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 –
o major ones online through TROVE
o 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