Legacy of love: The story behind The Shambles
The house today is surrounded with gardens. This is a collector’s garden that has been nurtured for the last 32 years.
This Old House: The Shambles 85 Western Avenue
This old house at 85 Western Avenue is well-known for its wonderful garden and its dedicated gardener Kyleigh Simpson, who along with her husband, Montville’s much-loved medico, Dr Michael Simpson, created The Shambles.
The cottage and garden sit lightly, on the land, respectfully acknowledging the traditional inhabitants who first harvested bunya nuts here.
The Shambles is part of the original selection, Portion 70V, selected by Henry Smith in 1893. After one and a half centuries of European occupation on the Blackall Range, there are irreversible changes to the environment; from clearing forests, developing both agricultural and pastoral farming, subdividing the land and damming Baroon Pocket.
The former farm house can be dated between 1900-1912. In 1912 James Eli Hallett and his wife Annie purchased the cottage along with about 24 acres.
The Shambles in 1999 with paths and garden beds planted.
She was 57 years with five grown children and James was 54 years. James and Annie lived there for 22 years until age and illness forced James to sell in 1935 following Annie’s death the previous year.
The sales pitch included 12 acres of rich volcanic soil, an orchard of 200 first-class citrus trees and 6000 pineapples just cropping. The residence has five rooms with a verandah room, an extra detached room on high blocks, a wagon shed, an implement shed and man’s room. (Farm labourers were often provided basic lodgings and board on the farm.)
After James Hallett sold the property there were a number of changes of ownership and subdivisions of the farm. Names of previous owners, include the Rann, Butt, Compton, Doessel, Neilsen, Wilkie, Wheeler, Parkinson and McCullough families.
The house as it was bought in 1992 and the open paddock with a line of shrubs that was retained.
In 1976 the ¾ acre of land with the original farm house was subdivided from the original farm and became a rental property until Kyleigh and Michael purchased the house from Beryl McCullough in 1992.
The house, a typical Queensland worker’s cottage, was built at a time of financial constraint, probably by the owner, using a basic architectural plan and materials that were to hand.
Sympathetic renovation
Kyleigh and Michael wanted to recapture the original building and removed aluminium sliding glass windows, made sympathetic repairs and added an additional living space. There was also an old machinery shed that was converted to the Plough Inn, a delightful space to display memorabilia, sit and read, play, or contemplate the garden.
Michael and Kyleigh pictured in 2022.
Kyleigh explained, “Our reason for coming to Montville was work and to have more land to garden. Michael and I were keen gardeners in Brisbane and had simply run out of room around our worker’s cottage in Sandgate. We were more than content with a house that is old and under-renovated, where the wind whistles through gaps, the bathroom is basic and we rely on our tank water, because there is a feeling that comes with old places that just cannot be replicated.”
Michael enjoyed documenting this garden and home for family and visitors, and though he passed away in January 2023, he has left a picturesque legacy of this house and garden.
The garden became renowned in the Montville community because Kyleigh and Michael participated in the Open Garden Program for many years, selling seedlings that they had struck to encourage locals to develop historic, pioneering gardens of their own.
After 30 years of talking about removing the privet hedge, passers-by will notice that Kyleigh has done it and was rewarded with a few unearthed original wooden fence posts and a heap of barbed wire.
She said, “I love this garden and love living here. Michael might not be here, but the garden will continue to evolve and I might even find time to continue the written records that Michael was so dedicated to.”