Welford is a former pastoral station located in the Welford National Park, approximately 50km southeast of Jundah in central west Queensland. Welford comprises the homestead complex, the shearing complex, and the remnants of outstations and other sites of occupation with archaeological evidence that illustrate the extent and nature of historical activities and could yield important information relating to living and working there during the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. The surrounding landscape is characterised by open red and brown earth dotted with tufty grass, mulga (Acacia aneura) and desert bloodwood (Corymbia terminalis), with gidgee (Acacia cambagei) generally concentrated along the mix of ephemeral and permanent water sources that traverse the land.
\nThe homestead complex stands on high ground overlooking Welford Waterhole about 200 metres to its south and is accessed via the Welford Homestead Road (off Jundah Quilpie Road) from the west. Welford Waterhole is part of the braided course of the Barcoo River that runs approximately east to west in this area and forms the southern boundary of the former pastoral station land holding.
\nFrom the homestead complex, the shearing complex is located approximately 2.3 kilometres to its west-northwest, the Adaford homestead site is approximately 13 kilometres to its west-southwest, the Lily Hole yards site is approximately 12 kilometres to its west-northwest, the Gap Creek hut and bore site is approximately 13.5 kilometres to its north, the Sawyer Creek hut site is approximately 27 kilometres to its north-northeast, the Sawyer Creek bore site is approximately 24.4 kilometres to its northeast, and the Stock Route yards site and Old Jedburgh homestead and yards site are approximately 19 and 22.5 kilometres to its east-northeast.
\nFeatures of Welford of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nHomestead complex
\nThe homestead complex comprises a collection of buildings and associated landscape features relating to the core occupation of the extensive former pastoral station. At the centre of the homestead complex is the residence, surrounded by its garden and mature plantings, with the meat house and shed to its west and tank stand to its south. The workers quarters, showers and workshop stand in a separate area approximately 45 metres to the north of the residence, and the former yards are located approximately 200 metres to its west. The former blacksmith’s workshop sites are located approximately 60 metres and 120 metres to the south of the residence, the former early yards site located approximately 900 metres to its northeast, and historical dump sites are located approximately 700 metres to its east near airstrip) and 350 metres to its northwest.
\nThe open space surrounding the homestead complex is uninterrupted by later development. New buildings and amenities have been added within the homestead complex that are not of state-level cultural heritage significance. They include a stone cottage (1980s), fenced pool (1984) and tennis court (earth surface, 1984) to the east of the residence; and a stone cottage (1980s) and donga (c2000) to its south, in the vicinity of the southern former blacksmith’s workshop site.
\nResidence (pisé de terre core, by 1881)
\nThe residence is a one-storey building with an L-shaped plan, comprising a rectangular pisé de terre core (by 1881) with its long elevations facing east and west, and a later extension (1989, not of state-level cultural heritage significance) joining its northwest corner. The core has a timber-framed hip roof (originally a gable roof form, rebuilt after fire, 1956) clad in corrugated metal sheets and separate, similarly-clad roofs over the verandahs that encircle it. The front (east) verandah is semi-enclosed with timber-framed gauze screens (rebuilt when verandah widened, after 1973) and overlooks a large open lawn. The rear (west) and end (north and south) verandahs are enclosed (after 1973).
\nInternally, the long, narrow core comprises three rooms and a hallway. At the northern end is the dining room, with the lounge in the middle and the main bedroom at the southern end. The hall runs east-west, between the dining room and lounge. The rooms and hall are accessed via French doors that open directly onto the enclosed verandahs, with the dining room and lounge also accessed via louvred timber dual doors to the hall. The lounge is square in plan and has a window in its western wall and a fireplace (after 1973) in its southwest corner. The northern enclosed verandah contains a kitchen, and the southern enclosed verandah contains an ensuite bathroom, utility, and storeroom.
\nThe pisé de terre walls of the core are 500mm thick and extend above the level of the verandah roofs. The walls are lightly bagged (with likely traditional lime render and/or lime wash finish) and the door and window openings are bevelled on both sides of the frames, with wide unlined thresholds and embedded timber lintels above. Rooms in the core have high ceilings and the ceilings in the verandahs are raked. Floors in the core and rear enclosed verandah are timber boards.
\nFeatures of the residence of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nResidence garden and views
\nThe residence is set within landscaped grounds, comprising open grassed areas, stone-edged garden beds, and mature trees and other plantings, that contrast with the surrounding natural landscape. The garden extents are formalised in part by stone and concrete lawn edging, and a decorative cast iron lacework fence along its southwest perimeter. Evidence of historical fence alignments and structures include trellis-framed entrances to the garden on its northern side and the remnants of a former bough shelter near the southeast corner of the residence. Access between the residence and garden is via numerous openings in the enclosed verandahs, with the screened front (east) verandah overlooking a large open lawn.
\nFeatures of the residence garden of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nViews of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nMeat house (c1950s)
\nThe meat house is a small, one-storey timber-framed and -clad outbuilding with a pyramid roof, standing on the western side of the residence. Square in plan, it comprises a one-room core (former butchering room) with a concrete slab floor, surrounded by overhanging eaves. It is accessed by a single door on its northern side and has screened openings above sill level for ventilation on all sides.
\nFeatures of the meat house of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nShed (c1950s)
\nThe shed is a small, one-storey timber-framed outbuilding with a skillion roof, clad in corrugated metal sheets. It stands on the western side of the residence, to the immediate north of the meat house. Rectangular in plan, it is accessed via a single door at the eastern end of its southern side.
\nFeatures of the shed of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nTank stand (c1950s-60s)
\nThe tank stand is a tall, metal-framed structure supporting an elevated timber-framed tank platform topped with corrugated metal sheets, located on the southern side of the residence.
\nFeatures of the tank stand of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nWorkshop / machinery shed (c1950s-60s)
\nThe workshop / machinery shed is a large, one-storey outbuilding with a gabled roof, standing approximately 45 metres north of the residence. Rectangular in plan, with its long elevations facing north and south, it has a large opening on its southern side. The shed has a tubular metal frame, with metal open web trusses, and is clad in corrugated metal sheets. The nature of the construction of this shed’s framing and cladding is indicative of the necessity of utilising materials and techniques at hand on a remote pastoral property. A narrow concrete path runs between the shed and the residence garden to the south.
