Elderslie Station
Elderslie Station Queensland | |
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Coordinates | 22°17′26″S 142°28′21″E / 22.29042°S 142.47256°E |
Elderslie Station, also known as Elderslie, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep and cattle station in Queensland, Australia.
Description
The station is located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Winton and 95 km (59 mi) east of Middleton in Central West Queensland. It is located in the Channel Country and is bisected from north to south by the Diamantina River. The north east corner is well watered by Wokingham Creek.[1] For a few decades in the late 19th century, there was another town right near the station called Collingwood, but this had become a ghost town by 1900.
Composed of open plains vegetated with
Elderslie Station lies at the eastern rim of a roughly circular zone measuring some 130 km across that has been identified by Geoscience Australia as a crustal anomaly. Proof is currently lacking as to the cause, but it is believed likely that the anomaly was caused by an asteroid strike that happened about 300 million years ago.
History
John McKinlay and his party would have trekked through the area in 1862, while searching for the
In 1873, William Forsayth took up three blocks fronting the Diamantina and Western Rivers covering some 3,108 km2 (1,200 sq mi) and named the run Doveridge.
Sir
The property was sold in 1896 by the executors of Wilson's estate to the Ramsay brothers.[10]
An engineer named Douglas Hutchinson drowned when he tried to cross the Diamantina River in 1901.[11]
In 1912, the size of the station was 1,500 sq mi (3,885 km2), and held a flock of about 112,000 sheep. The property was sold by the then owners, the Ramsay brothers, for £110,000.[12] It had been acquired by Mr. C. J. Brabazon, who had recently sold Warenda Station and began improving his new run by employing about 100 men to work on fencing and other projects.[13]
The first commercial flight in the Northern Territory by Qantas carried Mr. C. J. Brabazon from Elderslie to Austral Downs, another property he owned, in 1921.[14]
The property was sold in 1924[15] by the Queensland Stock and Breeders Company to a Southern company, Australian Estates and Mortgage Company, that already had large interests in Queensland. The sale included the 80,000 sheep with which the property was stocked, along with all plant and equipment. At this time the station occupied an area of 680 square miles (1,761 km2).[1]
By 1933, the size of the property was 427 km2 (165 sq mi) and it was staffed by about 36 people.[2]
Heavy rains inundated the area in 1940, causing extensive flooding further down the Diamantina.[16]
In 1950, the property was sold by the Australian Estates and Mortgage Company and was then divided into seven separate grazing properties which were opened up for selection by the ballot process. The Elderslie leasehold was reduced to a size of 208.5 km2 (81 sq mi) and purchased by John Dixon, who sold again in 1954 to Keith Watts for five shillings per acre. Watts started to carry out repairs on the homestead which were later classified by the National Trust. A drover drowned while trying to ford the swollen Workingham Creek in 1955.[17] During the 1980s, the roof of the manager's house was damaged during storms, resulting in the deterioration of the building.[2]
In October 1992, the Elderslie Homestead was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.[18]
The property was still owned by the Watts family in 2011 and was stocked with a flock of 5300 sheep and 800 cattle.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland. 30 April 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 14 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b c d e f Joan Starr (28 September 2001). "Cobb and Co days relived at Elderslie Stn". Queensland Country Life. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9780643102132. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ "The blacks at Dagworth Station, Queensland". The Illustrated Australian News. Melbourne. 23 January 1878. p. 10. Retrieved 19 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Winton". The Queenslander. 26 June 1880. p. 806. Retrieved 18 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Advertising". Australian Town and Country Journal. New South Wales. 17 December 1887. p. 5. Retrieved 19 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- Wellington Times and Agricultural and Mining Gazette. Tasmania. 10 October 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""Waltzing Matilda"". The Worker. Brisbane. 13 January 1942. p. 7. Retrieved 20 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Swagman as memorial". The Northern Standard. Darwin, Northern Territory. 13 January 1955. p. 1. Retrieved 20 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Commercial Houses". The Capricornian. Rockhampton, Queensland. 3 September 1898. p. 19. Retrieved 19 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- The Brisbane Courier. 26 April 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 14 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Large station sold". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales. 24 September 1912. p. 22. Retrieved 14 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Winton". The Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton, Queensland. 5 October 1912. p. 10. Retrieved 19 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""Qantas Gazette"". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 20 December 1934. p. 6. Retrieved 10 March 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Elderslie Station sold". The Longreach Leader. Queensland. 2 May 1924. p. 8. Retrieved 14 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Serious flooding in West". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 22 February 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 20 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Drover drowned". The Central Queensland Herald. Rockhampton, Queensland. 24 March 1955. p. 27. Retrieved 20 April 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Elderslie Homestead (entry 600966)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
External links
Media related to Elderslie Station at Wikimedia Commons