Six Queensland Colonial Judges and their Houses 1859–1901
From a lecture by David Gibson and Carolyn Nolan
“One’s breath is taken away
in spaciousness and light”
In an article for The Queenslander on 17 April 1930, Florence Lord waxes lyrical about the grandeur of Merthyr, writing that:
When one enters this apartment for the first time one involuntarily says: “A-h-h!”. One’s breath is taken away in spaciousness and light…
Sir Samuel Griffith and his wife Lady Julia Griffith took possession of their newly completed house ‘Merthyr’ in 1880. The house was commissioned by Griffith, designed by George Cowlishaw, and built in 1879–1880.
The main part of the house was built around a large and lofty ballroom. Lord writes that ‘many were the gay assemblages there, and the ‘sounds of revelry by night’ during the lifetime of Sir Samuel and Lady Griffith’.
Lord also comments that Griffith’s love of art is reflected in his home, and that the front square hall ‘might be an art gallery…on account both of the collection of pictures and of the dimensions and form of the room’. The collection of fine paintings included a portrait of Sir Samuel Griffith, a Turner landscape in exquisite colouring, and some watercolours by Jenner.
Merthyr, at New Farm, was demolished in 1963.
Merthyr – by Campbell
Merthyr
Home of Sir Samuel Griffith KCMG
