The Glengallan Bathroom

 

Glengallan Homestead, near Warwick in Queensland, Australia was built in 1867, and was very grand indeed for its time. This was on land that had only been colonised for a couple of decades at the point the house was built, and amongst the luxury fixtures installed was a large slate bath and the first flushing toilet in Queensland, on the first floor.

Water was pumped up from the nearby creek to a holding tank under the house, then from there up to a sizeable header tank in the roof which provided the high pressure gravity feed required to flush the toilet. I assume hot water was heated in the kitchen and lugged up the stairs by servants. The header tank also provided cold water for a first floor cedar lined shower in an anteroom to the main bedroom.

A separate bath house was constructed for staff and underlings.

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