The Dawson Valley Colliery (former) is located in the southern Bowen Basin, 160km south-west of Rockhampton and 180km west of Gladstone. It is situated on the right bank of the Dawson River within the Baralaba town limits. Harcourt and Morgan Streets run into the site.
There are about fourteen structures on the site, many relatively intact and others in a ruined state. There are also a number of moveable items associated with the former mine such as underground locomotives. Timber and corrugated iron are the main building materials. Floors are of concrete, timber and earth. The main extant structures are: the headframe; crushing and screening plant; surface crib room; fan house; winder and compressor house; transformer yard; block making plant; electrical and drill store; workshop; fuel, pipe and electrical detonator sheds; change-house; toilet block; explosives magazine; and detonator magazine.
Headframe and shaft
This structure comprises a quite intact coal bin with inclined tramway to a shaft covered with mesh. The headframe and the conveyor to the crushing plant and loaders are in ruins to the east of the coal bin.
The coal bin is a large box-like structure with an open top raised on stumps about three metres above the ground. It has exposed studs and bracing with wooden board infill and flooring. Extending from the west of the bin on an incline from the top of the bin to the ground is a tramway supported on a wooden frame. The tramway consists of three steel rails: two are laid quite close together with respect to the third. Towards the top of the tramway, running alongside the rails are the remains of a ladder.
The wreckage of the headframe contains the remains of the tippler mechanism and the rails on which the coal skips ran. These remain relatively intact. At the bottom of the headframe is a long steel 'I' beam with sliding winch block used to move coal skips onto and off the underground tramway.
Crushing and screening plant
This plant consists of three main parts: a separating and crushing plant; and two screening plants with free standing coal bins.
The separating and crushing plant is located immediately to the north of the headframe. A collapsed conveyor is located between the headframe and this plant. A crusher, made of steel, is mounted in a two level wooden frame with a flat corrugated iron roof. It sits above a hopper constructed of wooden planks. A steel chute at the top of the crusher funnels the coal into two layers of angled vibrating wire screens powered via a belt and an electric motor. From here, oversized coal slides across the top screen into a crushing mechanism and onto a conveyor. The screening and crushing mechanism is intact. An operator's platform and electrical switchgear is intact at the south of the plant.
A damaged conveyor supported on a steel frame made of angle iron starts at the bottom of the crushing plant and slopes upward to end in mid-air above the remains of a screening plant. The belt of the conveyor is missing except for a portion at the upper end. This is draped over a wide pulley wheel at the very end of the conveyor. The pulley wheel is powered via a chain (still extant) and an electric motor mounted on a frame above it.
The first screening plant, which is mostly ruined, comprises a screening mechanism resting on the ground surrounded by, and partly covered with collapsed wooden beams. The screening mechanism consists of a steel bin with a mesh floor, sitting on a base of steel girders. The bin is attached to the base by pivots and coiled steel springs. This enables the bin to be rocked backwards and forwards on its base. A partly collapsed steel framed conveyor leads from this plant to the top of a second screening plant and bin.
The second screening plant consists of a large bin constructed of heavy wooden planks, with a wide, open top tapering to a long, narrow chute at the bottom with two discharge trapdoors. This is supported on a wooden frame. There is a platform on the east side covered by a corrugated iron skillion roof. Steel drive shafts extend from the platform to the trapdoors at the bottom of the chute. A ladder with wooden runners and steel rungs is fixed to the side of the structure reaching to the top. Panels of steel mesh lie on the ground underneath the bin.
Surface Crib Room
The surface crib room and stores are located next to the headframe and shaft. It consists of a small, three roomed building, rectangular in plan view, with a wooden frame clad with corrugated iron and rough concrete floors. It has a skillion roof. A space of approximately 0.5m between the north wall and the roof is in-filled with mesh.
Two doors at the south elevation provide access to the two rooms comprising the core of the building; the doors are ledge and brace. Window openings at the south, east and west elevations are covered with hinged corrugated iron flaps. There is a veranda at the north elevation; a portion of this has been enclosed to form a third, small room. A door, clad with corrugated iron, opens through the north wall of this room.
Wooden benches at about waist height line most of the walls of the larger room. Long, low wooden seats are fixed to these. The smaller of the other two rooms has a wooden floor. There are no fixed furnishings in these rooms. An electric copper converted from a 44 gallon drum is located in an open veranda at the north western corner of the building.
Fan house
The fan house is located south of the headframe. It mostly consists of a large cylindrical, steel fan housing mounted on concrete plinths. The eastern end of the housing is flared and open; a large multi-bladed fan is visible inside. A smaller, hollow plinth supports this end of the housing; a smaller fan is visible inside. The west end of the housing becomes square in cross-section and tapers to a wedge shape. A larger concrete plinth supports this end of the housing. A small, open ended corrugated iron structure mounted on top of the housing contains an electric motor.
Attached to the south side of the plinth is a small, wood framed shed with a gabled roof; it is clad with corrugated iron. This contains a concrete footing, switchboard, control panel switchboard, and a vacuum gauge.
Winder and compressor house
The winder and compression house is located approximately 56m to the east of the headframe. Overall dimensions are about 16.5m by 8m. It consists of two joined, gable roofed sheds of equal size. They have wooden frames and are clad with corrugated iron and asbestos sheeting. The roof lines of both sheds run north to south.
The main entrances into the building are via the north elevation. Two large ledge and brace wooden doors open into the east shed which houses the compressor equipment. A tall rectangular window opens above each of these. To the right of the doors a smaller opening provides access to the west shed which houses the winding equipment. There is a small skillion roofed room, clad with corrugated iron and asbestos sheeting, projecting from the front of the building to the right of this door. Access into this room is via a door at the west end.
A long narrow opening runs the full length of the east elevation. This is covered with steel mesh and shaded by a sloping corrugated iron awning. An air receiver (a long cylinder for holding pressurised gas) is located beside the building next to this elevation. It is about 6m long.
There are two windows opening into the south elevation. Both are covered with corrugated iron. A rusted corrugated iron water tank elevated on a wooden stand is located close to the wall of the west half of the elevation.
The west elevation has a large rectangular opening through which the drums of the winders are visible. Some corrugated iron sheeting to the left of this opening is missing. To the right, there is a narrow skillion roofed, corrugated iron extension.
The interior of the shed housing the winding gear contains the double drum winding engine with cable extant on the drums, a platform and controls for the driver, a large electric motor and electrical switch gear including the main circuit breaker for underground. These are all intact. The floor is concrete except where the cable spools are located; here the floor is dirt.
A small annex to this shed contains the air supply for the braking mechanism on the winding engine. It contains an air receiver tank and electric motor.
The compressor shed contains a single cylinder, dual acting compressor powered by an electric motor, a three cylinder compressor, a large main switchboard and separate switchboards for the main fan and one of the compressors. All are intact. The floor is concrete.
Transformer yard
Immediately to the south of the winding and compressor house is an enclosed electrical supply yard. The yard is fenced with wooden posts and chain wire mesh with strands of barbed wire near the top. Entry into the yard is via double, steel framed gates with chain wire mesh infill. A small white coloured metal sign on the gate bears the words 'Danger 22,000 Volts' in red lettering.
Just inside the gates is a pair of tall wooden posts joined at the top by a steel beam. Beyond this and running down the centre of the yard is a row of four tall wooden posts joined at the top and at mid height by wooden beams. The two end posts are taller than the rest and have short wooden cross-arms near the top. A single transformer is located at the north east corner of the yard. There are wooden posts around it; these are joined at the top and at mid height by wooden beams. Electrical insulators are mounted on the uppermost beams.
Block making plant
This is located just to the east of the winder and compressor house. It is a small skillion roofed, timber framed structure, about 5m by 7m, partially clad with corrugated iron.
The west two thirds of the structure are open sided. The roof is supported by wooden posts; wooden rails attached with fencing wire to the posts at about quarter height and at half height surround the open area with the exception of a section in the middle of the west side. A small cantilevered skillion extends from half of the west end of the roof. Beneath the skillion is a concrete footing supporting a steel frame made of angle iron; a small electric motor is located next to the east side of the footing under the main roof.
The east third of the structure is enclosed with corrugated iron to form two rooms. The larger west room has wooden shelving on two sides and a concrete floor. It is accessed via a door in the east elevation. The south room, accessed through a door in the south elevation has a concrete floor and is empty. The top third of the west wall of the enclosure, under the skillion roof, is open and in-filled with chain wire mesh.
Electrical and drill store
This building is located about 40m north west of the winder and compressor house. Its overall dimensions are approximately 13m by 6.5m. It is a large shed with a wooden frame, gable roof and corrugated iron cladding; the roof line runs east-west. There are door openings at the east and west elevations and window openings along the long, north and south elevations. All window and door openings are shaded by narrow strips of sheet metal, the windows have wooden sills. Many are covered with sheets of corrugated iron. Some are metal framed sash windows; others have no window frames or glazing. Remnants of wooden boards run along the tops of the north and south elevations. The west elevation has an unpainted wooden barge board. There is no guttering on the roof.
Internally the building is divided into three: the electrical store, a central room and the drill and hardware store. The floor is concrete.
The electrical store is located at the western end of the building. It contains only one set of wooden shelves, located at the eastern wall. There is an assortment of electrical parts and equipment scattered on the floor and against the walls.
The larger room at the western end is the drill and hardware store. There are six sets of 'pigeon box' shelves fixed to the west, north and east walls. A short wooden wall at right angles to the south wall creates a bay where drill bits and legs for air drills are stored. Some of the shelves are labelled with chalk to indicate the names and sizes of items. Many parts and items of equipment remain extant in this area.
Workshop
The workshop is located immediately to the north of the electrical and drill store. It is a long wood framed building measuring about 13.5m by 9m with corrugated iron cladding. The roof has a very low pitch consisting of two skillion roofs that overlap at the apex. There are three door openings along the north elevation and a single door opening at the east elevation. Some sections of sheeting are missing along this side; in some places the gap has been in-filled with steel mesh. Window openings along the south elevation have been covered with sheets of corrugated iron.
The interior encloses a large open space and four small rooms. It contains three workbenches, a drill stand, a shelf with nuts, bolts and spare parts, a lathe bed and an air receiver (about 2.2m by 05m). A largely intact, Jenbach JW15 underground locomotive and spare locomotive engine are also located in the workshop.
There are four small rooms in the workshop. The plumber's store contains shelves holding assorted plumbing fittings. The hose store contains a few coils of air hose sitting on pallets. The miscellaneous store contains an electric motor, pump impellers and machinery bearing blocks. The fourth room contains rock dust or cement in some 24 bags, a large galvanised iron funnel, bag hooks and unused railway car couplings. This room has an elevated loading platform with a wood board floor.
Fuel, pipe and electrical detonator sheds.
These three sheds are joined to form a single composite structure. All have skillion roofs. They consist of the fuel shed, a wooden framed, corrugated iron shed; the pipe rack storage cage, an open sided structure with a corrugated iron roof; and the detonator store, a small weatherboard shed elevated on short stumps.
