History of Boonah (Queensland)

A N H I ST O RI CA L OVE RV I EW O F B O O NA H A N D IT S N O RT H E R N D I ST RI C T

WORKING THE LAND

by Murray Johnson and Kay Saunders

WORKING THE LANDAN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BOONAH AND ITS NORTHERN DISTRICT

by Murray Johnson and Kay Saunders

WORKING THE LAND AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BOONAH AND ITS NORTHERN DISTRICT

Working the Land: An Historical Overview of Boonah and

its Northern District was commissioned by Queensland

State Archives for the Department of Public Works as

members of the Community Futures Task Force.

The Community Futures Task Force provides support

for the communities affected by the Queensland

Government’s decision to develop proposed dams at

Traveston Crossing and Wyaralong.

While researching this fascinating booklet, respected

Queensland historians Professor Kay Saunders AM

and Dr Murray Johnson mined archival records

from Queensland State Archives, State Library of

Queensland and local councils to uncover the rich

vein of Boonah history.

This booklet provides a valuable historical account of

Boonah and Wyaralong. I trust it will prove to be an

important record for current and future generations

of this region and researchers of Queensland history.

Major General Peter Arnison AC, CVO (Ret’d) Chair, Community Futures Task Force

FOREWORD

Blacksmith’s shop, Boonah (c.1890)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 1065

It is my great pleasure to write this introduction to

Working the Land, a Queensland Government and

Boonah Shire Council project.

Boonah Shire has been an area of historical and

cultural significance since the local Indigenous people

held their traditional ceremonies long before the

arrival of white settlers.

Today, Boonah is a thriving centre surrounded by

rich farmland and it is rapidly developing a deserved

reputation as a desirable destination for tourism.

Professor Kay Saunders AM and Dr Murray Johnson

have written a thorough and professional historical

account of Boonah and its northern district.

During the writing of the booklet, they received

the cooperation of many sources, including local

historians and Boonah Shire archivist, Mr Col Pfeffer.

The result is a publication of which Boonah residents

can be proud and with which the Boonah Shire

Council is delighted to have been involved.

Working the Land: An Historical Overview of Boonah and

its Northern Districts will be a valuable research tool for

generations to come.

Cr John Brent Mayor of Boonah Shire

WORKING THE LAND AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BOONAH AND ITS NORTHERN DISTRICT 1

Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................................3

1. The Indigenous Inhabitants ..........................................................................................................................................................5

2. Exploration of the Fassifern Valley .............................................................................................................................................9

3. The Rise and Decline of Pastoralism ...................................................................................................................................... 13

4. Closer Settlement and Early Agriculture ............................................................................................................................ 17

5. The German Community ............................................................................................................................................................. 21

6. Towns and a Branch Railway ...................................................................................................................................................... 25

7. Education and Religion ................................................................................................................................................................. 29

8. Dairying ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

9. Patterns of Progress ......................................................................................................................................................................... 37

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

Index .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 47

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Queensland State Archives435 Compton RoadRuncorn Queensland 4113PO Box 1397Sunnybank Hills Queensland 4109

Phone: (07) 3131 7777Fax: (07) 3131 7764

Web: www.archives.qld.gov.auEmail: [email protected]

ISBN 0 734 51530 8

© The State of Queensland (through the Department of Public Works) 2007

Copyright protects this material being reproduced but asserts its right to be recognised as author of its material and the right to have its material remain unaltered.

Trained in political science and anthropology, Kay Saunders AM was Professor of History and Senator of the University of Queensland from 2002-06. Serving on the Council of the Australian War Memorial, she was Chairman of the Official History to the Australia at War Committee. Professor Saunders was appointed to the Council of the National Maritime Museum of Australia and was director of the National Australia Day Council. She served as Chair of the Queensland Government’s Cultural Advisory Council and was a member of the Premier’s Advisory Council on Women’s Policy. She is a Fellow of the Academy of

the Social Sciences in Australia, the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the Royal Historical Society (London) and the Royal Anthropological Institute. In 2001 she received the Medal of the National Museum of Australia and in 2006 was the recipient of the John Kerr Medal from the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. Her most recent books include A Crowning Achievement: A Study of Australian Beauty, Business and Charitable Enterprise (2005) and Between the Covers: Revealing the State Library of Queensland’s Collection (2006).

Kay Saunders

Murray JohnsonA recipient of the University of Queensland Medal, Dr Murray Johnson has lectured on various aspects of Australian history at the University of Queensland, the Australian National University in Canberra and the University of Tasmania. He has also been involved in a number of projects designed to forge closer links between academic institutions and the wider community, including the National Museum of Australia’s Youth Challenge (2005). He has published widely on Australian history, his latest book being Trials and Tribulations: A Social History of Europeans in Australia 1788-1960 (2007). As well as wide-

ranging issues, he has a particular interest in local and regional history, with his co-edited collection, Health, Wealth and Tribulation: A History of Launceston’s Cataract Gorge, released in November 2007. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Brisbane Institute.

WORKING THE LAND2 AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BOONAH AND ITS NORTHERN DISTRICT 3

As one of the earliest settled regions outside Brisbane,

the district north of Boonah is rich in history and

heritage. It is hoped that this modest study will

encourage readers to dig even deeper into that

fascinating past and discover the delights that await

the curious and interested.

This historical overview is primarily concerned with

the district extending from Boonah north-east to

Wyaralong, westwards over the Teviot Range to

Milbong, and south to encompass the towns of

Teviotville, Roadvale and Coulson. This area was

embraced by the boundaries of Dugandan and the

eastern section of Fassifern pastoral runs from the

mid-1840s, and the Europeans who settled in the area

shared many close affinities. The evolving patterns of

land use are nevertheless the quintessential element

in this district’s history. The hunter-gathering of the

Indigenous Ugarapul people was initially displaced

by pastoralism, which in turn was succeeded by grain

crops. Dairying and pig-raising played important roles

during the twentieth century before being overtaken

by intensive agriculture. Recent decades have seen a

trend back towards cattle grazing, so in many ways the

cycle has virtually come full turn.

Water resources have been no less relevant, for it was

the fertile soils and permanent watercourses which

induced the first Europeans to settle permanently

in this area. Many of those pioneering families were

German immigrants who had earlier selected land

in the Logan River and Rosewood districts. Highly

respected as both a social group and for their

agricultural ability, the German community instilled

its own ethic within the community generally,

creating a distinctiveness which has endured to the

present day. The strong sense of community spawned

many voluntary endeavours, including the provision

of educational facilities to provide children with

opportunities often denied parents, and education

continues to maintain its prominent position within

this rural district. Religion was also an important

feature of social life, with a multitude of denominations

receiving strong support over a considerable period

of time. Self-help and self-improvement are two more

threads which have woven their way through from the

pioneering period to the present day.

INTRODUCTION

LOCALITY MAP OF STUDY AREA

BOONAH

WYARALONG

COULSONTEVIOTVILLE

KALBAR

MILBONG

ROADVALE

SILVERDALE

FASSIFERN

QUEENSLAND

CUNNINGHAM

HIG

HWAY

TO W

ARWIC

K

TO IP

SWIC

H

BOONAH–FASSIFERN RD

IPSW

ICH –

BO

ONAH R

DIP

SWIC

H –

BO

ON

AH R

D

BEAUDESERT – BOONAH RD

CU

NN

ING

HA

M

TO BEAUDESERT

HIG

HW

AY


Prior to the arrival of Europeans the region from

Ipswich, south to the rim of the Macpherson Range

and west to the Great Dividing Range, was home to

the Ugarapul people. Although the eastern boundary

appears to have been in the vicinity of Maroon,1 there

is every likelihood that at the time of European contact

the area separating the Ugarapul and Upper Albert

River peoples was undergoing redefinition. Bunjoey,

otherwise known as Susan and often wrongly credited

as being the last of the Ugarapul people,2 was able to

identify the north, south and western boundaries with

precision; she could not identify the eastern boundary.3

Whatever the case may be the Ugarapul were the

most southerly people of the Yuggera language group,

whose territory was largely centred on the Brisbane

River Valley. This southern expansion also meant that the

Ugarapul were almost entirely surrounded by speakers

of the equally distinct Bundjalung language group,

and communication with northern kin was totally

dependent on a narrow corridor penetrating the dense

Dugandan and Fassifern scrubs.4 That same route was

also used by Aboriginal peoples from as far south as

the Richmond River district, who made their triennial

pilgrimage to the bunya feasts in the territory of the

Kabi Kabi and Waka peoples far to the north.5 They were

among other distant Aboriginal groups who regularly

attended the Ugarapul’s own elaborate ceremonial

activities,6 and with potential threats existing on three

boundaries there is more than a suggestion here that

the Ugarapul possessed exceptional diplomatic and

trading skills.

How they came to establish this southern outpost

remains shrouded in mystery. Why they stayed

is obvious. Fed by perennial watercourses and

interspersed with numerous waterholes, the Fassifern

Valley teemed with wildlife.7 Early European observers

commented on the wide range of food sources

available to the Aboriginal people: macropods, koalas,

possums, emus and waterfowl were found throughout

the district. Scrub turkeys, ‘large white tree grubs’

and carpet pythons have also been documented

as part of the Ugarapul larder,8 while the economic

importance of the sand monitor is indicated by its

frequent occurrence in Ugarapul lore.9 Apart from yams

and seasonal fruits, however, little mention was made

of vegetables,10 but given the fertility of this region

there can be little doubt that a host of edible plants

were utilised. The fine physique which impressed early

European settlers was certainly indicative of a nutritious

and carefully balanced diet,11 and the Ugarapul were

equipped with an impressive array of utensils and

weapons to fully exploit local resources.

Spears made from local brigalow (Acacia harpophylla)

are known to have been a major trade item. At least

one type of spear was barbed. After being carefully

worked in hot ash, the strength of the wood was

comparable to steel.12 Clubs and heavy boomerangs

were cut from rosewood, with lighter boomerangs

occasionally manufactured from the roots of eucalypts

that had been exposed in washouts. As with spears,

boomerangs were also hardened in hot ash.13 While

stone axes and tools were often fashioned from locally-

available material,14 numerous others were made from

a ‘bluish-grey rock’ foreign to the Fassifern Valley.15

1. THE INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS

Boonah – Fassifern Landscape (Undated)Source: Queensland State Archives Neg No 435638


Remarkably, there was little recourse to this

formidable arsenal when European pastoralists made

their appearance in the early 1840s. Indeed, many

Ugarapul people worked for the early pastoralists,16

and in the 1860s they also found employment

picking and ginning cotton on the larger selections.17

Close association with Europeans, however, did not

guarantee safety. In December 1860, Lieutenant

Frederick Wheeler of the Native Mounted Police

‘dispersed’ two groups of Aboriginal people on

Dugandan and Fassifern Stations respectively. Among

the dead and wounded were Ugarapul pastoral

workers,18 but the following year the Ugarapuls were

forced to seek shelter at Dugandan Head Station after

a hostile raid by Aboriginal people from the Richmond

and Clarence River districts.19

For all that, it was the dislocation caused by European

settlement and the introduction of disease which

impacted most severely on the Ugarapul people.

Pre-contact estimates of their numbers vary from 80

to almost 200,20 with the higher figure probably the

more accurate. They were also fragmented into smaller

clan units scattered throughout the Fassifern Valley,21

and although it does not represent the entire existing

population, some idea of the rapid decline in numbers

can be gauged by the annual blanket distribution in

1881. Campbell Macdonald distributed 15 blankets

on Dugandan Station, while at the southern extremity

of their former territory 17 blankets were issued to

the Ugarapul at Coochin Coochin.22 Five years later

a journalist came across a fringe camp near Teviot

School, where the majority of the occupants were

suffering from either severe cold, malnutrition or

venereal disease.23

Despite dwindling numbers and increasing hardship

ceremonial activities were conducted at Dugandan

in 1883 and Templin in the early 1890s,24 the former

drawing participants from as far north as Nanango

and the Bunya Mountains, and from the Richmond

River in the south.25 The last recorded Ugarapul

corroboree took place at Maroon in 1905, with the

‘8 or 10 aboriginals’ outnumbered by an estimated

110 European spectators.26 The collection taken up

for the performers lends weight to a suspicion that

this final corroboree may have been enacted solely

for pecuniary gain rather than a genuine attempt

at reviving a traditional practice, indicative of the

deplorable state in which the Indigenous people

now found themselves.27 The breakdown of their

past way of life had already been accelerated by the

forced removal of Aboriginal people from Boonah to

Deebing Creek Mission in late 1896.28 Moreover, this

was merely the beginning of a concerted government

policy, for between 1909 and 1913 another 12 people

were removed from Boonah to either Barambah (later

Cherbourg) or Taroom. Indeed, as late as 1937 and

1940 another two Aboriginal men were respectively

removed from Boonah to Cherbourg.29

There are still a number of proud descendants of the

Ugarapul people,30 and physical evidence of their rich

cultural heritage is to be found throughout the district

immediately north of Boonah. Stone artifacts continue

to be unearthed, and in 1983 J.G. Steele recorded

a bora ring close to Milbong.31 Perhaps the most

constant reminder of their presence lies in place names,

not the least of which is Boonah − a corruption of the

Ugarapul word for the bloodwood tree (Eucalyptus

gummifera).32 It was only after the arrival of Europeans

and the imposition of an entirely new economic order

that the hunting and gathering which had sustained

the Indigenous people for so long was finally, and

irreversibly, shattered forever.

