Originally built for the first judge in the QLD Supreme Court, The Kedron Lodge is one of the grandest houses ever built in Brisbane. Found on Nelson Street in Kalinga, the magnificent residence was also the first Gothic-style dwelling designed by Brisbane architect Christopher Potter.
Originally built with at least 20 rooms in the 1860s, the house was built of solid sandstone by John Petrie. The residence, built for Alfred James Lutwychem the first judge in the Queensland Supreme Court, remains intact even today.
Mr Lutwyche not only had a grand house but also tended to a viable farm and a beautiful orchard on his property. He also maintained stables for horses as a racing enthusiast.
Photo Credit: State Library of Queensland
Eventually, he donated a block of his property to build St Andrew’s, a new Anglican church, where he was an active member. A decade after his death in 1880, John King, a local shopkeeper and postman, adopted “Kedron” for a burgeoning locality.
His estate was further subdivided and sold at auctions from which the locality of Kalinga emerged. Subsequently, Kedron Lodge was rented out for many years from the 1930s to 1989, when the Catholic Church owned the property as a convent and refuge for troubled young people.
Today, the house is four-bedroom four-bath private home and has been off the market since 2004. It was entered into the State Heritage Listing in 1992.
Who was Alfred James Lutwyche?
Alfred James Lutwyche was born in 1810 in the West Midlands of England and established his practice as a barrister in Oxford, London. He immigrated to Australia in 1853 due to poor health and he almost didn’t make it as the ship bound for Melbourne was wrecked in the Indian Ocean. It was a miracle that most of those aboard the ship survived for 12 days before they were rescued. After the incident, Mr Lutwyche then boarded the Emma Colvin to arrive in Melbourne in December 1853.
A few years later, Mr Lutwyche became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and was appointed the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council. In 1858, he became the Attorney General and was named the Queen’s Counsel. However, in 1959, Mr Lutwyche left his job in favor of a judicial appointment in Moreton Bay.
Two years after his judicial appointment, Mr Lutwyche was appointed the only judge of the new Supreme Court in Queensland until Sir James Cockle, the first Chief Justice, arrived in 1863.
Mr Lutwyche died at his house after suffering from gout and was buried in St Andrew’s. The suburb of Lutwyche as well as the Lutwyche Cemetery was named in his honour.
