Cumbooquepa

Cumbooquepa
Cumbooquepa, 2008
Location	253 Vulture Street, South Brisbane, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Coordinates	27°29′00″S 153°01′28″E / 27.4832°S 153.0244°E / -27.4832; 153.0244Coordinates: 27°29′00″S 153°01′28″E / 27.4832°S 153.0244°E / -27.4832; 153.0244
Design period	1870s – 1890s (late 19th century)
Built	1890
Architect	George Henry Male Addison
Queensland Heritage Register
Official name: Somerville House, Brisbane High School for Girls, Cumbooquepa
Type	state heritage (landscape, built)
Designated	21 October 1992
Reference no.	600305
Significant period	1890s–1910s (historical Stephens family) 1920s–1930s (historical school) 1942–1944 (historical WWI
Significant components	classroom/classroom block/teaching area, residential accommodation - housing, garden/grounds, library - building
Location of Cumbooquepa in Queensland

Cumbooquepa is a heritage-listed house at Somerville House, 253 Vulture Street, South Brisbane, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Henry Male Addison and built in 1890. It is also known as Brisbane High School for Girls. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

Cumbooquepa is a large single-storeyed house built in 1890 on a ridge overlooking the South Brisbane Reach of the Brisbane River.

The land was acquired in 1856 by Thomas Blacket Stephens, a politician, newspaper proprietor and businessman, who became Brisbane's second mayor. Stevens built a timber dwelling called Cumbooquepa on the property. He died in 1877 and management of his estate passed to his eldest son, William Stephens, a politician, businessman and first mayor of South Brisbane.

In 1890 the Stephens family moved into a new house designed by GHM Addison where they lived until the early 1900s. This second Cumbooquepa was built on a higher part of the site, a short distance from the original which was demolished in 1890 to make way for the south coast and southern suburbs railway line.

The house remained in the family until 1919 when the property was acquired by the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association as the new premises for the Brisbane High School for Girls. In 1920 Somerville House was added to the title of the school honouring Mary Somerville, a Scottish scientist whose name was also associated with Somerville College at the University of Oxford. Constance Elizabeth Harker and Marjorie Kate Jarrett, important for their contributions to female education in Queensland, were the co-principals of the school from 1909 until the retirement of Miss Harker in 1931.