of the Cairns Baby Clinic

Cairns Baby Clinic, corner of Florence and Martyn Streets, Cairns, c. 1930.
Photo: Queensland State Archives

In September 1920, Florence Chatfield visited the city of Cairns to make preliminary arrangements for the establishment of a Baby Clinic there. It was during the 1920s that the Queensland Government began building state-run baby clinics in regional Queensland cities, in an effort to try to improve the life expectancy of its youngest citizens. It was hoped that educating mothers about the care of their infants using a standardised system of advice and instruction would help to reduce the infant mortality rate. The government was responding to pressure from a growing nationwide movement, now known as the Infant Welfare Movement.

Nurse Chatfield, who was the Supervisor of the Baby Clinics in Queensland, held two meetings while in Cairns. She spoke to a group of mothers about the potential uses of the clinic; and held a meeting for a general audience (which was no doubt attended by local doctors and nurses as well) where she outlined the scope and objectives of the work of the clinics that were at that time operating in Brisbane. 

Nurse Florence Chatfield.
Photo: State Library of Queensland.

Nurse Chatfield also took a tour of the city, and decided that the Baby Clinic should be sited somewhere in the vicinity of Bunda Street, in order to best serve “the working population” who were located in the area. She was somewhat concerned about the lack of rental accommodation for potential clinic nurses though, so she scouted for cottages that were for sale. Finding that cottages which had the necessary five or six rooms were priced around £900 to £1200 (a sum she considered “prohibitive”, given the need to also pay for alterations to fit them out as a dedicated clinic) she began looking for suitable land.[1]

With the help of the Mayor, Alderman J.G. Hoare, Nurse Chatfield inspected a Railway Reserve which was near Bunda Street, and together they decided that the Home Secretary should be asked to excise a small corner of this Reserve to build a cottage for a Baby Clinic. An area of 23.5 perches (594.3 sq m) at the corner of Florence and Martyn Streets, was eventually excised and officially proclaimed as a “Reserve for Baby Clinic” in March 1924.

Reserve for Baby Clinic (R.613), excised from Railway Reserve  R.280
Queensland State Archives

Most of the regional Queensland clinics were built to a standardised design and built by the Department of Works but the standard design was considered unsuitable for Cairns. There were two reasons for this. First, the tropical climate in Cairns needed to be considered, so the Department of Works designed a timber building set on low stumps, with wrap-around verandahs that were designed to ensure a cool interior. The second reason appears to be that given the “difficulty for a nurse to secure suitable board and residence at reasonable cost”, the building design should include living quarters for a nurse to live on site. When the plans were drawn up, this second consideration seems to have been deemed of little importance, as the original 1923 plans show no living quarters.  

The Cairns Baby Clinic opened to the public on Monday, 7 January 1924, under the care of Sister Mee.[2] Sister Mee was described by the Northern Herald as “a fully qualified nursing practitioner, having considerable experience in Brisbane”.[3] The clinic was open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 12pm on Saturdays, with a doctor in attendance on Fridays.[4]

 

Plans for improvements to the Cairns Baby Clinic, 1924.
Queensland State Archives

By late February the clinic was under the management of Nurse Martin,[5] who soon requested that some improvements be made to the building. These included installing louvres to the side verandah, adding a louvred room at the back of the building, and installing a bathroom.[6] Florence Chatfield wrote to the Home Secretary requesting the improvements, but despite the obvious need for basic facilities to be supplied to the staff of the Clinic, the wheels of government were slow. Very slow.

In September 1926, Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner, the Director of the Maternal and Child Welfare Department, took up their cause. He wrote to the Assistant Under Secretary of the Home Department, stating that the nurse at the Cairns Baby Clinic had been supplied with a bathtub, but that it had not been installed, and was in fact, still lying “upside down on the floor of the clinic”.  He stressed that she had been promised a bathroom and a louvred sleeping room on the verandah.[7]

“This nurse is working very hard in a hot climate (133 visits on foot last July in addition to indoor work), and I think she should be provided with reasonable comfort,” Dr Turner wrote.[8]

It’s hard not to want to cheer for Dr Turner for his tenacity and for his belief in the work of the clinic nurses. Nurse Martin finally got her bathtub sometime in the first half of 1927, three years after she first asked for it![9]

Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner.
Photo: State Library of Queensland.

Baby Clinic was well patronised

In March 1926, the Cairns Post reported that between 300 and 500 babies were being seen at the clinic each month:

“This splendid little Government institution is quietly but efficiently doing much to help the great scheme along, of building up a nation of healthy and robust men and women, by giving the wee babies a chance from earliest infancy of being physically well and fit… The great aim of the clinic is to prevent ailment, by examining babies, advising the mothers and prescribing the treatment best suited to each little creature. Mothers are encouraged to bring along the little ones before illness, not after.”[10]

The Cairns Baby Clinic existed at the Martyn Street site until 1955, when the service moved into a new building located in Anzac Memorial Park.

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[1] Letter from F. Chatfield to Under Secretary re Cairns visit, dated 18 October 1928, Queensland State Archives (QSA)

[2] Cairns Post 8 January 1924, p. 4

[3] The Northern Herald, 9 January 1924, p. 18

[4] Ibid

[5] Cairns Post 26 February 1924, p. 3

[6] Letter from F. Chatfield regarding Nurse Martin’s requests, dated 28 March 1924, QSA.

[7] Letter from Dr A.J. Turner regarding bath tub not installed, dated 3 September 1926, QSA

[8] Ibid

[9] Letter from Under Secretary and Director of Public Works, dated 12 January 1927. Relevant here is the handwritten notation: “Carry out these works” dated 8.2.27. QSA

[10] Cairns Post, 13 March 1926, p. 12