Ruth Fairfax House facts for kids

The Ruth Fairfax House is a special old house located at 5 Lynch Street in Ingham, Queensland, Australia. It was built a long time ago, between 1887 and 1962. This unique house was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on December 12, 2003, meaning it's an important historical place.

The Amazing Journey of Ruth Fairfax House

The Ruth Fairfax House is a single-story wooden house with a tile roof. It was first built in 1887 in New Farm, a suburb of Brisbane. What makes it so special is that its roof tiles were brought all the way from Japan!

In 1962, the house was sold. It was carefully taken apart and moved to Ingham, where it was put back together at its current address on Lynch Street. This house is believed to be the very first home of its kind to be imported from Japan into Australia.

How New Farm Grew

The Brisbane area of New Farm has always been important. In the early days, it was used for farming and fun activities. It slowly started to become a place where people lived. By the 1880s, during a time when the economy was booming, many important people in Brisbane chose to build their homes there.

A Judge's Unique Home

In 1887, Judge George William Paul, who was a District Court Judge, decided to build his Japanese house in this wealthy area. The entire house was made in Japan and then shipped to Brisbane. Along with the house, Japanese workers—three carpenters and two plasterers—came from Kobe, Japan, to build it. An English supervisor guided them.

This house was the first known example of real Japanese architecture in Australia. At that time, Japan had only been open to trade with Western countries for less than 20 years. Japanese furniture and decorations were starting to appear in European homes, but importing a whole house was very new!

Judge Paul's Story

George William Paul was born in Penrith, New South Wales, in 1839. He became a lawyer in England in 1861. He returned to Australia in 1863 and worked as a lawyer in Queensland. Later, he became a judge in 1871. People said he was one of the best criminal lawyers in Brisbane. He also spent time as a judge in the highest court, the Supreme Court.

Judge Paul visited Japan in 1886. The house he imported was a copy of the house he stayed in while in Kobe. He chose this design because he thought it would be perfect for Brisbane's climate.

The House Arrives in Brisbane

The house, which Judge Paul named "Yeddo," was fully built in Kobe, Japan. It was larger than a typical Japanese house and was even put together once in Japan to make sure everything fit before it was shipped. Some people think the house was brought over as a business idea, but it didn't lead to more trade.

When the house was finished in New Farm, it was written about in the Brisbane Courier newspaper in December 1887. The article was very positive. It was also featured in another magazine called The Boomerang with drawings. Not many Queenslanders had visited Japan back then, and even fewer would have thought to bring an entire building from there! Judge Paul also brought back a large collection of Japanese art and pottery.

Japanese Design and Features

The Ruth Fairfax House was built on tall wooden posts and beams, like many Japanese homes. It had a heavy tiled roof and some walls made of plaster. It followed the shoin style, which is the type of Japanese house most people imagine: wooden frames with sliding paper doors.

The shoin style includes a special bay window that was once a study area. This became a symbol of importance in homes between the 16th and 18th centuries. Other key parts of the shoin style are the tokonoma and tana.

• Tokonoma: This is a special alcove in a room, like a built-in display area. It was originally a small altar in a priest's home. In the shoin style, it became a place to display art or flowers.
• Tana: These are decorative shelves that often go next to the tokonoma.

The house's walls were mostly movable screens.

• Shoji: These are sliding screens made of wood and see-through paper. They let soft light into the house.
• Fusuma: These are heavier sliding doors made of opaque paper. They were used to divide rooms and provide privacy.

The only fixed walls were around the kitchen, bathroom, and tokonomas. These walls were made of plaster. Heavy wooden storm shutters, called amado, could slide around the verandah to close off the house.

All the building materials, except for the plaster and mortar, came from Japan. The roof tiles were dark blue-grey and had a Buddhist symbol, the chrysanthemum, on them.

Inside the Japanese House

The house in New Farm was quite large, about 30 squares (a way to measure house size), and had a wide verandah all around. It had four main rooms that could be divided into eight. It also featured three tokonomas and chigai-tanas (a type of tana). There was even a special "moon window" made by showing the bamboo frame of a plaster wall.

The house used very clever wooden joints instead of many nails. The roof timbers were also put together in a very detailed way. The roof was heavy and complex, but beautifully made.

The house was built using a special Japanese measurement system. For example, distances between columns were in multiples of 3 feet. The wooden floor was made from the strong wooden boxes the house was shipped in. These boards were thick and wide and laid very nicely.

The House Changes Hands

Judge Paul lived in the house until he passed away in 1909. After that, it was sold to John Cockburn in 1910. In 1927, George Maxted bought it.

