Bankfoot House trees

Bankfoot House - first homestead in the Glass House Mountains

Established in 1868 by William and Mary Grigor as a roadside accommodation house on the new road from Brisbane to the Gympie, Bankfoot House is the oldest surviving building in the Glass House Mountains. The dwelling was constructed of pit sawn local red cedar by Mewitt, a ship's carpenter and was named after the small village of Bankfoot in Scotland.

In the gardens round Bankfoot House are trees that have survived more than 100 years on the property - namely the tall bunya pines to the north west and south of the house and the large Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) at the rear of the house.

This fig tree was already a mature tree in photographs of the house taken as far back as 1902. It provided shade both for the family and travellers and has a mass of staghorns attached to it which were put there in the 1940s by Mary Ferris (nee Burgess) and Jack Ferris when they were small children.

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council, in conjunction with the Friends of Bankfoot House Inc., continues to develop Bankfoot House as a partnership heritage initiative.