Friends of Bankfoot House Inc
Welcome to the Friends of Bankfoot House webpage.
Bankfoot House, a heritage residence set in the Glasshouse Mountains, was established along the old Gympie road in 1868 by William & Mary Grigor as a rest stop for the Cobb & Co Coach service between Brisbane and the Gympie goldfields. Three generations of this family occupied the house for over 130 years before the house and all its contents were sold to the Caloundra City Council in 2004. Mr Jack Ferris was the last resident in the house before he passed away in 2002, aged 101.
The ultimate plan is for the house and its contents to be available for low volume public inspection. However before this can occur the house needs to be made safe and secure.
The Council saw benefit in sponsoring a volunteer community group to assist in researching, cataloguing and preserving all the items in the house as well as undertaking general house-keeping. A public meeting chaired by Cr Anna Grosskreutz in September 2006 officially launched Friends of Bankfoot House. The group subsequently became incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act.
The objects of the association are described as:
To assist the Sunshine Coast Regional Council in the preservation of the Bankfoot House site as set out in the management plan. To promote the Bankfoot House site as a heritage property and to encourage its use as an educational and cultural community asset.
Friends of Bankfoot House volunteers work at the house one day each week – usually Wednesdays between 9am and 4pm. In line with the requirements of House Museums all objects, photos and documents must be properly catalogued and details logged into a Museums database. Down the track this will make the job of locating items easier for researchers and students as well as better managing the overall collection.
Friends have been successful in obtaining various grants to assist in carrying out the weekly tasks at the house and to make the experience more enjoyable. Through these grants we have been able to purchase such items as a computer laptop, a refrigerator and microwave oven. We have also received generous support from the Beerwah Recycling Centre.
New volunteers at the house are always welcome. Volunteers receive training in a range of preservation tasks from the Council’s Heritage Officer and from experts in their fields. For example, workshops have been held in Paper Preservation, Textile Preservation, Digital Scanning and Oral History Recording. All of the skills learned are transferable.
If you enjoy local history or would like to learn new skills why not come along to the house on a Wednesday and meet the volunteers.
The Bankfoot House telephone number is 5493 0197.
Please address all correspondence to:
The Secretary, Friends of Bankfoot House Inc., PO BOX 337, Glass House Mountains, Q 4518
Membership of Friends of Bankfoot House Inc is just $5 per year.
Email: friends(at)bankfoothouse(dot)org
