Looking up, you’re right here on the top of Whites Hill. It’s much taller than its 120m elevation feels. It makes you think about the views and the history that played out on this ridge. You know that a teahouse once stood right there, and that there were parties, wedding receptions, and even a camera obscura – a way of projecting the city onto a table.
You can imagine parties on the hill – people drinking tea and dancing to music from a German music machine. It’s hard to imagine a time when open fields extended to Greenslopes and the air wasn’t full of the sounds of the modern city.
The house at the top was torn down in 1964, but the story of Robert White, the man who built it, lives on. He bought 43 acres of land in 1873 and built his own house, a place that drew crowds with its views. You can still see those views today, though the trees have grown taller, blocking some of them. The story of Whites Hill is full of changes. From Robert White’s teahouse to the current sports fields, the hill has been a bustling place for over 150 years.