\nFeatures of the workshop / machinery shed of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nWorkers quarters (c1920s-40s) and shower block (c1940s)
\nThe workers quarters is a one-storey, timber-framed building with a transverse gable roof that continues over its front (south) and rear (north) verandahs, located approximately 20 metres west of the workshop / machinery shed. It is clad in corrugated metal sheets – predominantly standard gauge, with ripple iron on its verandah walls. Lowset, it stands on metal posts and is accessed via concrete steps. The verandahs are semi-enclosed with wire mesh on fixed timber frames. The interior comprises two rooms, each with a small window in the gable end wall and timber-boarded doors accessing both front and rear verandahs.
\nThe shower block stands approximately 10 metres north of the workers quarters, with a narrow concrete path connecting the two structures. It is a one-storey, gable-roofed outbuilding, with a timber and metal frame, clad in corrugated metal sheets. It is accessed on its western side by a single door and has timber-framed windows in its gable end walls. An elevated water tank is attached to the southern end of its eastern side. The interior comprises an open dressing area in the centre, a toilet cubicle at the northern end and a shower cubicle at the southern end. It has a concrete slab floor.
\nFeatures of the workers quarters and shower block of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nRemnant built features, and known or potential archaeological evidence
\nAreas around the homestead complex where there are remnants of early built features, and other known or potential archaeological evidence that illustrate the nature and extent of historical activities and could yield important information relating to living and working at Welford include:
\nFeatures of the homestead complex not of state-level cultural heritage significance
\nFeatures of the homestead complex not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nShearing complex
\nThe shearing complex comprises a collection of buildings and associated landscape features relating to the annual shearing of the flock and occupation of the complex by shearing teams. At the eastern end of the complex is the shearing shed, with the sheep yards on its eastern and southern sides and fenced paddocks fanning out to the north and south (towards the riverbank). The shearers quarters and shower block stand in a separate area approximately 130 metres southwest of the shearing shed, with the toilet located approximately halfway between, and the shearers dump site is located approximately 300 metres west of the shearing shed.
\nSheep yards (c1940s-50s)
\nThe sheep yards comprise a collection of rectilinear and curved fenced enclosures and runs for organising and controlling sheep, connected to the northeast corner (sheep entry) and southeast corner (shorn sheep exit) of the shearing shed. A tank stand, sheep dip and spray race, and associated runs, are located along the western side of the yards. Larger, fenced paddocks fan out to the north and south (towards the riverbank).
\nFeatures of the sheep yards of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nShearing shed (c1940s-50s)
\nThe shearing shed is a large, one-storey, corrugated metal-clad building, with a layout of functional areas that illustrate shearing processes. It comprises a rectangular gable-roofed core, with its long sides facing north and south, and two skillion-roofed wings – one attached to the eastern end of its northern side and one centred on its southern side. Large openings, sheltered by skillion roofs, wrap around the southeast corner of the core.
\nThe eastern half of the core has a raised timber floor and contains the shearing area – sheep entered a series of holding and catch pens via the northeast corner, were shorn by shearers using one of six mechanised shears along the shearing board, and exited via chutes into runs on the southern side. The shaft-driven shearing machine was powered by an engine housed in the southern wing.
\nThe western half of the core has a concrete slab floor and contains the wool room – where the fleece was processed, graded, and pressed into bales. A later extension at the western end of the core contains the wool bale loading area. It has a dirt floor and a higher gabled roofline, supported on tubular metal web trusses, and a large loading door in its western wall.
\nNatural light and ventilation are facilitated via large openings that wrap around the southeast corner of the shearing area, and windows along the north and south walls of the wool room. Movable heritage items including several cast iron stoves and equipment associated with shearing processes, are stored in the wool room and loading area.
\nThe nature of the construction of this shed’s framing and cladding is indicative of the necessity of utilising materials and techniques at hand on a remote pastoral property.
\nFeatures of the shearing shed of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nShearers quarters, shower block and toilet (c1940s-50s)
\nThe shearers quarters is a one-storey, timber-framed and weatherboard-clad building, with a gable roof clad in corrugated metal sheets. It has a rectangular core that is oriented north-south, with verandahs attached to the northern end of its east and west sides and to its southern gable end, and a small bay projecting from its western side. The verandahs are semi-enclosed with wire mesh on fixed timber frames. Lowset, it stands on metal-clad stumps and is accessed via concrete steps.
\nThe interior accommodates individual shearer’s bedrooms at the northern end and separate cook’s bedroom in the southwest corner that are accessed via openings in the verandah walls, and kitchen, dining room and lounge at the southern end that are accessed via openings in the western side and southeast corner. The shearer’s bedrooms have windows flanking their bedroom doors. The doors and windows are timber-framed, and the timber-boarded doors are ledged and braced. The rooms have high ceilings and the walls are lined with narrow, vertical timber boards.
\nThe shower block stands approximately 10 metres south of the shearers quarters. It is a small, timber-framed and weatherboard-clad outbuilding, with a gable roof clad in corrugated metal sheets. It is entered via an opening on it northern side, and the interior comprises a wash basin area and shower cubicle with corrugated metal partitions. A metal ‘donkey’ for heating water stands to its west.
\nThe toilet block stands approximately halfway between the shearing shed and shearers quarters. It is a small, timber-framed build with a skillion roof, clad in corrugated metal sheets. It contains two cubicles, each with a timber-boarded door.
\nFeatures of the shearers quarters, shower block and toilet of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nRemnant built features, and known or potential archaeological evidence
\nAreas around the shearing complex where there are remnants of early built features, and other known or potential archaeological evidence that illustrate the nature and extent of historical activities and could yield important information relating to living and working at Welford include:
\nFeatures of the shearing complex not of state-level cultural heritage significance
\nFeatures of the shearing complex not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nOutstations and other ruins
\nVarious outstations and other ruins are dotted across the former pastoral station. These sites retain the remnants of early built features, and other known or potential archaeological evidence relating to life at Welford from the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These sites illustrate the nature and extent of pastoral activities and associated occupation and have the potential to contribute important information about the early and evolving history of the place, the living and working conditions of its occupants and the nature of outstation life at Welford.
\nAdaford Homestead site (built 1917 or 1918)
\nAdaford Homestead site is located approximately 700 metres north of the Barcoo River. The site comprises the remnants of a small residence (built 1917 or 1918, destroyed by fire 1925), with an associated scatter of artefacts; a dump site approximately 60 metres to its southwest, on the edge of a drainage channel; a ship’s tank and artefact scatter approximately 50 metres to its north; and the remnants of yards or stables approximately 170 metres to its north. A timber post-and-wire fence runs north to south through the site, which is located on the historical border between the Adaford and Welford Downs leaseholds (c1882).
