Monsildale Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead at 2532 Monsildale Road, Monsildale, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 April 2009.
History Monsildale Homestead is a grazing property distinguished by a large timber residence which stands in a picturesque setting on a knoll to the east of Monsildale Road, within a loop of Monsildale Creek. The core section of the main residence was built between 1871 and 1877 on land selected by cattle grazier James Steven during the second phase of the settlement of the Brisbane River Valley, and an extension to the south was added by the Horne family, probably during the 1910s. The property was owned by members of the Horne and Woodrow families between c.1912 and 1978, and although the original cattle station has been subdivided and deer are now farmed close to the main residence, the property still runs cattle. A slab timber combined barn and shed still stands to the southeast of the main residence, and east of the barn is a derelict two-room timber single-men's barrack. At some distance to the south of the main residence is a former quarters for Aboriginal workers, which was later used as a piggery. These structures are characteristic elements of a grazier's homestead complex.
The Brisbane River's watershed, of which Monsildale Creek is a part, was one of the earliest areas of Queensland to be settled outside of the Moreton Bay penal settlement. Pastoralists first drove their sheep onto the Darling Downs from New South Wales in 1840, and squatters moved into the Brisbane River Valley the following year. formally established Cressbrook Station in July 1841, and was the first squatter to settle with his stock east of the Great Dividing Range in the future colony of Queensland. He was followed in late 1841 by John Balfour (Colinton Station), the Mackenzie brothers (Kilcoy Station), the Archer brothers (Durundur Station), and the Bigge brothers (Mount Brisbane Station). Pastoralists in the Brisbane River Valley soon switched from sheep to cattle, as sheep were not well suited to the local climate.
In 1848 the northern boundary of Colinton Station was described in the New South Wales Government Gazette as running from a marked tree beyond Mount Stanley to a point on the range at the head of Mackenzie's Sheep Station Creek, and thus the site of the Monsildale property may have fallen within the boundary of Colinton Station. It is also reported that at one stage David O'Connel from Cressbrook station considered grazing at Monsildale, but decided against it. Monsildale was apparently named after the property of David's brother Henry in Derbyshire.
Little else is known about the history of the land around Monsildale until May 1871, when James Steven applied to select a homestead under the Crown Lands Alienation Act 1868. James Steven is not listed in the 1868 Queensland Alphabetical Post Office Directory, nor is he listed under the Squatters or Cattle Graziers sections in the 1874 or 1876 Trades Directories. However, Monsildale is listed under "Stations" in the 1878 to 1879 Trades Directory as being run by Swanson and Steven. Alexander Swanson apparently selected Portion 43, some distance to the south of Monsildale homestead, in partnership with James Steven in 1877.
Alexander was most likely one of the Swanson brothers who established Yabba Station on the Gympie side of the Jimna Range c.1852. Although it was originally stocked with sheep, Yabba was running cattle by the time it was transferred to the Queensland National Bank in 1882. Two men named Swanson and Stevens supposedly discovered the Jimna goldfield in 1860, when the latter was the head stockman at Yabba. This goldfield was gazetted in 1868, and attracted 1500 men at its peak, although by 1871 the population had dropped to 300. It is possible that James Steven was the head stockman at Yabba Station in 1860, and it can be speculated as to whether or not he made his fortune on the Jimna gold field, given the amount of money later spent on his homestead at Monsildale.
The land Steven wanted for his homestead was surveyed by R. Atkinson as Portion 1, Parish of Mount Stanley (later parish of Monsildale), in the County of Canning. In February 1872 it consisted of of Agricultural land and of 1st Class Pastoral land (). During the 1870s Steven selected thousands of acres in the vicinity, including adjacent portions 2, 3, 11 12, 27 and 44, along with Portion 4 to the south, plus other portions. Donald Steven selected Portion 7 opposite Portion 1. Subdivision of the large pastoral runs to the south of Monsildale also began during the 1870s, and in 1876 the first selections at Hazeldean were excised from the Kilcoy Run. In 1877 closer settlement commenced at Villeneuve with the resumptions out of Durundur holdings.
In March 1875, in a letter to the Commissioner for Crown Lands for West Moreton, Steven requested that his homestead selection be transferred to a conditional purchase, as "it is most likely that other arrangements may soon interfere with my personal residence on the land". In April 1876 a letter to the Commissioner from Steven stated that, as he had spent so much money on one selection at Monsildale (Portion 1), it could be argued that he had met the requirements of the 1868 Act for improving his surrounding selections. His selections were inspected in April 1877, and a report on his fulfilment of the selection conditions regarding Portion 1 was issued in July 1877. In this report, Steven's occupation was listed as "Grazier". Steven applied to purchase in November 1877, and a Deed of Grant was issued in February 1878.