The fuel shed is raised on short stumps and has a wooden floor. Access into the shed is via ledge and brace doors in the west elevation. Windows open into the north and south elevations. These are covered with corrugated iron sheeting. Benches are located against two walls in the interior. There is shelving beneath three benches containing various machine parts. Parts are also lying on the floor. Chalk marks on the walls indicate oil types.
The west wall of the pipe rack storage cage is common with the fuel shed. Approximately 30cm of the upper section of this wall is not clad and is in-filled with steel mesh. The other three sides have no cladding and are enclosed with steel mesh. Horizontal boards at approximately one third and two third height are attached to all sides outside the mesh. A steel framed mesh gate provides access through the south elevation. Internally, much of the space is occupied by a steel rack comprising three vertical posts, each with several projecting, flat horizontal prongs.
The detonator store is about 1.8m square and 2.4m high. The door into the shed is located in the south elevation. The interior is lined with sheeting.
Change house
This building is a long wooden framed gabled roof structure clad in corrugated asbestos sheeting. The walls on all sides are painted in the traditional Mount Morgan tri-colour, light green/pale yellow, a black band and ochre.
Entry into the building is gained through two ledge and brace doors towards the eastern end of the north elevation and a single ledge and brace door at the western end of the south elevation. There are two windows in each elevation. They are wooden framed sash windows with four glazed panels. The windows on the north and south elevation have curved, galvanised iron hoods.
The interior of the building is divided into four rooms, roughly equal in size: lamp room, drying room, shower room and change room. All have concrete floors.
The interior of the lamp room is unlined. It has benches around most of the walls; there are shelves beneath two of these. There is hinged counter that pivots up to close an opening in the wall beneath sash windows.
The interior of the drying room is unlined. A low bench is fitted to the walls and a three sided standing frame with seats and clothes hanging pegs is arranged around a centrally located Metters Jumbo fire heater. All seats have boot racks beneath them. Clothes hanging pegs are fitted to the walls.
The shower room is divided into three parts consisting of a central corridor with communal shower areas on each side. The corridor is separated from the shower areas by elevated partition walls. Five shower heads are extant in each of the shower areas and two hand basins in the corridor.
The change room has a concrete floor and is fully lined with Masonite. There is a low hardwood bench around the interior walls and three evenly spaced standing frames with back to back seats and eight clothes hanging pegs on each side. All seats have boot racks below them. The walls also have clothes hanging pegs.
There are two water tanks on high stands at the eastern elevation. One is raised higher than the other. Another water tank at the west elevation is set on a low stand. A boiler stands some distance from the north of the building. It is connected to the change house by a long length of water pipe, raised more than two metres above the ground.
Toilet block
The toilet block is located immediately to the east of the change house. It is a small wooden building with a corrugated iron, gabled roof. It consists of two sections: about one third of the eastern part of the building comprises a single room; the rest of the building consists of the lavatory. The building is clad with weatherboard.
There are three entrances into the building. Ledge and brace doors open into the west and east elevations. At the south elevation, there is an opening into a small porch. Two four paned sash windows open into the south and north elevations at the east end. Rows of small, high, frosted glass windows open into the south and north elevations at the lavatory end.
The small porch provides access to a corridor from which access is gained to a room containing a urinal and wash basin and two lavatory cubicles. The doors into the cubicles are ledge and brace. Urinal, pedestals and wash basin are extant. This end of the building is lined with vertical wooden boards.
The small room at the other end of the building is unlined. The room contains a wooden bench, some shelving and a wooden locker. A charging station for the cap light battery packs is lying on its side in a corner at the western end of the room together with broken cap lights and battery packs.
The explosives magazine
This is located at the northern extremity of the site, about 100m north of the main group of colliery buildings. It consists of a small inner weatherboard building with a corrugated iron, gabled roof within a wooden framed outer shed clad with corrugated iron. The outer structure also has a gabled roof. Both structures are elevated on short stumps.
The door into the outer structure is located at one of the end elevations. The word 'Explosives' is marked with red letters above the door. The walls at the side elevations and the other end elevation do not reach the roof, leaving a gap of approximately 30cm. The inner building is lined with vertical wooden boards. It has a ledge and brace door and small square windows into each gable.
The detonator magazine
This is located a short distance south of the magazine. It is a small wooden framed structure in a ruined state. It is approximately one metre high and one metre on each side. Partly clad with corrugated iron, it had a skillion roof which is no longer extant. A low concrete curb surrounds the structure. A small, partly ruined ledge and brace door is located at the west elevation.
Mine related artefacts extant on the site include two coal skips, a timber skip, two underground locomotives (including the one in the workshop), ore cars, transformer, jinker, air winch, and air receiver. An assortment of tools and parts are located in the electrical and drill store including: drill bits, a jack hammer, block and tackle and various electrical parts and equipment.
The structures and artefacts are in a large site, set in open woodland. Shrubs and small trees are interspersed among the structures. Residences of the Baralaba Township are located close to the east boundary of the site.
","history":"The Dawson Valley Colliery (former) (established 1921) is located in the Dawson River basin close to the township of Baralaba in Central Queensland. The Dawson River basin forms part of the Bowen Basin coal fields.
The Bowen Basin covers an area about 600km long and 250km wide extending from Collinsville in the north to south of Moura in Central Queensland. It contains about 70% of Queensland's coal. These are deposits of the Permian age and are the most important commercial deposits in the State, producing almost 100% of the State's coking coal and 60% of its thermal coal. In 2006-7, the State's top ten collieries for production were located in the Bowen Basin.
Coal was first discovered in the Bowen Basin by Ludwig Leichhardt who in 1845 observed coal in the bed of the Mackenzie River. After non-Indigenous settlement of the area in the 1860s coal was found at Blair Athol, in the north of the Basin, and near the present town of Blackwater. A colliery opened at Bluff in 1905, but struggled to remain viable. Successful commercial exploitation in the Bowen Basin did not begin until the 1920s.
The search for coal in the Dawson River basin began when Benjamin Dunstan, Assistant Government Geologist, was commissioned to search west of the Rannes Range. In 1899 he reported on a coal seam found in the bed of the Dawson on Nulalbin Station and hoped to prove anthracite coal which was favoured for the ships of the Royal Navy. As news of his discovery spread, there was a scramble for licences and by 1901, 63 leases were registered. However, coal samples tested by the Royal Navy were disappointing.
The Queensland Government developed the first coal mine at Baralaba. Development of the mine was dependent on construction of a railway line, which began into the valley in 1910 and was approaching the river in 1917. The State Coal Mine opened in 1916, supplying coal to the Railway Department of a quality that was increasingly criticised. The flood of 1928 inundated the mine which then closed down.
Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company Limited successfully applied for mining leases at the present mine site. By 1921, under the management of Alexander Campbell, the company was mining the Dunstan Seam and sending coal to the boilers at Mount Morgan mine from three tunnels at the rate of 150 tons a day, with over 90 men employed. The mine temporarily closed in 1929 due to the liquidation of the old Mount Morgan Company, but was re-opened in 1932 by local independent miners working as the Dawson Valley Coal Company on tribute to the new company, Mount Morgan Limited.
Mount Morgan resumed control of operations in 1936, improving ventilation and modernising machinery. The Mine had opened four tunnels into the Dunstan Seam and another, unsuccessfully, into the Dawson Seam. Production from these amounted to 357,838 tons. This phase of the operation continued until 1944 when working became difficult. Mount Morgan Limited (later its subsidiary Morgan Mining and Industrial Company Pty Ltd) then closed operations in tunnels two, three and four and moved to the new number seven tunnel, continuing operations until 1969.
The extant shaft and many of the surface structures on the site date from the second phase of operations that commenced in 1944 at tunnel seven. The headframe and coal bin were constructed in c1944 of local timber, with the exception of the four main timber legs. The main legs were 78ft (about 24m) long turpentine poles from Fraser Island. A large part of the headframe collapsed in 1993. The workshop, electrical and drill store, and winder house were probably built about the same time as the headframe. The compressor house was added to the winding house probably in c1956. The extant screening and crushing plant remains date to the early 1960s.
In addition to mining plant, buildings on the site originally included a manager's residence, electrician's residence, three three-bedroom cottages, single men's quarters and another dwelling. None of these buildings remain extant.
After c1946, when the mine was mechanised, mining changed from the bord and pillar system to the breast method. A diesel locomotive and skips transported the coal from the chutes to an underground pocket from where it was hoisted to the surface. In 1968 54 men were employed.
Trial export shipments to Japan and Holland occurred in 1961 and 1962, and production peaked in 1965 at 42 465 tons (38 523 tonnes), 40% of which was exported. Small amounts were also sent to Malaysia and Thailand. Exports of 20 000 tons (18 143 tonnes) per annum through the port of Gladstone continued till 1968.
Work ceased at the mine in 1969, with the conversion of the Mount Morgan reverberatory furnace to oil firing, and the development of better situated export coal mines. By June 1968 the three areas worked in the Baralaba district had produced 1,240,440 tons of coal. Mount Morgan Limited was acquired by Peko Wallsend Ltd in 1968, which closed the colliery on 9 March 1969.
","criteria":"The Dawson Valley Colliery (former) (1921 - 1969) is important in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland's coal mining history. As the first successful underground coal mine in the Dawson River Valley and one of the first in the Bowen Basin, it provides important evidence of early commercial coal mining in these areas. The Bowen Basin is Queensland's largest and most productive coal field.
The mine is also important in demonstrating the development of coal mining techniques in Queensland. It is typical, in scale and type, of mines prior to the late 1950s. Underground mines like the Dawson Valley Colliery became less common during the 1960s following the introduction of large-scale open cut methods.
|The former colliery is important for its association with Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company Limited and Mount Morgan Limited. The Baralaba mine was initially developed to provide fuel for the boilers and smelters at Mount Morgan Mine [QHR 600751], and later produced coal for export. It provides evidence of the scale of operations at Mount Morgan, once Australia's most productive gold and copper mine and it contributes to our knowledge of the company's interests beyond the Mount Morgan mine.
|The former colliery is one of only two relatively intact former mines known to be extant from the underground phase of coal mining in the Bowen Basin. It is also uncommon in Queensland for its relatively high level of intactness.
|The former colliery is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the above ground layout and structures of a typical underground coal mine of the mid twentieth century. Most above ground structures associated with the mine are extant, many of them relatively intact and containing equipment. Structures include: surface crib room; fan house; winder and compressor house; transformer yard; block making plant; electrical and drill store; workshop; fuel, pipe and electrical detonator sheds; change-house; toilet block; explosives magazine; and detonator magazine. The head frame is extant, but partially collapsed. Also extant on the site are a range of artefacts associated with the mine consisting mainly of underground locomotives, coal skips and coal cars. The mine is an excellent example of the mining process and living conditions associated with underground mines of the period.
|The former colliery is significant for the potential the site has in providing information on underground coal mining and its working conditions and about the use of evolving technology in the coal mining industry in Queensland. As an extensive industrial landscape produced by the shafts, abandoned machinery and structures, the colliery is important as an archaeological site with the potential to yield further information about the layout and use of the mine site.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion H | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion C","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":14791,"place_ref":600016,"name":"Kilbirnie Homestead","alternate_name":"Kilburnie","street_address":"Argoon-Kilburnie Road","suburb":"CALLIDE","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Kilbirnie homestead is close to the Boundary Hill Mine Road and consists of a complex of timber residential and working buildings including a house, detached kitchen and several sheds. The site also has two graves.