\nLily Hole yards site (by 1908)
\nLily Hole yards site is located adjacent to the southern bank of Lily Hole, a permanent waterhole on the Barcoo River, in the vicinity of a horse paddock and yards shown on the 1909 survey plan. Square in plan, the remnant yards (by 1909) extend approximately 50 x 50 metres and comprise a functional layout of interconnected fenced enclosures and runs. The fencing around the perimeter and the larger yards on the eastern side is constructed of timber post-and-wire, and the fencing forming the curved yards and runs on the western side is metal-framed.
\nGap Creek hut (between 1919 and 1959) and bore (by 1922) site
\nGap Creek hut and bore site is located on the eastern bank of a bend in Gap Creek. The site comprises the remnants of a small residence (between 1919 and 1959), with an associated scatter of artefacts; a bore site (by 1922) approximately 60 metres to its north; a dump site approximately 100 metres to its southeast, on the side of a small gully; and the remnants of a steam engine nearby. A tall timber post (possible telegraph remnant) stands beside a small concrete pad, between the hut and bore sites.
\nSawyer Creek hut site (by 1922)
\nSawyer Creek hut site (by 1922) is located approximately 100 metres east of Sawyer Creek. The site comprises the remnants of a small residence, with an adjacent inground water tank; the remnants of a bough shelter; and an associated scatter of building materials and other artefacts.
\nSawyer Creek bore site (by 1922)
\nSawyer Creek bore site is located between two distributaries of Sawyer Creek. The bore site comprises the remnants of two inground water tanks, a windmill and associated water troughs.
\nStock Route yards site (by 1922)
\nStock Route yards site (by 1922) is located on the northern bank of the Barcoo River, approximately 300 metres west of the junction with Sawyer Creek. The historical stock route runs along the southern bank of the Barcoo River. The site comprises the remnants of two separate yards, both rectangular in plan and one larger than the other, and an associated scatter of artefacts. The larger yards are approximately 80 x 100 metres and incorporate the remnants of a bough shelter. Located approximately 70 metres to the southeast, the smaller yards are approximately 35 x 80 metres.
\nOld Jedburgh homestead (by 1909) and yards (by 1947) site
\nOld Jedburgh Homestead and yards site is located approximately 150 metres northwest of the Barcoo River. The site comprises the remnants of a residence (by 1909), with an associated scatter of artefacts; and the remnants of yards or stables (by 1947) approximately 150 metres to its southwest.
\nFeatures of the outstations not of state-level cultural heritage significance
\nFeatures of the outstations and other ruins not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nWelford (Welford Downs station), established in 1873,[1] is located in Welford National Park in central west Queensland. The place is important in demonstrating the pastoral development of this region from the 1870s. The homestead residence, built after January 1875 and before July 1881, is an early example of the use of pise de terre (rammed earth) construction, a common building method in western Queensland during the 19th century, due to shortage of materials, but an uncommon construction method elsewhere in the colony. Other station infrastructure and sites of historical occupation, date from the late 19th to mid-20th century.
\nThe land along the Barcoo River is part of the traditional lands of speakers of the Birriya[2] and Kungkari[3] languages, with Wangkumara and Boonthamurra country to the south. The Barcoo River provided a natural boundary. The word ‘Barcoo’ is likely a Birriya and/or Kungkari word for ‘river’.[4] Welford National Park is currently recognised as part of the traditional lands of the Bidjara People.[5] Within Welford National Park, there are numerous examples of Aboriginal cultural heritage, including ceremonial sites, artefact scatters and earthen and stone arrangements. Ceremonial sites are part of a network of significant places, including natural features, which together form a larger ritual landscape. They are visible remains of areas where important and often sacred rituals were performed.[6]
\nEuropean exploration of the Barcoo River began in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1846, Sir Thomas Mitchell explored downstream about as far as current day Isisford before turning back and naming the waterway ‘Victoria River’.[7] In the following year, Edmund Kennedy’s expedition attempted to follow Mitchell’s ‘Victoria River’ to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He received the name ‘Barcoo’ from a local man during his attempt,[8] but found that the river travelled south-west joining the Thomson River to form Cooper’s Creek (now known as Cooper Creek) and then flowed south-westerly. Both Mitchell and Kennedy described the watershed of the Barcoo favourably.[9] In 1858, Augustus Charles Gregory, while searching for Ludwig Leichhardt, crossed the Warrego and Barcoo Rivers. When unable to proceed further west because of drought, he trekked down the Barcoo River, Cooper Creek and Strzelecki Creek investigating this inland river system.[10] His description of the area, after travelling through it in extreme drought, was not as favourable as his predecessors’.[11]
\nEuropean settlement in the Barcoo River-Cooper Creek area, part of the Mitchell Pastoral District, began in the 1860s.[12] Pastoralist-explorers travelled ahead of their flocks and herds ready to take advantage of any suitable ‘unsettled’ land they found.[13] In 1861, James Thomas Allan with Ernest Davies and party left the Dawson River and travelled through the northern Warrego district to the Barcoo River. Allan’s party reached the permanent stretch of water that Mitchell had named Douglas Ponds, examined the surrounding country, then hurried back to lodge their lease applications. They became the first settlers on the Barcoo River when Allan established Mount Enniskillen and Elizabeth Creek stations,[14] while Davies occupied Northampton Downs.[15] One of the first pastoral properties established in the Isisford District was Isis Downs on the upper Barcoo River, which was established c1865 and leased from 1 January 1867 by Charles Lumley Hill, W St John Holberton and W B Allen.[16]
\nEconomic depression from 1866 almost halted pastoral expansion throughout Queensland, until reviving in the early 1870s and continuing until the mid-1880s.[17] In August 1872, the Rockhampton Bulletin newspaper reported that in the previous few months, several thousand square miles (more than 7000sq km) of country along the Barcoo River had been occupied by pastoralists.[18] One of them was Richard Welford, who had arrived in central Queensland from England in 1863. In 1871, he occupied two runs (Henley and Walton) on the north bank of the Barcoo River, approximately 80 miles (128.8km) down-river from Isis Downs. He leased three more pastoral runs in 1872 (Marlow Bridge, Mortlake and Wandsworth), each of 50 square miles (129.5km2), which together provided a frontage of 10 miles (16.1km) along the lower Barcoo River.[19]
\nIn Queensland and Australia-wide, incursion into, and occupation of, Aboriginal peoples’ lands ‒ whether by explorers, pastoralists, miners, or settlers ‒ often resulted in violent conflict, dispossession and the destruction of the traditional way of life. As European occupation of Queensland progressed from the frontier in the south east (1820s to 1840s) to the north and west in the ensuing decades of the 19th century, conflict followed on each new frontier.[20]
