Hanworth is a heritage-listed villa at 109 Lytton Road, East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by James Cowlishaw built from 1864 to 1930s circa. It is also known as Hanworth Home for the Aged and The Hospice. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 December 1997.
History
Hanworth, a substantial, brick, single-storeyed residence near Norman Creek at East Brisbane, was erected in 1864-65 for Lieutenant George Poynter Heath, RN, Portmaster of Queensland and member of the Marine Board, and his family. It was designed by early Brisbane architect James Cowlishaw.
Hanworth originally stood on just over , first alienated by a Sydney land speculator in 1851. The land fronted the main road to Lytton, had a substantial frontage to Norman Creek, and from the highest point near the Lytton Road, possessed excellent views of the Humbug Reach of the Brisbane River, overlooking New Farm. In July 1863 Heath purchased this land for . It was close to a number of fine residences already established along Humbug Reach, including Eskgrove (occupied by the Heaths from at least May 1861), Riversdale (Mowbray Park – Mowbray Park War Memorial) and Shafston House upstream, and Bulimba House further downstream.
GP Heath (1830-1921) was born at Hanworth in Norfolk, England, second son of Rev. Charles Heath and Mary Annole Poynter. Educated at Cheltenham College, he joined the navy as a cadet in 1845. In 1846-53 he served in (under Owen Stanley till 1850) and in the Fantome and the Calliope on the Australian station. On his return to England he worked at the Admiralty drawing charts of areas surveyed by the Rattlesnake. Late in 1859 he applied for the government post of marine surveyor in the new colony of Queensland and was appointed. On 23 February 1860, before sailing for Queensland, he married Elizabeth Jane Innes. They arrived in Brisbane in late August 1860, and Heath immediately took up his appointment with the Department of the Surveyor-General.
The early 1860s were formative years for the new colony. One of the first actions of the colonial government was to establish a Select Committee on Government Departments (1860), which recommended that a Portmaster be appointed to take overall charge of the Harbour Master's Department, and the appointment of GP Heath as Portmaster of Queensland, a position he held for nearly 30 years, was made in January 1862. During his long tenure, Heath was responsible for supervising the opening of 13 new ports (including Townsville and Cairns), establishing 33 lighthouses, 6 lightships and 150 small lights, and marking of the inner route through the Barrier Reef. In 1862, the colonial government also established the Marine Board of Queensland, comprising the Portmaster of the colony and four other members. From 1869, when he retired from the Royal Navy as a Commander, until his Queensland retirement in 1890, GP Heath was Chairman of the Marine Board. He was also active in Anglican work, serving as chairman of various committees in Synod from 1876 to 1889. For many years he held a commission of the peace. He is memorialised in East Brisbane in Heath and Hanworth Streets and Heath Park.
Work on the construction of Hanworth had been commenced by 16 July 1864. The Heaths were prominent members of Brisbane society, and the architect they chose to design their new home was equally well-known and successful. James Cowlishaw practised architecture in Brisbane from 1860 until , when he retired to devote his attention to his many other business interests, including ownership of The Telegraph newspaper. In the early 1860s he established himself as Brisbane's first successful architect in private practice, and at the time Hanworth was under construction, Cowlishaw had a dozen other major projects underway, including Oakwal, the fine stone residence commissioned by Queensland's then Chief Justice, Sir James Cockle. The Heaths were still resident at Eskgrove in November 1864 when their third child was born, but had left by August 1865 and certainly had occupied Hanworth by the time twin sons were born in July 1866. It is likely they moved into Hanworth in the first half of 1865.