I’ve long admired the cold, hard attractiveness of the nineteenth century red brick Smellie & Co building as it stands resolute, flanked by modern towers in Brisbane’s central business district. Today it lives as suave boutique office space, but that belies the tragedies that beset its original owner in Queensland’s colonial past.
Scottish businessman Robert Russell Smellie was a pioneer of Brisbane’s engineering and iron foundry trade. In the 1860s shortly after the Queensland colony was granted separation from New South Wales, Smellie established his Smellie & Co business.
Success seemed assured when in 1864 he married Jessie, the eldest daughter of the celebrated botanist Professor Roger Hennedy, renowned in Glasgow for his very large collection of algae. But the union was beset with tragedy, their only son dying aged just two. Jessie herself died a couple of years later.
Smellie’s second marriage at the start of 1875 was to Amy, the widow of an insane Brisbane solicitor who had hung himself. By the end of the year, that too descended into heartbreak for Smellie with a still-born daughter, and later another who died as a baby.
After nine years of marriage, Amy also died, while visiting her family on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. Now able to devote all his time to his burgeoning business, which had evolved into mining machinery and general hardware, Smellie built further premises. This included in 1895 the impressive red brick warehouse in Edward Street.
Smellie passed away three years later, aged 65, survived by just one daughter who moved to New Zealand. Today the big Smellie building is all that remains in the city to remind us of this unfortunate but important early contributor to a budding Queensland economy.
History Out There 
I often walk past the Smellie building during my lunch time strolls and have admired and wondered about its history. Thanks Harold.
Very interesting.
Mark Thomas
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Thanks Mark. Me too, with no idea how unfortunate the Smellie life had been. Losing two wives and three children would have been horrendous.
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Interesting story. Great pic. Funny name!
Sent from my iPhone
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I had to fight hard to avoid using obvious puns, despite the somber nature of the story.
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I think what you composed was very reasonable.
But, what about this? suppose you added a little information? I
mean, I don’t wish to tell you how to run your blog, however what
if you added a post title that grabbed a person’s attention? I mean Smellie building belies heartache
– History Out There is kinda vanilla. You should glance at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they create article titles to get people interested.
You might add a video or a related pic or two to grab readers excited about everything’ve written. In my opinion,
it could make your blog a little livelier.
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That sounds good. I really appreciate you taking the time to write, and will definitely take it on board, I’m getting great feedback once people read the stuff, however they do want their attention grabbed faster. Thanks again, much appreciated!
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I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s both educative and
engaging, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
The problem is something that too few people are speaking intelligently about.
I’m very happy I found this during my search for something concerning this.
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Hi Leoma, thank you so much for your kind comments! What is your research about please, as I’d love to help in any way that I can. You can email me at info@historyoutthere.com if you like. Regards, Harold
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My great grandfather first worked for Smellie’ss when he emigrated from Scotland in the 1870’s Where do yo suggest I look to find employee records of that time- State Archives State Library ?
regards,
Rod
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Hi Harold,
I’m one of the great great grand descendants of R R Smellie of which there are many. His surviving daughter Florence did marry a Kiwi but they lived here in Brisbane and had 7 children who all had offspring except 1. RR Smellie’s life was Indeed tragic but he worked hard and left his only daughter in good financial shape plus some lovely pieces of built environment for Brisbane, the Smellie building is one and the Stained Glass window in the Holy Trinity Church in the valley is another.
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Thanks for reading the story Catherine, I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to email me at info@historyoutthere.com if you want to know more.
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Hi Catherine Mactaggart i am also a descendant of R.R Smellie.
I’m the great great great great grand daughter of his sister Rachel.
Do you know much about him and there family? The last name Smellie only fazed out on my side due to marriage with my great grandmother.
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