1 D. O’Donnell, ‘The Ugarapul Tribe of the Fassifern Valley’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland [JRHSQ], Vol.14, No.4 (November 1990), p.149.

2 H. Pugsley, Looking Back Along Fassifern Valley (Stanthorpe, Qld: Harry Pugsley, 1975), p.1.

3 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary 1844-1944 (Boonah, Qld: Boonah Shire Council, 1944), p.124.

4 O’Donnell, ‘The Ugarapul Tribe of the Fassifern Valley’, p.150; A. Collyer, ‘The Process of Settlement: Land Occupation and Usage in Boonah 1842-1870s’ (unpublished MA thesis, University of Queensland, 1991), p.282.

5 O’Donnell, ‘The Ugarapul Tribe of the Fassifern Valley’, p.150.

6 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Corroboree’, Fassifern Guardian [FG] (Boonah), 21 October 1959, p.2.

7 L.C. Jackson (comp.), A Preliminary Sourcebook on the Ugarapul People of the Fassifern, South-Eastern Queensland (Glebe, NSW: L. Clair Jackson, 1992), p.42.

8 C.K. Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story: A History of Boonah Shire and Surroundings to 1989 (Boonah, Qld: Boonah Shire Council, 1991), p.11.

9 J.G. Steele, Aboriginal Pathways in Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1983), p.144.

10 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Aboriginal Weapons and Customs’, FG, 7 October 1959, p.2; Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.11.

11 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘A Vocabulary of the Yuggarabul Language’, Queensland Geographical Journal, Vol.51 (1946-47), p.21.

12 Steele, Aboriginal Pathways in Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River, pp.147-48; Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.11.

13 Hardcastle, ‘A Vocabulary of the Yuggarabul Language’, pp.22-23.

14 Hardcastle, ‘Aboriginal Weapons and Customs’, p.2.

15 D. O’Donnell, ‘The Ugarapuls of the Fassifern:1’, FG, 16 August 1989, p.9.

16 ‘Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines Generally’, Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings [QV&P], Vol.1 (1861), p.68.

17 Collyer, ‘The Process of Settlement’, p.298.

18 ‘Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines Generally’, pp.12 and 66; D. O’Donnell, ’The Ugarapuls of the Fassifern:2’, FG, 30 August 1989, p.15; B. Rosser, Up Rode The Troopers: The Black Police in Queensland (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1990), p.62ff.

19 Frederick Wheeler, Sandgate, to Commandant, Native Mounted Police, Brisbane, 16 July 1861, COL/A17, In-letter 61/1713, Queensland State Archives [QSA].

20 D. O’Donnell, ‘WHITE versus BLACK in the Fassifern: Extirpation of the Ugarapuls’, Social Alternatives, Vol.9, No.4 (January 1991), p.17; Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.11.

21 Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.14.

22 William Townley, Police Magistrate, Ipswich, to Under Colonial Secretary, Brisbane, 4 June 1881, COL/A314, In-letter 81/2433, QSA.

23 Queensland Times (Ipswich), 4 September 1886, p.3.

24 Hardcastle, ‘Corroboree’, p.2; Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.12.


26 FG, 11 November 1905, p.2.

27 D. O’Donnell, ‘The Ugarapuls of the Fassifern’, FG, 16 August 1989, p.9.

28 A. Meston to Horace Tozer, Home Secretary, Brisbane, 5 January 1897, COL/140, In-letter 97/147, QSA.

29 ‘Aboriginal Movement Records’, Series CE, Community and Personal History Unit, QSA.

30 Jackson, A Preliminary Sourcebook on the Ugarapul People of the Fassifern, pp.42-43.

31 Steele, Aboriginal Pathways of Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River, pp.145-46.

32 Anon., Serving the Shire: History of Local Government in Boonah Shire—from 1879 (Boonah, Qld: Boonah Shire Council, 1980), p.11.


Whether convict runaways from the Moreton Bay

penal settlement ever entered the Fassifern Valley

may never be known. However, it was one of their

oppressors − Captain Patrick Logan − who left his own

name indelibly etched in the history of this district. A

career soldier who had served in the Peninsular War,

Logan arrived in New South Wales with his regiment,

the 57th Foot (West Middlesex), in April 1825. In March

the following year he took up an appointment as

Commandant of the penal settlement at Brisbane,1 a

position he continued to fill until his violent death in

October 1830. A complex personality, Logan’s regime

is generally portrayed as a particularly brutal chapter

in the history of early Brisbane.2 In recent decades a

number of revisionists have attempted, albeit with

only partial success, to cleanse both his character

and record.3 While the debate is yet to be resolved,

neither side has cast any doubt on his achievements

as an explorer. Logan was constantly probing the

surrounding districts whenever sufficient time was

available, his excursions extending as far as supplies

would permit.

In June 1827 Logan determined on trekking overland

from the junction of the Brisbane and Bremer rivers to

reach the coast somewhere between ‘Point Danger and

Cape Biron’ [sic]. He directed the course of his party to a

peak which he named Mount Dumaresq (now Mount

French), before crossing the Teviot Range and reaching

Teviot Brook on 11 June, Logan rightly identifying this as

a branch of the river named in his honour. At this point

he was approximately five kilometres upstream from

where Boonah would later be established. It was an area

he considered ‘well adapted to graze cattle’, although

the most immediate attraction was ‘a large flock of

emus, the first seen in the vicinity of Moreton Bay’.4

By a remarkable coincidence, Logan’s party camped

that night only 22 kilometres from another avid

explorer, Allan Cunningham. Having left the Hunter

Valley in April 1827, Cunningham journeyed north

seeking an overland route to Brisbane. After discovering

the Darling Downs, where he coincidentally named

a flat-topped peak Mount Dumaresq on the very day

that Logan gave the same appellation to Mount French,

Cunningham turned east and was close to Spicer’s

Gap when Logan’s party bivouacked beneath Minto

Craggs.5 Short of provisions, Cunningham was forced to

return to Sydney when literally on the brink of success,6

while Logan’s continuing peregrinations took him

further south to Mount Toowoonan, which he named

Mount Shadforth after the commanding officer of

the 57th Regiment. Crossing Burnett Creek, he turned

east until repulsed by the Macpherson Range and

terminated his own journey at Mount Barney, which he

wrongly believed was Mount Warning.7

Logan’s return to Brisbane was via a more easterly route

which crossed the headwaters of the Albert River.8 At

the completion of his journey Logan reported that the

country through which he passed ‘exceeded my most

sanguine expectations’, and had ‘no doubt’ that when

it was opened for free settlement ‘it will be found the

most desirable district’.9

The following year Cunningham sailed to Brisbane

with the Colonial Botanist, Charles Fraser, determined

to find the gap through the Great Dividing Range

2. EXPLORATION OF THE FASSIFERN VALLEY

Captain Patrick Logan (Undated)Source: Queensland State Archives Neg No 435741


1 C. Cranfield, ‘Life of Captain Patrick Logan’, JRHSQ, Vol.6, No.2 (1959-1960), pp.303-5.

2 W.R. Johnston, The Call of the Land: A History of Queensland to the Present Day (Milton, Qld: Jacaranda Press, 1982), p.21.

3 J. Harrison and J.G. Steele (eds), The Fell Tyrant or the Suffering Convict (Brisbane: Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 2003), pp.4-5.

4 Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser [SG] (Sydney), 17 August 1827, p.2; T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Capt. Logan’, FG, 25 February 1959, p.2.

5 J.G. Steele, The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830 (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1972), pp.211 and 215.

6 M. Cannon, The Exploration of Australia (Surry Hills, NSW: Reader’s Digest Services, 1987), p.131.

7 Steele, The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, p.211.


9 SG, 17 August 1827, p.2.

10 Steele, The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, pp.251 and 253.

11 F. Broomfield, ‘Cunningham, with Logan and Fraser–IV: The Expedition of 1828’, Brisbane Courier (Brisbane), 20 December 1924, p.18.


13 Anon., Memories of Mutdapilly 1824-1974 (Mutdapilly, Qld: Parents and Citizens Association, Mutdapilly State School, 1974), pp.25-26; J.C.H. Gill, Spicers Peak Road: A New Way to the Downs (Brisbane: Library Board of Queensland, 1981), p.2.

14 R. Evans, ‘Captain Logan’s Ghost’, in R. Evans and C. Ferrier (eds), Radical Brisbane: An Unruly History (Carlton North, Vic: Vulgar Press, 2004), pp.19-21.

15 SG, 30 November 1839, p.2.

16 B. Kitson and J. McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945: A Pictorial History (Brisbane: Queensland Natural Resources and Water and the Queensland Museum, 2006), p.40.

17 J.D. Lang, Queensland, Australia: a highly eligible field for emigration, and the future cotton field of Great Britain (London: Edward Stanford, 1861), pp.85-86.

which had earlier eluded him. First, however, they

set out with Logan from Brisbane on an exploratory

expedition which was virtually a reverse sweep of the

commandant’s previous journey. The party reached

the headwaters of the Logan River and Mount Barney

on 2 August 1828, whereupon they headed north.

Six days later they reached Teviot Brook, which Fraser

named after a watercourse at Roxburgh, Scotland.

An open expanse three kilometres north was named

Rattray’s Plain after a town in Perthshire, Scotland.

This is now the site of Dugandan.10 Crossing Teviot

Brook they were unable to penetrate the scrub-

covered Teviot Range, and continued parallel along its

length.11 Close to where Coulson now stands, Logan

dispatched two messengers to Brisbane along a more

easterly route,12 while his party continued to follow

the Teviot Range until they passed its northern limit.

Logan and Fraser thereupon turned towards Brisbane,

while Cunningham headed for Ipswich where he

re-equipped before setting out to discover the pass

through to the Darling Downs which was later named

Cunningham’s Gap.13

The Ugarapul people, who no doubt closely observed

both expeditions led by Patrick Logan, were to be

left in peace for little more than a decade. Logan, on

the other hand, embarked on a final expedition just

when his departure from Brisbane was imminent.

After exploring a section of the Stanley River he was

killed by either Aborigines or vengeful convicts − or

perhaps a combination of both − while returning

south to Ipswich in October 1830.14 In yet another

strange coincidence, this was the territory of Yuggera

speakers who were closely linked to the Ugarapul of

the Fassifern Valley.

In August 1839 Europeans again entered the Ugarapul

landscape when one of Logan’s successors, Lieutenant

Owen Gorman, sent a party of four Europeans and

three Aborigines to follow Cunningham’s route to the

New England district. Crossing the northern Fassifern

Valley they eventually reached Peter McIntyre’s pastoral

run at Inverell,15 but even as they set out there were

already clear signs that much was about to change.

In May 1839 three surveyors, Robert Dixon, Granville

Stapylton and James Warner, arrived in Brisbane to

prepare a trigonometrical survey paving the way for

free settlement throughout the entire Moreton Bay

district. Their task required marking out a five-kilometre

baseline, and the location chosen was Normanby

Plains, the site of today’s Harrisville.16 The only other

explorer of note to be associated with the Fassifern

Valley was Ludwig Leichhardt, who briefly visited the

district in 1844.17 By then, pastoralists were already

ensconced in the region around Boonah and it was

their arrival that prompted the dawn of a new era.

Survey map of Milbong Township and Environs (1885)Source: Boonah Shire Archives


The advent of pastoralism in the Boonah district

during the early 1840s exemplified the strong family

connections which often existed among the squatting

fraternity. John Cameron and his brother-in-law Robert

Coulson were the first to settle in the Fassifern Valley,

but close on their heels came three other pastoralists

who, like Coulson, had all married sisters of Cameron.

