The Deanery, Brisbane, Heritage site in Brisbane, Australia

The Deanery is a two-storey detached house at 417 Ann Street, within the grounds of St John's Cathedral. Its walls are 600 mm thick random Brisbane tuff with sandstone facings, and it has a nearly pyramidal hipped roof with hipped attic dormer windows. Two-level timber verandahs, a freestone entrance porch flanked by Doric columns, and leadlight windows around the entry door are visible.

Built around 1853 by Andrew Petrie for Dr William Hobbs, who had arrived in Brisbane in 1849 as ship's surgeon on the Chaseley. In 1859 the government rented it as Queensland's first Government House. On 10 December 1859 Abram Orpen Moriarty read the proclamation creating the colony from its first-floor balcony, where Sir George Bowen was sworn in as Governor by Judge Alfred Lutwyche.

The building functioned as a private home before the Anglican Church took it over in 1899 to serve as an ecclesiastical institute. You can sense how the wealthy lived in the 1800s and how the church later adapted the space for community purposes.

You can view the building from the street and examine its 19th-century architectural features, including the distinctive stone walls and elaborate roof structure. Walking around the Ann Street area lets you see several historical properties nearby, offering a good sense of Brisbane's early urban development.

The Deanery is one of Brisbane's oldest surviving residences, built just years after the city was founded. Its pink porphyry walls and detailed stonework were quite rare in the region at that time, reflecting the wealth and care of its original owner.