TV producer lists Qld haven that sparked hit show

Film producer Glenys Rowe drew inspiration from her Townsville home went writing ‘Darby and Joan’ starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi. Picture: Supplied

A character-filled Queenslander that inspired a hit television show has hit the Townsville property market.

Veteran film producer Glenys Rowe bought 47 Stagpole St, West End, in 2020 and drew inspiration from the 1920s home when writing the ‘Darby and Joan’ series.

The crime show follows English nurse Joan Kirkhope and ex-police detective Jack Darby as they solve mysteries across Queensland.

And while the series has just celebrated a second season, the time has come for Ms Rowe to part ways with her muse of a house.

The four-bedroom home with wraparound verandas is going to auction on Monday, September 1 through Giovanni Spinella of Ray White Townsville.

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The home at 47 Stagpole St, West End. Picture: Supplied

Inside the home at 47 Stagpole St, West End. Picture: Supplied

Ms Rowe said she bought the West End home for “its fabulous architectural value, the history of it and the pleasure of living in a Queenslander”.

“It’s been a really creative space for me. I felt right at home,” she said.

“There was something about the light and the air and, because I had so much space there, it changed what I felt I could do.

“I had my desk out on the veranda looking out on the old bus garage from the 1920s, which is now gone, and it was perfect.

“It was a very pleasant way to pass the time – thinking up gruesome murders.”

Ms Rowe said living in the old Queenslander with its 47 casement windows, 19 sets of French doors and timber louvres heavily influenced ‘Darby and Joan’.

“It was being suffused in Queensland-ness that really sparked it off,” she said.

“I had a slight sense that I was a fish out of water.

“I had never lived anywhere where I could go to sleep at night feeling the breeze on my face.

“While not amazing to people who grew up in Townsville, for an urban girl like me, it was phenomenal.”

Glenys Rowe and Giovanni Spinella of Ray White Townsville at 47 Stagpole St, West End. Picture: Evan Morgan

Ms Rowe said being that “fish out of water” inspired the character of formal, bluestocking Joan, who was charmed yet confounded by Queenslanders – be they human or house.

“I wondered what it would be like for a British woman in a place like Townsville and nothing was like what she knew,” she said.

Ms Rowe said she ensured Queensland architecture had a staring role in ‘Darby and Joan’, which was filmed in Southeast Queensland, Cairns and Mt Isa.

“It was very important because the architecture is what sets Townsville and Queensland apart for me,” she said.

“And, because I’m wiring for an international audience, I want them to know how special it is.”

One of the two new bathrooms. Picture: Supplied

The home is full of character features. Picture: Supplied

Since owning the West End property, Ms Rowe has left her mark on the home.

“I just wanted to make it as beautiful as I could,” she said.

“I added on a deck and made two new bathrooms based around ones I’d seen in Morocco.”

Ms Rowe said she loved the home’s verandas, fans and wildlife, from goannas under the back stairs to birds and Ulysses butterflies popping by.

“But my favourite parts of the home are the vegetable gardens, all the orchids and my jade vine, because it’s really tall now,” she said.

“And the kitchens.

“In fact, I’ve been living with two dishwashers – I don’t know how I’ll survive with just one now.”

The home at 47 Stagpole St, West End, is going to auction on Monday, September 1 at 6pm.

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