In country beyond the settled districts familial

connections were a distinct advantage during times of

physical and emotional crisis, and the importance of

such connections is shown in this particular case study.

Born in 1811 at Stirling in Scotland, John Cameron

was the son of Hugh Cameron, a former soldier who

emigrated to New South Wales in 1832 and was granted

1280 acres of land near Scone in the Hunter Valley.1

After his father’s death, John Cameron sold the property

and moved north to the New England district, taking

up a pastoral run called Abington, where he was soon

joined by Robert Coulson.2 Like many others, Cameron

and Coulson followed Patrick and George Leslie onto

the rich pastures of the Darling Downs only to find the

best land already taken up. They herded their sheep

north-east to Maryvale in 1841 where they remained

for almost a year,3 during which time they experienced

considerable difficulty transporting their wool clip over

Cunningham’s Gap.4 This appears to have prompted

their move into the Fassifern Valley, where Cameron

successfully applied for a pasturage licence in 1842.

He continued to renew the licence until 1848, when

he formally took a leasehold over 24,000 acres initially

known as ‘Fassefern’,5 later becoming Fassifern, a Scottish

name bestowed on the entire valley.

Although Coulson’s name disappears from the

historical record for four years, there is no doubt that he

accompanied Cameron to the run where he claimed

the southern portion for himself. Coulson referred

to the 18,000 acres as King-bah, and in June 1846,

following the death of his wife, he successfully applied

for a pasturage licence. Renaming the run Moogerah,

Coulson sold out to John Richardson in 1847 and left

the district,6 by which time other relatives had moved

into surrounding areas. Between Moogerah and the

Great Dividing Range lay Tarome pastoral run, taken up

in 1845 by William Turner, who had also married one of

Cameron’s sisters. On the opposite side of the Fassifern

Valley was Maroon pastoral run which had originally

been taken up by J.B. Bettington and D. Haley in 1843,

but which passed into the hands of John Rankin in

1845: his wife Jane was another of Cameron’s sisters.

Although the lease was transferred to Robert Campbell

the following year,7 Rankin apparently remained in the

Fassifern Valley. Greater stability occurred to the north

from 1845 with the arrival of two brothers, Campbell

and Macquarie Macdonald. They were accompanied

by the latter’s wife, Jessie, perhaps not surprisingly yet

another of John Cameron’s sisters.

Born in Sydney, Campbell and Macquarie were the sons

of Hugh Macdonald, a quartermaster with the 46th

(South Devonshire) Regiment. They were also related to

Governor Lachlan Macquarie (Campbell being Elizabeth

Macquarie’s maiden name). Disdaining a military career,

the brothers chose to gain pastoral experience in the

Hunter Valley district before overlanding their sheep to

the Fassifern Valley in 1844.8 They almost certainly stayed

3. THE RISE AND DECLINE OF PASTORALISM

Mrs Philp with husband Colin’s Sunbeam car at Wyaralong Station (August 1919)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 165585


enterprise initiated when beef prices plummeted

dramatically in the aftermath of the First World War,

and careful management ensured that the original

homestead block of Wyaralong has remained in the

hands of Philp’s descendants to the present day.25

McConnel, on the other hand, sold the remainder of

Dugandan to M.P. Mallon and P.J. Ryan in 1922. Eleven

years later they sold out to David Vogel, and after

failing to dispose of the property after his death in

1958,26 Vogel’s family continued in possession until

1977. In that year it was acquired by B.M. and G.M.

Tow.27 Since its very establishment as a pastoral run

Dugandan had witnessed many changes in the district,

not the least of which was closer settlement and the

development of agriculture.

with John Cameron before crossing the Teviot Range

and taking a lease over 18,000 acres of land straddling

Teviot Brook, which they named Dugandan.9 This may

have been a corruption of two Ugarapul Aboriginal

words − dugain (up or upwards) and dan (place over

there) − which can be literally translated as ‘the place

up there on the rise’.10 In July 1850 Campbell Macdonald

sold out to his brother before taking up Bromelton

pastoral run near Beaudesert.11 Unlike their other

relatives, however, the Macdonald name was to remain

associated with this district for more than five decades.

John Cameron sold Fassifern to William Kent in 1848,12

and within two decades Fassifern, Moogerah and

Tarome had all been combined into one large pastoral

run by John Hardie and A.E. Wienholt.13 The Weinholt

name was synonymous with the later history of the

Fassifern Valley, particularly through the hunting and

military exploits of the younger Arnold Weinholt.14

After selling Fassifern, Cameron settled on a run

he called Undullah which adjoined the northern

boundary of Dugandan. He remained there until

the death of his wife in December 1861. Cameron

then moved to Campbell Macdonald’s Bromelton

run where he died the following October.15 Cameron

had also outlived Macquarie Macdonald, whose wife

Jessie continued to run Dugandan from 1855 with

the assistance of both Cameron and John Rankin until

her son Campbell took over management.16 Like all

pastoral runs in the Fassifern Valley, including Coochin

Coochin which was the only holding not touched by

the hand of John Cameron’s relatives, Dugandan was

considerably reduced in area after the Queensland

Government passed the Crown Lands Act in 1868.17

The following year, Jessie Macdonald managed to

obtain a depasturing lease for 800 head of cattle on

the resumed portion, thereby effectively keeping the

boundary temporarily intact.18

Dugandan was certainly extensive. In 1871 it comprised

four grazing blocks, seven houses and had 33 people

in residence.19 Disaster struck six years later, through

overstocking and drought. Having slowly converted

from sheep to cattle, Dugandan lost approximately

2000 head of breeding cattle and when bullocks

were put up for sale offers failed to reach the reserve

price. There was no alternative except to return them

to the run, and in the prevailing circumstances the

depasturing lease was forfeited for non-payment of

rent.20 In a bid to reduce growing financial difficulties

the northern section of Dugandan was sub-divided

into blocks varying in extent from 80 to 160 acres and

sold off at two shillings and sixpence per acre.21

By this means the family managed to weather the

crisis and remained in possession of the run until

1896, when it was purchased by John Fox. In 1902 Fox

entered into a partnership with Arthur McConnel,22

and two years later he occupied the northern

outstation comprising 10,000 acres, which he called

Wyaralong. Fox sold out to Colin Philp, son of former

Queensland Premier Sir Robert Philp, in 1906, with

Philp continuing the pastoral tradition by grazing

Hereford and Shorthorn cattle.23 At the same time,

however, he also sub-divided part of the property into

three dairy farms operating on a share basis.24 This

became the model for a much larger shareholding

1 W. Creighton, ‘Coulson − in honour of the squatters’, FG, 14 September 2005, p.8.

2 J.F. Campbell, ‘Squatting’ on Crown Lands in New South Wales (ed.) B.T. Dowd (Sydney: Royal Australian Historical Society, 1968), p.19.

3 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.28; FG, 19 November 1958, p.2.

4 Gill, Spicers Peak Road, p.6; Creighton, ‘Coulson − in honour of the squatters’, p.8.

5 ‘Index to Pastoral Holdings and Lessees 1842-1859’, QSA; Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.38.

6 Ibid.; Anon, Serving the Shire, p.1; T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Fassifern history’, in A. Collyer (comp.). ‘Centenary Stories: A collection of articles concerning the history of Boonah shire’ (Boonah, Qld: Angela Collyer, 1988), p.29.

7 Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, pp.19 and 27.

8 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, pp.43-44.

9 ‘Index to Pastoral Holdings and Lessees 1842-1859’, QSA.

10 J. Bull, Historic Queensland Stations (Brisbane: Queensland Country Life, 1960), p.25.

11 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.22; G. Langevad (trans.), ‘The Simpson Letterbook: Vol.1’, Cultural and Historical Records of Queensland, No.1 (October 1979), p.35.

12 Langevad, ‘The Simpson Letterbook: Vol.1’, p.50.


14 H.C. Heilig, ‘The warrior pastoralist’, Parade, No.308 (July 1976), p.28.

15 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.40.

16 Ibid., p.22; Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, p.27.

17 M. Jenner, ‘Pioneer Life in the Fassifern: Problems and Prospects’, JRHSQ, Vol.12, No.1 (1984), p.74.

18 Land Commissioner, Moreton, to Secretary for Lands, Brisbane, 21 May 1869, LAN/AF799, ‘Dugandan Run File 1868-1884’, In-letter 4036/69, QSA.

19 Anon., Serving the Shire, p.2.

20 Memorandum, Department of Public Lands, Brisbane, 11 March 1875, LAN/AF799, ‘Dugandan Run File 1868-1884’, QSA.

21 Anon., Boonah State School 1878-1978 (Boonah, Qld: Boonah State School, 1978), pp.23-24.

22 Bull, Historic Queensland Stations, p.26.

23 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.22; D. O’Donnell, ‘Schools of the Fassifern 1867-1933: A Window to Queensland Education’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 1995), p.258.

24 Silverwood Gazette: Journal of the Silverwood Dairy Company (Ipswich), 20 April 1907, p.21.

25 D. O’Donnell, ‘History of Wyaralong District’, FG, 7 November 1990, p.14.

26 FG, 19 November 1958, p.2.



Government legislation which fragmented the large

pastoral runs paved the way for closer settlement of the

Fassifern Valley. The fact that much of the area excised

from Dugandan and Fassifern runs was without surface

water and consisted of virgin scrub also made it very

affordable for settlers hungry to have land of their own.

Among other things, the Crown Lands Act of 1868 was

the first legislation to specifically use the terms ‘selector’

and ‘selection’,1 words which have reverberated to the

present day and can rightly be applied to those who

settled in the northern Fassifern Valley. Sub-divided into

landholdings up to 160 acres in extent, prices ranged

from two shillings sixpence to a maximum of three

shillings nine pence per acre.2 By meeting five annual

instalments and effecting improvements consisting

of a basic dwelling, fencing and the cultivation of 10

percent of the area, selectors gained freehold tenure.3

Clearing was the primary task, with the felled timber

utilised to construct slab-walled huts with shingled

roofs, fencing, and for corduroying tracks.4 Much of

the timber, including the beautiful Red Cedar, was

simply burnt.5 It was not until the 1880s that timber

was used commercially on a large scale, with Heinrich

Bruckner and his partner Hertzberg opening the first

sawmill at Dugandan in 1883.6 After Bruckner took

control the mill continued to flourish in the hands of

his descendants until Keith Bruckner finally sold out in

1971. Under new management the sawmill remained

a significant local business, but it was overshadowed

by James Crossart and Sons, which can trace its

own origins in Dugandan back to 1886. The firm

expanded to such an extent that in the decade prior

to the Second World War 240 men were employed in

timber milling and the production of butter boxes,7 an

essential component of the dairy industry.

This, of course, was all in the future, with subsistence

rather than profit guiding the early agriculturalists. Most

were under-capitalised, and the abundant local wildlife

provided more than the occasional meal. Bounties paid

for wallaby scalps also provided welcome income until

farms were fully established.8 During the pioneering

period, this essentially meant the cultivation of cotton.9

The American Civil War and the Union naval blockade

crippled cotton supplies from the Confederate States to

Britain between 1861 and 1865.10 Searching for its own

staple, the Queensland Government readily encouraged

the growing of cotton, with selectors in the Milbong

and Roadvale districts cultivating plots averaging 15

acres.11 Unfortunately, the boom did not last: the end

of hostilities, reconstruction and cheaper shipping rates

across the Atlantic resulted in American cotton once

again rising to eminence.12 Growers on the Queensland

coast turned to sugar, with this crop first cultivated

in the northern Fassifern Valley by George Gordon at

Milbong in 1871. Although Gordon built his own mill,

he could not compete with production elsewhere and

turned to manufacturing treacle and, finally, brewing

beer.13 For all that, limited quantities of sugar cane

continued to be grown in the Fassifern Valley until at

least 1913,14 by which time it had long been surpassed

by the most important crop of all − maize.

Although subject to wide fluctuations within the

marketplace, it was the versatility of maize which

hastened its supremacy, for it was more than just a

4. CLOSER SETTLEMENT AND EARLY AGRICULTURE

Bruckner’s Sawmill, Boonah (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 10086


1 B. Bernays, Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859-1919) Years (Brisbane: A.J. Cumming, Govt. Printer, 1919), p.314.

