The first land sales in this area, west of the locality then known as Upper Paddington, were held in 1862. Brisbane contractor Francis Lyon paid £76 for 38 acres (just over 15 hectares) for the lot which included the area now forming Bowman Park (referred to as a country lot, in the Parish of Enoggera). The park area was known at the time as the 'Cobbler's Flats', because of the superabundance of pest weed called cobblers pegs). Another purchaser was Joshua Jeays (Brisbane Municipal Council alderman, then mayor in 1864), who purchased 39 acres adjoining and to the east of Lyon's land, at a cost of £78. Jeays built a house on his land in 1863 and named it 'Bardon', after Bardon Hill in his native Leicestershire, after which the suburb was officially named in 1925. The house still exists, and is now part of the nearby St Joseph's school campus.