The Queenslander Series · Part 4 of an ongoing deep-dive
The Reno Wins
Three parts in, we’ve covered why these houses look the way they do, what makes them beautiful, and what the rules will and won’t let you touch. This time it’s four real Queenslander reno wins, houses that faced the wreckers, and the people who chose restoration instead.
Every house below had a moment where demolition was the easier, cheaper, faster option. This is what happened when someone chose the harder one.
“We tend to knock everything down in Australia, so it’s lovely to see this home get a second life.“
Rick Biddle, on the 120-year-old farmhouse he saved from the wreckers
Case Study One
The Farmhouse That Moved Instead Of Dying
In Fairfield, a 120-year-old timber farmhouse was standing in the way of a childcare centre. The easy ending is the one Australia defaults to: knock it down, start clean. Instead, it ended up at a relocation depot, where Rick and Sylvia Biddle found it.
In fact, it wasn’t the cheapest house on the yard. Rick paid $190,000 for it, more than any other relocatable home on offer at the time, because of what came with it: a two-metre-wide hallway, a grand entrance and verandahs built for the view.
The house sat at the depot for around eight months while their old home sold, then made the trip to a 100-acre property at Peachester in three pieces, up a narrow dirt road. Even so, seven months of renovation later, it was unrecognisable from the run-down farmhouse that had been slated for the wreckers.
In One Line
Moving it cost more than demolishing it. They’d do it again.
- Purchase$190,000
- Connections~$10,000 (soil tests, plumbing, power)
- Council bond~$20,000 (varies by council)
- Renovation7 months
The Reno Wins At A Glance
Queenslander Reno Wins, By The Numbers
Every figure below is a real, sourced number from a real house, not an estimate for effect.
Two Houses, Two Centuries
Still Standing Today
- Ashgrove7 Yardley Avenue, moved from Fortitude Valley in 1916–17, moved again in the 1930s, still on its block today at around 150 years old.
- Macleay IslandPeppermint Cottage, an asymmetrical pyramid-roof cottage built around 1910 on Railway Terrace, Milton, relocated after 1980.
Case Study Two
This Isn’t New. Queenslanders Have Done This For 100+ Years
Long before anyone called it a “reno win”, relocating a Queenslander was just the cheaper way to get a house. In the 1920s, a small wooden home bought secondhand and moved onto a block cost around £70, against upwards of £300 to build new. That price gap is the real reason so many of these houses are still standing.
Relocation peaked three times in Queensland’s history: during the First World War, through the hard economics of the 1930s, and again in the 1970s as inner-city renewal cleared old suburbs for freeways, railways and, later, Expo 88.
See the real photographs of both houses in the State Library of Queensland’s own record of Brisbane’s house-moving history.
A Field Guide
Three Waves Of Relocation
Knowing when a Queenslander was likely moved tells you almost as much as knowing when it was built.
Case Study Three
The House That Started It All
Dr Stephen Simpson began building Wolston Farmhouse at Wacol, on the Brisbane River, in 1852. Over the next century it passed through a Crown Commissioner for Lands, pastoralists, and for decades a working dairy family, the Grindles.
By the early 1960s the property had passed into Queensland Government hands and fallen into disrepair. Local heritage groups stepped in, and the farmhouse became the very first property entrusted to the National Trust of Australia (Queensland), a title it still holds. It’s now one of Brisbane’s oldest surviving houses, and it’s open to the public.
It’s not a Queenslander in the classic timber, high-set sense, it’s an early brick-and-sandstone homestead. But it’s the reason Brisbane has an organised culture of rescuing old houses at all, and every relocated cottage in this article owes something to the precedent it set.
The Rescue
Wolston Farmhouse, Wacol
- Built1852, by Dr Stephen Simpson
- Fell intodisrepair under Qld Government ownership by the early 1960s
- Becamethe National Trust of Queensland’s first ever property
- Nowa museum, open to the public
Wolston Farmhouse itself, photographed in 1890, decades before it fell into Queensland Government hands and was rescued.
The Other Reno Win
Not Every Win Involves A House On The Back Of A Truck
Relocating a house is one path. The far more common one is raising the existing highset and building in underneath, turning dead subfloor space into another full level of living without moving anything.
Why It Still Matters
Three Things To Check Before You Fall For The Story
The Buyer’s Lens
Ask whether a character home has ever been moved. It changes the paperwork and the history, not the appeal.
A run-down “before” Queenslander isn’t a red flag by itself. In fact, most of the houses in this article looked like write-offs before someone saw what they could be.
Because of this, get more than one quote before you commit to a raise-and-build-under or a full restoration. The estimates above span a genuine six-figure range for a reason.
Quick Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a relocated Queenslander lose its heritage value?
Not automatically. A moved house is assessed on its own fabric and age, the same as one that has never left its block. What changes is the paperwork: council and conveyancing records should show the relocation, and a pre-1911 or pre-1946 build date still triggers the same character overlay rules covered in Part 3, wherever the house now sits.
How much does it cost to relocate a Queenslander in Queensland?
Relocatable homes start from around $80,000 before transport, reconnection and council bonds. Character examples with genuine original features cost more, the Fairfield farmhouse in this article sold for $190,000 plus roughly $10,000 in connections and a council bond around $20,000.
Is it worth buying a run-down old Queenslander?
It can be, if you go in with eyes open on the two bills buyers forget (restumping and asbestos, see Part 3) and get the overlay status checked before you’re unconditional. Every house in this article started out looking like a write-off.
How much does it cost to raise a Queenslander and build underneath?
2025 industry estimates for Brisbane range from around $45,000 for a lift alone up to $600,000 or more for a full premium build-under, depending on scope, site access and finish level. Always get several licensed quotes rather than relying on a single published range.
What happened to Wolston Farmhouse?
Built in 1852 at Wacol, it fell into disrepair under Queensland Government ownership by the early 1960s before becoming the National Trust of Queensland’s first ever property. It’s still standing and open to the public today.
The Queenslander Series
Keep Reading
The History & Why Of The Queenslander
Where the design came from, and the climate science behind stumps, verandahs and high ceilings.
The Details: Beauty That Did A Job
Fretwork, leadlight, VJ walls and breezeways, and how to date them.
The Charm Comes With Conditions
What the character overlay actually restricts, and the two bills buyers forget to ask about.
The Restrictions, Suburb By Suburb
A closer look at how the character overlay actually plays out across Brisbane and the Bayside.
Thinking About Taking One On?
We work exclusively for buyers, on a flat fee, right across Brisbane and Queensland with the Bayside as home turf. If a Queenslander’s caught your eye, we’ll help you find out what’s under the floor and what it’s really going to cost before you’re unconditional, not after.
Sources & Further Reading
- Domain — “It had so much character”: why relocating and restoring Queenslanders is big business
- State Library of Queensland — The House That Moved: Queenslander Houses and the Curious Practice of House Relocation
- National Trust of Australia (Queensland) — Wolston Farmhouse
- Abode Construction — how much it costs to raise a house and build underneath in Brisbane (industry estimate, one Brisbane builder, 2025)
- Ideal Buyer’s Agency — Part 3: restumping and asbestos cost figures