2 Ibid.; Anon., Serving the Shire, p.4.

3 M. Jenner, ‘“A Stout Heart and a Good Axe”: Settlement in the Fassifern, 1872-1900’, in J. Voigt, J. Fletcher and J. Moses (eds), New Beginnings: Germans in New South Wales and Queensland (Stuttgart: Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, 1983), p.81.



6 J.C. Brent, ‘Timber!’, in Anon., Serving the Shire, p.44.


8 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Settlement of Boonah’, FG, 13 May 1959, p.2.


10 M. Johnson, ‘Honour Denied: A Study of Soldier Settlement in Queensland, 1916-1929’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 2002), pp.42-43.

11 Queensland Times (Ipswich), 17 October 1925, p.4; D. O’Donnell, ‘History of Roadvale and Kulgun Areas’, FG, 26 June 1991, p.10.

12 W.R. Johnston, A Documentary History of Queensland (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1988), p.185.


14 Anon., Queensland Sugar Industry (Brisbane: Government Intelligence and Tourist Bureau, 1913), p.13.


16 Jenner, ‘A Stout Heart and a Good Axe’, p.81.

17 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘The Settlement of Boonah’, FG, 6 May 1959, p.2.

18 A. Collyer, ‘A Look At Local History: German Settlement’, FG, 22 February 1989, p.2

19 Anon., Boonah State School, p.25.

20 ‘Report of the Registrar-General on the Returns of Agriculture and Live Stock for the Year 1895’, QV&P, Vol.4 (1896), p.488.

21 Jenner, ‘Pioneer Life in the Fassifern’, p.75.


23 FG, 17 November 2004, p.10.

24 Queensland Times (Ipswich), 19 April 1967, p.3.

25 Ibid.

26 FG, 17 November 2004, pp.10-11.

basic food commodity. Shelled grain was often fed to

livestock and poultry, and if dry weather spoiled the

crop the cobs and green stalks could be fed to pigs

and dairy cows respectively. Around the selection, cobs

were used for kindling and even utilised as handles for

tools.15 Until the arrival of the railway in 1887, this crop

was of crucial importance, for transport costs to distant

markets were crippling.16 There were also a number of

local hazards with which the settlers had to contend. By

day the ripening crops were attacked by flocks of white

cockatoos, while wallabies carried on the devastation

under cover of dark.17 A severe drought in 1877-78

destroyed many crops,18 while in 1887 floods inundated

widespread areas under cultivation.19 Despite these

drawbacks the acreage under maize continued to

increase until the mid-1890s,20 when its supremacy

within the local economy began to be eroded by dairy

farming − yet another story in itself.

The fertility of the district north of modern Boonah

continued to attract selectors throughout the late

nineteenth century, with a second major wave

occurring from 1877.21 Although the available statistics

cover a much wider area, they provide some idea of

this massive influx. In 1871, 732 people were residing

within the Fassifern Census District; 10 years later the

population had trebled to 2186, doubling again to 4862

in 1891 before growth finally stalled.22 The late 1870s

saw 50 selectors clustered around Milbong alone,23

one of whom was Robert Le Grand. Having emigrated

to the Victorian goldfields in 1851 and achieving some

success, Le Grand returned to his native England and

consolidated his gains in business. He also investigated

the wine trade in France and Germany, especially

noting the soils and climate suitable for different grape

varieties.24

Returning to Australia with his family in 1871, Le Grand

settled at Ipswich, before chancing on the Milbong

district during a visit to the Darling Downs. Impressed

with what he had seen, Le Grand purchased 840 acres

which he called Wooyumboong and experimented

with sheep. His fame, however, rests with the vineyard

he planted and, to a lesser extent, the distillery he

built. At first Le Grand sold his wine to local selectors

and Ipswich innkeepers, but as the reputation of his

Chaff Carting, Blantyre, Boonah (Undated)Source: Queensland State Archives Neg No 435638

Market Day, Boonah Railway Yards (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 144224

products spread he began exporting to other colonies

and eventually Europe, where they gained a number

of important awards.25 When the market finally

collapsed in the early 1890s he redirected his attention

to general farming and dairying, and by the time of

his retirement in 1904 Wooyumboong had grown to

3000 acres. Le Grand was of Huguenot descent,26 but

despite his considerable efforts it was to be a large

and very different ethnic group which had an even

greater and more lasting impact on Boonah and the

district to the north.

Labels of Robert Le Grand’s Wooyumboong Wines, MilbongSource: John Oxley Library Collection


Having gained self-government in 1859 the

Queensland Government was desperate to develop the

colony. Unlike a number of its southern counterparts

who had benefited from the discovery of gold,

the northern colony was not to experience its first

substantial gold rush until 1867, and the only lure

Queensland had at its disposal was virgin land − huge

areas simply waiting for agriculturalists to tap its raw

potential. With agricultural production envisaged as

the means of effecting development,1 land became the

keystone of Queensland’s immigration policy.

In 1860 Henry Jordan was appointed the colony’s

first immigration agent in England − a daunting task

for Jordan had to compete against North America as

well as the southern colonies. With land valued at one

pound per acre, those who could afford to pay their

own passage to Queensland received a land order to

the value of £18 on their arrival, increasing to £30 after

two years in residence. Free and assisted passages

were also made available to poor agricultural workers,

and when the terms were extended to include

people from the Germanic States, John Heussler was

appointed Jordan’s counterpart on the Continent.

By early 1863 the policy was proving successful

enough for arrangements to be made with shipping

firms to convey indentured German emigrants to

Queensland,2 and this was to have a direct bearing on

the Boonah district.

In September 1863 the Susanne Godeffroy left

Hamburg on her maiden voyage to Brisbane carrying

450 German emigrants. Among them were some 20

families from Uckermark, north of Berlin. A number of

them were related, while others had been members

of the same congregation. It was economic hardship

rather than religious persecution that had been

responsible for their decision to leave Prussia, and

after fulfilling their obligations to the Queensland

Government many settled in the Logan River district.3

Other German immigrants moved out to the Darling

Downs,4 while a substantial number from Württenberg

and Hessen settled in the Rosewood Scrub district.

When the district north from Boonah was opened

for selection the following decade, the Germans who

moved in were predominantly people from either

Rosewood or the Logan River.5

There were various reasons for this large demographic

shift. Many selections the German settlers originally

took up were later found to be too small for

Queensland conditions. There is also a suggestion the

drought of 1877-78 had a more severe impact on the

Rosewood Scrub than the district to the south. Chain

migration undoubtedly played a role, but whatever

the motive German settlers tended to remain in the

Fassifern Valley once they had relocated: there was very

little outward movement.6

British settlers initially predominated in the more

northerly areas around Harrisville and Rosevale parish,

from where they gravitated south into Dugandan

parish. German settlers, on the other hand, largely

moved into the drier scrublands of Fassifern parish,

with Boonah being the nexus for both groups. There

was, of course, some overlap, with significant numbers

of German settlers scattered right throughout the

Fassifern Valley.7 Although never in the majority, the

5. THE GERMAN COMMUNITY

Brown family’s selection, Milbong (c.1894)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 137446


one of many who experienced internment. Released in

1919, he was deported to Germany with his family.22

While Nomenclature Acts anglicised a number of place

names,23 aspects of German culture managed to

survive the war amidst suspicion and lingering distrust.

World War Two appeared to confirm those fears,

though on this occasion there was no spontaneous

backlash similar to the first global conflict. These were

unfortunate episodes, for the German community

was an integral part of the social landscape, and their

contribution has been crucial to the development of

the district generally and the towns in particular.

German community was nonetheless large enough to

ensure considerable homogeneity. This was aided in

no small measure by religion, with around 85 percent

of German settlers still adhering to the Lutheran faith

in 1890.8 Language was yet another factor, though in

the longer term the difference between literal German

language, or ‘High German’ as used by the German-

born within the Lutheran Church, and ‘Low German’,

the various dialects of the congregation learnt by

their offspring, tended to weaken German culture

as a separate entity.9 Moreover, from 1890 German

migration into the Fassifern Valley waned considerably,

while the British and Irish influx increased.10

Although there was some measure of antagonism,

German settlers were largely respected for their

farming capabilities and capacity for hard physical

work.11 Most had some experience of agriculture in

their homelands, and their homogeneity also ensured a

high level of cooperative assistance among family and

neighbours,12 a trait which later filtered through the

wider community. Even today, a significant proportion

of Fassifern Valley residents engage in volunteer

activities. During the late nineteenth century, however,

and quite atypical of British neighbours, the German

community was marked by three other characteristics

which directed them towards success.

For one thing, the balance between sexes was far more

equal than in the wider rural community.13 Another

was their marked fecundity, with around 80 percent

of German mothers producing six or more children

between 1870 and 1889, a fertility rate equalled by

fewer than half their British-Australian neighbours.

Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, 47 percent

of German mothers were still producing six or more

children, while the national average had dropped to

22 percent.14 In practical terms this ensured a steady

supply of cheap farm labour,15 and as they prospered

neighbouring properties were acquired for offspring.16

German farmers also tended to engage more in

mixed farming rather than concentrating on a single

commodity. This allowed a considerable degree of

self-sufficiency and enabled them to better withstand

fluctuations in the marketplace.17 It certainly worked.

Between 1870 and 1914 Germans comprised more

than 60 percent of the district’s farmers, and even as

late as 1950 half the German-Australian community

remained actively involved in agricultural pursuits.

Conversely, they were under-represented in the trade,

commercial and professional sectors.18

Recognition and respect for their achievements

suffered heavily from the outbreak of the First World

War, when anti-German paranoia gripped the nation.

Like so many other centres, Boonah experienced spy

scares and rumours of German mobilisation in the

surrounding district.19 One resident reported local

Germans buying up gold and silver, prompting an

investigation by the Federal Treasury. As with all such

cases, it had no foundation in fact.20 Attitudes hardened

even further when the release of the Bryce Report

on alleged German war atrocities coincided with the

sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania and the first

grim casualty lists from Gallipoli.21 The authorities

particularly targeted Lutheran pastors, as they were

community leaders. C.W. Seybold of Boonah was just

1 R. Joyce, ‘George Ferguson Bowen and Robert George Wyndham Herbert: The Imported Openers’, in D. Murphy and R. Joyce (eds), Queensland Political Portraits 1859-1952 (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1978), p.25.

2 Johnston, The Call of the Land, p.84; W.R. Johnston, ‘The Selling of Queensland: Henry Jordan and Welsh Emigration’, JRHSQ, Vol.14, No.9 (November 1991), pp.379-80.

3 B. Hedges, ‘German Settlers on the Logan River’, JRHSQ, Vol.18, No.1 (February 2002), p.37.

4 J. Cole, ‘The Social Dynamics of Lifecourse Timing in Historical Perspective: Transitions in an Australian Rural Community, Boonah, 1850-1978’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 1981), p.31.

5 G. Williams, ‘The Sounds of Fassifern Valley German’ (unpublished BA Hons thesis, University of Queensland, 1965), p.48.

6 Collyer, ‘A Look At Local History: German Settlement’, p.12.

7 Cole, ‘The Social Dynamics of Lifecourse Timing in Historical Perspective’, pp.30 and 47-48.

8 J. Cole, ‘Farm and Family in Boonah 1870-1914: An Ethnic Perspective’, in J. Voigt, J. Fletcher and J. Moses (eds), New Beginnings: Germans in New South Wales and Queensland (Stuttgart: Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, 1983), p.90.

9 G. Williams, ‘The German Language and the Lutheran Church in Queensland’, Queensland Heritage, Vol.2, No.8 (May 1973), p.33.

10 Cole, ‘The Social Dynamics of Lifecourse Timing in Historical Perspective’, p.48.

11 Week (Brisbane), 23 December 1876, p.745.

12 J. Cole, ‘Quantitative reconstruction of the family ethos: fertility in a frontier Queensland community’, in P. Grimshaw, C. McConville and E. McEwen (eds), Families in Colonial Australia (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1985), p.59.

13 J. Cole, ‘Differential Fertility Patterns in a Late Nineteenth Century Queensland Rural Community’, Australia 1888, No.10 (September 1982), p.58.

14 Cole, ‘Farm and Family in Boonah’, p.91.

15 Hedges, ‘German Settlers on the Logan River’, p.45.

16 Cole, ‘The Social Dynamics of Lifecourse Timing in Historical Perspective’, p.53.

17 Hedges, ‘German Settlers on the Logan River’, p.45.

18 Cole, ‘Farm and Family in Boonah’, p.88.

19 R. Evans, Fighting Words: Writing about Race (St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1999), p.99.

20 R. Evans, Loyalty and Disloyalty: Social Conflict on the Queensland Homefront, 1914-18 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1987), p.52.

