[1] Whepstead, a large two-storeyed timber residence with a substantial attic, was constructed in 1889 for Gilbert Burnett JP, a Wellington Point landowner, sawmill proprietor, and member of the Cleveland Divisional Board.

Originally called Fernbourne, the house was designed by Brisbane architect Claude William Chambers and constructed by Cleveland builder Patrick Horisk.

In April 1875 he acquired from Hope a seven-year lease, with an option to buy, on the bulk of the Ormiston estate west and north of Hilliards Creek near Wellington Point.

[1] Burnett called his Wellington Point estate Trafalgar Vale, developing it initially as a sugar plantation, dependent on indentured labour from the South Pacific Islands.

Burnett also was buying up local cane for crushing, and reportedly was considering ordering a large new vacuum pan to produce white sugar, which had proved highly successful in northern mills.

Subsequently, political antipathy toward the indentured labour system and the potential expense of converting his sugar mill to the vacuum pan method, prompted Burnett to turn to sawmilling as his principal enterprise.

By November 1884 he had ceased the cultivation and manufacture of sugar at Trafalgar Vale, and had established in its place what he claimed was the largest country sawmill in the colony.

[1] Between mid-1883 and late 1884, planing and dressing machinery to work soft timbers such as pine, cedar and beech were acquired; the Eucalypta, an 85 feet (26 m) long steamer, was built for Burnett to transport cypress pine from the Moreton Bay islands (Amity Point on Stradbroke Island, Coochiemudlo Island and Macleay Island) and hardwood from the Tweed Heads, Nerang, Coomera and Logan River districts to his mill, the timber being unloaded at Hilliards Creek; a wharf with a large overhead travelling crane was erected on the creek about 300 yards below the mill buildings; a tramway was laid to transport logs from the wharf to the mill (in 1885 the tramway was extended about three-quarters of a mile to give direct access to the bay); and an 8-ton boiler was installed to generate the steam to drive the horizontal saw, circular saws, planning machines and lathes, which could produce 40,000 feet (12,000 m) of dressed timber a week.

[1] In the mid-1880s, Burnett entered into partnership with a number of Brisbane businessmen to subdivide much of the former Trafalgar Vale plantation as the Wellington Point Estate.

Constructed of cypress pine supplied from the Trafalgar Vale sawmill, it was a large and flamboyant house with 14 rooms on three levels, designed to impress.

In April 1889, architect Claude William Chambers had called tenders for alterations and additions in wood to a villa residence at Cleveland, and this is thought to refer to Fernbourne.

[1] Fernbourne was built during the wave of boom-time investment and speculation which characterised the late 1880s, but in 1891, as the boom burst and the credit squeeze tightened, Burnett was declared insolvent.

When the Burnett family left Fernbourne c. 1891, they erected a smaller house on the eastern side of the railway line at Wellington Point, still on part of their original Trafalgar Vale estate and near the sawmill.

From 1899 to 1913, Gilbert Burnett, with his substantial knowledge of timbers and sawmilling, held a government position as a Ranger of Crown Lands in the Brisbane and Ipswich districts.

William Henry Bligh O'Connell, Secretary for Public Lands from 1899 until his death in 1903, appears to have occupied Whepstead from c. 1903 until it was purchased by pastoralist Edgar Gustav Parnell in 1911.

The gables have cast iron infill panels with decorative timber work, including arched vents and brackets to the eaves.

The ground floor verandah to the west has been enclosed as a corridor with the southern end featuring leadlight windows and being used as a function room.

[1] The grounds include a fenced in-ground concrete swimming pool and children's playground to the north and a timber gazebo with a sheet metal roof to the northeast.

Extensive brick paving and landscaping surround the building with timber stages located at the southeast and west and a fountain to the east.

Some first floor internal walls have been removed, but the place remains sufficiently intact to be of importance in illustrating the principal characteristics of a large, ornate, timber residence of three levels [two storeys and a substantial attic].

Whepstead house [1889] and grounds [established mid-1870s] have a strong association with Gilbert Burnett and his important role in the development of Wellington Point in the last quarter of the 19th century.