The main dwelling is a timber house raised on high timber stumps, which has had rooms built underneath. It has a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron. There is an encircling verandah to the upper level with a separate roof supported on timber posts. Subsidiary L-shaped bedrooms are built into each corner of the verandah so that there is an open section in the centre of each elevation. The handrail across these verandah sections is timber, with steel mesh filling the area below. This upper floor contains a living room, main bedroom and two smaller bedrooms in the core section. Original decorative colour schemes survive and include stencilled stylised iris on the upper walls of the living room and a stencilled dado in the bedroom to the north.
On the ground floor the central section between the stumps is built in with vertical corrugated iron sheeting, creating four rooms including a dining room and storerooms. The area surrounding this core is concreted and serves as a verandah. There is a detached bathroom beside the house at the northwest corner. This is constructed of ripple iron with a curved corrugated iron roof.
To the rear of the house, and connected with it by a covered walkway, is a single storey slab and weatherboard building set on low timber stumps. It has a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. A verandah runs between two projecting rooms along the long axis of the building facing the house. The rear of the building and the rear portion of the southern end have been clad in weatherboard. This building serves as a detached kitchen building, though it contains other rooms. The kitchen has been extended at the northern end and also into the verandah room on the northeast corner. Internal walls of corrugated iron divide the rest of the building into a store and large nursery room. This room has a series of polychrome stencils of 'Japanese' figures and birds applied as a frieze.
The residential buildings are separated from the working buildings by a timber picket fence. There are three sheds surrounding a yard area to the rear of the kitchen building.
The shed on the southern side of the yard has a pole frame and a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron. Two walls are of drop log construction and the building is open on two sides.
The shed to the west of the yard is a rectangular building with a gabled roof and shallow side aisles, the southern side of which is open, the roof being supported by timber posts. The roof is clad in corrugated iron, as is the western wall. It has a pole frame and has walls variously of timber and corrugated iron.
The building to the north of the yard has a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron and has a skillion roofed extension on its northern side. The main part of the building is constructed of dropped slabs with vertical slabs to the extension. The wall on the southern side has gates into the yard and this building may have housed animals.
To the north of the complex are the burials of Elizabeth Campbell, who died in 1913, and of John Campbell, who died in 1943. The graves have matching headstones and are enclosed by decorative iron railing protected by a modern steel pipe enclosure
","history":"The buildings comprising Kilbirnie homestead are a series of vernacular timber structures erected by the Campbell family in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Leichhardt explored the Callide and Dawson Valleys in 1844. Thomas Archer took up Eidsvold run and Charles Archer moved further north settling in the region of what is now Biloela. Other European pastoralists soon followed them in the 1850s, when this district was still a part of New South Wales. In 1869, the Department of Public Lands authorised the opening for selection of land from the runs of Winterbourne and Thalberg on the headwaters of Callide Creek. They were approximately 23 square miles each. A Promise of Lease for the two areas passed quickly through several hands, but in 1877 both runs were leased to Thomas Cadell.
Settlement in the area prospered and the service town of Banana was established in the 1860s. In 1880 the Banana Divisional Board was formed. On 12 May 1883 John Campbell applied for a 10-year lease on an area of 12 square miles from the Thalberg run under the Settled Districts Pastoral Leases Act of 1876. Campbell had arrived in Brisbane in 1873 when he was 23 years old. Soon after his arrival, he married his fiancée, Elizabeth Brydges, who had accompanied him from Ireland. After working briefly on a sugar plantation on the Mary River, he obtained a position working as a shepherd and general hand for Robert Bell on Dumgree Station. While working at Dumgree he obtained sheep of his own and ran them on land rented from Bell. Capital from the sale of these sheep allowed the Campbells to set up their own property.
In 1884 Campbell was granted a 10-year lease for his selected land, which he called Kilburnie. After having prepared the materials needed, he began to construct a six roomed house, stockyard and fences on the land, with help from a bush carpenter named Bryce Kilpatrick. In 1885, when the house was completed, he was able to move his wife and children from Dumgree to their new home. The following year, 6 square miles, being about half of the Kilbirnie run was resumed. Campbell protested this on the grounds that it was unwatered and therefore unsuitable for selection. He was allowed to exercise his right of grazing on the land and in 1889 was offered a Occupation License for the resumed portion and subsequently held occupation licenses for the whole.
Campbell raised cattle and Clydesdale horses at Kilbirnie and by 1892 had constructed stables and other outbuildings and had a horse paddock and a paddock under cultivation. He had also erected about 4 miles of fencing. The first house had been built directly on the ground and suffered extensive white ant damage, so that it was moved and rebuilt in 1901. It was possibly at this time that the rear of the building was clad in weatherboards. In 1902 a license to erect a hayshed and stockyard and to make a dam was granted. In 1903 a license to erect a house of 12 rooms was approved, the former house being now used as a kitchen wing.
At this time, Kilbirnie was also a coach stop. Until Biloela was founded in 1924, Banana was the main town in the district. From 1897, mail had been delivered to the area by G H (Bob) Fry. By the early 1900s, demand was sufficient for him to operate a 3-seater wagonette, known locally as Fry's mail coach, over the route between Gladstone and Banana. This took two days and the coach stopped at Kilbirnie for morning tea and a change of horses. This service continued until made redundant in 1928.
In 1921 an anomaly was discovered between the land described officially as Kilbirnie and the land actually worked by Campbell. This was resolved in favour of the land in use. In 1924, 9267 acres were resumed in connection with the Burnett Settlement Scheme. At the time the property had grown to 48 square miles by the addition of land held by occupation lease.
Elizabeth Campbell died in 1913 after having had eight children. John Campbell died in 1943 at the age of 98. The house continued in the ownership of family members, although it was unoccupied for some 20 years from the 1970s and an overseer was employed to care for the property. A new generation of family members, great grandchildren of John and Elizabeth Campbell, are now living in the house.
","criteria":"Kilbirnie homestead illustrates the pattern of early European exploration and settlement of Queensland where the development of pastoral properties preceded agriculture and the establishment of towns. As an early homestead in the Leichhardt Pastoral District, which has remained in use, it has associations with the development of the pastoral industry in Queensland.
|Kilbirnie homestead complex provides a record of an evolving pastoral property from the slab buildings of first settlement in the 1880s to a comfortable house of sawn timber. It demonstrates the principal characteristics of such a homestead group well, comprising a main house with detached kitchen, associated outbuildings, graves and fences and illustrates the building techniques traditionally used for these.
|Kilbirnie homestead has a special association with the life and work of four generations of the Campbell family who, as early pastoralists, contributed to the development of the area.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":14792,"place_ref":600017,"name":"Greycliffe Homestead","alternate_name":"Greycliffe","street_address":"48 Gladstone Road","suburb":"BILOELA","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Greycliffe homestead is now located on the corner of Gladstone Road and Lawrence Street, Biloela. The site has several other buildings on it including a slab hut, a new timber shelter for machinery and a concrete toilet block.
The homestead is a single storey timber building set on low timber stumps. The roof is hipped and clad in corrugated iron. The house is constructed of timber slabs on a pole frame and has an encircling verandah incorporating subsidiary rooms. There is a tourist office in the room on the front left hand side of the verandah. The rear verandah has storage rooms and a kitchen. At least one room has a modern steel security door and some rooms are lined with modern material.
The core of the building consists of a large living room with a fireplace at one end. This has a simple timber mantelpiece and is brick lined. There are two bedrooms separated by a passage. The fabric ceilings have not survived the removal. There are timber steps to the front of the building and the rear is reached by a ramp.
","history":"Greycliffe homestead is a slab dwelling formerly on Greycliffe station and relocated to Biloela where it has served as the headquarters of the Banana Shire Historical Society association since 1979.
Leichhardt explored the Callide and Dawson Valleys in 1844. Thomas Archer took up Eidsvold run and Charles Archer moved further north settling in the region of what is now Biloela. Other European pastoralists soon followed them in the 1850s, when this district was still a part of New South Wales. In 1863 Frederick Barton took up Greycliffe.
It is not certain when William Nott moved onto the run, but in 1871 he married Sophia Collins. Their first two children died, but in November 1875 Helen Brenda Nott was born and as she was the only one of their subsequent children not to have been born on Greycliffe, the Nott family may have moved to Greycliffe in 1876. In January 1877 Alfred David became the first of seven more children born on the property. In 1878 the lease was transferred to Frederick Brackner, but in 1879 Nott acquired the lease himself. In 1884 he took up further land and in later years further leases extended the run.
The original form of the house was a large rectangular room with a fireplace at one end. This was extended and eventually included two bedrooms separated by a passage in the core section, an encircling verandah with subsidiary rooms and a detached kitchen. The rooms were ceiled with stretched calico and walls were decorated by gluing chintz directly to the timber.
In 1903, William Nott died and the eldest of his surviving sons, William Ingliss, managed the property. His two brothers and a sister, Emma, served overseas in WWI while another sister, Jessie, helped to run the station.
In the 1920s the homestead was repaired and the roof shingles were replaced by corrugated iron sheeting. In 1923, Frederic Nott and his family moved to Darling Plain and in 1924, Bill Nott also moved away, although Greycliffe remained in the family. In 1929 Sophia Nott died aged 83. Emma and a nephew, Robin Nott, lived on the property. In 1972 she died at the age of 92, being the last person to live in the homestead building. When Robin Nott also died, his wife and sons took over the running of the property. It was sold in the late 1970s.
After the sale of Greycliffe station, the Banana Shire Historical Society feared that the vacant homestead might decay or catch fire. They therefore acquired the building in 1979 and removed it from the site in two sections. At the time this approach to preserving buildings was considered by many to be a valid way to save places valued by the community. It was relocated 37 kilometres away at Gladstone Road, Biloela where it became premises for the Society. It is open to the public by arrangement. The detached kitchen has not survived the move.
","criteria":"Greycliffe homestead illustrates the pattern of early European exploration and settlement of Queensland where the development of pastoral properties preceded agriculture and the establishment of towns. As an early homestead in the Leichhardt Pastoral District, it has associations with the development of the pastoral industry in Queensland.
|Greycliffe demonstrates the principal characteristics of an early homestead building constructed from materials found on the property and illustrates the building techniques traditionally used for such buildings.
|The homestead is valued by the community as demonstrated by the project to preserve it as an important part of the history of the area, and it is associated with the historical society whose focus it has been since the late 1970s.
|Greycliffe homestead is associated with the Nott family who, as early pastoralists, contributed to the development of the area.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion G | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15610,"place_ref":600835,"name":"Leichhardt Tree","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Yaldwyn Street","suburb":"TAROOM","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The town of Taroom is located where the Leichhardt Highway crosses the Dawson River, and the Leichhardt Tree is located about 150 metres up a steadily inclining slope from the bed of the Dawson River, on the west side of Yaldwyn Street reserve in Taroom, between Dawson and Kelman Streets. Yaldwyn Street forms part of the Leichhardt Highway, connecting Roma and Rockhampton, and is the main road in and out of Taroom. Although the tree's root system is largely covered by bitumen road, footpath paving and nearby commercial buildings, the tree appears to be in good condition.