Steven's selections were in an isolated valley, and his homestead needed to be self-contained. A list of Steven's improvements to Portion 1, as inspected in April 1877, included the following: a chamferboard house with shingle roof and verandah all round, containing seven rooms and a hall. Lined and ceiled with cedar, with two brick chimneys and spouted all round, it was valued at . There was also a 9000-gallon underground brick and cemented tank and pump valued at ; and a slab and shingle kitchen containing five rooms, with verandahs front and back, built on piles and enclosed underneath, valued at . A slab and shingle store, meat-house, and bathroom with verandah were worth ; and a second slab and shingle kitchen of two rooms and a verandah was valued at . Other outbuildings included a fowl house and piggery (); a blacksmith's shop (); and a stable with three stalls, two loose boxes, a buggy house, a harness room, a corn loft, spouting all around and a large tank (). In addition, there were two men's huts, one of three rooms () and one of two rooms (). Along with various fences and gates, there was also a fenced garden which included fruit trees.
Yards included a horse yard, and a milking yard around a calf pen and milking bails. A stockyard enclosed 10 small yards, and included a branding lane, speying bails, a killing yard and gallows. A herding yard was attached. A map of Portion 1 in 1877 shows stockyards near the location of the current stockyards. The existing cattle dip within these yards has the dates 1903 and 1905 carved into posts and rails at the north end of the dip pit.
The history of the homestead selection from this time on can be gleaned from the land titles. Although existing titles for Portion 1 only go back as far as 1926, the ownership of neighbouring portions 2 and 12, just outside the loop of Monsildale Creek, gives a fair indication of events at Monsildale prior to 1926. Steven applied to lease Portion 2 before survey in May 1871 and again in November 1871 (as selection 2024). It was leased from January 1872, and a Deed of Grant for its was issued to Steven in February 1878. Steven also applied to lease Portion 12 (selection 2841) before survey in July 1873, and a Deed of Grant for its was issued in March 1878.
Most of portions 2 and 12 were combined and subdivided in 1880 to form two new holdings. One () was located to the north of a road leading east from Monsildale Road, and another () was located to the south of this road. In 1882 new joint titles for these holdings were issued to James Steven and Alexander Swanson. In March 1893 both holdings were transferred to the British and Australasian Trust and Loan Company Limited. Information on the history of the district published by the Kilcoy District Historical Society notes that Thomas E. Robertson was at Monsildale in 1895, and that he was listed as property manager from 1904 to 1908. He was probably employed by the British and Australasian Trust and Loan Company Limited.
In 1912 the above holdings were obtained by James Horne, and the titles were transferred to Hornes Limited in 1921. James Horne was born in Newchapel, England in 1861, and he married Elizabeth Maddicks in 1888. Prior to moving to Monsildale the Hornes owned the property Fairlymeade, near Woodford. James Horne also served a term on the Kilcoy Shire Council from 1918. It has been claimed that Horne purchased the Monsildale property in 1908, but this could be confirmed from the titles examined. Portion 1 could have been purchased in 1908, but as pointed out above, the surrounding land was not purchased by Horne until 1912. James Horne is first listed at "Monsildale" in the 1911–1912 Trades Directory of the Queensland Post Office Directory, under the Pastoral and Agricultural section. At this time he had 33 horses and 502 cattle. Horne family photographs in 1913 and 1914 show quite a large family, and the main residence was probably extended to the south soon after Horne purchased the property.
Local knowledge claims that the hut to the south of the homestead at Monsildale (visible in a photograph taken from the south before the homestead was extended) was used as Aboriginal quarters, and there were Aboriginal workers in the area. A photograph taken on Yabba station prior to World War I shows two Aboriginal workers in European dress. Due to shortages of European labour in the nineteenth century, station owners turned to Aboriginal workers, who adapted well to work in the pastoral industry whilst - initially - maintaining aspects of their traditional lifestyle, with the families of workers camping on the stations. By the mid-1880s well over half of the employees on cattle stations in North Queensland were Aboriginal. Later, after a collapse in the Queensland export beef trade in the 1920s led to the removal of non-working dependants from stations and seasonal employment of Aboriginal workers, Aboriginal labour was usually drawn from fringe camps near towns, or from Missions. European and Aboriginal workers were quartered and fed separately, and Aboriginal camps were usually located some distance from the homestead. Aboriginals who were in regular employment and who did not have a strong tie with local Aboriginals might be housed in a station hut.
Although cattle-grazing was the main activity at Monsildale, the area's timber was also a source of local economic activity. At various times between 1912 and 1961 sawmills operated on a flat part of Portion 2, just over the creek to the north of the homestead, on land rented from Horne. A small township developed on the site, between the Monsildale Road and Monsildale Creek to the west, including a store, butcher's shop and a school. When Gladys and Vera Horne attended Monsildale School in 1913, their father was listed as a "Squatter".