For most of Fay Lanham’s life, home meant the same patch of land at the end of Lochinvar Lane. It was where her grandfather built a creek crossing to reach the property and raised prize-winning canaries in an aviary. The family kept a cow during The Gap’s farming years, and Ms Lanham made butter from its milk. She grew up on the land, left for Ipswich after marrying, then returned.
Now, after 105 years in the same family, Estrilda is being sold. The 0.6-hectare property at 268 Lochinvar Lane will go to auction on 8 August. The sale will close a 105-year family chapter and bring renewed attention to The Gap’s farming past.
A home named for its birds
Ms Lanham’s grandfather bought the property in 1921, before The Gap developed into the suburb it is today. He built the original crossing over the creek, giving the family access to its new home.
His love of birds soon became part of the property’s identity. He kept an aviary, bred canaries that won prizes and named the estate Estrilda after a genus of small finches.
In the decades after 1936, the land formed part of The Gap’s poultry and dairy farming tradition. The animals and the work of maintaining the property shaped everyday family life.
A lifetime tied to one address
Ms Lanham lived at Estrilda for 79 years. Apart from about a decade in Ipswich with her husband, she spent most of her life on the estate.
She later returned to The Gap, where the property became a gathering place for relatives and friends. Family celebrations and gatherings continued there across the decades.
For Ms Lanham, selling Estrilda means leaving more than a house. The property holds memories of her grandfather, her childhood and decades of family life.
Estrilda changed with the years
Estrilda’s history reaches back to The Gap’s poultry and dairy farming years. The property itself changed as the family’s needs and the surrounding area evolved.
In 1998, Ms Lanham’s father subdivided the family holding into nine lots but retained lot 268 as the centre of the estate. The remaining 0.6-hectare property now sits beside Ashgrove Golf Club, about 8.5 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD. The Gap Village, local schools and reserves are also nearby.
A main house and self-contained granny flat stand on the land today. Together, they contain four bedrooms, three bathrooms and two car spaces.
The estate’s past is found in details that might otherwise slip from local memory. There is the creek crossing built by Ms Lanham’s grandfather, the aviary where he raised canaries and the family cow that supplied milk for homemade butter. There is also Ms Lanham’s return to the property after years away.
Ray White Metro North agents Dwight Ferguson and Matilda Palmer are handling the sale. They said the length of the family’s ownership and the size of the level block made the property unusual in Brisbane’s current market.
A future not yet decided
The future of Estrilda remains unknown. A buyer may keep it as a family home, renovate the buildings or pursue other plans for the land. The sales material does not identify any development proposal for the property. Until a new owner takes over, any prediction about its future would be speculation.
The next owner will play a major role in deciding Estrilda’s future, subject to planning requirements. Yet its history will remain tied to the Lanham family and to the broader story of The Gap.
Published 27-July-2026