The tree is a mature coolibah [Eucalyptus microtheca], indigenous to the Dawson River district. It has a height of about 14 metres, and a canopy spread of about 13 metres. Its age is estimated to be at least 300 years.
A sign placed in the branches of the tree reads LEICHHARDT TREE, but all blazes have been overgrown by the bark.
A plaque attached to the tree is inscribed: Leichhardt,, the explorer, passed over this track and marked this Tree in 1844.
At the foot of the tree, facing east to the street, is a small concrete block with a metal plaque attached, on which is inscribed:
THE LEICHHARDT TREE
THE EXPLORER
LUDWIG LEICHHART
MARKED THIS TREE IN 1844 "LL.1844"
DURING HIS OVERLAND JOURNEY
FROM JIMBOUR QUEENSLAND
TO PORT ESSINGTON
NORTHERN TERRITORY
THIS SETTING PROVIDED BY TAROOM LIONS CLUB
","history":"The Leichhardt Tree in Taroom, in the upper Dawson River district, is named for its association with the explorer Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, who is thought to have blazed this tree during his expedition north from the Darling Downs to Port Essington in 1844-46.
Leichhardt, born in Prussia in 1813, was a student of philosophy, languages and natural sciences. He journeyed to Sydney in 1841-42 with the expressed intention of exploring the interior of Australia, and studied the geology and botany of the Sydney district before undertaking exploratory journeys between Newcastle and the Moreton Bay district in 1843-44. By mid-1844 Leichhardt was hoping to join a planned official government expedition from Sydney to Port Essington, but impatient with government delay and uncertain as to whether such an expensive expedition would be given official approved, Leichhardt mounted his own expedition, funded by squatter subscriptions.
Leichhardt and 5 volunteers sailed from Sydney for Moreton Bay, where they were joined by 2 more men, and by another 2 on the Darling Downs. The party left Jimbour Station, on the edge of the settled district of the northern Darling Downs, on 1 October 1844. By early November they had reached Juandah [Wandoan], where Leichhardt decided to reduce the party by two, these men returning to Jimbour. Continuing north, Leichhardt reached the Dawson River [named by Leichhardt in honour of a Hunter Valley settler], crossing it where the town of Taroom now stands. Of the Dawson Valley, John Gilbert, a naturalist in Leichhardt's party, wrote:
One of the most beautifully picturesque and extensive scenes met our anxious gaze. The immediate vicinity of the hills was like park scenery - clear undulating hills, with here and there small clumps of brigalo [sic], while the sides of many of the hills were dotted with single scrubs, as if picked out by hand. Beyond this to the westward, and round as far as we could see to the E.S.E was a carpet of evergreens for six or seven miles and then the high ranges rose up and formed a beautiful background to the most pleasing natural picture we have seen.
It is thought that Leichhardt camped on the southern side of the upper Dawson, where Pemberton Hodgson , tracing Leichhardt's track in mid-1845, found 3 large gum trees blazed with the letter L. The coolibah surviving in Yaldwyn Street, Taroom - with the blaze LL.1844 once visible - may have been one of these trees. In 1916 one L and part of the year 1844 was still discernible, but bark had grown over part of the date and the second L. In the mid-1970s the blaze was just discernible although unreadable, but it is no longer visible.
Leichhardt crossed the Dawson and stayed at Palm Tree Creek for several days before continuing westwards to Robinson's Creek, then crossed the Ruined Castle Creek area and the Expedition Ranges to the northwest. In late June 1845, John Gilbert was killed in an attack on the camp by Aborigines, but the remainder of the party survived and reached Port Essington, near Darwin, on 17 December 1845, completing an overland journey of nearly 3,000 miles [4,800 kilometres]. They returned to Sydney by ship in March 1846.
Leichhardt's journey, and the explorations of Pemberton Hodgson in 1845, did much to open the way to further non-indigenous settlement in southeastern Queensland. Even before Leichhardt's journal of the expedition was published in 1847, word had spread of the rich pastures of the Dawson River district, encouraging squatters such the Archer brothers [1850] to explore the area more closely. By November 1845, Taroom Station had been taken up, and by the time the Leichhardt pastoral district of 40,000 acres was proclaimed in 1854, most of the country had been taken up for pastoral purposes. The township of Taroom developed at the Dawson River crossing at the junction of several squatter tracks - one leading over the Great Dividing Range to Juandah, one through the Auburn Range to Gayndah, and one south to Roma, and developed slowly as a staging post between Roma and Rockhampton. A post office was established at Taroom in 1853, a courtroom gazetted there in 1857, and the town was officially surveyed in 1860.
At least two other blazes have been marked on the Leichhardt Tree. In 1893 the Dawson River flooded, reaching to the base of the Leichhardt Tree in Taroom. This level was marked on the tree, but is no longer visible; also a surveyor's blaze had been marked on the tree by August 1916. In 1925 the Irrigation and Water Supply Department surveyed the area for a proposed dam site, at which point another blaze supposedly was inscribed on the tree - again no longer visible.
By the mid-1970s, the tree had been heavily lopped and was suffering severe insect damage. In 1979 several cavities caused by previous lopping and breakage were plugged and sealed to prevent further rotting, and the tree has successfully regenerated.
","criteria":"Leichhardt's exploration of the Dawson River area paved the way for rapid pastoral expansion in the Leichhardt district from the mid-1840s to the early 1850s.
|Estimated to be around 300 years old, the Leichhardt Tree is a familiar landmark in the town of Taroom, making a significant contribution to the streetscape of the town, well-known to all residents and often photographed by travellers.
|Estimated to be around 300 years old, the Leichhardt Tree is a familiar landmark in the town of Taroom, making a significant contribution to the streetscape of the town, well-known to all residents and often photographed by travellers.
|The Leichhardt Tree at Taroom is important for its association with Prussian explorer FW Ludwig Leichhardt, who played an important role in early non-indigenous exploration of the Australian interior, particularly with his epic journey from the Darling Downs to Port Essington, which contributed significantly to European knowledge of the Queensland landscape.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16511,"place_ref":601774,"name":"The Glebe Homestead","alternate_name":"Broadwater","street_address":"Taroom-Cracow Road","suburb":"TAROOM","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2007-03-23","description":"The Glebe Homestead is located approximately 40km northeast of Taroom, on a low sandy ridge overlooking the Dawson River to the northwest.
The homestead complex comprises a single-storeyed timber residence with early garden, tennis court and orchard; a two-storeyed shearers' quarters; a machinery shed; a c1960s cottage clad with fibrous cement (not considered to be of heritage significance); and cattle yards to the south of the timber residence.
Timber residence and garden
The residence is constructed of horizontal drop slabs of sawn Moreton Bay Ash (Eucalyptus tessellaris) housed in recessed sections of vertical timber members. The whole is elevated on low timber stumps, and the charred remains of earlier stumps are extant beneath the house. The original layout of the residence is evident: four rooms (two on each side of a narrow passageway which opens off the southwest side of the building) separated by a wide breezeway from two larger rooms to the northeast, with wide verandahs to the southeast and northeast. A bungalow-style hipped roof clad with corrugated iron sheets comes down low over the verandahs, where it is supported on regularly spaced squared timber posts with later cast iron brackets. Several pairs of French doors open onto the verandahs from the interior. On the northwest side of the house is a small corrugated-iron gable roof over the northwest timber entrance steps to the breezeway. This breezeway is now enclosed with panels of doors and windows at either end. A later bathroom has been added to the northwest corner of the house, and a bedroom to the southwest corner, enclosing an existing verandah space.
Internally much of the timber partitioning is lined with hessian and papered, and other timber walls are oiled with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. The timber ceilings have been covered in some places with fibrous cement sheeting. A large fireplace in the living/dining room has a timber surround.
The house retains an extensive garden area, with early plantings including a plumbago hedge on the northeastern fence, a jasmine hedge along the northwestern fence, a climbing rose (Senica alba) near the northwest entrance to the house, and several early varieties of bougainvillea and crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.). Just outside the fenced garden are three jacaranda trees (Jacaranda mimosaefolia), two of which define what was once the main gate into the garden. To the southwest of the garden is an unsealed tennis court, which has a high fence of wire mesh supported by timber saplings. Remnants of an early orchard adjoin the northeastern garden fence. To the west of the garden is a row of early pepper trees (Macropiper excelsum).
Outbuildings
To the southwest, separated from the main residence by an area of cement-set stone paving, is a small timber framed and timber-clad laundry. Attached to this is a timber-framed, fibrous-cement sheeted shed.
Further to the southwest, beyond the house yard, is a machinery shed that pre-dates the house. This is partially of slab construction and retains an early galvanised-iron gabled roof insulated with bark lining. It has skillion-roofed extensions along each side. Nearby is the former two-storeyed shearers' quarters, a gable-roofed, timber-framed building clad with sections of timber board and sheets of corrugated iron.
","history":"The Glebe Homestead, overlooking the Dawson River to the northeast of Taroom, was completed c1920. It is the second house on the property, erected after the first was destroyed by fire in 1915. It was built by and for the Rigby family, owners of The Glebe from 1900.
Non-indigneous occupation of the Dawson River district followed explorer Ludwig Leichhardt's journey through the area in 1844, during his exploratory journey from Jimbour to Port Essington. Squatters soon followed, with a licence for Taroom Station issued in 1845. The town of Taroom, named after the station, was surveyed in 1860. Closer settlement commenced in the 1880s, with land resumptions and subdivision under the Crown Lands Act of 1884.
Tenders to lease a pastoral holding known as Broadwater run (later The Glebe) were called in March 1851. It was not until November 1858 that the tender of George Bowman of Richmond was accepted for the 25 square mile run. The lease changed hands several times in the 1860s and 1870s.
By the mid-1880s Broadwater was one of six runs comprising the consolidated run of Cockatoo Creek. No improvements had been made to the property and in 1888 Broadwater, along with three other Cockatoo Creek runs, was resumed for grazing selection. In August 1900 portions 14 and 15 (Grazing Farms 124 & 125) - a combined area of 29 square miles, formerly Broadwater run and with frontages to the Dawson River and Cockatoo Creek - were selected by George Beaumont Rigby, and named The Glebe. The property had very thick coolibah on the black soil river and creek flats, and dense brigalow, sandalwood and mulga scrub elsewhere.
Rigby arrived in Taroom from England probably in the late 1870s. He found employment on Carrabah (formerly Taroom) run, where he formed a partnership with the manager, GC Langhorne, to acquire the 90,000 acre run from the Queensland National Bank in 1881. Whilst living at Carrabah, Rigby married Marian Frances Crawford in 1884 and five sons and one daughter were born to them. The partnership between Langhorne and Rigby dissolved in 1900 and in August of that year Rigby and his wife took up The Glebe. Rigby later acquired several adjoining blocks: an occupation license for Mountain Block (10 square miles) in 1907; a lease on Springvale (16 square miles) in 1921; and a lease on Price Creek, a 14 square mile block east of Springvale, by 1925.