21 Ibid., p.52; J.T. Stock, ‘South Australia’s “German” Vote in World War I’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, Vol.28, No.2 (1982), p.253.

22 F. O. Thiele, One Hundred Years of the Lutheran Church in Queensland (Brisbane: United Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1938), p.203.

23 R. Evans, ‘The Pen and the Sword: Anti-Germanism in Queensland during the Great War, and the Worker’, in M. Jurgensen and A. Corkhill (eds), The German Presence in Queensland Over The Last 150 Years (St Lucia, Qld: Department of German, University of Queensland, 1988), p.10.

Dedication of Teviotville Lutheran Church (1909)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 144182


The first selector to take up land on Dugandan Station

was James Johnson in 1870, his holding located on

the mail route from Ipswich. John Hooper, John Betts

and Thomas Hardcastle were among the first settlers

who entered this area from 1877, with Hooper and

Betts securing the land on which the business centre

of Boonah now stands.1 While a number of selectors,

including Johnson, opened businesses on the flats

immediately south of Hooper and Betts,2 two Jewish

brothers from Talsai in Latvia, Abram (Adolphe) and

Levi Blumberg, preferred the higher ground, opening

a store in 1882 after purchasing land from John Betts.

In 1884 they built a second store immediately adjacent

to the first which also became a postal receiving office,

and although it is often stated that the developing

township on the rise became known as Blumbergville,

this was not technically correct. In fact, the southern

side of today’s High Street continued to be known

as Dugandan, with Blumbergville restricted to the

immediate vicinity of the postal receiving office.3

Be that as it may, the growth of commercial enterprises

encouraged J.C. Streiner, an hotelier at Kent’s Pocket, to

build his second hotel above Dugandan flats in 1884,4

followed two years later by a butchery business run

by the Goan brothers, John and Thomas, of Coulson.5

When it was decided to extend the branch railway south

from Harrisville in 1886, the government intended to

construct the line through the properties of Frederick

Stumer and Thomas Hardcastle to form the terminus at

Dugandan where water and gravel were available on

Crown land. After both settlers opposed this move, Betts

and Hooper offered access through their land, which

resulted in the railway passing along the rise before

descending to Dugandan.6 While it was expected the

commercial centre would gravitate downhill towards

the railway terminus, nature decided otherwise. The

devastating flood of January 1887 destroyed the majority

of businesses at Dugandan,7 allowing the township

on the rise − renamed Boonah − to gain ascendancy.8

By 1890 it was well on the way to becoming the

commercial and administrative hub for the entire

Fassifern Valley, and it was only then that Dugandan Post

and Telegraph Office finally closed its doors.9

Matthew Mullins was the first settler at Milbong, then

known as One Eye Waterhole, which quickly became an

important cotton-growing area.10 By 1875 when it was

renamed Blantyre there were 50 residents,11 those so

inclined having their thirsts quenched at the hotel built

by David Boyle.12 The township grew rapidly to include a

sugar mill and brewery, butcher shop, hotel, blacksmith

and two stores. In 1879 the name Blantyre was replaced

by Milbong and the rapid growth encouraged Goolman

Divisional Board to establish its first office at Milbong in

1880.13 Unfortunately, the rise of Boonah to the south

stifled any further development.

Opened for closer settlement in 1877, Roadvale

became an important township serving a densely

populated district. The origin of its name is not clear.

In 1891 the postal receiving office was known as

Roadville, being altered to Roadvale four years later.14

Around the turn of the century the town boasted

two hotels, several stores, banks, a butcher, baker and

blacksmith. The School of Arts at Roadvale is a fine

example of community endeavour, with local residents

contributing £187 to have it built in 1904, and a further

£287 four years later to have it extended. Disaster struck

6. TOWNS AND A BRANCH RAILWAY

Gray Street, Roadvale (c.1913)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 177607

Boonah Railway Station (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 22763


As expected, the railway proved a boon to the

district. The daily mixed service from Dugandan was

supplemented by twice-weekly goods trains, ensuring

that produce could be quickly dispatched to distant

markets. Business continued to boom into the 1920s

when rail motors were introduced for faster passenger

travel.32 The year 1920 also saw the arrival in Boonah

of a Royal Train carrying the Prince of Wales who, like

so many other dignitaries, spent a brief holiday with

the Bell family at Coochin Coochin.33 His return to

Boonah was nonetheless marked by a brief flutter of

excitement when threats were made against his life by

an inebriated individual. Police acted swiftly, and the

future King Edward VIII departed Boonah in complete

safety with his press entourage unaware of what had

transpired.34

Apart from a loss of revenue through the years of the

Great Depression, the railway continued to function

well until the 1950s when construction of bitumen

roads and the end of petrol rationing saw increasing

competition from road transport operators. The

affordability of private motor vehicles cut further into

the passenger traffic, and by the early 1960s the railway

was clearly doomed. Closure came in June 1964,35 by

which time the townships north of Boonah had largely

taken their present form.

the township in 1915 when most of the commercial

buildings were destroyed by fire; having fortuitously

survived the inferno, the School of Arts provided

temporary space for businesses to continue. Roadvale,

however, never recovered from this calamity.15

From 1878 German settlers predominated among

those who took up selections around Teviotville, first

known as Fassifern Scrub. Cribb & Foote ran a regular

service from Ipswich to supply the settlers until the

arrival of the railway in 1887, when Teviotville became

an important loading centre for the cream, maize and

pigs produced in the surrounding area. It was then

serviced by two general stores, the first being opened

by Henry Moller adjacent to the railway line in 1887.16 In

November 1892 Edward Iker erected a steam-powered

flour mill which operated until 1906,17 and two years

later the town achieved some fame as a manufacturing

centre when Frederick Richter began making his

Champion maize husking, shelling and bagging

machines. With orders coming from many parts of

Queensland and New South Wales, Richter produced

more than 100 machines annually. After his death in

1938 the business was relocated to Boonah.18

William Bradfield took up land in the Coulson district

three years before it was officially opened for closer

settlement. Among the first arrivals in 1877 were

Samuel Sweet, James Hooper and the Goan brothers,

Thomas and John.19 Samuel Sweet engaged in mixed

farming, timber-getting and butchering, as well as

becoming the first postal receiving officer.20 The Goan

brothers opened their own butchery in 1878,21 and

around 1880 Thomas also opened an hotel.22 Five

years later Benjamin Bonke established his blacksmith

business, which was carried on by his son Angus,23

while William Abell set up a wheelwright and carriage-

building business before moving to Boonah.24 Gazetted

in 1886, the district’s first public cemetery is located at

Coulson where many of the early pioneers − including

Adolphe Blumberg − were laid to rest.25

A postal receiving office operated at the former

Dugandan outstation of Wyaralong between 1897 and

1915,26 during which time the land was purchased by

Colin Philp. His dairying enterprise involving share farmers

was an unusual concept which stimulated limited

population growth,27 though Wyaralong was never large

enough to be classified as a township and it was the area

least affected by the arrival of the branch railway.

In 1879 settlers in the Fassifern Valley petitioned the

Queensland Government to construct a branch railway

from Ipswich to Coochin Coochin, arguing that it

was ‘one of the oldest and most thickly populated

agricultural districts in the colony’. The railway,

continued the petition, would offer a ‘speedy and

regular transit’ for both their agricultural produce and

timber and, importantly, the first section of the line

would be able to tap into the rich coal seams south of

Ipswich.28 It had the desired effect; work began in 1881

with the line reaching Harrisville in July the following

year.29 This was Queensland’s first branch railway, but

it was not until 1886, and only after further agitation,

that construction finally continued on a southern

extension to Dugandan. Under the supervision of

renowned railway contractor George Bashford the line

was opened for traffic in September 1887,30 with stops

being provided at Blantyre (near Milbong), Roadvale,

Teviotville, Hoya and Boonah.31

1 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Settlement of Boonah’, FG, 29 April 1959, p.2.

2 A. Collyer, ‘A Look At Local History’, FG, 8 February 1989, p.2.

3 Personal communication with C.K. Pfeffer, Boonah, 15 May 2007.

4 O’Donnell, ‘Schools of the Fassifern 1867-1933’, p.73.


6 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Railway Service’, FG, 29 July 1959, p.2.

7 FG, 28 September 2005, p.10.


9 J. Frew, Queensland Post Offices 1842-1980 and Receiving Offices 1869-1927 (Fortitude Valley, Qld: Joan Frew, 1981), p.205.

10 Ibid., p.167; FG, 17 November 2004, p.10.

11 District Overseer to District Inspector, Department of Works, Ipswich, 25 October 1875, WOR/A108, In-letter 75/5414, QSA.



14 Frew, Queensland Post Offices 1842-1980 and Receiving Offices 1869-1927, p.403.

15 Anon., Roadvale State School 1889-1969: 80th Anniversary (Roadvale, Qld: Roadvale State School, 1969), n.p.; W. Creighton, ‘The great fire: Fire burns the heart out of Roadvale commerce’, FG, 26 October 2005, p.14.

16 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, p.72; A. Collyer, ‘A Look At Local History: Moller’s Store’, FG, 4 June 1986, p.12.

17 Queensland Times (Ipswich), 26 November 1892, p.3.

18 H.A. Krause, ‘Early Settlers’, in Collyer, ‘Centenary Stories’, pp.107-8.

19 T.W. Hardcastle, ‘Coulson District’, FG, 22 April 1959, p.2.

20 K.T. Dolle, ‘Butcher, timber getter, postmaster …’, FG, 14 September 2005, p.8.

21 FG, 30 September 1931, p.13.


23 Pfeffer, The Fassifern Story, pp.167-68.


25 FG, 7 September 2005, p.8; FG, 21 September 2005, p.12.


27 O’Donnell, ‘History of Wyaralong District’, p.14; Personal Communication, Prue Firth, Wyaralong, 17 April 2007.

28 ‘Petition for Railway to the Fassifern District’, QV&P, Vol.2 (1879), p.691.

29 J. Armstrong, ‘A Short History of the Fassifern (Boonah) Branch Line’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol.20, No.376 (February 1969), pp.26 and 29.

30 J. Kerr, Triumph of Narrow Gauge: A History of Queensland Railways (Brisbane: Boolarong, 1990), p.58.

31 Armstrong, ‘A Short History of the Fassifern (Boonah) Branch Line’, p.33.

32 Kerr, Triumph of Narrow Gauge, p.58.

33 N. Pixley, ‘The Bells and “Coochin Coochin”: An Historic Queensland Family’, JRHSQ, Vol.8, No.4 (1968-69), p.625.

34 W.R. Johnston, The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police (Bowen Hills, Qld: Boolarong, 1992), p.182.

35 Kerr, Triumph of Narrow Gauge, p.58.

Blumberg Bros Store, Boonah (c.1890)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 8845

Boonah Street Scene (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 169777

WH Abell’s Coach Works, Boonah (c.1907)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 38957

Badke’s Hotel, Roadvale (c.1910)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 12148


A determination to provide education for children has

marked the formative years of many rural communities;

however, the Boonah district has managed to carry

that emphasis through to the present day. Although

dwindling enrolments have forced the closure of

a number of small schools, modern transport has

permitted the centralisation of education, with its scope

being considerably broadened. Schools have certainly

been prolific, with at least 40 − government and private

− having opened in the Fassifern Valley. Most began

their life from communal endeavour, with the settlers

frequently called upon to donate land, erect buildings

and provide accommodation for the teacher. These

efforts were undertaken by parents to provide their

children with an opportunity often denied themselves,

and many schools stand today as a testament to their

determination and vision for the future.

Settlers of Milbong were the first in the district north of

Boonah to seek educational facilities for their children.