\nTo eliminate resistance as Europeans occupied the traditional lands of Aboriginal peoples, the Queensland Native Mounted Police (Native Police), comprising European officers and Aboriginal troopers, operated on the frontier. They ‘dispersed’ (killed) Aboriginal people purportedly in reprisal attacks for theft, killing of stock, or murder; at times assisted by colonists. Initially established in 1849 and funded by pastoralists in the Clarence River and Darling Downs districts of New South Wales, to protect their herds, flocks, property and lives, this police force continued to operate after the establishment of the Colony of Queensland in 1859. In 1864, with the commencement of the Police Act 1863, the Native Police came under the control of the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Force and continued its role into the early 20th century.[21]
\nThe Barcoo River area experienced increasing frontier conflict in the early 1870s as European settlement intensified. While, similar to many places, the number of Aboriginal people who were victims of frontier violence in the area is not recorded, a letter to the Colonial Secretary in May 1872 from Lumley Hill of Isis Downs revealed the extent of the conflict in the Barcoo area in this period. He cited eight people ‘murdered by blacks [Aboriginal people] during the last 16 months’ and compared this with the previous three years or more, when less than three such cases occurred. However, he attributed the previously lower number of incidents to the ‘active and efficient officer’[22] of the Native Police at the time, whereby ‘every case of hut robbing and sheep stealing was promptly checked and punished'.[23] Lumley Hill also intimated he had attacked Aboriginal people: ‘I really found myself compelled to take strong measures myself for the protection of my own life and property’.[24]
\nIn April 1872 Welford and his stockman, Henry Hall, were killed on Walton run, allegedly by ‘a runaway trooper from some northern detachment [of the Native Police]’[25] and local Aboriginal people. The bodies of Welford and later Hall were discovered by Welford’s friend, Edward Decimus Harries, and pastoralist, Charles Rome.[26] The deaths resulted in one or more punitive reprisals against local Aboriginal people by the Native Police, who were stationed approximately 60 miles (96.6km) from Isis Downs, accompanied by European settlers.[27] Harries accompanied the Native Police tracking the Aboriginal people from Welford’s property to their camp southeast of the Barcoo River, described as ‘near the [Cheviot] range up Powell’s Creek’, where they found one of Welford’s horses hobbled and also found ‘one gun that had been carried about 10 miles’.[28] Harries also stated in 1910 that the former Native Police trooper implicated in the murder was found dead in Sedan waterhole [south of the Barcoo River] and it ‘was supposed afterwards he was killed by the blacks [Aboriginal people] themselves’.[29] The Aboriginal population in the area was markedly reduced by the early 1880s.[30] Welford’s grave is located on the south (left) bank of the Barcoo River, on land that is not part of Welford National Park.[31]
\nDying intestate, Welford’s runs, stock and personal effects were sold at public auction on 12 August 1872. The leases and 290 head of cattle were purchased by Thomas and Charles Rome, of Northampton Downs station on the Upper Barcoo.[32] In the same month, the Rome brothers applied for an occupation lease for Welford Downs run (named after Welford), which was located downstream from and adjacent to Welford’s Henley run.[33]
\nA few years later, the Rome brothers offered Welford Downs station for sale. Advertisements in January 1875 show that Welford Downs station comprised 16 runs totalling 841 square miles (2178.18km2) that were operated together as a cattle property.[34] At this time, the improvements on Welford Downs were: ‘a good house (stone), horse yard, new stock yard…also horse paddock one (1) mile square, nearly finished’.[35] In April 1875, the Rome brothers withdrew Welford Downs station from sale,[36] but sold some of the station’s runs – Marlow Bridge, Mortlake and Wandsworth – to David McConnel of Cressbrook.[37] Also in 1875, Thomas and Charles Rome subdivided Welford Downs run into Welford Downs and Welford Downs South; the former on the north (right) bank of the Barcoo River and the latter on the south bank.[38]
\nIn July 1881 Welford Downs station was widely advertised for sale as ‘magnificent sheep country’.[39] The listed improvements included the first reference to its pisé de terre homestead house:
\nAt the Welford Head Station, which overlooks a splendid sheet of water, is a large well-built Pisé house, with detached kitchens, complete out offices, bachelor’s quarters, store, men’s huts, blacksmith’s forge, large stockyards and three horse paddocks.[40]
\nPisé de terre (or pisé) is an ancient building method in which loam mud (earth of low clay content) is rammed into a temporary formwork to create rock-like walls.[41] Compacting earth in this manner forces soil particles together so they ‘adhere to each other due to molecular and capillary forces and form a hard mass. Conventionally no additives or strengthening fibres are used [as] in most cases the earth contains sufficient natural moisture to ensure adequate compaction’.[42]
\nThis method was traditionally used in many Mediterranean and Near Eastern countries and Zhejiang Province of China. The use of pisé in more recent times is mainly attributed to its ‘rediscovery’ in France during the mid-18th century. This building method was used in England from about 1787 and in the USA from about 1810-15. In Australia, its use is traced back to the 1820s in Tasmania and examples of the construction method are found in most Australian colonies.[43] Pisé is one of three types of earthen building construction in Australia from the colonial period, the others being mud brick (adobe) and cob.
\nThe advantages of this style of building are its utilisation of an available building material (earth) in an environment lacking conventional materials; its durability in arid conditions;[44] its regulation of interior temperatures in a climate of extremes providing ‘coolness in summer and warmth in winter’;[45] and its ease of construction.[46]
\nAlthough not widely used across Queensland, construction of buildings using pisé was common during the colonial period in western Queensland, where building materials were limited. A variety of pisé buildings were constructed there during this period, but most have not survived.[47]
\nThere are five known extant colonial pisé buildings in Queensland: Welford Homestead residence (constructed after January 1875 and before July 1881); the original Boorara Homestead residence, Hungerford (1866);[48] Ray Homestead residence, Eromanga (1885);[49] Boorara Homestead residence, Hungerford (1880s);[50] and Bedourie Pisé House (QHR650098; 1896). In addition, there may be another nine extant pisé buildings, the status of which has not been confirmed for more than 30 years.[51]
\nCharles Rome, who had become the sole lessee of Welford Downs during 1882,[52] sold Welford Downs and Sedan stations in September 1882 to Cudmore, Swan and Co (comprising South Australia-based partners James Frances Cudmore, William Robert Swan and others). At the time, these stations totalled about 1000 square miles (2590km2); plus 14,000 cattle, 220 horses, plant, and all improvements.[53] A photograph of Welford homestead taken in the 1880s shows the pisé residence with a steeply pitched gabled roof and French doors opening onto its open-sided, skillion-roofed verandahs. A stone kitchen building stood to the rear (west).[54]
\nOrganisational change in the pastoral industry was underway during the 1880s as companies replaced pastoralists as lessees[55] and amalgamated vast pastoral holdings. Welford was joined with Cudmore, Swan and Co’s existing holdings: Gooyea run (later renamed Milo), east of the Barcoo River, and the adjoining run, Tintinchilla,[56] to form a combined property of 5100sq miles (13,209km2).