By September 1901 the Rigby family were living in a tent on The Glebe. By 1908 the selection had been improved with a residence, woolshed (the Rigbys ran sheep in conjunction with cattle until the late 1940s) and cultivated paddocks; by October 1915 improvements included an iron-roofed residence, a kitchen garden, woolshed, machinery, fencing and cultivation. Soon after this survey, in December 1915, the Rigby residence was destroyed by fire and it took some years for the family for construct another home, which they built themselves from materials available on the property and using traditional construction techniques. Work on cutting and milling timber for the new house commenced almost immediately, but construction was slow. This was the time of the Great War in Europe. Two of the Rigby sons were serving overseas in the armed forces; there was a war-generated shortage of building materials; the property had to be run; and much time and energy was being invested in eradicating the prickly pear that infested The Glebe and other properties in the Taroom district prior to the introduction of cactoblastis lavae in the 1920s. During this period (1916-1919) the family resided in what is now known as the machinery shed, with its slab walls and bark roof overlaid with sheets of corrugated iron.
By early June 1921, when an appraisal of rent was made by the Lands Department, The Glebe homestead comprised a new house . . . 7 rooms, services laid on from 5000 gallon tank supplied from river, outbuildings etc. Descendants understand that the new house was designed by Florence Mary Rigby - George and Marion's only daughter - with the main bedroom and living room separated from the rest of the house by a wide breezeway, which, though housed under the same roof, was open at both ends.
A 1923 photograph was taken at The Glebe to commemorate a visit by the then Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan. This and other photographs of the period 1920s to 1940s show the house largely unchanged, with the exception of a small bedroom later enclosed at the southwest corner of the verandah. By at least the 1930s, a Chinese market gardener had established a vegetable garden on land between the house and the river, but this is not known to have survived the 1940s. By the late 1930s an air-strip had been cleared just south of the house.
George Beaumont Rigby died in 1931 and Marion Rigby in 1937. George had been very active in district affairs. He was an auditor of the Taroom District Hospital (established 1896), a position he held until his death, and was instrumental in establishing the Taroom Agricultural and Pastoral Society in the late 1890s. He was also a long-serving member of the Taroom Divisional Board (later Taroom Shire Council).
The property remained in the Rigby family for over a century, until resumed for dam purposes early in the 21st century. The woolshed was destroyed by fire in 1997.
","criteria":"The Glebe Homestead, completed by c1920, is important in illustrating the pattern of settlement in the Taroom district, being associated with the pattern of land resumption in the district in late 19th and early 20th centuries. The manner in which the homestead was constructed, over a number of years and from materials recycled or obtained from the property, reflects the impact of the Great War of 1914-1918, during which many rural communities in Queensland suffered materials and labour shortages, and the additional impact of the widespread prickly pear infestation on properties in the northwest Darling Downs, which created financial strain for many landholders.
|A machinery shed on the site, which pre-dates the main residence, retains early bark lining beneath a corrugated iron roof, which is a rare surviving example of this form of construction.
|The homestead has the potential to provide the opportunity for further archaeological research, as many of the buildings have survived intact with early machinery and fittings. The remains of an early building, which may be the previous house, are apparent beneath the present main residence.
|The homestead, which comprises a main residence, garden with mature trees and other early plantings, tennis court and outbuildings, is an intact and working example of an early 20th century pastoral head station, constructed during a period of financial, material and manpower shortages, and is important in illustrating its type. The main residence is important as a late example of sawn timber slab construction and of traditional interior finishes, illustrating how traditional bush construction techniques were sustained in rural Queensland for many decades after initial settlement. The idiosyncratic design illustrates an appreciation of local climate conditions, and the whole reflects the need for self-sufficiency and the shortage of materials and labour during the first world war.
|The main residence, set within a garden of mature trees and other early plantings, and outbuildings have aesthetic significance engendered by the rustic materials and picturesque setting in an open rural landscape.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16811,"place_ref":602075,"name":"Fraser family grave site and memorial, Hornet Bank","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Hornet Bank Road","suburb":"TAROOM","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2008-09-18","description":"The Fraser family grave is located approximately 250 metres northwest of the Hornet Bank home yard, beyond a waterhole.
The site is marked by a fence of hollow metal rails between low timber posts. There is no evidence of individual graves or headstones within this enclosure.
A stepped three-tiered concrete plinth stands to the middle of the fenced area and accommodates a plaque, with the inscription:
In memory of the Fraser family who were massacred at the station homestead by the aborigines on October 27th 1857.
Erected by the descendants of the late Andrew Scott, founder of Hornet Bank September 8, 1853. Unveiled 27th October 1957.
A small metal plaque at the base of the front face of the memorial records:
Hugh T Scott & J Hamilton, Builders
","history":"Hornet Bank station in the upper Dawson River district was taken up in 1853 by Andrew Scott and the homestead, on a reduced acreage, remains the property of his direct descendants. In 1857 the station was the site of the killing by local Aborigines of eleven settlers, eight of whom were members of the Fraser family, who were managing Hornet Bank for Scott. The Hornet Bank massacre resonated deeply in colonial circles, escalating the frontier war in the Dawson River district and prejudicing subsequent European-Indigenous relationships throughout Queensland for decades.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt led the first European exploration of the upper Dawson River district in 1845. Within two years of this expedition non-indigenous settlement in the area had commenced, with squatters attracted by Leichhardt's glowing reports of its rich pastoral land. One of the earliest settlers in the region was Andrew Scott, who took up the first of the Hornet Bank blocks in 1853.
Born in Scotland in 1810, Scott arrived in Australia in the late 1830s. He gained pastoral experience at the property of his future father-in-law, Robert Brodie, in the Hunter district of New South Wales. Taking advantage of the newly opening pastoral districts in the north, in September 1853 he applied for a pastoral lease along the Dawson River. The Aboriginal name for the lease area was Gaganybilany, but Scott reputedly named it Hornet Bank after he was attacked by a hornet swarm there. In March 1854 John Fraser, a Scotsman who had worked as a bookkeeper at Jimbour on the Darling Downs before moving to Drayton, took on the management of Hornet Bank for Scott and moved there with his wife Martha and their children. In May 1856, while overlanding Hornet Bank sheep to Ipswich, John Fraser became ill and subsequently died in town. Mrs Fraser stayed on at Hornet Bank and her eldest son William, who had established himself as a carrier based at Ipswich, returned to the property to look after the family. William, however, was often away for months at a time in connection with his business.
Around this time tension was increasing between local Aborigines, the Jiman, and non-Indigenous settlers along the Dawson River. A series of incidents in 1856 and 1857 culminated in the killings at Hornet Bank Homestead. As the most western station along the Dawson River, Hornet Bank was an easy target for Aboriginal attack and in late October 1857 it was relatively unguarded with William Fraser absent from the station. The events that unfolded at Hornet Bank in the early morning of 27 October 1857, described in the contemporary press as a 'dreadful calamity', resulted in the death of eleven inhabitants of the station, including eight members of the Fraser family, all of whom were women and children, attacked at the homestead. The sole survivor was Sylvester Fraser, the second youngest son of the family, who was aged 15 at the time. The victims were buried on the property. In October 1957, to commemorate the centenary of the killings, a concrete memorial was erected on the grave site by Andrew Scott's descendants.
The Hornet Bank killings revived squatter agitation for greater frontier protection and in the following six months a 'squatter's crusade', supported by sections of the colonial press, was waged throughout the Dawson and Burnett districts by small bands of squatters and Native Police. It has been estimated that several hundred Aborigines were killed during this period. Sporadic warfare continued in the Dawson River area to 1870.
Despite the 1857 tragedy, Andrew Scott retained ownership of Hornet Bank Station. In 1860 he married Robert Brodie's daughter Christina, but the couple did not reside permanently at Hornet Bank until the frontier violence had been quelled. During the mid-1860s Hornet Bank was managed by Andrew Gordon, with whom Scott was in partnership. This was a period of physical expansion for the Hornet Bank head station, with a number of new structures erected, all of timber slab construction. Scott's father-in-law, Robert Brodie, was a stonemason by trade and is believed to have built most of the 1860s slab buildings at Hornet Bank prior to his death there in 1867. Reportedly, after a new slab homestead was completed c1865, the house formerly used by the Fraser family was used as a store. Gordon Reid, author of A Nest of Hornets (1982), described the original house as "like the usual bush hut of those days; it had a verandah and a bark roof, and was divided into three main rooms - a sitting room, a store and a sleeping room, the last being in the middle."
Andrew Scott had acquired numerous properties in the Leichhardt district by the mid-1880s, when Hornet Bank was one of 19 runs he consolidated as the 640 square mile Goongarry Station. When inspected in November 1887 the oldest improvements on Hornet Bank were the woolshed and associated yards and pens, which were 30 years old (ie. erected c1857). The main house, constructed of shingles, slabs and sawn timber and the store, of shingle and slab with excavated cellars, were recorded as 22 years old (ie, erected c1865). A cottage of sawn timber with an iron roof had just been erected (c1887). At this time the head station also contained a c1877 buggy and dray shed, a c1883 meat house, a c1885 school house of slabs with an iron roof, and a c1885 stables. No mention was made in the 1887 report of a slab house or store dating to the 1850s. Of the structures on Hornet Bank extant in 1887, only the c1865 slab building survives.
That the residence associated with the 1857 killings had been removed was confirmed in 1916-1917, when the station was visited by the Royal Commission into Public Works enquiring into a proposed railway from Juandah to Taroom: "When the Commissioners visited Hornet Bank during one of their inspection tours they found that the old homestead where the massacre occurred was removed and in its stead a more up-to-date residence erected." [Queensland Parliamentary Papers 1916-17 Vol.3 p1057 "Royal Commission into Public Works" Appendix F: "Notes made by the Secretary of the Commission (Mr JTH Bird) on the history of Taroom and surrounding district." p87]
On Andrew Scott's death in 1892, Hornet Bank passed to his sons.
","criteria":"The Fraser family grave site and memorial is significant for its association with early non-Indigenous settlement on the upper Dawson River region, during a period of violent interaction between European pastoralists and Indigenous people. Hornet Bank station, established in 1853, was one of the earliest pastoral runs taken up in the Leichhardt district. In 1857 the head station was the site of an attack by Aborigines in which eleven inhabitants of the station were killed, including eight members of the Fraser family, all of whom were buried on the property. The Hornet Bank killings escalated a sporadic frontier war in the Dawson River area until Indigenous resistance was quelled by 1870, and prejudiced subsequent European-Indigenous relationships throughout Queensland for decades.
|Through archaeological investigation of the grave site combined with extensive documentary material relating to the 1857 killings at Hornet Bank, the place has the potential to yield information that will contribute to further understanding of frontier relations between Aborigines and non-Indigenous settlers.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":25109,"place_ref":602769,"name":"Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"on Bundulla off Bundulla Road","suburb":"TAROOM","lga":"BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2011-05-13","description":"The site of the former Taroom Aboriginal Settlement is located east-northeast of the township of Taroom, about 6 hours drive northwest of Brisbane. The site is contained within the rural property known as Bundulla and is bounded to the north by a meander of the Dawson River. Archaeological evidence of the former settlement is situated in the northern part of the easternmost segment of Lot 83 on FT625 and comprises six main areas the - Main Settlement Area, Hill Top Cemetery, Lower Cemetery, Settlement Camps, 'Home' Orchard, and Communal Sub-Settlement.