In October 1947, the house was bought by the Queensland Country Women's Association (CWA) to be their main office in Brisbane. Their previous office was in Toowoomba. After Ruth Fairfax, the first Queensland President of the CWA, passed away in 1948, the CWA named the building "Ruth Fairfax House" in her memory. The CWA used the house until 1960.

Over the years, some changes were made to the house. Some of the original posts were replaced with brick supports. The outside wood was painted cream and dark brown, and the inside wood was varnished. Electricity and plumbing were also added.

Moving the House to Ingham

In March 1962, the house was sold to a developer. He offered the house to the Brisbane City Council, the University of Queensland, and the National Trust for a very low price, as if it were just for demolition. But they couldn't take the offer due to lack of time and money.

Then, Dr. Pam Markwell bought the house at an auction for £600. She had only 30 days to take the house apart to move it to Ingham. She got help from William Carr and students from the University of Queensland's architecture department. They carefully recorded how the house was taken apart so it could be rebuilt later.

The materials were then transported about 1000 miles north to Ingham. Local workers helped rebuild it. Some parts, like timber frames and decorative panels, went missing during the trip. The ceiling and some wall panels also didn't survive. Many roof tiles broke when they were unloaded. The special Japanese wooden joints were broken to take the house apart, so nails were used when it was put back together in Ingham.

Today, the house stands in Ingham. New materials were used to replace anything lost or broken during the move. The new owners also sanded the timber to bring back its original look.

What Ruth Fairfax House Looks Like Today

The Ruth Fairfax House is located on a flat piece of land at 5 Lynch Street in Ingham, across from the railway line. It sits close to the front and southern edges of the property. High concrete walls covered in thick hedges provide privacy to the verandahs when the amado (storm shutters) are open.

Next to the house, there's a carport. Behind the main house, there's a smaller separate building with a living area and kitchen. A garden shed and a large bush house are also in the backyard.

The main part of the house was rebuilt on a concrete slab. The verandahs around the house are supported by stumps and have wide wooden floors. Part of the verandah was not rebuilt because the house was close to another building already on the site. Also, some of the verandah roof at the back is made of corrugated iron because not enough original tiles survived the move to Ingham.

Some people wonder if the walls were put back in exactly the same places. It's possible a second hallway was created between the back bedrooms. The original bathroom was changed into a storage area, and two sleeping rooms were turned into the new bathroom.

Nails were used to put the wooden frame back together. Most of the original screens are still there, but very little of the original paper remains on the shoji screens. Some of the papier-mâché on the fusuma screens is still there, as are most of the ranma, the moon window, the tokonomas, and the tanas. The ceiling has been replaced with plywood sheets.

Glossary of Japanese Terms

• Amado: Heavy wooden storm doors on the outside of the house. They slide away during the day to let in light and air.
• Fusuma: Heavier sliding doors made from opaque paper on a wooden frame. They are used to separate rooms and are often decorated with scenes.
• Nageshi: Wooden tracks or runners that sliding doors move along.
• Ranma: Decorative panels with open patterns (like fretwork) that sit above door frames. They allow air to flow through the house.
• Shoin: An elevated, slightly sticking-out alcove that developed from Buddhist study areas. It became popular with upper classes and is often next to the tokonoma.
• Shoji: See-through paper sliding screens used on the outer edges of rooms. They let soft, diffused light into the house and can be easily removed.
• Tana: Decorative shelves that, like a shoin window, are next to the tokonoma.
• Tatami: Standard floor mats made from rice straw. They are the basic size unit for all Japanese rooms, usually about 910x1820 mm.
• Tokonoma: A special wall recess used for displaying art or flower arrangements. It is seen as the main focus point of a Japanese room.

Why Ruth Fairfax House is Important

Ruth Fairfax House was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on December 12, 2003, because it meets several important standards.

A Unique Part of Queensland's History

This house was built in New Farm in 1887 and then moved to Ingham in 1962. It is important because it's the first known, and one of very few, Japanese houses imported into Australia. Its story shows how people in the late 1800s were interested in other cultures.

A Rare Building Style

Even though it was moved and changed a bit, as a fully imported Japanese house, it's a very rare type of building in Australia. It clearly shows the main features of a Japanese house in the shoin style.

Showing Key Building Features

Many of its features are similar to the typical Queensland houses of that time, yet it also has unique characteristics.

Beautiful and Unique Design

The house's details, from its heavy, decorated roof tiles to its light, detailed paper screens, wide floorboards, and systems for controlling the environment, make it very beautiful. Its design is different from other Queensland houses of the same period.

Connected to Important People

The house is also important because of its connection to Judge G.W. Paul. He had the vision to import this house from Japan, which was something no one had really tried before from a country that had only recently opened up to full trade with the West.