Fairy Knoll is a heritage-listed villa at 2A Robertson Road, Eastern Heights, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.

[1] The grand two storey brick residence, Fairy Knoll, was completed in 1901 by contractors Worley and Whitehead to the 1896 design of architect George Brockwell Gill.

The residence was built for Thomas Hancock (Junior), a successful timber merchant, his wife Louisa Hayne and their ten children.

His father Thomas Hancock (Senior) commenced sawing timber at Pine Mountain and later acquired a sawmill in Rosewood.

By 1885 Thomas Hancock & Sons was a successful expanding company employing 138 hands in Ipswich as well as many in their Brisbane offices totalling 274 people.

The Ipswich complex included a mill, joinery and moulding plant and a lathe department which produced doors, window sashes and panelling.

In 1896 he transferred the title to his wife Louisa and the following year is believed to have commissioned architect George Brockwell Gill to design the new home.

The water was supplied by two large, built in brick cisterns, immediately under the roof and lined with iron, which had a capacity of 4,000 imperial gallons (18,000 L; 4,800 US gal).

[1] The gardens were a feature of Fairy Knoll and during the Hancocks' residence there included a gravel drive with the main entrance gates on Robertson Road.

A laundry, store room, earth closet and garage in one large complex stood next to the fowl pens on the northern side of the house.

After the war had ended much of the Hancock family land around Eastern Heights was subdivided and given to the Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian Churches and the Scouts.

[1] The Jefferis Turner Centre was opened in 1952 as part of the Queensland Labor Government's Maternal and Child Welfare program in the 1940s and 1950s.

In the 1940s and 1950s the program concentrated on developing Mothercraft Homes which provided residential care for mothers and babies as well as training for staff in infant health.

Major external changes included the removal of the 4,000 imperial gallons (18,000 L; 4,800 US gal) water tank from the roof, the enclosure of the verandahs on the southern and western sides, the asbestos cement sheet cladding of the verandah valance and the construction of an extension on the northern side and new out buildings as well as a fire escape from the upper level of the original house.

The house was substantially changed internally, the details of which can be found in the Conservation Plan for Jefferis Turner Centre by Margaret Cook and Paul Burmester (February 2001).

[1] Fairy Knoll is a grand and imposing, two-storey, easterly-facing residence, on an elevated area bounded by Chermside, Robertson and Whitehill roads.

It has a brick core which is wrapped by decorative timber verandahs, the detailing of which creates patterns of light and dark, and is typical of Queensland Federation era architecture.

Many of these grand homes were established on the hilltop area east of Queens Park, where Fairy Knoll still stands today.

Designed in 1897, Fairy Knoll is a significant example of a late 1890s grand residence specifically suited to the requirements of a large, wealthy family.

It demonstrates early design practices in relation to room function, layout, responses to climate, building materials and workmanship despite its later adaptation for other uses.

Fairy Knoll possesses strong aesthetic value due to its prominence as a landmark in Ipswich which has dominant visual impact on the surrounding area and for its fine detailing and composition.

The Jefferis Turner Centre was part of an ongoing programme of maternal and child welfare instigated by the Theodore government in 1922.