\nMain Settlement Area
\nThe main settlement area is located immediately to the south and west of the Old Bundulla Homestead and is bounded to the south be a small gully / creek line. A dam has been built to the east of Bundulla Road and across the gully. Bundulla Road passes by the settlement area entering across the gully to the south then heading north and northwest towards the Dawson River. An access track to fields and the Old Bundulla Homestead spurs off Bundulla Road and approximately follows the main street of the settlement. The one lane mentioned in literature can also still be seen in the most recent air photos bordering the old homestead fence line to the south. The area to the east of the access track is fenced and has been previously blade-ploughed. Ground surface visibility in the area is low with average visibility of less than 5% across the settlement area.
\nThe current access track through the Main Settlement Area, from Bundulla Road to the site of the Old Bundulla Homestead, and the area immediately adjacent to the Old Bundulla Homestead, have limited potential for evidence relating to the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement. This is due to extensive track realignment and grading and the construction of the homestead building and associated farming infrastructure in this area following the closure of the settlement. No artefacts were located along the current access track and artefacts that are located within the fenced section of the Old Bundulla Homestead complex are unlikely to be related to the settlement period. The current access track through the main settlement area and the Old Bundulla Homestead complex are therefore not of cultural heritage significance.
\nThe area around the Main Settlement Area includes a number of fence lines erected after closure of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement. These fence lines are not of cultural heritage significance.
\nThirty-two (32) find spots were recorded across the Main Settlement Area. A range of ceramics, bottle glass and metal artefacts were recorded. Small scatters of white creamware ceramics dominated the artefact assemblage across the survey area. Notable exceptions included a small number of printed ceramics, include one piece of green cable pattern, another with green lion maker's mark (possibly off the same item), and one with green floral pattern.
\nHill Top Cemetery
\nLocated about 300 m east of the Old Bundulla Homestead, the Hill Top Cemetery is accessible via an access track from the homestead and is situated on a gently inclined slope and covered by thick but low level grasses. The cemetery area is marked by large white-painted rocks placed at each corner and along the northern and southern margins, with its western extent marked by a small line of trees. Within the cemetery area are exposures with patchy ground cover. A memorial stone with two plaques listing the names and dates of those people who died at the Aboriginal Settlement stands near the southwest corner of the cemetery.
\nOral history evidence collected by L'Oste-Brown et al. (1995) and the results of ground penetrating radar survey suggest up to 22 grave sites, including four trench graves with multiple interments. Only two of these graves were once marked with headstones. Graves were also noted to have been commonly covered with piles of stones and then surrounded by bottles and/or rows of stones. Two easily discernible stone arrangements are located in the lower half of the cemetery. Arrangement 1 measures approximately 2 m long x 1.5 m wide and Arrangement 2 measures approximately 3 m long x 2.5 m wide and is marked by large rounded stone cobbles. At least two other possible arrangements and one mound feature were also noted though it was not possible to determine whether these are naturally occurring or of cultural origin.
\nWithin the cemetery and in the areas immediately west beyond the tree line is a low density artefact scatter including bottle glass fragments of blue, green, dark green and purple colours. A small amount of decorated and undecorated ceramic was also noted. Small timber fence pickets and wire found within the cemetery also suggest that it was once fenced. The remains of a marble headstone and cement headstone base were located under the tree line marking the western edge of the marked cemetery area.
\nLower Cemetery
\nThe Lower Cemetery is located about 200 m northwest the Hill Top Cemetery on a low sandy ridge, just above the inundation zone of the Dawson River, and on a gentle slope into an ephemeral channel feeding the Dawson River. At the head of this channel is a small dam in the vicinity of the Settlement dam site identified by L'Oste-Brown et al. (1995). The existing dam's date of origin is unclear, and it is thought to have been used as a dump for materials, during the occupation period of Old Bundulla Homestead.
\nThe cemetery area is situated adjacent to a vehicle access track running northeast from the Old Bundulla Homestead towards the Dawson River. There were 72 deaths on the settlement while this cemetery was in use between 1918 and 1920. The ground penetrating radar survey by L'Oste-Brown et al. (1995) identified 24 possible graves including some trench graves probably associated with the 1919 Spanish influenza epidemic which struck the settlement. All graves were recorded to maximum depths of 1.1-1.2 metres. The cemetery is marked by a sign and its perimeter defined by white-painted rocks and star pickets. The area is heavily grassed affecting ground surface visibility across the cemetery area and beyond. Small exposures are located across the site giving some visibility in small patches with reasonable ground surface visibility on exposures. There are no marked graves.
\nThe cemetery area and surrounds features a low to medium density scatter of archaeological artefacts including glass fragments and some low densities of ceramics on the lower slopes between the east edge of the marked cemetery and the ephemeral creek/channel. Bottle glass includes fragments of clear, blue, purple, dark and light green materials. The small number of ceramic shards found at this site was limited to white unprinted wares of a fine nature, probably associated with small vessels such as cups and saucers rather than larger plates or bowls. The scatter of artefacts on the gentle slopes to the east between the marked cemetery area and the ephemeral channel suggest that either materials have been eroding down the slope into the channel or materials disposed of in the dam upstream for the cemetery are the actual source.
\nSettlement Camps
\nThe area immediately north of the Old Bundulla Homestead, between it and the Dawson River, was once the location of several 'camps' of Aboriginal people living at Bundulla. Five sub-camps have been documented representing the different groups who lived there:
\n- Gulalee, Burnett and Mixed people
\n- Cooktown
\n- Western people
\nThese camps are bordered by two access tracks running from the homestead to the Dawson River. The Settlement Camp area includes a number of fence lines erected after closure of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement. These fence lines are not of cultural heritage significance.
\nIn general the camp area has been disturbed by subsequent land use for agricultural and pastoral purposes.
\n(1) Gulalee, Burnett and Mixed peoples' camps
\nFifty-two (52) find spots were recorded during the survey of these camp areas, with investigations focusing predominately on areas marked as being related to the 'Mixed peoples' camp. Ground surface visibility across the former camp was mixed with several small exposure areas providing good visibility of surface artefacts. Ground cover included grasses up to 50 cm in height and some prickly pear bushes. Artefacts located in the camp area included a large number of printed and decorated ceramics; undecorated white wares were the most common ceramic type. Decorations included standard blue 'willow' pattern designs. Other ceramic items included a white porcelain tea cup handle, and two dolls - one being the torso/belly section of a small to medium sized ceramic doll, the other being a 6 cm long piece, possibly part from a doll house collection.
\nGlass fragments were found at numerous locations across the survey area, with dark green, blue, purple and some clear fragments being the most common. Some brown bottle glass was also located. Several metal artefacts were also recorded, including a tin button, parts of a harmonica and a metal spoon. Other metal artefacts found in this area are yet to be identified in terms of function.
\n(2) Cooktown peoples' camp
\nThe location of the 'Cooktown' or north Queensland Aboriginal peoples' camp is located west of an access track to the Dawson River which commences at the northern end of the main settlement area and off the Old Bundulla Homestead access track. The area is covered by extensive shrubland impeding any survey attempt.
\n(3) Western peoples' camp and Goona Gully
\nThe Western peoples' camp was located immediately east of the Old Bundulla Homestead and is defined to the west by the access track running north along the old fenceline from the homestead to the Dawson River. Goona Gully, which once was used for 'ablutions' prior to the construction of toilet facilities for camp residents, is located in the northern half of this area.
\nWhile only a small portion of the total area of the camps has been systematically surveyed for archaeological artefacts (<10%), the number of archaeological artefacts that were found on the surface indicates that a low - medium density surface scatter of artefacts is likely to occur across all the former camp areas. The area features a broader range of artefact types and the artefact assemblage is indicative of a domestic area with evidence of tableware, some storage vessels, a broad range of bottle glass types and uses (beer bottles were common but a condiment bottle was also recorded), personal items of clothing including a tin button, toys such as the two dolls and the parts of a harmonica. The areas of the former camps have high archaeological potential with good evidence of the occupation of the settlement area on the surface and also potentially subsurface.
\n'Home' Orchard
\nThe location of the settlement orchard is west of an access track to the Dawson River which commences at the northern end of the main settlement area and off the Old Bundulla Homestead access track. A small fig tree sapling survives from this orchard.
\nThe only structural elements to survive in situ from the settlement period are elements of the settlement windmill. The windmill base supports are made of iron and are located 60 m west of the fig tree in the orchard area.
\nCommunal Sub-Settlement
\nThe sub-settlement is located approximately 1 km east of the main settlement area along a vehicle access track. The area is used for grazing cattle and features a low thick grass cover and scatters of large pebbles and cobbles of local stone. The area contains the remains of at least two 'huts' - one evidenced by the stone alignments to the southwest of a lime tree grove with the other located immediately northeast.
\n'Hut 1' - Willy Tobane
\nL'Oste-Brown et al. (1995) identified the remains of one structure which was delineated by rows of stones placed next to each other and apparently forming the base of walls. Internal wall placements could also be discerned. Oral history conducted at that time identified this as being the remains of a hut occupied by Willy Tobane and his family. The hut site measured approximately 10.5 m x 4.1 m and is delineated by additional stone alignments. Thick grass obscures the stone alignments but the dimensions and shape correspond to that recorded by L'Oste-Brown et al in 1995. To the southwest of the hut are scatters of tin and other metal artefacts, including a hatchet head and hinge.
\nThe area investigated is likely to represent one of the grants of land to those living in the communal sub-settlement area. The area contains a number of archaeological artefacts which provide insight into the lives of those living in this part of the reserve, lives and activities which are otherwise undocumented.
\n'Hut 2'
\nImmediately adjacent to the hut site to the northeast is a small grove of lime trees and shrubs. On the other side of this vegetation was a second hut/house pad and suspected hearth/fireplace. The house pad is a small levelled area covered by grasses but identifiable by an extant timber support and scatter of metal artefacts. Artefacts included a door bolt and hinge, metal barrel hoop, horse mouth-bit and U-frame and hook - possibly used to hang cooking pots over an open fire.
\nOther artefacts are found scattered across the general area, with several recordings to the northeast of the hut sites; the lid of a tin matchbox; flattened kerosene cans (probably used as sheeting/roofing for huts); a 'billy can'; hatchet/axe head; other riveted storage containers of unknown purpose; and several barrel hoops.
