New life for an old house

Surrounded by the 14 storeys of UQ’s newest student accommodation, Kev Carmody House, a small building stands firm, breathing new life through its old bones.

By Gabriel Leslie

Cairngorm House, a ‘Queenslander’ older than UQ itself, has played a formative role as factory, family home and Alumni Friends’ base during 120 years at Walcott Street, St Lucia.

However, it may not have existed at all had it not been for Brisbane’s 1893 ‘Black February’ floods, which caused widespread damage across South East Queensland, including in Indooroopilly and St Lucia.

Built in his spare time by Scottish immigrant John Moir Mitchell – who had moved to Australia in 1883 as a 20-year-old after studying engineering and architecture in Edinburgh – the house was constructed on a foundation of locally sourced stone.

Mitchell and his wife, Irishwoman Elizabeth Bellew, had been running livestock and growing crops on land that is now part of the Indooroopilly Golf Course. But their close call with the natural disaster saw them acquire a new block of land, and build a new home, in the largely agricultural area of St Lucia.

In 1903, the house was officially christened Cairngorm, named after the mountain range in Scotland’s Highlands. The family celebrated their new home by moving in the family piano.

Images: Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Historic photos designed to look as if they are part of an old scrapbook. The top image is a black-and-white picture of a collapsed bridge along a river. The text reads, 'Indooroopilly Railway Bridge destroyed by the 1893 floods'. The second photograph is a sepia shot of bad flood damage once the water has receded, including twisted fences and wooden stumps. The accompanying text reads 'flood-damaged property at Indooroopilly'

A black-and-white photo of a wide river, looking over the roof of a house. Green fields with few trees lie along the river's banks. The text reads 'Looking across the brisbane river to St Lucia ca. 1920s'

Image: Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

For many years, Cairngorm was not only a home, but a factory. In the area below the house, Mitchell started making wire fences under the ‘K’ franchise – named for Kansas in the United States, its founder’s hometown.

The business continued to grow, employing around 20 men by World War I. Such was its success that ‘K’ fences were often displayed at the much-loved annual ‘Ekka’.

Royal Queensland Show ('Ekka') in ca. 1920. *Image: Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland*

Royal Queensland Show ('Ekka') in ca. 1920. *Image: Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland*

John Mitchell died in 1920, just two years after the couple’s second son, Charles, had lost his life in France (they lost their first son, Edward, in 1892). The business was then taken over by son-in-law Gordon Mitchell (no relation), a ‘K’ employee who had married their daughter, Isabella.

Unfortunately, due to ongoing health troubles from injuries acquired in Gallipoli, Gordon Mitchell was forced to close the company in the late 1930s.

After Bellew died in 1949, Gordon and Isabella Mitchell continued to live in the house until 1954, when they retired to Shorncliffe. Cairngorm then became home to Professor Desmond Dowling, from the Department of Animal Production, and his family. The historic house formally became part of The University of Queensland in 1975, when Dowling agreed to sell it to the expanding University.

A 'Queenslander' style house on stilts with a veranda.

Cairngorm House as the Alumni Centre in the mid-1990s. Image: UQ Archives

The next phase of Cairngorm’s life was as the University's first alumni centre on the St Lucia campus, a purpose it served for 26 years from 1991.

Home to UQ’s alumni association, Alumni Friends, Cairngorm became a haven for hundreds of thousands of books. In preparation for the popular UQ Alumni Book Fair®, the association’s Book Group volunteers sorted and processed boxes of donated works in the undercroft of the house (and later also in a demountable building in the garden), with the Rare Book Auction team working in the building’s attic.

When Alumni Friends moved out of the house in 2017, the Book Group relocated to UQ’s Long Pocket precinct. After a period of substantial restoration and repair, Cairngorm was opened in 2022 as part of UQ’s new student residence. The refresh has breathed new life into the old timber, which now features a new kitchenette, lounges, a pool-room, and several places for students to connect and unwind.

Alumni Friends members and UQ staff (including Vice-Chancellor and President, Deborah Terry AO) at the recent celebration of Cairngorm House's reopening as part of Kev Carmody House.

Alumni Friends members and UQ staff (including Vice-Chancellor and President, Deborah Terry AO) at the recent celebration of Cairngorm House's reopening as part of Kev Carmody House.

Cairngorm House will always be remembered fondly by many Alumni Friends' members and volunteers.

It is recalled as a place where friendships were sparked over regular cups of tea and coffee and book-sorting, accompanied by good conversation and the familiar smell of old books.

Perhaps this is why, as part of the 2020 Alumni Friends’ Next Million Dollar project, funds from 2020 book sales and proceeds from the 2021 UQ Alumni Book Fair® and Rare Book Auction were donated to establish the two new Cairngorm-Kurrajong residential scholarships – named in honour of the old Alumni Centre at Cairngorm and the new Long Pocket building.

Each year, the scholarship will provide financial support students facing financial hardship, helping cover accommodation costs and bringing more talented students to UQ – all while keeping the story and Cairngorm name alive.

New life for an old house, indeed.

A group of 20 or more volunteers of varying ages - some elderly, some young students - wearing matching UQ Book Fair shirts. They are smiling and cheering as they put their hands up in celebration.

Volunteers at the 2021 UQ Alumni Book Fair.

Four older women smile and stand next to each other wearing lanyards for the Book Fair. The women on the right is holding a book with a paper notice on it saying 'Lot 130'

Volunteers at the UQ Alumni Book Fair.

An elderly man sits at a desk surrounded by books, with another elderly man next to him. They are reading.

Preparations for the 2020 UQ Alumni Book Fair.

An older woman is looking through books with two smiling students, one a boy and one a girl. They are amongst long rows of books at the UQ book fair.

Looking through the stacks at the UQ Alumni Book Fair.

An older man and woman smile at each other as they flip through a book. There are shelves behind them laden with other books.

Preparations for the 2021 UQ Alumni Book Fair.

The 2022 UQ Alumni Book Fair is taking place from 29 April–2 May 2022 at the UQ Centre on the St Lucia campus.

You can get involved by donating books, volunteering or coming along on the day to expand your collection – and all towards a good cause, with funds raised supporting the Cairngorm-Kurrajong residential scholarships at UQ.

Learn more about the UQ Alumni Book Fair