\nAs Cudmore had overextended himself financially by buying Welford Downs, he needed additional partners.[57] An offshoot company of Cudmore, Swan & Co, namely, Elder, Pegler & Co was formed in 1882 to work Gooyea and Welford Downs with cattle.[58] These companies amalgamated in 1886 to form Milo & Welford Downs Pastoral Company, which comprised the shareholders of the two parent companies.[59] Cudmore’s new partners insisted that Milo and Welford Downs change from cattle to wool production, which required expensive improvements.[60]
\nIn moving to wool production, the new company followed the trend of rapid expansion of sheep-raising in Queensland during the 1880s, which resulted in wool becoming Queensland’s most important export by pound (£) value, between 1887 and 1899.[61] The Mitchell, Maranoa and Warrego pastoral districts grew to account for 50% of the colony’s flock, while the Mitchell pastoral district’s percentage of the Queensland flock rose from 4% in 1870 to 38% by 1892.[62]
\nHowever, wool producers in Queensland faced many difficulties from the 1880s and into the early 20th century. Between 1884 and 1886 wool prices fell and drought occurred. From the late 1880s, rabbits emerged as another threat, reducing the wool clip.[63] The relatively low wool prices of the 1880s, combined with adverse seasons, increased the indebtedness of pastoralists.[64] By 1886 Cudmore’s debts exceeded £200,000 necessitating transfer of his interest in Milo and Welford Downs to Sir Thomas Elder, Robert Barr Smith, William Robert Swan and Augustus Henry Pegler in 1888; and removing him from the partnership. Subsequently, in 1889, the lease was transferred to Elder, Smith and Swan.[65]
\nFrom 1890 to 1915, the Queensland government resumed land from large pastoral leaseholds to create smaller landholdings, adding another economic pressure for existing leaseholders.[66] In 1893, Welford Downs station lost 642.25sq miles (1663.42km2) to resumption and consolidated its 46 runs into a single run comprising 1900 square miles (4121km2).[67]
\nDue to low wool prices after 1893 and economic depression, further re-organisation of pastoral holdings occurred from 1896, with many pastoral properties repossessed by their mortgagees; turning banks and pastoral finance companies into major property owners.[68] The surviving companies, such as Milo & Welford Pastoral Company, became owners of a large proportion of Queensland.[69] In 1900, the company converted into the limited liability company, Milo & Welford Downs Pastoral Company Ltd, with capital of £187,613 held in £1 shares and leases comprising 4343.25sq miles (11,249km2).[70]
\nMeanwhile, the Federation Drought between 1898 and 1905, which was severe throughout western Queensland caused large losses. For Milo & Welford Downs Pastoral Company, the seven years of drought cost about £173,000 in stock losses, as well as large sums expended on horse feed and the destruction of wild dogs and rabbits.[71]
\nNevertheless, by 1912, the Mitchell, Maranoa and Warrego pastoral districts had recovered from the drought and were carrying two thirds of the Queensland sheep population. Wool returned to its former position as Queensland’s biggest export commodity by value after gold production fell from its peak between 1900 and 1904. Wool production in Queensland peaked in 1909 at £4.8million in exports, climbing to more than £5.2 million in 1913.[72] In that year, the Mitchell pastoral district carried by far the largest percentage (38%) of Queensland’s sheep population.[73]
\nFurther resumptions of Welford Downs station took place during the first half of the 20th century after survey for this purpose in 1909. The resultant mapping showed Welford homestead with: a building immediately west of the residence (most likely its stone kitchen); station buildings between the house and its permanent waterhole (Welford Waterhole) to its south; an ‘Old Garden’ and an ‘Old Whip’ (a simple type of crane) on the north bank of the waterhole. All these features were located within a large, wire-fenced, horse paddock that also enclosed most of the waterhole. Situated to the homestead’s northeast, adjacent to, and south of, the east-west stock route, were cattle yards.[74]
\nIn 1910, resumption of Welford Downs station occurred. Milo & Welford Downs Pastoral Company Ltd surrendered the existing Welford Downs lease to the Crown and was granted a new lease for a reduced holding of 2800sq miles (7252km2) until 31 December 1944. Under the terms of this new lease 700sq miles (1813km2) were resumed in 1918 and a further 450sq miles (1165.5km2) were resumed in 1925.[75]
\nMilo & Welford Downs Pastoral Company sold Welford Downs to the Button brothers (Mervyn Percy, Thomas Cecil and Leslie Moreton) in 1918.[76] By 1921 the Button brothers owned Adaford, Welford Downs, Corrib and Achill on the Barcoo River. Welford Downs remained leased and managed by their descendants until 1991.[77]
\nAfter enduring adverse conditions between 1913 and 1937-38, Queensland’s pastoral industry experienced its greatest boom for decades immediately after World War II. The industry’s share of Queensland’s total production, rose from 22% in 1945 to 42% in 1950 (it had not comprised more than 40% of the total since 1918), reaching its post-war pinnacle during the ‘wool boom’ of 1950. Afterwards, production fell progressively, and over the next 20 years wool prices generally declined until 1970-71.[78]
\nThe shearing shed located approximately 2.3 kilometres northwest of the Welford homestead is noted on survey plans by 1969, and archaeological evidence indicates the complex was in use from the late 1940s.[79] On wool-producing pastoral properties, the provision of accommodation for seasonal workers during the shearing season was a necessity. Shearers' quarters were built to varying standards all over Queensland from the 1840s. The Shearer's and Sugar Worker's Act 1905 was the first Queensland legislation to prescribe minimum standards for ‘proper and sufficient' seasonal worker's housing. The Workers' Accommodation Act 1915 and subsequent amendments extended these provisions. Requirements for quarters included a location away from other buildings used for pastoral purposes, suitable building materials, provision of a verandah, sleeping rooms for workers of a minimum size and height, and separate kitchen, dining room and cook's quarters.[80]
\nAfter World War II, reduction in the size of Welford Downs and a change of ownership occurred again. At the beginning of 1951 a further resumption of 152.25sq miles (394.3km2) by the Queensland Government occurred when the lease was re-issued, leaving the area at 2490sq miles (6449km2).[81] In 1964, Welford Downs was purchased by Thomas Cecil Button’s grandsons, Ron and Ian Button, from T C Button’s children: Viv Button, Joy Garde, Jeff Button and Jean Poole.[82] Between 1964 and 1971 Ron Button managed Welford Downs, followed by Ian Button as manager from 1971.[83]
\nA number of changes to the homestead took place during the second half of the 20th century. After the homestead was damaged by fire in 1956, its roof was replaced with a flatter hip roof.[84] The old stone kitchen was demolished, most likely in 1963, after heavy rains made it unsafe.[85]
