When Drew Wickerson began a deep dive into the history of his century-old Queenslander he had an inkling he was going to find something special.

What he discovered was a remarkable tale about a man who tried to change the course of Australian history by dividing Queensland in two.

It turns out the house was constructed in about 1914 by a Danish-born coachbuilder Anders Nielsen; one of the forces behind a movement in the late 1800s that aimed to to split the state of Queensland and make Rockhampton the northern capital.

"They had this grand plan to separate the state at Rockhampton, [and] take the north away from the south-east corner," Mr Wickerson said.

"He had come over from Europe with his family to make his fortune, as a lot of immigrants did, and became a very renowned photographer and coachbuilder in Rockhampton who built this amazing house in Separation Street.

"It burned down and then he built a second one, which I'm only the second owner of with my wife, and some of the timbers in the verandah still have the fire scorch marks."

Flagged as seat of government

One of Rockhampton's grandest homes was Kenmore House, constructed in 1894 by wealthy businessman and politician John Ferguson.

Mr Ferguson led the separation movement in the 1890s and had intended for the home to be Government House for a new state if the bid had been successful.

Earlier unsuccessful political movements for Central Queensland's secession from Queensland had been launched in the 1860s and 1870s.

Mr Wickerson says residents who often pondered "if only these walls could talk" can now use a research service provided by the regional library's history centre.

"It's a little bit like being a detective," Mr Wickerson said.

Ripper of a story

A property on East Street in Rockhampton was occupied by notorious murderer Fredrick Bailey Deeming in 1883 who a decade later was suspected of being the mysterious serial killer Jack the Ripper.

Deeming lived in the home for a short time while working as a foreman in a gas-fitting firm.

Author Sue Smith in her history of The Morning Bulletin newspaper said he ended up getting sacked, partly because of his behaviour after being charged with discharging a firearm in a public street.

Deeming later murdered his first wife Marie and his four children in England in July 1891; and a second wife, Emily Mather, at Windsor in Melbourne in December 1891.

Publicity surrounding the gruesome finding of Emily Mather's body was considerable.

Within a few days, The Age newspaper had attempted to connect the murder to the Jack the Ripper murders of London (five murders between August and November 9, 1888).

Despite much speculation, many articles and several books on the matter, the theory was never proven.

Ms Smith said Rockhampton in the 1800s was "on the edge of the frontier'' and there was no shortage of intriguing stories flowing from the colourful characters who occupied some amazing homes built from the massive wealth that flowed from the Mount Morgan mine.

"At one stage it was the city that was the furthest north, I think you could say in Australia. [It was around] long before other places such as Mackay, Townsville and Cairns and so on, for a long time," she said.

She said people "fortunate enough to live in an historical house" who were interested in its background could trace its history through the various tools available via the libraries, history centres and online.

Chance workshop meeting links home with BP founder

Mr Wickerson, who is a Rockhampton Region councillor, said the library service's first workshop in March was well attended and led to a chance meeting of two strangers that linked one of their homes with former Mount Morgan goldmine owner William Knox D'Arcy from the 1880s.

D'Arcy went on be one of the founders of British Petroleum in 1909 by investing in the oil and petrochemical industry in Persia (modern-day Iran).

"It was an amazing history, uncovered by just a little bit by good fortune and good luck," Mr Wickerson said.

"If people are interested, they can go to the history centre and really do some investigation to find out maybe who built their house, how old it is, and whether is has interesting or chequered past.

"You can go back through archives, old photographs and council rates, records and a range of other resources that the centre has at its disposal. We can put the pieces together and find out so much more about the houses we live in."