Piece of Ipswich history for sale
IT HAS been a farm and a convent, and now Booval House is looking for new owners.
The oldest two-storey home in Ipswich was established in the late 1850s as a farmhouse on a 125-hectare estate.
The original property was bordered by Brisbane, Blackstone and Station roads and Stafford Street.
It became St Gabriel’s Convent in 1931, and a chapel was built on site in 1969.
Today, the Cothill Road home sits on a half-hectare block and is owned by Ipswich couple Dr John and Helen Jackson.
The Jacksons host the annual Arias at Sunset concert and community Christmas carols, as well as weddings and bus tours.
“We bought here in 1997 and spent a couple of years restoring the home. We always had the intention of opening it to the public,” Dr Jackson said from the Georgian home.
“We spent roughly a million dollars on conservation works, and what we did was very solid, with the view of keeping the home in the family.
