Nyrambla

Date: 1885 [unknown]
Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Surnames/tags: Queensland Australia Nyrambla

NYRAMBLA is a Grand, Ornate, two story, Late Victorian, Queenslander style, Heritage Listed, Hillside Mansion, built at 21 Henry Street, Ascot, Brisbane in 1885, for the Australian Joint Stock Bank as the residence of their general manager Henry Palmer Abbott , on an estate of approximately fifteen acres. Originally, the estate stretched across to Henry Street to the rear, and the frontage faced Yabba Street.

At one point the house was rented to Patrick Perkins of Perkins Brewery.

The house, an imposing two story, brick home, with five fireplaces, in an elongated square style, with both floors surrounded by large verandahs on three sides, and an "L" shaped, two story, rear wing, which has lately been converted and refurbished, from the original bedrooms and bathroom on the main upstairs floor, the long ball-room, dining-room, sitting-room and bathroom on the ground floor, with elegant Cedar stairway to the main hall, kitchen, breakfast room, laundry, bathroom and maid's quarters in the rear wing, with it's own rear stairway, and separate two story stable, which was later replaced with a tennis court, to a later conversion to six flats in the 1920's, to now having three bedrooms, including master with ensuite, a library, a full bathroom and fourth bedroom/sitting room upstairs, a formal dining room, formal living room, bathroom/laundry area, open plan living room/dining room/kitchen/butler's pantry downstairs, hallway with elegant separately contained, two story guest wings, with one bedroom, two living areas, bathroom, kitchen and balcony upstairs, two bedrooms, living room, dining room, bathroom, kitchen and covered patio downstairs, with separate laundry and services area, two sunrooms, swimming pool, pool house and two garages, which hold six cars and a tool shed.

In 1905, Nyrambla Estate was subdivided by the bank, into a house block, and ninety-three smaller blocks, then in 1912, Edward David Miles purchased the house and over one acre of surrounding land, which was sold after his death in 1922.

By 1925, George Willoughby Whatmore had purchased the house, and after his death, the house was subdivided into six flats during the late 1920's. Nyrambla is now set on approximately half an acre or 2000 sq m.

William Brown, Actor lived in the servants quarters during the 1990's.^[1]

Extract
Requisitioned by the US Army circa July 1942 as the headquarters of the Central Bureau in Australia. This was a joint US/Australian secret code-breaking organisation. It put the forerunners of IBM computers into the garage at “Nyrambla” to aid code breaking. On the 14th of April 1943, it decoded an intercepted Japanese signal that lead to the ambush and death of Admiral Yamamoto, who had planned the attack on Pearl Harbour. The Central Bureau remained at “Nyrambla” until 1945.^{[2] [3]}

The last owner and her son have spent the past thirty years restoring Nyrambla to her former glory.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Ascot, Queensland
2. ↑ 2021. Queensland WWII Historic Places.Central Intelligence Bureau
3. ↑ "Nyrambla | Heritage Places". 2004. Heritage.Brisbane.Qld.Gov.Au.Nyrambla, Heritage Brisbane, with pdf
4. ↑ Spinks, Under Offer

See Also:

• Nyrambla, Ascot
• Ascot Intel base
• Nyrambla, for sale
• Douglas MacArthur, wikipedia
• Douglas MacArthur