","history":"The Taroom Aboriginal Settlement, also known as Taroom Aboriginal Reserve, was established as a government-operated reserve on a site on the Dawson River, east of the township of Taroom in 1911. The settlement was established under the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, which enabled direct government control over the lives of Aboriginal people in Queensland, including forced removals to designated reserves. Under the direction of a Superintendent, the settlement housed Aboriginal people from different language groups and regions of Queensland, who lived within a highly regulated and tightly controlled institutional environment until its closure in 1927.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt led the first European exploration of the upper Dawson River district during his expedition north from the Darling Downs to Port Essington in 1844-46. Pastoral settlement in the area commenced soon after, with squatters attracted by Leichhardt's reports of its rich grazing land. By November 1845 Taroom Station had been taken up, and by the time the Leichhardt pastoral district of 40,000 acres (16,187 ha) was proclaimed in 1854, most of the country had been taken up for pastoral purposes. The township of Taroom developed at a crossing point on the Dawson River at the junction of several tracks from Juandah, Gayndah and Roma, and developed slowly as a staging post between Roma and Rockhampton. A post office was established there in 1853, a courtroom gazetted in 1857, and the town was officially surveyed in 1860 (QHR 602075; QHR 600835).
The spread of the pastoral frontier and its associated violent disruption of traditional Aboriginal lifestyles and land use inevitably caused conflict between traditional owners and settlers along the Dawson River. Conflict escalated rapidly following a retaliative attack at Hornet Bank homestead in 1857, resulting in the death of eleven European inhabitants of the station. In the following months a vigilante 'squatter's crusade', supported by sections of the colonial press, was waged throughout the Dawson and Burnett districts by small bands of squatters and Native Police. It has been estimated that several hundred Aboriginal people were indiscriminately killed during this period. Sporadic warfare continued in the Dawson River area to 1870, by which time numbers of local Aboriginal people had been significantly reduced (QHR 602075; Evans:2007:74-75). By the beginning of the twentieth century, surviving Aboriginal people living in the district were residing in fringe camps around Taroom or on surrounding rural properties (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:6).
From the 1870s a small number of sites were reserved for the use of Aboriginal people by the Queensland government. Most of these were never formally managed and were generally short-lived. The first mission settlement set up by a religious organization was the Zion Hill mission established in present day Nundah in 1838. These types of settlements increased in number during the 1880s, particularly in north Queensland. The removal of over 300 Aboriginal people from more than 50 localities to the Deebing Creek mission (near Ipswich) from 1894 heralded the beginning of a more systematic removal process (State Library of Queensland: 2010:1-30; Evans: 2007:139).
In 1895 self-styled 'expert' Archibald Meston provided the Queensland government with a plan to address the improvement and protection of the colony's Aboriginal people. Meston contended the reason earlier reserves operated by missionaries and others were unsuccessful all over Australia was poor management and control. Further, the location of such places had not adequately isolated Aborigines in a way that prevented their exposure to the vices and diseases contact with white people occasioned. A follow up report on Queensland missions for the Home Secretary reaffirmed Meston's belief that the government should be taking a direct role in establishing and maintaining reserves and effectively segregating Aboriginals from white people. Meston ultimately recommended the establishment of three reserves to serve southern, central and northern Queensland; the appointment of a Chief Protector; and stronger government controls, including the power to remove Aboriginal people to these places and keep them there. Meston's proposals, and their influence in shaping subsequent legislation and its administration, marked a significant change both in Queensland and Australia in relation to government control of Aboriginal peoples lives (Blake: 2001:1-3).
Meston's recommendations were brought to fruition in the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, the provisions of which gave the government substantial control over many aspects of the lives of Aboriginal people and extended its authority to establish, and then forcibly remove people to and keep them within reserves. Superintendents were in charge of these places (a title also given to those in charge of missions), and were responsible to the Chief Protector of Aboriginals. The realities of 'living under the Act' were to profoundly impact upon the lives of Queensland Aboriginal people. Queensland's legislation influenced other parts of Australia, becoming the model for similar legislation adopted in Western Australia (1905), the Northern Territory (1910) and South Australia (1911), the three places with the highest Aboriginal populations at this time (National Archives of Australia:2011).
Settlements at Durundur (near Woodford, re-opened 1900), Whitula in western Queensland (briefly in operation in response to the 1902 drought) and Fraser Island (1897) were beset by a range of problems and did not last, with the latter experiencing a very high death rate among inmates. From 1905 the Barambah Aboriginal Settlement (from 1934 Cherbourg) in the South Burnett, first established in 1901, came under complete government control and operation. It was considered a more successful venture and gave the government confidence to establish more Aboriginal settlements (Evans: 2007:139; Donovan: 2002:121,132; Blake: 2001:9,17-18).
In the post-Barambah phase of direct government operation of settlements on reserves, the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement was the first to be established in Queensland. It was followed in the 1910s by Hull River in north Queensland (1914-1918, destroyed by cyclone) and Palm Island in 1918. The site of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement, located 14 km east of the town along the Dawson River was surveyed and gazetted as a Reserve 'for the use of Aboriginal inhabitants of the State' in 1909. Previously the reserve area was within the boundaries of Markland Station, a pastoral run that had been established by 1860, parts of which had been abandoned in the early 1900s due to prickly pear infestation. Originally encompassing an area of 1509 acres (686 ha), the reserve area was increased to 3164 acres (1438 ha) in 1912 and further enlarged by another 3486 acres in 1915 (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:7-8; Moreton Bay Courier: 7 December 1860:3; Rechner: 2005:48).
In May 1911 Taroom Settlement's first Superintendent GR Addison arrived at the reserve with the basic materials for establishing the place. Addison's first action was to 'persuade natives in camps near Taroom to take up quarters on the reserve' (QPP:1912:3:1016-1017). In the early months of the reserve the Aboriginal population drawn from the vicinity of Taroom was about 70. The arrival of groups of people removed from Bell and Roma and 'a few from the north' boosted numbers, and by December 1911, 155 people were drawing rations at the settlement (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:6; QPP:1912:3:1016-1017). In May 1912 'about 300' people were reported to be living on the settlement (Brisbane Courier: 9 May 1912:6).
Over time, Aboriginal people from areas throughout Queensland (and a number of G/Kamilaroi people originally from northern New South Wales) were forcibly removed or 'deported' to Taroom. (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:6-10,98-101; Evans:2007:172). Archival government correspondence regarding proposed removals to Taroom reveal the distribution of locations from where Aboriginal people were sent. Such places included towns and pastoral stations in south west and central Queensland, the Darling Downs and the Wide Bay-Burnett, jails at Brisbane, Roma and St Helena Island and other Aboriginal settlements and missions (Mackett:1998; L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:89-97). In 1913, 45 men and 14 women had been removed to Taroom for 'having given trouble in other districts, loafing about, or for being in a destitute condition' (QPP:1913:1025). While operating, the settlement housed an average population of about 250-300 Aboriginal people.
By segregating Aboriginal people from the rest of the community, the removals process was highly effective in fulfilling the government's objectives of increased control and regulation of the state's Aboriginals, enforced on settlements through a range of administrative and disciplinary measures. While humanitarian concerns were used as a justification for removal by advocates of the reserve system, Aboriginal people were forcibly removed for a wider range of reasons including illness; lack of employability or refusal to work; old age; as punishment; and after a jail sentence had been served (Blake:2001: 36-49). While many groups had already been moved off their traditional land and were residing in fringe camps at settlements and stations, the removals program further severed many Queensland Aboriginals' capacity to maintain connections to country and traditional customary practices. Social and family networks were also profoundly altered, with children taken from their parents, wives from husbands and families split up and sent to different reserves.
By 1912, a 400 acre (161.87 ha) paddock had been enclosed, a vegetable garden, storage sheds, stockyards and temporary quarters for the Superintendent and his family had been constructed at Taroom (QPP:1912:1016-1017). In this initial establishment phase, the reserve was 'laid out in a simple system of streets and a small area of ground allotted to each family'. Inmates purchased galvanised iron from the settlement store and were building huts with bark and slabs (QPP:1912:1016-1017). Throughout the early years of the reserve, Aboriginal people largely lived in humpies, increasing in size over time and assembled with a range of materials including bark, branches, felled timber, flattened kerosene tins and corrugated iron. Internally these dwellings were divided into three sleeping compartments with raised beds for parents, boys, and girls and external fireplaces (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:63).
Economically, the Queensland government supported the view advocated by Meston that the first duty of reserves was 'that they be self-supporting institutions' (Blake:2001:18). The labour of inmates as directed by the Superintendent focussed on grazing and agricultural production. Ringbarking and vegetation clearing, fencing, prickly pear cutting and tending to stock (initially sheep for wool and later beef cattle) were ongoing tasks throughout the life of the reserve. A range of crops were grown with varying degrees of success, with the reserve vulnerable to the extremes of flooding and droughts. Crops included cotton, potatoes, pumpkins, corn and melons, and stock fodder. An orchard of seven acres had been established by 1918 with 500 citrus trees. Between 1918 and 1922 another 9 acres (3.64 ha) is thought to have been used for orchard purposes and other fruits were grown. A 260 ft (79.25m) bore, capped by a windmill and connected to pipelines, tanks and stock troughs was sunk near the orchard for the reserve's water needs in 1916. The water's excessive iron content meant that it could not be used as effectively as hoped. Other infrastructure known to have been constructed included extensive fencing, horse yards, a woolshed in 1913, dams, a butcher's shop, new yards and a dip in 1919, a milling shed for a small sawbench and engine, and a bridge over the Dawson River (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:20-25; QPP:1914:1028; QPP:1918:1:1678; QPP:1920:2:234; QPP:1921:2:562).
While farming activity was undertaken on the reserve, Taroom also developed as a labour depot, as had happened at Barambah. The services of suitably aged and able-bodied inmates were made available to property owners seeking cheap labour in the local district and beyond. Males were generally engaged in manual work on pastoral and agricultural properties and females worked as domestic labourers in rural and urban areas. The Chief Protector's Annual Report of 1914 recorded a steady demand for labour and 'ample employment' in a range of farm work and during that year 37 males and 13 females from Taroom had entered work agreements offsite (QPP:1915: 3:1019).
By 1916, the government intended to lay out the main settlement area, 'with regard to proper alignment and model village design' and by 1918 a 'village square' planted with shade trees had been established (QPP:1918:1:1678; QPP:1916:1691; L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:58). Building and construction work was undertaken incrementally over the life of the reserve in this main settlement area. Many of these structures were rudimentary and inadequate with Annual Reports repeatedly drawing attention to the need for new and improved structures. Better quality timber buildings were constructed for administrative purposes and as staff quarters, with some timber sourced from Barambah's sawmill. The buildings reported to have been constructed between 1912 and 1923 included: a permanent Superintendent's residence (1912), quarters for the Assistant Superintendent and a Superintendent's office (1916-17); a lockup (by 1913) hospital (described as 'slab walled' in 1919), nurses quarters (1917) two weatherboard cottages used as officers' quarters (1921); and in 1923, isolation quarters and combined office and store accommodation (QPP:1912:1016-1017; Chief Protector's Annual Report:1913:32; QPP: 1916-17:3:1739; QPP:1918:1:1678; Brisbane Courier: 1919: August 16:4; QPP:1922:2:475; L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:71-72).
