A Brisbane aged care community is celebrating a family whose generosity more than 60 years ago helped create a place where generations of older Australians could call home.

At Carinity Brookfield Green in western Brisbane, a framed photograph of Eliza Dart now hangs proudly in the foyer, recognising the pioneering family whose connection to the area stretches back more than 150 years.

The Dart family settled in Brookfield after migrating from Europe, with Samuel Dart acquiring land in the area in 1869.

More than 90 years later, Samuel and Eliza’s descendant, Dr John Leslie Dart, continued the family’s legacy of generosity.

In 1964, he gifted 34 acres of land to the Baptist Union of Queensland to establish an aged care home.

That home, originally known as Resthaven, opened in 1972 and has since become today’s Carinity Brookfield Green.

The family’s story is now woven into the community itself.

One of the residential wings is named Eliza, after Eliza Dart, while Lucinda honours her mother, Lucinda Brimblecombe.

And then there’s Kittybrook – perhaps the most unusual of the names.

It combines ‘Kitty’, the name of the family’s milking cow during its pioneering days, with ‘brook’, a nod to the stream that runs across the aged care property.

For the Dart family, the legacy is about much more than a name on a building.

Carinity CEO Kevin Griffiths said the community was proud to recognise a family that had made a lasting contribution to both the district and Queensland’s Baptist community.

“Carinity is proud to have strong links to Brookfield and to honour this pioneering family which has faithfully served the Baptist Church over several generations,” he said.

Samuel and Eliza Dart were involved in establishing the first church in Laidley, while later generations continued their involvement in Baptist organisations.

That connection continues today.

Samuel and Eliza’s great-great-grandson, Steve Dart, works in the ICT team at Carinity’s Brisbane head office. His mother, Narelle, is a member of the Carinity Council and the Queensland Baptists Board.

Narelle said she was proud to see how the land gifted by her relative had developed into a home for older people in the community.

“It’s just wonderful to be able to see, this far down the track, what has happened at Brookfield Green and what a beautiful place it has become for residents to live in,” she said.

For Narelle, the story is also a reminder that the things we give to others can continue to have an impact long after we’re gone.

“The Lord gives us gifts, he gives us talents, and the way that we use these lives on long after we’re gone,” she said.

More than 150 years after the Dart family first established itself in Brookfield, its story remains part of the local community – and its generosity continues to benefit older Australians today.