A school committee formed in 1874 with Robert Le

Grand as secretary, his first action being to advise

authorities that ‘more than Eighty Children’ around ‘One

Eye Waterhole’ were in desperate need of a school.1

An inspection revealed only half that number, still

more than enough to warrant a school being opened

in 1875, though it was not until February 1876 that a

teacher was finally appointed to take charge.2 Milbong

State School subsequently played an important role in

community life until 1965, when a declining population

forced its closure.3

Boonah’s growth was so rapid that government officials

responded quickly to a request from settlers and

opened a school in 1878. Only 18 children attended

that first day, in contrast to the more than 90 children

for whom authorities erected a new building only

seven years later.4 It was just as well. By the end of 1894

school enrolments had reached 150, rising again to

over 260 in 1917.5 Two years earlier the Queensland

Government had opened the first of its rural schools

designed to provide country students with training

in agricultural skills in addition to formal schooling.6

Boonah followed suit in 1919,7 and in 1965 a major step

was taken with the opening of Boonah High School to

provide secondary education for local students. This

was the third school in Boonah, for All Saint’s Convent

had opened its doors in 1957.8

Education also began early at Coulson, where a private

school was first opened by the daughter of Richard

Brassey prior to 1880.9 In 1881 residents petitioned

for a government school, and by October that year

Teviotville Provisional School was opened with an

enrolment of 37. Five years later, when enrolments had

reached 73, the school was upgraded to State status,10

though there was frequent confusion with Teviotville

(which had its own school from 1899)11 and Teviot

School at Croftby. The issue was finally resolved in 1903

when it officially became Coulson State School.12 The

year of its centenary was marked by the closure of the

school at Teviotville. Roadvale, which also opened in

1899, is the only school in this district which continues

to provide education for local children.13

Of all these schools it was Wyaralong which clearly had

the most chequered life. It opened in June 1924 and

closed in December 1930,14 only to be reopened in

7. EDUCATION AND RELIGION

Coulson State School (c.1907)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 39071

Boonah Catholic Church (c.1907)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 144183


moved from the flats onto the hill at Boonah after the

1887 flood. The Presbyterians opened their first church

at Boonah in 1915,30 and by then the Salvation Army

had become well entrenched at Boonah and Kalbar.31

While their denial of worldly pleasures may not have

impressed all,32 their aim of self-improvement was

certainly in step with the heavily Protestant and strong

church-going element among the wider community.33

Importantly, the presence of the church, regardless of

denomination, also symbolised a sense of belonging

and growing prosperity. From the 1890s that prosperity

began to blossom through the rise of dairying.

1938. Closing again in 1949, it reopened in 1957 before

shutting its doors permanently in 1965.15

This struggle to survive has also been shared by a

number of churches in more recent decades. Like

schools they were equally prolific, and the threat of

closure would have been unimaginable to previous

generations. Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians,

Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Church of

Christ, Lutherans, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Salvation

Army have all had their own houses of worship in

the Fassifern Valley.16 For Lutherans, the church was

particularly important as the means for preserving the

culture of their homeland.17

The clergy offered solace in times of grief and shared

the joy of happiness, often travelling considerable

distances under great difficulty to attend members of

their respective congregations. In 1895 the Reverend

Hugh Gibson, pastor of the Congregational churches

at Flinders, Milbong and Teviotville, was killed at the

age of 37 and buried at Coulson cemetery. The exact

circumstances of his death are not known,18 but it does

serve to highlight the difficulties and dangers faced by

rural clerics.

A number of religious denominations have also

undergone mergers. In 1931 the German Baptists

finally entered the fold by joining the Baptist Union of

Queensland.19 Dwindling congregations in 1975 forced

the merger of most Presbyterians, Congregationalists

and Methodists into the Uniting Church of Australia.20

The Lutherans were more complex, with two separate

synods operating in Australia from 1885. Fortunately,

there is no evidence that dissension among the

congregations at Boonah, Milbong and Teviotville

reached anywhere near the same level as that

experienced at Kalbar, where a clash of personalities

exacerbated theological issues.21 On the other hand,

the presence of German Baptists and Methodists is also

a reminder that Lutheranism was far from universal

among the German community.

Lutheran churches arose at Milbong in 1885,22

Dugandan in 1889 and Teviotville in 1909. St Paul’s at

Boonah was dedicated in 1969, the same year that

Teviotville’s church closed down: Milbong followed suit

in 1974.23 The first Baptist church was built at Boonah

in 1888,24 but it was not until 1947 that the Baptist

congregation at Roadvale had their own permanent

house of worship.25 Although St Andrew’s Church had

been built at Roadvale for the Anglican congregation

in 1912, it did not last very long owing to the rapidly

dwindling population. Christ Church was built in 1890

for Anglicans in Boonah, and members of the Church of

Christ built a chapel for their services in 1901.26 Roman

Catholics have been served by a church at Boonah

since 1887, with the one now standing − All Saints −

dating from 1961.27

Milbong had its first Congregational church in 1877,28

followed two years later by another at Coulson.29

Built in 1883, the Methodist church at Dugandan was

1 Robert W. Le Grand, Purga Creek, to Secretary, Board of Education, Brisbane, 25 July 1874, EDU/Z1759, Batch 204, In-letter 1498/74, QSA.

2 J. Archibald, One Eye Water Hole, to Secretary of the Board of Education, Brisbane, 17 February 1876, EDU/Z1759, In-letter 204/76, QSA.


4 Ibid., pp.72 and 74.

5 Ibid., p.75.

6 Daily Mail (Brisbane), 11 October 1919, p.9; Anon., ‘Nambour Rural School—A Flourishing Institution’, Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol.18, Pt.1 (July 1922), p.36.

7 Queenslander (Brisbane), 31 January 1920, p.22; Anon., Boonah State School 1878-1978, p.12.

8 O’Donnell, ‘Schools of the Fassifern 1867-1933’, pp.79-80.

9 Ibid., p.91.

10 Undated Memorandum, ‘State School, Coulson, Formerly Teviotville’, Department of Public Instruction, Brisbane, EDU/AB253, ‘Statistical Returns Furnished by Head Teacher 1903-1967’, QSA.

11 Memorandum, Department of Public Instruction, Brisbane, 21 July 1899, EDU/Z2641, ‘Administration Files, Teviotville State School 1899-1942’, QSA.

12 ‘Extract from Mr Harrap’s report of the Teviotville School’, 1 June 1903, EDU/Z685, Batch 253, In-letter 8494/03, QSA.

13 William Seeley, Roadvale, to Under Secretary, Department of Public Instruction, Brisbane, 11 November 1889, EDU/Z2351, In-letter 9698/89, QSA; Anon., Roadvale State School 1889-1969, n.p.

14 Under Secretary, Department of Public Instruction, Brisbane, to Colin Philp, Wyaralong, 14 February 1924, EDU/Z3019, QSA; Memorandum, Director of Education, Brisbane, 12 May 1930, Ibid.

15 EDU/AA1131, ‘Register – Admissions, Wyaralong Provisional School’, QSA.

16 Williams, ‘The Sounds of Fassifern Valley German’, p.43.

17 Williams, ‘The German Language and the Lutheran Church in Queensland’, p.32.

18 FG, 21 September 2005, p.12.


20 J. King, Imbil—Jewel of the Mary Valley (Imbil, Qld: J. King, 2000), p.125.

21 Thiele, One Hundred Years of the Lutheran Church in Queensland, pp.207-8.





26 Ibid., pp.279 and 283.

27 Ibid., p.289.

28 Anon., Milbong Uniting Church 1877-1977: Centenary Celebrations (Milbong, Qld: s.n., 1977), n.p.

29 Anon., ‘Church links: Congregational Church’, FG, 5 October 2005, p.12.


31 Ibid., p.291.

32 B. Bolton, Booth’s Drum: The Salvation Army in Australia 1880-1980 (Sydney: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), pp.22 and 54.

33 Jenner, ‘A Stout Heart and a Good Axe’, p.84.

Boonah Methodist Church (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 144179


In 1887 a sense of urgency gripped the Queensland

Government. The demise of pastoralism, which had

for so long been an integral part of the economy,

created a void which struggling selectors had thus far

been unable to fill. Viable alternative primary industries

were required to sustain the colony’s growth, and to

this end a separate Department of Agriculture and

Stock was created to investigate the means by which

this could be achieved.1 Attention initially focused

on the expansion of wheat-growing in the south-

eastern districts, efforts floundering through adverse

environmental factors, inadequate farm technology

and competition from the southern colonies. Thoughts

then turned to dairy farming, an industry which did

offer some promise. With a number of dairies already

in operation there were no obvious climatic barriers,

and with Queensland dependent on butter and cheese

imports a local market was assured. Indeed, if the

industry could be placed on a firm footing there was

every chance of entering the lucrative British export

market, currently dominated by New Zealand and the

southern Australian colonies.2 Rather than blind hope,

it turned out to be inspired reasoning, and the Boonah

district was to play an important role.

The critical year was 1888, when a protective tariff was

placed on southern dairy imports.3 That same year a

decision was also made to educate farmers on the

benefits likely to accrue from a shift to dairy farming,4

and by this time there was available technology in the

form of mechanical centrifugal separators which had

revolutionised cream production. Until the 1880s butter

manufacture was a lengthy, complicated and wasteful

process. Milk was set overnight in large shallow pans

with fluctuations in temperature allowing the cream

to rise. It was then skimmed off and churned until

the butter began to resemble grains of wheat, at

which point the buttermilk was drained off and the

remaining granules covered with salty water. After

standing for some time it was then salted. The final

product emerged after it was worked and shaped with

a wooden pat.5 In the heat of summer much could

go wrong, and not surprisingly the quality varied

widely.6 It was unhygienic and required around five

gallons of milk to produce a single pound of butter. The

mechanical separator required only 2.5 to 2.9 gallons

of milk to produce one pound of butter,7 thereby

returning producers a higher profit.

Hugo Durietz, a Swedish-born architect at Gympie

who indulged in rural pursuits as a sideline, is credited

with having introduced the cream separator into

Queensland during 1882.8 The first cream separator

appeared in the Fassifern Valley eight years later after

being purchased by Frederick Bowman of Mount

Alford.9 The Queensland Government appreciated the

merits of mechanical separation, and in September

1888 the Under Secretary of Public Lands, Peter

McLean, was instructed to obtain information on

the travelling dairies which operated successfully

in Victoria. In the wake of his inquiries, a plant was

purchased from Melbourne and it proved so popular

that a second travelling dairy was introduced the

following year. Until the cessation of their activities

through drought in 1896, the travelling dairies visited

many parts of Queensland, including 108 centres in the

8. DAIRYING

Boonah Butter Factory (c.1932)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 144226


1 P.J. Skerman, ‘Queensland’s Travelling Dairies’, Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol.110, No.4 (July-August 1984), p.215.

2 J.C.R. Cramm, ‘The Development of the Geographic Pattern of Dairying in Queensland, 1890 to 1915’, Australian Geographer, Vol.11, No.5 (March 1971), p.473.

3 M. Lake, A Hundred Years of Dairying: A History of dairying in the Fassifern (S1: Morris Lake, 198–), p.15.

4 Skerman, ‘Queensland’s Travelling Dairies’, p.215.

5 D. O’Sullivan, Dairying History of the Darling Downs (Toowoomba, Qld: USQ Press, 1992), p.36.

6 A. Collyer, Templin: A German Settlement in Queensland (Boonah, Qld: Fassifern District Historical Society Incorporated, 1992), p.16.

7 Cramm, ‘The Development of the Geographic Pattern of Dairying in Queensland’, p.483.

8 I. Pedley, Winds of Change: One hundred years in the Widgee Shire (Gympie, Qld: Gympie Times, 1979), p.273.

9 Lake, A Hundred Years of Dairying, p.18.

10 Skerman, ‘Queensland’s Travelling Dairies’, p.216.

11 ‘Milbong’, undated report by John Graham, AGS/N279, Batch No.7, ‘Travelling Dairies Nos 1 and 2’, QSA.


13 Lake, A Hundred Years of Dairying, pp.19-21.

14 Ibid., p.22.

15 G.T. Nuttall, The Jersey Breed: History of its Development and Progress in Queensland (Brisbane: Jersey Cattle Society of Queensland, 1938), pp.72-73.

16 Collyer, Templin, p.17.


18 Ibid.

19 P. Skerman, A. Fisher and P. Lloyd, Guiding Queensland Agriculture 1887-1987 (Brisbane: Department of Primary Industries, 1987), p.78.


21 A.H. McShane, ‘Dairying in Queensland’, Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol.11 (July 1902), p.32.

22 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary, pp.63-64.

23 Personal communication, Prue Firth, Wyaralong, 17 April 2007.


25 Pedley, Winds of Change, p.281.


south. In late 1892 John Mahon gave demonstrations

at Milbong, Teviotville and Boonah.10 All 20 pupils at

Milbong were instructed by women, half of whom −

including Robert Le Grand’s wife − were married.11 This

is a reminder that women had long played an integral

part in the industry.

