page_title: Queen Alexandra Home
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Queen Alexandra Home / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of eastern end of Queen Alexandra Home as seen from opposite site of Old Cleveland Road at Coorparoo, Brisbane, Queenlsand, Australia.
context_page_description: Queen Alexandra Home is a heritage-listed villa at 347 Old Cleveland Road, Coorparoo, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1963. It is also known as Alexandra House, College of Tourism & Hospitality, Hatherton, and Queen Alexandra Home for Children. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: Hatherton, a two-storeyed brick residence was erected in 1886 near the intersection of Old Cleveland Road and Cavendish Road in Coorparoo. A wing, named Kingsbury, was added in 1919.
  The design of Hatherton is attributed to the firm of John Hall and Son, and the contractor was Abraham James. Hatherton was built for Brisbane businessman Reuben Nicklin, manager of the Brisbane Office of Butler Brothers, Saddlers and Ironmongers. Prior to moving to Hatherton, Nicklin and his family lived at Langlands, also at Coorparoo, which had been built for Nicklin in the early 1880s. By the late 1880s, Coorparoo was still principally a rural area, despite several estates having been subdivided and the suburb being connected to South Brisbane by rail. The population of Coorparoo was small, and dispersed around the Old Cleveland and Cavendish Roads intersection.
  Nicklin and his wife Jane Lahey drowned in February 1890, when the RMS Quetta sank in Torres Strait, en route to England. Their daughter Alice, was one of only two European women to survive the shipwreck.
  Hatherton was occupied by various people including members of the Nicklin and Lahey families as well as the Hon Arthur John Carter, Member of the Queensland Legislative Council, until 1911 when the building was acquired by the Methodist Church. The church had established its first children's home, named the Queen Alexandra Home for Children, the previous year at Robgill, in Indooroopilly, donated by May Jordan McConnel.
  The home was managed and controlled by the Queen Alexandra Ladies' Committee. By 1911 the Home required additional room, and in December that year the staff and children were transferred from Indooroopilly to Hatherton. Hatherton was officially opened as the Queen Alexandra Home for Children in March 1912. The Nicklin family maintained their involvement with the place, as William Lahey Nicklin (son of Reuben Nicklin) was one of the trustees of the property for the Methodist Church.
  By 1918 the Home was filled to capacity, and in 1919 tenders were called by architect HGO Thomas for brick additions to Queen Alexandra Home. The foundation stone of the additions was laid in October that year, and the contractor was Mr Hobbs. The new wing was named Kingsbury in memory of Mrs JJ Kingsbury, first president of the Home. Subsequent additions during the 1920s increased the capacity of the Home from fifty to 100 children. During the mid-1940s, day pupils from Somerville House were taught at the Home.
  In 1958, the Methodist Church changed its policy on child care from institutional homes to group family homes, and the last children were transferred from the Home in 1960. The building was purchased by the Queensland Government and used by the Education Department for domestic science education. During this period, the building was known as Alexandra House.
  In 1963, an annexe was constructed at the rear of the House, and from 1967 further facilities were added to the site. In 1977 the building became the College of Catering and Hospitality Services, Coorparoo, being renamed the College of Tourism and Hospitality (COTAH), in 1984.
  Queen Alexandra Home was extensively refurbished for use as a community centre in 1986-87, and most of the additions and partitions in the Kingsbury wing were removed at this time.
caption: Eastern end of the residence, 2015
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