\nThe pastoral sector received a brief respite from the competition from synthetic fibres in 1972 and 1973, but its recorded share of total production fell throughout most of the 1970s.[86] In 1974, a minimum reserve price was introduced to provide growers with a guaranteed minimum price for their wool. The Australian Wool Corporation (AWC), purchased all wool not meeting minimum reserve price at auction. During the 1980s exceptional seasons and high demand led to wool production increasing to over 1000 million kilograms and the reserve price increased from 640 cents per kilogram to 870 cents/kg. Loss of sales led to the eventual demise of this system in the early 1990s.[87]
\nAerial and other photography undertaken in 1973 showed the evolution of the homestead complex since 1909. A kitchen wing extended west from the northern end of the western wall of the homestead residence, replacing the earlier stone kitchen. The residence was protected on three sides (north, south and west) by medium to large trees, while on the east stood a fenced garden with lawns and shrubs. The verandahs encircling the residence had timber floors and were semi-enclosed with timber-framed mesh screens. At the residence’s southwest corner stood a rainwater tank on a stand. A meat house and a skillion-roofed shed were located nearby. The early station buildings such as the blacksmith workshop had been removed; replaced by a workshop/machinery shed running east-west, fuel store, worker accommodation and a shower block, all located north of the homestead residence. An east-west runway was sited west of the homestead complex.[88]
\nDuring the 1980s, the guest cottage and school were constructed of stone and gidgee, while in 1984, a swimming pool and tennis court were installed at the homestead complex.[89] In 1989, major renovations to the residence commenced with a new wing including three bedrooms added.[90] The verandahs on the northern, western, and southern sides of the pisé de terre core were enclosed and clad in chamferboards, with timber-framed doors and windows that, like the exterior of the new wing, mimicked traditional detail. New amenities included a bathroom in the former southern verandah and a kitchen in the former northern verandah, both with slate tile floors. The eastern verandah was widened and enclosed with new timber-framed gauze screens, and the floor tiled.
\nMore land was added to the property in 1987 when the owners, Ron and Ian Button purchased the lease of the adjoining station operated by Jedburgh Pastoral Holding.[91] This large property included the land fronting the Barcoo River originally leased by Richard Welford as Walton and Henley runs.
\nIn 1991 the Queensland Government resumed Welford Downs for a national park. Welford National Park, comprising approximately 124,000ha, was gazetted on 30 April 1993.[92]
\nIn 2023, Welford homestead complex includes: the early pisé de terre residence (constructed between 1875-1881), which is used for national parks management purposes; a meat house (c1950s); a skillion-roofed shed (c1950s); water tank stand (c1950s-60s); and swimming pool (1984), tennis court (1984), all within a garden setting including mature trees and lawn. North of the homestead residence is a transverse-gable, timber workers dwelling (c1920s-40s); shower block (c1940s); a workshop/machinery shed (c1950s-60s; and extended eastward after 1973); a stone (eastern) cottage (1980s); a stone (southern) cottage/school house (1980s). South of the homestead residence are the stone remnants of the former blacksmith’s workshop site (forge by 1881). An airstrip with an east-west runway, constructed after 1969 and by 1973, is sited about 200m northwest of the homestead residence.[93]
\nMore features exist at a distance from the homestead complex. About 2.3km west are a shearing shed with yards, including a sheep dip and a spray race (erected after 1909 and before 1969) and with associated shearers’ quarters, former meat house, shower block and toilet (after 1909).[94] A former polocrosse ground/complex (c1972) is located approximately 8km west of the homestead complex. In 2011 this was described as having ‘collapsed horse yards, loading ramp, bough shed bar, timber log seats and corrugated iron toilet, near the Jundah-Quilpie Road on the northern bank of the Barcoo River’.[95]
\nAt more distant locations throughout the national park, are remnants of the property’s pastoral function over more than a century. These include four former dwellings: Old Jedburgh Homestead ruins (by 1909), Sawyer Creek Hut ruins (1922/1947), Gap Creek Bore Hut ruin (between 1919 and 1959), Adaford Homestead site (built 1917 or 1918, destroyed by fire 1925);[96] four stockyard remnants: Lily Hole (by 1908), Welford Homestead old yards (by 1909), stock route yards (by 1922), and yards near Old Jedburgh Homestead ruins (by 1947); two old water bores: Gap Creek (by 1922), Sawyer Creek (by 1922); windmills; three former rubbish dump sites: former homestead west (now air strip; late C19th-); former homestead east (c1940s/1950s-), shearing complex (1945-); livestock fences and dog netting; remnant machinery; and the headstone and grave of Jedburgh overseer, James Andrew Roberton (born c1885, died 1910; location unknown).[97]
\nIn 2023, Welford homestead complex continues to serve as a Ranger station used by Parks for management of Welford National Park.
\n","criteria":"
Welford (established early 1870s) is important in demonstrating the pattern of colonial occupation and settlement of central west Queensland by pastoralists and its subsequent development into one of Queensland’s most important wool producing regions. Comprising an early homestead complex, an associated shearing complex, and the remnants of outstations and other sites of historical occupation, the place in its layout and fabric illustrates the extent and nature of activities undertaken there from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
\nWelford homestead residence (1875-1881), of pisé de terre (rammed earth) construction, is important in illustrating an early response to the environment by settlers, through use of a building method that utilised available materials and was suited to western Queensland’s arid climate.
|Welford homestead residence is a highly intact 19th century pisé de terre building, a form that was common in western Queensland but uncommon elsewhere in the colony, and is now rare. The house is one of only five known surviving 19th century pisé buildings in Queensland.
|Welford contains archaeological evidence that can contribute to our understanding of the life and work of central west Queensland pastoralists. Due to the age and extent of the site, Welford has the potential to provide information on the early history of the place, including early interactions between First Nations Peoples and settlers, those who lived and worked there, the nature of outstation life, and pastoral practices over time. The site contains the remains of outstations, hut sites and buildings, yards, bores, blacksmith’s workshop sites, as well as dump sites and artefact scatters, which date from the early phase of European occupation at Welford. Welford homestead residence also has the potential to contribute significantly to our understanding of the pisé de terre construction method as a rare and early example of this construction technique in Queensland.
|Welford homestead complex is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an early and evolving pastoral homestead complex in Queensland. Built as the head station of a large run in proximity to a permanent water source, the intact homestead complex retains its 19th century residence, garden with mature trees and other plantings, workers quarters, various associated outbuildings and ancillary structures, yards and fences. The relationships between these features contributes to an understanding of pastoral station life.
