Lost Ashgrove

Ashgrove Historical Society

The area now known as Ashgrove included, or was part of the land known as Killindarbin by the Turrbal people. The name ‘Ash-grove’ is first known to have been used in the Post Office Directory for 1874 as the address for George Rogers Harding, then living at St John’s Wood. It was used as the name for the first Ashgrove State School built two years later on land donated by Harding. In all probability Ashgrove, as a post office address, dates from the appointment of the first postmaster, the head teacher at the Ashgrove State School, in 1877. The first steps towards modern Ashgrove were taken on 1 September 1856 with the sale of three blocks of land with freehold title on the south bank of Enoggera Creek. The blocks cost £1/0/0 ($2.00) an acre and were between 32 and 50 acres in area. At this time the area lay within the Colony of New South Wales. The Colony of Queensland was proclaimed three years later, in 1859. By the end of 1869, all the land forming modern Ashgrove had been sold by the Crown to private buyers and provision was made for the main thoroughfares which now service the suburb. Parts of Ashgrove retained their rural aspect up until the Second World War but the residential makeover was complete by the late 1950s. This booklet documents historic and contemporary aspects of the suburb of Ashgrove, with images and accompanying text.