Welcome to the Breakfast Room, which wasn’t just used for breakfast. Back in the Harris family’s era, it was customary for the children to dine separately from the adults, which made sense given sometimes the adults would be sitting down to dinner at 10pm. The children would have dined in the breakfast room and been put to bed long before this. 

Wealthy and prominent families, such as the Harrises, had many domestic workers to take care of their house, grounds, food, clothes, and animals. We don’t know how many lived and worked at Newstead House during the Harris period, but they likely included chefs, butlers, maids, gardeners, and a housekeeper. The housekeeper between c1875 – 1885 was Mrs Matthews, and her husband, Mr Matthews, was the gardener and caretaker. 

Although it’s not clear how much the Harrises paid their servants, by 1880 the typical pay for white servants in Queensland was between £20 and £35 per year. This rate was lower for servants from non-European backgrounds.

While Patrick Leslie’s service rooms had been underneath the house, the Harrises’ domestic staff lived and worked in a newly built service wing next to the main house, which included a laundry, kitchen, stables, and bedrooms. The wing burned down in 1873 and was replaced by the current annex at an unrecorded date between 1891 and 1909.

This beautiful Royal Doulton self-pouring teapot from 1886 can be seen on the fireplace. Such teapots, which were operated by a pumping mechanism, were popular in the Victorian home.

Scroll through the 1890 auction catalogue below to find out what was in this room.

Explore

3 Adjacent Rooms

Click on a room to find out more

Downstairs

Children’s Bedroom

Dining Room