\nWelford homestead residence is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of 19th century pisé de terre construction in Queensland. A rare surviving example of this building method, it retains its use of locally sourced material (earth) compacted to form thick rock-like walls.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":33359,"place_ref":602807,"name":"Haddon Corner","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"South-west Queensland, on the border corner with South Australia","suburb":"HADDON CORNER","lga":"BARCOO SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2012-11-09","description":"Haddon Corner is in south-western Queensland, adjacent to the Queensland-South Australia border, at the north-eastern corner of South Australia. It is located approximately 335 km north of Cameron Corner [EHP application reference no. 602806] and approximately 300 km east of Poeppel Corner [EHP application reference no. 602808]. The area is on a gentle divide of poorly coordinated drainage between Cooper Creek (to the east) and the Diamantina River (to the west). The wider region is part of Channel Country. The degree confluence 26 degrees S 141 degrees E (with no official marking) is found several hundred metres mainly south (and a little east) of the Corner post. Like Queensland's other borders, there is discrepancy between the specified latitude or longitude and the border fence or post.
","history":"Haddon Corner, marked in 1880 during the official survey of the western section of the border between Queensland and South Australia undertaken in 1879-80, defines the north-eastern corner between Queensland and South Australia. Its marking was a surveying feat of its time.
Letters patent issued by Queen Victoria in June 1859 separated the new Colony of Queensland from New South Wales (NSW). They described Queensland's border as the watershed from Point Danger (28º8"S) west to the Dumaresq River; the Dumaresq, Macintyre and Barwon Rivers to latitude 29 degrees South; and along latitude 29 degrees South to the 141st meridian of East longitude, which was the eastern boundary of South Australia.[1]
Although legal opinion advised that the 141st meridian was the western boundary of Queensland, Surveyor-General Augustus Charles Gregory believed otherwise. In a memorandum of 28 September 1860 he wrote ‘the western boundary ... appears to be the 141st meridian; but it is probable that it was not described in the Letters Patent erecting the Colony, with greater distinctness, expressly with a view to a future adjustment, when more certain information should have been collected as to the natural features of the country... It is now submitted that the 141st meridian passes through the tract of country known as the ‘Plains of Promise' and that the Eastern shore [of the Gulf of Carpentaria] possesses no harbours. It would therefore be desirable to adopt the 138th meridian as the boundary; as that line would pass through a barren tract of country, and bring ‘Investigator's Road' [an anchorage] within the limits of Queensland.'[2]
Furthermore, expeditions in 1861-62 funded by the South Australian, Victorian and Queensland governments to rescue the missing explorers Burke and Wills, who had failed to return from a journey from Cooper Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, led to the exploration of an enormous area of the inland and were predicted to stimulate interest in this previously unknown tract of land beyond Queensland's western boundary. Writing to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 5 September 1861, the Queensland Governor George Bowen indicated his colony's willingness to protect any settlers so attracted, provided that the western boundary could be extended to include the Gulf. The proposal was accepted on condition that the additional territory could be reclaimed later should another colony be formed in northern Australia.[3]
In response, a despatch dated 14 December 1861 from the Secretary of State for the Colonies advised that the proposed annexation to the 138th Meridian of longitude should be revoked under Act 24 and 25 Victoria, c.44. This immediately provoked a despatch from Sir George Bowen, dated 18 January 1862, stating that Queensland had taken provisional control of this area. Subsequently, on 12 April 1862 Letters Patent were issued describing the accession of ‘so much of our Colony of New South Wales as lies to the northward of the 26th parallel of south latitude and between the 141st and 138th meridian of east longitude...".[4] Thereby two more corners in Queensland's western boundary were created and the colony acquired part of the Barkly Tableland and the area which later became the Mount Isa mineral field.[5] A revised definition of the extent of Queensland was subsequently proclaimed on 23 June 1862.[6]
In July 1862 Sir Charles Nicholson[7] reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that: ‘On the west, the whole of the basin of the ‘Barcoo' for several hundred miles, as far as the 142nd meridian of East longitude, is becoming rapidly occupied by squatters, and the authorised possession of the greater part of it has already, I believe, been secured under pastoral licenses...'.[8] Pastoralists began settling the Cooper and Bulloo country and the adjacent portion of South Australia in 1864 with Bulloo Downs being the first run in the Bulloo area. By the end of the decade the Cooper country was also settled.[9]
During the 1870s, settlement extended west to the Diamantina, Mulligan and Georgina areas. In 1873, the pastoral districts were named - Gregory South comprised the Bulloo and lower Cooper area and the remainder became Gregory North. Initially runs in both districts were stocked with cattle and sheep.[10] By 1885 all available land in Queensland's far south-west had been claimed. This land, comprising the floodplains of the Mulligan, Georgina, Diamantina and Bulloo Rivers and Cooper Creek, which form part of a vast inland drainage system originating in Queensland's central west and north-west and eventually reaching Lake Eyre, became known as Channel Country. During floods, the semi-arid region becomes a network of channels, watering cattle-fattening grasslands.[11]
Agitation by pastoralists in the Cooper region for surveying of the border because of uncertainty as to its position began in the 1870s. In 1877 James McLeod, the new owner of Cullamurra run, applied to the South Australian Commissioner of Crown Lands to have the colony's border surveyed urgently, after finding himself in dispute with his eastern neighbour John Conrick of Nappa Merrie over their station boundaries.[12]
Another factor in the determination of Queensland's borders was the collection of customs duties at the border and establishment of border customs offices. Inter-colonial border duties were introduced in Australia in the 1850s, after the Murray River became the boundary between New South Wales and Victoria. Their introduction demonstrated that the Australian colonies were developing in divergent and independent ways. As each new colony was declared, it established its own customs administration, which was responsible for the collection of lucrative custom duties and the prevention of smuggling.[13]
As the western regions of the colony developed and internal trade routes were established, custom facilities were required along the borders with New South Wales and South Australia. In mid-1862, the Queensland government had assented to the provisions of the New South Wales Border Customs Act, introduced to provide for a mutual Queensland-New South Wales system of collecting customs duties payable on goods crossing their shared border.[14] Queensland's Customs Duties Act 1870 provided the colony with independent legislation to regulate the collection of duties on goods imported from other colonies. A small Customs Border Patrol consisting of a police inspector, sub-inspector and four constables was appointed with powers to collect duties from 1 January 1871. They travelled along the Queensland-New South Wales border, collecting duties and keeping careful records regarding the type and value of goods and the amount of monies collected. They also recommended 11 sites suitable for custom offices and these were later established. Those near the South Australian border were at Beetoota, Birdsville and Oontoo.[15]