A distinctive phase of building activity occurred from 1921 following the introduction of mud-brick manufacturing and construction techniques to the reserve. The technique was thought to have been introduced by two former inmates of the Purga mission (near Ipswich). The bricks were composed of a mixture of sand, clay and lucerne hay and were used to form walls. Squared and adzed 'bush timber' was used for framing and corrugated iron was used for roofing (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:74-75). Buildings mentioned in Annual Reports from 1922 to 1924 constructed by this method included a 'native courthouse', dairy, soup kitchen, isolation ward, sewing room, boiler house, old men's dining room, new lock-up, school, 'an extra dormitory, 60ft x 20ft' (18.29m x 6.1m), a number of mudbrick cottages (for inmates) and other 'unidentified buildings' (QPP:1922:2:475; QPP:1923:1:1072; QPP:1924:1:982).
While official visitors were often impressed by a sense of progress and the care provided to inmates at Taroom and other government-run Aboriginal settlements, most experienced life on the reserve in far harsher terms. Within the main settlement area, buildings that directly impacted on the restricted lives of inmates included the Superintendent's office, the lock-up, retail and rations stores, schools, and the boys' and girls' dormitories. The tenor of the day-to-day management of the settlement and control of inmates' activities was created by the strict enforcement of the reserve's rules and regulations directed through the Superintendent's office. A small 'police force' comprising Aboriginal inmates was established on the reserve and the lock-up was used to incarcerate inmates at the Superintendent's discretion (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:38-39).
Inmates were not passive recipients of the government control that dominated their lives. Among the acts of resistance by Taroom's inmates were frequent escapes from the settlement and the lock-up and a short-lived strike in 1916, led by former champion middleweight boxer Jerry Jerome. Jerome, who had opposed his removal to the settlement, 'incited all others to refuse to work unless paid cash for it' (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:38-41;Tatz:1995:48-49; Watson:2010:109).
For their basic food supply the inmates of Taroom were dependent on the distribution of rations obtained from the ration or 'free' store. They were also allocated blankets and basic calico clothing. The rations of government Aboriginal settlement-allocated in a sliding scale to working men, non-workers, women, children and dormitory occupants and comprising flour, sugar and meat and supplementary products such as dried peas, rice and treacle-varied little for decades (Blake: 2001:105). The withholding of rations as a punishment is one example of the disciplinarian measures that were enforced at many reserves (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995: 38).
At Taroom, rations were also supplemented by garden produce (when available), and through sourcing game and native plants found on the reserve and surrounding properties. (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:26-31). Other items could also be purchased through the retail store (an important revenue generator for government settlements), where inmates used their own money to buy additional food and domestic items. By 1913 a soup kitchen had been established to provide meals for older inmates and in 1918 hot meals were also being supplied for school children (Chief Protector's Annual Report:1913:32; QPP:1918:1:1678).
A temporary school was under construction by the end of 1912 and by 1914 the school roll numbered 43 students. In the first few years, basic teaching duties were undertaken by the reserve's nurse, as no quarters were available for a qualified teacher. Until the construction of the mud-brick school in 1922, schooling was carried out in a very basic slab building and for a short while in the 'native courthouse'. A better quality separate school was built for the children of settlement staff during 1920-21 (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:68-69; QPP:1912:1016-1017; QPP:1914:1028; QPP:1915-16:1691; QPP:1918:1:1678; QPP:1922:2:475; QPP:1923:1:1072).
In the years that the Taroom settlement was operating, JW Bleakley was Chief Protector of Aboriginals in Queensland. His ongoing concerns regarding mixed blood and the 'half caste problem' were expressed in his prioritisation of 'the rescue and care of young women and children', which determined a greater role for dormitories on Aboriginal reserves in Queensland (Blake:2001:70). It was within the highly-ordered, institutional structure of the dormitory system that young inmates' Aboriginal identities, connections to family and maintenance of many traditional cultural practices were most seriously impacted. Contact with other inmates and movements around other areas of the settlement were restricted and were subject to the Superintendent's approval (Blake:2001:70-84).
A concerted effort was made to move children from settlement camps into dormitories. A girls' dormitory was in operation by 1919. Following a visit to the settlement, Anglican Bishop Le Fanu described the girls moving into a 'special compound' after reaching the age of 12 (Brisbane Courier: 16 August 1919:4; QPP:1920:2:234). Former inmates recalled all young girls living in the dormitory at Taroom during the 1920s. It was mud-brick and a low built building, internally white washed with rows of three-tiered wooden bunks. Another mud-brick building was used for the dormitory kitchen. Like other girls dormitories on government Aboriginal reserves, the former inmates recalled the perimeter of the dormitory bounded by a six foot fence topped with barbed wire. New 'quarters for boys' were reported as completed by 1925 (QPP: 1925:1 :1094; L'Oste-Brown et al: 1995:68; Sutton: 2003:81-84).
The spatial division between the administrative and Aboriginal areas of the settlement became more formally defined over time as more Aboriginal people arrived from areas throughout Queensland. Buildings associated with the administration of the reserve remained concentrated within a well defined area of the main settlement and stood in contrast to the larger, less distinctive area just north of the administrative area where inmates lived in camps organised around regional, tribal and kinship affiliations. During the 1920s, the inmates in this area lived in 5 broad groups; Cooktown people (a generic term for north Queensland Aboriginals); 'Gulalee' people mostly from south-west Queensland; people from the Burnett district; western Queensland people; and a mixed camp with scattered groups of individuals or couples without children. While inmates were subjected to the discipline and control associated with life in an institution, some traditional customary practices continued at Taroom (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:58-63).
From 1922, a new experimental sub-settlement was established approximately 1 km to the east of the main settlement and camp areas, away from the flood prone river flats. Twelve five acre blocks had been allotted to 'industrious families' by late 1923 to establish dwellings (some of which were of mud-brick construction) and to grow cotton, maize and other vegetables. The Tobane and Richards families are two families known to have lived at the sub-settlement during its existence (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:21-22,65; QPP:1923:1:1072; Brisbane Courier:1923: December 4:7).
Two cemeteries were established on the settlement. Over the course of its existence, there was a high mortality rate among inmates, attributed to the generally poor living conditions, inadequate health services and Aboriginal susceptibility to European diseases. A total of 268 deaths were recorded between 1911 and 1927. A mix of European and traditional burial customs and rites were performed during funeral ceremonies. The first cemetery was located about 300 metres east of the main settlement area. The usual burial practice was to cover graves with piles of stones and edge them with stones or bottles. Only two of the graves had formal headstones; portions of which are extant. The second cemetery was located about 200 metres north-west of the former on a low sand ridge. This cemetery is thought to have been used as a burial site from the late 1910s and contains the remains of people who died during the 'Spanish' influenza epidemic of 1919, some of whom are thought to have been interred together in trench graves. Over 200 people were affected by the epidemic and at least 27 deaths (31 deaths were reported) occurred, including that of the then Superintendent, CA Maxwell (QPP: 1920: 2:231; L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:43-50).
The Taroom Aboriginal Settlement was closed due to the Dawson Valley Irrigation Scheme, which threatened to inundate the low-lying land along the river. The proposal to move the settlement came in 1922, initially to higher land, but in 1926 land had been secured near Duaringa, west of Rockhampton. This property of 25,000 hectares was named Woorabinda, and clearing and fencing began there in September 1926. All buildings and equipment were moved from Taroom to Woorabinda in a process which took 18 months and was completed by early 1928 (L'Oste-Brown et al:1995:79-84).
Gazettal of the Taroom Reserve was rescinded on 31 May 1928. Since this time the property has been used by a number of owners for grazing and cropping purposes. The current name of the property, Bundulla, was in use shortly after the reserve had been removed and does not appear to have any historical link with it. In 2010, little surface evidence remains at Bundulla to indicate the former existence of a government-controlled Aboriginal settlement.
In 1992 and 1994 three former inmates of Taroom, Ted Mitchell, Vera Tyson and Gordon Henry, in collaboration with staff from the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage, contributed to an oral history project (informed by site visits) that greatly added to the recorded knowledge of life at and the spatial organization of the settlement. During this process, white stones and pickets were placed around what were thought to be the cemetery perimeters. Related archaeological investigations, including ground penetrating radar surveys of the cemeteries, added further knowledge about the site.
Descendants and extended families of people who lived and died at Taroom continue to maintain a special connection to the site. In more recent years, collaborative efforts between the owners, Aboriginal groups and government bodies has resulted in the erection of signs and a memorial stone and plaque listing those who died on the settlement. The current owners of Bundulla, which in 2011 included the site of the former Aboriginal Settlement, have played an important role as custodians of the place.
","criteria":"The site of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history, as a place associated with the organisation of Queensland Aboriginal reserves established under the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. This legislation enabled direct government control over the lives of Aboriginal people in Queensland, who could be removed by the government to designated reserves and kept within gazetted reserve boundaries. Established in 1911, the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) is significant as an early Aboriginal reserve established and run from the outset by the Queensland government as an Aboriginal Settlement, always an uncommon aspect of the state's cultural heritage; providing a model for other Aboriginal settlements in Queensland and elsewhere in Australia.
|The site, and the archaeological artefacts, of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) are important to Aboriginal people, groups and families across Queensland, particularly those groups removed from their own lands to the reserve, including those considered as traditional owners of the area. As a place operated by the Queensland government as an Aboriginal Settlement from 1911-1927, the place represents a distinctive phase of Queensland's history in a way that no other place can. The archaeological artefacts relate to and may potentially be used to illustrate events which have had a profound effect on Queensland Aboriginal people's lives and that of their communities. The relatives and descendants of those who lived on the settlement retain a strong and special association with the place, especially the two cemetery areas.
|The site of the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) has potential to contribute new knowledge about Queensland's history, particularly a greater understanding of government-run Aboriginal settlements in Queensland. Extensive surface scatters of archaeological artefacts are evident across the site and there exists potential for subsurface archaeological evidence within and below the plough zone (c.300mm below current ground surface levels) particularly in the vicinity of the five historically documented Aboriginal 'camps' and within the main settlement area.
The results of archaeological investigations within the Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) may challenge written histories and other historical sources that document the effect of government control on Aboriginal people, groups, communities and cultural practices. Important archaeological research questions will relate to social organisation (including relations between people on the Reserve and culture contact generally), adaptations to life within a regulated and controlled community, the effects on families and the structures of households on the Reserve including subsistence strategies, consumption choices and patterns, and reciprocity and other informal economies.
Archaeological artefacts within Taroom Aboriginal Settlement (former) are illustrative of endangered and rare aspects of Queensland's history, specifically the customs, processes and functions of government-run Aboriginal settlements from the early 20th century. While the place has undergone substantial disturbance by agricultural and pastoral activities since original artefact deposition, analysis of the spatial distribution of archaeological evidence will result in an increased understanding of the actual layout of the reserve.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion G | Criterion C","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history"} ]}