Wonga Wallen
| Vida and Jayne Lahey's House | |
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The house in 2014
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| Location | 99 Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°29′40″S 152°59′55″E / 27.4945°S 152.9986°ECoordinates: 27°29′40″S 152°59′55″E / 27.4945°S 152.9986°E |
| Design period | 1919–1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1920–1946 |
| Architect | Romeo Lahey |
| Official name: Vida and Jayne Lahey's House, Wonga Wallen | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600316 |
| Significant period | 1920s, 1940s (fabric) 1920–1968 (historical) |
| Significant components | residential accommodation - main house |
 Location of Vida and Jayne Lahey's House in Queensland
Location of Vida and Jayne Lahey's House in Queensland
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Vida and Jayne Lahey's House is a heritage-listed detached house at 99 Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Romeo Lahey and built from 1920 to 1946. It is also known as Wonga Wallen. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Vida Lahey's house was originally built for Romeo Lahey above Canungra, on a spur of the Darlington Range and was completed in 1920. Later the house was moved from the outskirts to the Canungra township on the hill above the present Catholic Church and occupied by David and his wife, Jane Jemima Lahey née Walmsley, and then moved again by Vida and Jayne Lahey in 1946 to its present block in Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia.
Francis and Alicia Lahey, Vida and Romeo's grandparents, arrived in Australia with eleven children in 1862 from Ireland. They settled on land by Rocky Waterholes Creek, Salisbury, where they commenced farming but found the land unsuitable. In 1870 Francis, with his older sons and some employees, moved to Pimpama, where the rest of the family moved in 1872 after the sale of the first property. In the early 1880s, the sons of Francis Lahey began investigating the establishment of a timber mill on the Canungra Creek. In 1884, David, the youngest son of Francis and Alicia, father of Vida born in 1882 and later Romeo born in 1887, established a saw and planing mill (Lahey's Canungra Sawmill) in the sparsely populated Canungra area. The mill flourished for many years and provided employment for the local area which grew rapidly as a result. The Lahey family were responsible for the construction of many significant roads and railways in the Canungra area, sometimes contributing substantial proportions of the construction cost.
Following the extension of the railway from Logan Village to Canungra in 1914, the Laheys' mill at Canungra grew into what was thought to be the largest and best-equipped softwood mill in the southern hemisphere. The Lahey family business continued until 1920 when the mill was bought by the War Service Home Commission who acquired timber mills all over the country to meet the vast housing needs of returned soldiers. The mill was operated only for a few years by the WSHC after which time another firm purchased it. David Lahey remained the manager for many years after the mill was sold.
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