THERE is a home in Mclennan Street Wooloowin called Camden, which is listed as a heritage place by the Brisbane City Council.
The building of the highset Queenslander was commissioned by Rev William Higlett circa 1894, who served as the first minister of the Albion Baptist Church, when the congregation separated from the Fortitude Valley Baptist Church.
Born in England in 1857, Higlett left school when he was 13, worked as an office boy in London for the next decade while attending evening classes to further his education.
When he was 18, influenced by the London Mission of Moody and Sankey, he converted from the Church of England to the Baptist religion. Four years later, he began his three year studies for the ministry.
In 1882, he answered a ‘call’ to the Baptist Church in Toowoomba, where he served for eight years before moving to Brisbane to help to build the Albion branch of the church into a distinct and self supporting church.
This was accomplished in late 1892 but only three months later, the disastrous floods of January 1893, washed through his church and his cottage.
Settled into his new home and with his congregation continuing to grow, Rev Higlett rose in the ranks of the church hierarchy.
But what has this all to do with our history photograph of the once thriving sugar mill in Marburg?
Rev Higlett, according to newspaper and church articles was a highly valued and highly regarded minister, who often visited the country centres as part of his work with the Baptist Mission.
And evidenced by the quality of the photographs in his albums which now form part of the State Library of Queensland collection, he was also a talented and skilled amateur photographer.
It is due to this pastime that a record of many of the churches and buildings in the country centres around south east Queensland are available today.
The photo of the Marburg Sugar Mill was probably taken around 1906-1907, when the local Baptist congregation was celebrating the building of their new church.
The congregation had formed in 1871 when the area was known as the Rosewood Scrub and after a division in the congregation, re-united and decided to replace their old church with a building which could house their growing numbers.