The marking of the Queensland-South Australian border was undertaken in 1879-80 by the South Australian Government as the final section of a survey of its border on the 141st meridian, which had started at the Murray River.[16] The surveyor chosen to undertake the border survey was William Barron, who had recently accompanied an expedition to South Australia's western districts. In May 1879 Barron, accompanied by a survey team with horses and camels, set out from Mulligan Springs, 24 km east of Mt Hopeless in north-east South Australia. After checking the border line north to the end of the completed survey at the 29th parallel (Fort Grey), he began working towards the 26th parallel. The work was difficult and tedious, involving trudging over sand ridges and claypans, and marking the line by mileposts recording the distance from the survey starting point at the Murray River.[17] William Barron marked the border from Cameron Corner 90 miles north to Cooper Creek, where his health failed and he was forced to return to Adelaide.[18]
Surveyor Augustus Poeppel took over the survey in January 1880, assisted by Lawrence Wells. Arriving at the survey camp at Innaminka on 3 February 1880, Poeppel spent the following month taking observations and preparing rations and equipment. On 5 March, with two months' rations and the animals in good condition, the survey team returned to work. They continued the line to the 26th parallel where they met their Queensland colleague Alexander Hutchinson Salmond. Together the surveyors took star observations for latitude to fix the position at 26 degrees S and 141 degrees E (now known as Haddon Corner, named after the nearby pastoral lease). The corner was marked with a willow post, 12 feet (2.4 m) long, sunk over an iron bar flanked by rock trenches following the angle. The survey line was marked by mileposts still recording the distance from the surveying starting point at the Murray River.[19]
The party continued on to survey to the next corner at 26 degrees South 138 degrees East.
Augustus Poeppel was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1839, the son of an architect. Emigrating with his family in 1849, he settled in South Australia before moving to Victoria to become a mining surveyor and architect. In 1878, after short periods in New Zealand and Western Australia, Poeppel joined the South Australian Lands Department and was soon appointed to the border surveys. During the Queensland-Northern Territory border survey, from the 142-mile post, he suffered from trachoma and lost 13 kg in weight, forcing his withdrawal in July 1885. His health was broken and he later lost sight in one eye. He retired to Melbourne where he died in 1891 aged 52.[20]
Lawrence Wells, born in 1860 in South Australia, entered that colony's Survey Department in 1878. In the following year, at the age of 23, he joined the border surveys, eventually assisting with almost the entire survey of the Queensland-South Australian-Northern Territory borders, which was completed in 1886. Later Wells became a well-known explorer, known as ‘the last of the great inland explorers'. In 1891-92 he accompanied the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, which discovered the East Murchison goldfield; in 1896 he led the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, investigating northern Western Australia; and in 1903 he led South Australia's North-West Prospecting Expedition. Later Wells held administrative positions in the state and federal public services, and was appointed Order of the British Empire in 1937.[21]
Alexander Hutchison Salmond was born in Scotland in 1850. He acquired navigational skills as a cadet in the British merchant navy before arriving with his family in Rockhampton in 1864. His career was spent working in the remote Australian inland. Salmond became a licensed surveyor in 1876 and was based in Cunnamulla until lured to the Western Australian goldfields in the early 1890s. Thereafter he worked in Kalgoorlie and in Carnarvon in the northwest. In 1903 he lead an expedition into the Kimberley region and one of its rivers is named after him.[22]
Following the completion of the Queensland-South Australian border survey in 1880, there was renewed interest in the land along the border as well-watered country had already been taken. Dependent for its water supplies on a scanty rainfall and the sinking of wells, this land had been ignored in favour of land further west on the Diamantina flood plains. In 1880 William and John Hastie Howie, who already held land on the Queensland side of the border, took up Haddon Downs, the north-eastern corner of South Australia which gave the border corner its name. Haddon Downs is now part of another early holding, Cordillo Downs.[23]
Given the enormous physical difficulties which the surveyors faced in the task, their survey of the Queensland-South Australian border was impressive. Today, we have the Global Positioning System (or GPS) to pinpoint place by longitude and latitude more accurately. It is now apparent that the intended corner between Queensland and South Australia at 26 degrees S 141 degrees E was not completely achieved. However, The Queensland Boundaries Declaratory Act 1982 confirmed ‘that each land boundary of the State ... as ... defined in the Letters Patent ... by reference to a parallel of latitude or a meridian of longitude is and always has been the boundary ... permanently fixed by marking it upon on the surface of the earth before 1900...'.[24]
The corner post as a survey mark is protected under the Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Act 2003 and the Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Regulation 2004 whereby a person must not interfere with a survey mark unless certain conditions are met.[25]
The original timber corner post has been replaced by a concrete pillar.
Haddon Corner is a well-known tourist destination today.
","criteria":"Haddon Corner has an important association with the life and career of Augustus Poeppel (1839-91) and Lawrence Allen Wells (1860-1938), who later surveyed Poeppel Corner and the Queensland-Northern Territory border.
|Haddon Corner represents the culmination of a difficult feat of geodetic surveying and is an early application of this branch of surveying in Queensland.
|Haddon Corner is important to the Australian community as a geographical and cultural landmark, and is a well-known tourist attraction.
|Haddon Corner (1880), marking the north-eastern extension of the Queensland-South Australia border, is important in demonstrating the priority placed on clear border demarcation by the governments of Queensland and South Australia. Set borders were an important part of colonial economic and administrative development, providing certainty for governments and pastoralists, and enabling the collection of customs duties.
Haddon Corner is the result of early cooperation between Australian colonies and provides lasting evidence of the feat of endurance which marking the Queensland-South Australia border involved.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion H | Criterion F | Criterion G | Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"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 is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"} ]}