As if Brickworks Park hasn’t already got its fair share of history thanks to the former brick manufacturing business that occupied the site.

Now we take you even further back in time to the story of Brisbane’s first car owner and electrical engineer James Trackson – a dynamic entrepreneur at the cutting edge of technology in the early 1900s.

At the time, few men were better known in Queensland. While the Tracksons owned the land occupied by Brickworks, the family home was built on a sprawling property called Sedgley Grange near what is now the Newmarket Olympic Pool.

An expert in electrical science, then in its infancy, Mr Trackson helped establish the Brisbane telephone exchange and was involved in installation of the first street lamps in Queen Street as well as an electric light system in Parliament House.

The revitalisation of our site into a new residential community is actually a return to its former land use as homes and green open spaces.

Brisbane’s first car owner

Among the many highlights of an extraordinary life, James Trackson is credited with owning Queensland’s first ‘’car’’.  Indeed, a photograph in the State Library captures him and his wife enjoying a leisurely jaunt aboard a “Locomobile’’ in Elizabeth Street in 1902.

The Locomobile Company of America was one of the world’s earliest car manufacturers, constructing small steam buggies until 1903 when production switched to internal combustion-powered luxury vehicles.

To say Mr Trackson was a car enthusiast would be an understatement. He was also the first in Brisbane to own an internal combustion engine and in 1905 he was one of the founders of the RACQ.

He even built a car of his own, dubbed “The Trackson”. Based on a two-cylinder De Dion-Bouton car imported from France in 1900, it was powered by a five-horsepower petrol engine with a reported top speed of 25 kilometres an hour.

In those pioneering days of motoring, it must be remembered that drivers had to contend with unpredictable horses, deeply rutted roads and a distinct lack of mechanics. In addition, the wheels of the first cars were not noted for their durability.

The Trackson Locomobile was a drawcard at the 1902 Brisbane Exhibition. Country visitors were eager to see the vehicle, which had just returned from a 2,400-mile trip. The car held up so well on that journey that the only things needing repair were the tyres, due to the awful condition of the roads.

When Alderley was considered ‘scrub’

In many ways, it seems hard to conceive of Alderley and adjoining Newmarket being an undulating rural landscape a little over 100 years ago.

Newmarket was originally called “The Three Mile Scrub’’ because in those days – unlike now – three miles from the city was considered quite a distance.

The development of the area unfolded in the late 1800s as settlement marched along Kelvin Grove Road and livestock saleyards were opened.

The photo of the Trackson family outside their Sedgley Grange homestead, circa 1901, and other surviving images of their surroundings, provide us with a real sense of how times have changed.

As an aside, it is worth noting that James Trackson was a member of the Queensland Photographic Society from at least 1886, and many family photographs exist today.

The house was demolished in 1991 and the property is now called Sedgley Park, administered by Brisbane City Council and featuring the Newmarket Olympic Pool.

The end of Sedgley Road in Sedgley Park is approximately 150 metres to Brickworks Park. In the other direction, across Enoggera Road, is a cul-de-sac named Trackson Street.

A man of many talents

Born in Norwich, England, Mr Trackson was educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School and at Sedgley Park College, near Wolverhampton. He went on to study at the famous Polytechnic in London, where he graduated in science.

He moved to Brisbane in 1884. With his brother William, he founded the electrical business Trackson Brothers, which also supplied steam wagons, tractors and other motor vehicles for a while.

For several years, he was also an honorary magistrate, who assisted in cases at the old Police Court and Summons Court in Elizabeth Street.

James Trackson also possessed a keen interest in breeding Jersey cows. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of some workmen at Sedley Grange, his life may have turned out very differently when a bull attacked him one day.

As we enter this exciting new era for Alderley with the development of Brickworks Park, there will no doubt be many new family history stories ahead.