Although statistics from the Dugandan Petty Sessions

District included both beef and dairy cattle, some idea

can be gained of the impact made by the travelling

dairies. In 1892 there were 14,600 head of cattle in

the district; five years later the number had risen to

22,889.12 Creameries, where farmers delivered their milk

for dispatch to butter factories, proliferated throughout

the Fassifern Valley, particularly the northern districts.

The Central Dairying Company opened a creamery

at Coulson in August 1892, followed by another at

Teviotville in February-March 1893. The Coulson

creamery was relocated to Boonah in 1894, and in 1895

the Model Dairy Company established a creamery at

Milbong. Roadvale had its own creamery in 1896.13

Dissatisfaction with the variable payments made

by creameries encouraged dairy farmers to form

cooperatives, the first in this district being the

Teviotville Farmers Co-operative Dairy Company,

which opened a creamery just south of the Roadvale

turnoff in 1898.14 The cooperative movement in the

dairy industry was a widespread phenomenon in

Queensland,15 and although the Howes Brothers

opened a butter factory at Boonah in 1901, it failed to

halt the tide. While prolonged drought and a serious

outbreak of tick-borne redwater disease among herds

forced most creameries to close in 1902,16 dairying

− and cooperatives − survived. In 1907 the Boonah

Farmers Co-operative Dairy Company combined with

Queensland Farmers Co-operative Association Limited

to purchase the local butter factory.17

By 1916 the cooperative had proved so successful that

a new factory was erected, with further extensions

being carried out in 1933.18 The 1920s had been a

boom period for Queensland dairy farmers, largely

owing to the ravages of war in Europe.19 Improved

pastures continued to nourish the industry,20 and

careful stock breeding gave further impetus. Jersey

Shorthorns had been the preferred breed in the early

1900s,21 with Friesians and Ayrshires rising to equal

prominence by mid-century. At Wyaralong Colin Philp’s

stud produced high-quality AIS stock,22 and Philp was

instrumental in introducing yet another important

innovation − the practice of share farming.23

The high point was reached in 1931 when salted butter

produced by the Boonah factory was awarded a gold

medal in London.24 This was indeed the golden era for

an industry which had assisted in bringing prosperity

to Boonah and its northern satellites. Unfortunately, by

the late 1950s falling prices for dairy produce and rising

costs of production forced dairying into decline.25 By

the 1970s many dairy farms were once again grazing

beef cattle, and in March 1974 the butter factory at

Boonah closed its doors for the final time.26 The rise

and decline of dairying was paralleled to some degree

by agriculture. Social life and community spirit, on the

other hand, have tended to follow a constant path to

the present day.

Above: Pig Day Teviotville Railway Station (c.1900)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 20518

Left: Meeting about new butter factory in Boonah (c.1896)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 35169


Land use in the Boonah district underwent steady

change throughout the twentieth century. Maize

continued to be grown commercially, and in

1922-1923 the Department of Agriculture and Stock

conducted important, and successful, trials of new

varieties at Boonah.1 Maize was also used as a fodder

crop, particularly for the thriving pig industry which

developed as an adjunct of dairy farming. Prior to

the formation of the Boonah Pig Loading Company

in January 1908, livestock had been purchased by

representatives of Brisbane’s leading bacon companies,

and the creation of the company placed this significant

income-earner in the hands of local farmers and

businessmen.2 Right up until the 1980s, the weekly pig

sales made Tuesday Boonah’s busiest day of the week,

and both Teviotville and Roadvale benefited from

heavy loadings.3

Elsewhere crop growing underwent considerable

transformation. Herman Badke of Roadvale was one

of a number of Fassifern cotton growers who supplied

the Ipswich Cotton Spinning Mills until its closure in

the early 1900s. Unlike most growers, Badke was still

persevering with this crop when it underwent a brief

resurgence during the 1920s and 1930s.4 From the

1890s English potatoes and table pumpkins steadily

became major sources of income for the district’s

agriculturalists, and by the 1940s they were further

complemented by a host of additional produce: beans,

peas, cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes, lettuce, swedes,

beetroot, marrows, melons, cucumbers and carrots

were all grown on a commercial scale.5 While carrots

virtually disappeared as a market crop in the 1950s, the

introduction of mechanical harvesters and improved

weed control from the mid-1960s raised it to a pre-

eminent position.6

Labour shortages during the Second World War were

largely overcome by members of the Women’s Land

Army and Italian prisoners of war,7 allowing agricultural

production to expand even further. As the areas under

maize steadily declined, alternative grain crops began

to make their own valuable contributions to the local

economy. The acreage under sorghum increased

dramatically in the years following World War Two, only

to be superseded in turn by oil seeds such as soybeans

and, to a lesser extent, sunflowers.8

Agricultural expansion and prosperity was largely

underwritten by developments in irrigation. The origins

of irrigation in the Fassifern Valley can be traced as

far back as the mid-1880s when limited quantities of

water were pumped from Warrill Creek. In 1918 spray

irrigation was also attempted in some areas, and by

the late 1920s at least 20 farmers were using flood

irrigation, water being channelled through either steel

or galvanised pipes − although the preferred conduit

was canvas hose. Interest in spray irrigation increased

during the 1930s with the introduction of the ‘Butterfly

Spray’, while the late 1940s saw the first large-scale

installation of underground storage tanks. During

the following decade interlocking aluminium tubing

began to replace old steel and galvanised pipes, a

development which coincided with the introduction of

jet-type sprays. The culmination of all this was the self-

propelled water winch that first appeared in the 1970s.9

9. PATTERNS OF PROGRESS

Patriotic Demonstration in front of Boonah School of Arts (1917)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 983


volunteerism, self-help and sacrifice can all be traced

back to early European settlement. What particularly

sets the Boonah district apart, however, is the way

those same threads have continued to weave their way

through to the present day, even with a new influx of

people drawn by the rural charm and quiet lifestyle.21

The landscape has also attracted increasing numbers

of transient film crews.22 Boonah and its environs have

adjusted well to modern changes, and there can be

no doubt that emerging patterns of progress are set to

continue well into the future.

In turn, irrigation was dependent on sustainable water

resources, and the construction of Moogerah Dam

in the early 1960s was a vital step in making this a

reality. At full capacity Moogerah Dam holds 92,500

megalitres and supplies water to 220 farmer-irrigators

in the Fassifern Valley.10 While the Roadvale Water

Supply System is not for irrigation purposes, it does

supply water for stock and domestic use. Completed

in 1967, it was implemented in response to a petition

drawn up by local landholders. The water is drawn from

Kent’s Lagoon, supplemented by Moogerah Dam when

necessary, and pumped to storage tanks on the hills

above Teviotville for reticulation.11

More recently, steps have been taken to construct the

Wyaralong Dam on Teviot Brook to boost urban and

industrial water supplies in Beaudesert Shire, Logan

City and the Gold Coast. Coupled with Cedar Grove

Weir, the annual water yield is expected to reach

21,000 megalitres and at full capacity water storage

will cover 1230 hectares,12 inundating parts of the

Wyaralong area. Wyaralong Dam was opposed by

some landholders directly affected, who formed TRADA

(Teviot Residents Against the Dam)13 when the dam

was first proposed in 1990.

The twin themes of self-help and sacrifice have a long

lineage in the Boonah district. One of the ways in which

these dual themes have shown themselves is in the

extraordinarily high enlistment rates of residents of

the Boonah district during times of military conflict.

G.W. Tomlinson was the first Fassifern Valley resident to

enlist for service in the South African War of 1899-1902,

with Captain John Fox of Dugandan Station among

numerous others who followed. The Great War of

1914-1918 saw massive enlistments from the Boonah

district − 295 men, four nurses and two chaplains. Sixty-

nine were killed in action or died from wounds, and in

recognition of the contribution made by local people a

German field gun was secured for use as a permanent

war memorial. It was unveiled by Field-Marshal William

Birdwood at Boonah on 25 April 1922.14 At Coulson,

efforts towards a war memorial did not go according

to plan. The town had been allocated a machine-gun

as its own war trophy on the proviso that it would be

housed in a public building. The only public building

at Coulson was the State School, which the authorities

rightly deemed to be an inappropriate location for a

machine-gun.15 Whether the children were excited

at the prospect is unknown, for the weapon quietly

disappeared from the records.

On the home front, Boonah and district residents were

extremely active in a number of patriotic bodies and

other voluntary organisations,16 which they continued

again during the Second World War when 275 local

men enlisted in the AIF. Another 114 joined the RAAF

and 22 enlisted in the RAN.17 During this conflict the

RAAF established a bombing and gunnery range at

Wyaralong, where members of 23 Squadron honed

their skills before heading north to defend Australian

soil.18 The AIF also conducted its own training exercises

with heavy vehicles on Spring Farm, one of Colin Philp’s

old share farms.19

In times of peace, energy was continually channelled

into a plethora of volunteer organisations aimed

at assisting the community,20 and the origins of

1 Anon., ‘Maize Crop Prospects in the Boonah District’, Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol.7, Pt.3 (March 1917), p.110; ‘Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for the Year 1922-1923’, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Vol.2 (1924), p.74.

2 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary 1844-1944, pp.91-92.


4 Anon., Fassifern District Centenary 1844-1944, p.57.

5 Ibid., pp.45-46.


7 Ibid., p.302; Personal Communication, Prue Firth, Wyaralong, 17 April 2007.




11 Anon., ‘Notes on Roadvale Rural Water Supply Scheme’ (Brisbane: Queensland Irrigation and Water Supply Commission, July 1972), n.p.; Anon., ‘Roadvale Water Board, March 1988’ (Copy held by Boonah Shire Archives), n.p.

12 Wyaralong Dam Environmental Impact Statement, p.1, Vol.1, 2007.

13 Queensland Times (Ipswich), 27 November 1990, p.2; Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 18-19 November 2006, p.18.

14 Fassifern District Centenary 1844-1944, pp.162 and 165.

15 W.E. Faulkner, Coulson, to Under Secretary, Department of Public Instruction, Brisbane, 24 May 1922, EDU/Z685, Batch 253, In-letter 22875/22, QSA.

16 Fassifern District Centenary 1844-1944, pp.164-65.

17 Anon., Boonah State School 1878-1978, p.30.

18 W. Creighton, ‘Wyaralong Renews Link with 23 Squadron’, FG, 1 May 1991, p.13.

19 Personal Communication, Prue Firth, Wyaralong, 17 April 2007.

20 Anon., Boonah State School 1878-1978, p.31.

21 K. Patterson and L. Carne, ‘The great escape to Boonah’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 11 February 2007, pp.28-29.

22 L. Carne, ‘Welcome to Boonahwood’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 29 October 2006, p.11.

Field-Marshal William Birdwood laying the foundation stone of Boonah War Memorial (9 May 1920)

Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 158741


The natural wealth of this district allowed the

Indigenous Ugarapul people to develop a particularly

rich cultural life which was only shattered by the

arrival of Europeans. In this instance the bounteous

resources had indeed been a fatal attraction. For

the pastoralists and agriculturalists who followed,

the district’s natural resources provided the basis for

continuity and prosperity. Perhaps the most important

element for the future was the ethnic composition

of the people who came to call this district home, for

it was the German character which helped to create

a distinctiveness that has survived to the present

day. The arrival of the railway in 1887 provided the

impetus for development, with rapid transportation

breaking down the barrier of isolation, and whether

through innovation, experimentation or education,

progress was subtle but constant. At the same time, an

attachment to the landscape and a sense of belonging

bequeathed additional benefits through self-help, self-

improvement and volunteerism. Importantly, it is in

this district that the qualities of the past weigh heavily

on the present, a convergent stream that one must

hope will remain firmly entwined as the historical saga

continues to unfold.

CONCLUSION

Australian Hotel Boonah (c.1902)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 16070

Prince of Wales visiting Boonah (1920)Source: John Oxley Library, Neg No 73571


Queensland State Archives:AGS/N279, ‘Agricultural Batch Files 1893-1894’, Batch No.7, ‘Travelling

Dairies Nos 1 and 2: Reports of towns and areas visited’.

COL/A17, ‘Inwards Correspondence, Colonial Secretary’s Office 1861-1873’.

COL/A314, ‘Inwards Correspondence, Colonial Secretary’s Office 1881’.

COL/140, ‘General Correspondence and Papers in Regard to Aborigines, Colonial Secretary’s Office 1896-1897’.

EDU/AA1131, ‘Register − Admissions, Wyaralong Provisional School’.

EDU/AB253, ‘Statistical Returns Furnished by Head Teacher 1903-1967’.

