Wickham House Brisbane: History, Address and the 1955 Crime

Wickham House is a heritage-listed office building at 155–157 Wickham Terrace in Spring Hill, Brisbane. Designed by Francis Richard Hall and built from 1923 to 1924 by F J Corbett, it is also associated with a major 1955 crime that took place inside the building and continued nearby.

What is Wickham House in Brisbane?

Wickham House stands at 155–157 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Richard Hall and constructed between 1923 and 1924 by builder F J Corbett.

The building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 23 June 2000. Its heritage status identifies Wickham House as a significant office building, while its present-day use remains practical: the building is home to multiple medical offices.

What happened at Wickham House in 1955?

On the morning of December 1, 1955, Wickham Terrace became the scene of a major crime and an early act of terrorism in Brisbane. Karl Kast entered a doctor’s office inside Wickham House carrying a revolver, over 100 rounds of ammunition and homemade bombs.

Kast shot Dr. Michael Gallagher in his office while Gallagher stood over a patient. He then ignited multiple bombs in the foyer of Wickham House before fleeing towards Ballow Chambers. One bomb detonated as horse trainer George Boland tried to extinguish it, severing two of his fingers.

The violence continued at Ballow Chambers, 100 meters away. Kast shot Dr. Andrew Murray, then confronted Dr. John Lahz. Lahz managed to escape downstairs, while Kast barricaded himself inside Lahz’s office as police closed in.

Police later heard a gunshot followed by a powerful explosion. When officers forced their way into the office, they found Kast dead at the desk. A package sent to police afterwards contained a letter naming his victims and documents about Kast’s repeated, failed attempts to receive compensation for an alleged back injury.

What should you notice about Wickham House today?

Wickham House remains a working building with multiple medical offices, but its address carries the documented history of the December 1955 events. The building is therefore both a heritage-listed office address and the first location in a case that continued at Ballow Chambers.

The Wickham House stop appears in Mayhem, Mystery & Murder: A Dark Historic Tour of Brisbane, which places the building’s history within the wider record of Brisbane’s dark past. The tour material preserves the specific details attached to this address without reducing Wickham House to a general Brisbane attraction.