EDU/Z351, ‘Administration Files, Roadvale State School 1889-1941’.

EDU/Z685, ‘Administration Files, Coulson State School 1880-1938’.

EDU/Z817, ‘Administration Files, Boonah State School 1878-1940’.

EDU/Z1759, ‘Administration Files, Milbong State School 1874-1940’.

EDU/Z2641, ‘Admission Files, Teviotville State School’ 1899-1942’.

EDU/Z3019, ‘Administration Files, Wyaralong State School 1923-1930’.

‘Index to Pastoral Holdings and Lessees 1842-1859’.

JUS/N2, (Microfilm Roll No.Z2839), ‘Justice Department: Depositions and findings in Coroners Inquests’, No.71, ‘Shooting of Aboriginal “Tommy” in Dugandan Scrub, 24 December 1860’.

LAN/AF799, ‘Dugandan Run File 1868-1884’.

LAN/N2A, ‘Register of Consolidated Pastoral Holdings’.

LAN/N2B, ‘Register of Consolidated Pastoral Holdings’.

LAN/N3, ‘Lands Department: Index to Persons who are Lessees of Runs 1860-1902’.

SRS57/1, Photographic Material: ‘Queensland Primary Production, Industry, Architecture, Views and People’.

SRS1015/1, ‘Dugandan Parish Maps’, Items 518, 662 and 654.

WOR/A108, General Correspondence, Public Works Department’.

Community and Personal History Unit, Department of Communities:‘Aboriginal Movement Records’, Series CE.

Department of Natural Resources and Water:M3330, Survey Plan of Dugandan Pastoral Run, December 1868.

John Oxley Library:Boonah Photographic Collection.

Coulson Photographic Collection.

Milbong Photographic Collection.

Roadvale Photographic Collection.

Teviotville Photographic Collection.

Wyaralong Photographic Collection.

Fryer Memorial Library, University of Queensland:Siemon, R. (comp.), ‘Newspaper cuttings from the Fassifern Guardian

newspaper 2004-2006’, MSS F3322.

Boonah Shire Archives:Coulson File.

Milbong File.

Roadvale File.

Roadvale Water Supply Scheme File.

Teviotville File.

Wyaralong File.

Published Government Reports:‘Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and

the Condition of the Aborigines Generally’, Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings, Vol.1 (1861).

‘Petition for Railway to the Fassifern District’, Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings, Vol.2 (1879).

‘Report of the Registrar-General on the Returns of Agriculture and Live Stock for the Year 1895’, Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings, Vol.4 (1896).

‘Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for the Year 1922-1923’, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Vol.2 (1924).

Newspapers:Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 18-19 November 2006.

Daily Mail (Brisbane), 11 October 1919.

Fassifern Guardian (Boonah), 11 November 1905.

Fassifern Guardian (Boonah), 30 September 1931.

Fassifern Guardian (Boonah), 17 November 2004.




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Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney), 30 November 1839.

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Anon., Roadvale State School 1889-1969: 80th Anniversary (Roadvale, Qld: Roadvale State School, 1969).

Anon., Memories of Mutdapilly 1824-1974 (Mutdapilly, Qld: Parents and Citizens Association, Mutdapilly State School, 1974).

Anon., Milbong Uniting Church 1877-1977: Centenary Celebrations (Milbong, Qld: s.n., 1977).

Anon., Boonah State School 1878-1978 (Boonah, Qld: Boomah State School, 1978).

Anon., Serving the Shire: History of Local Government in Boonah Shire–from 1879 (Boonah, Qld: Boonah Shire Council, 1980).

Bernays, C.A., Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859-1919) Years (Brisbane: A.J. Cumming, Govt. Printer, 1919).

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Cannon, M., The Exploration of Australia (Surry Hills, NSW: Reader’s Digest Services, 1987).

Collyer, A., Templin: A German Settlement in Queensland (Boonah, Qld: Fassifern District Historical Society Incorporated, 1992).

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Frew, J., Queensland Post Offices 1842-1980 and Receiving Offices 1869-1927 (Fortitude Valley, Qld: Joan Frew, 1981).

Gill, J.C.H., Spicers Peak Road: A new Way to the Downs (Brisbane: Library Board of Queensland, 1981).

Harrison, J. and J.G. Steele (eds), The Fell Tyrant or the Suffering Convict (Brisbane: Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 2003).

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Jenner, M., ‘Pioneer Life in the Fassifern: Problems and Prospects’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Vol.12, No.1 (1984), pp.73-82.

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O’Donnell, D., ‘The Ugarapuls of the Fassifern:2’, Fassifern Guardian (Boonah), 30 August 1989, p.15.

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Theses:Cole, J., ‘The Social Dynamics of Lifecourse Timing in Historical

Perspective: Transitions in an Australian Rural Community, Boonah, 1850-1978 (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 1981).

Collyer, A., ‘The Process of Settlement: Land Occupation and Usage in Boonah 1842-1870s’ (unpublished MA thesis, University of Queensland, 1991).

Johnson, M., ‘Honour Denied: A Study of Soldier Settlement in Queensland, 1916-1929’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 2002).

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Fact Sheets:‘Logan River dam’ (Community Futures Task Force, Brisbane).

Personal Communications:Prue Firth, Wyaralong, 17 April 2007.

C.K. Pfeffer, Boonah, 15 May 2007.

INDEX

Abell, William, 26Aborigines, 3, 5-7, 10, 14, 41Agriculture, 3, 6, 15, 17-18, 21-22, 25-26, 34,

37, 41 Albert River, 5,9Badke, Herman, 37Barambah (see Cherbourg)Bashford, George, 26Bettington, J.B., 13Betts, John, 25Birdwood, William, 38-39Blantyre (see Milbong)Blumberg, Abram, 25-26Blumberg, Adolphe, 26Blumberg, Levi, 25-26Blumbergville, 25Bonke, Angus, 26Bonke, Benjamin, 26Boonah, 2-4, 6-7, 9-10, 13, 16, 18-19, 21-22,

24-34, 36-41Boonah Branch Railway, 18, 24-27, 41Boonah Farmers Co-operative Dairy

Company, 34Boonah Pig Loading Company, 37Bowman, Frederick, 33Boyle, David, 25Bradfield, William, 26 Brassey, Richard, 29Bremer River, 9Brewing, 17, 25Brisbane, 3, 9-10, 21, 37Brisbane River, 5, 9Britain, 17-18, 21-22, 33Bromelton Station, 14Bruckner, Heinrich, 17Bruckner, Keith, 17Bunjoey, 5Bunya Mountains, 6Burnett Creek, 9Cameron, Hugh, 13Cameron, John, 13-14Campbell, Robert, 13Cedar Grove Weir, 38Central Dairying Company, 34Cape Byron, 9Cattle, 3, 9, 14, 34Cherbourg, 6Children, 3, 22, 29, 38Churches (see Religion)Clarence River, 6Commerce, 25-26Convicts, 9-10Coochin Coochin Station, 6, 14, 26-27Coulson, 2-3, 10, 25-26, 28-30, 34, 38Coulson, Robert, 13

Croftby, 29Cunningham, Allan, 9-10Cunningham’s Gap, 10, 13Dairying, 3, 14, 17-19, 26, 31-35, 37Darling Downs, 9-10, 13, 18, 21Deebing Creek, 6Dixon, Robert, 10Drought, 14, 18, 21, 33, 34Dugandan, 10, 21, 25, 27, 30, 34Dugandan Station, 3, 5-6, 14-15, 17, 25-26, 38Durietz, Hugo, 33Education, 3, 28-30, 38, 41Exploration, 9-10Farming (see Agriculture)Fassifern Station, 2, 6, 13-14, 17Fassifern Valley, 4-6, 9-10, 13-14, 17-18, 21-22,

25-26, 29-30, 33-34, 37-38Fauna, 5, 9, 17-18Flinders, 30Floods, 18, 25, 31Flora, 5, 7Fox, John, 14, 38France, 18Fraser, Charles, 9-10Germans, 3, 21-23, 26, 30, 41Germany, 18, 21, 38Gibson, Hugh, 30Goan John, 25-26Goan, Thomas, 25-26Gordon, George, 17Gorman, Owen, 10Grazing (see Pastoralism)Gympie, 33Haley, D, 13Hamburg, 21Hardcastle, Thomas, 25Hardie, John, 14Harrisville, 10, 21, 25-26Health, 6Heussler, John, 21Hooper, James, 26Hooper, John, 25Hoya, 26Hunter Valley, 13, 19Iker, Edward, 26Immigration, 21, 22Inverell, 10Ipswich, 5, 10, 18, 25-26Ipswich Cotton Spinning Mills, 37Irrigation, 37-38James Crossart and Sons, 17Johnson, James, 25Jordan, Henry, 21Kalbar, 2, 30-31Kent’s Lagoon, 38

Kent’s Pocket, 25Kent, William, 14Latvia, 25Legislation, 14, 17, 23Le Grand, Robert, 18-19, 29, 34Leichhardt, Ludwig, 10Leslie, George, 13Leslie, Patrick, 13Logan, Patrick, 8-10Logan River, 3, 9-10, 21London, 34Lutheranism (see Religion)Macdonald, Campbell, 6, 13-14Macdonald, Hugh, 13Macdonald, Jessie, 13-14Macdonald, Macquarie, 13Macpherson Range, 5, 9Macquarie, Elizabeth, 13Macquarie, Lachlan, 13Mahon, John, 34Mallon, M.P., 15Maroon Station, 5-6Maryvale, 13McConnel, Arthur, 14-15McIntyre, Peter, 10McLean, Peter, 33Melbourne, 33Milbong, 2-3, 6, 11, 17-20, 25-26, 29-30, 34Military, 9, 13, 14, 38Minto Craggs, 9Model Dairy Company, 34Moller, Henry, 26Moogerah Dam, 38Moogerah Station, 13-14Moreton Bay, 9-10Mount Alford, 33Mount Barney, 9-10Mount Dumaresq, 9Mount French, 9Mount Shadforth (see Mount Toowoonan)Mount Toowoonan, 9Mount Warning, 9Mullins, Matthew, 25New England, 10, 13New Zealand, 33Normanby Plains, 10One Eye Waterhole (see Milbong)Pastoralism, 3, 6, 9-10, 13-15, 33, 41Patriotism, 22-23, 36, 38Perthshire (Scotland), 10Philp, Colin, 12, 14-15, 26, 34, 38Philp, Robert, 14Pigs, 3, 18, 26, 35, 37Point Danger, 9Police, 6, 27

WORKING THE LAND48

Prisoners of War, 37Prussia, 21Queensland Farmers Co-operative Dairy

Company, 34Rankin, Jane, 13Rankin, John, 13-14Religion, 3, 22, 28, 30-31Richardson, John, 13Richmond River, 5-6Richter, Frederick, 26Roadvale, 2-3, 17, 24-27, 29-30, 34, 37-38Rosevale, 21Rosewood, 3, 21Roxburgh (Scotland), 10Royalty, 27, 41Ryan, P.J., 15Sawmilling (see Timber)Schools (see Education)Scone, 13Seybold, C.W., 22-23Sheep, 13-14, 18Silverdale, 2

Spicer’s Gap, 9Spring Farm, 38Stanley River, 10Stapylton, Granville, 10Steele, J.G., 6Stirling (Scotland), 13Streiner, J.C., 25Stumer, Frederick, 25Surveying, 10Sweet, Samuel, 26Sydney, 9, 13Tarome Station, 13-14Taroom, 6Templin, 6Teviot Brook, 9-10, 14, 38Teviot Range, 3, 9-10, 14Teviot Residents Against the Dam (TRADA), 38Teviotville, 2-3, 26, 29-30, 34-35, 37-38Teviotville Farmers Co-operative Dairy

Company, 34Timber, 16-17, 26Tomlinson, G.W., 38

Tow, B.M., 15Tow, G.M., 15Turner, William, 13Uckermark (Germany), 21Ugarapul (see Aborigines)United States of America, 17, 21Undullah Station, 14Vogel, David, 15Volunteerism, 22, 39, 41War, 9, 15, 17, 22-23, 34, 37-39Warner, James, 10Warrill Creek, 37Wheeler, Frederick, 6Wienholt, A.E., 14Wienholt, Arnold, 14Wine, 18-19Women, 5, 12-14, 22, 34, 37, 40Wooyumboong, 18-19Württenberg (Germany), 21Wyaralong, 2-3, 12, 14-15, 26, 29, 34, 38

Documents

History of Boonah (Queensland)