Milman is a rural locality in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the , Milman had a population of 122 people.
Geography Alligator Creek, a tributary of the Fitzroy River, forms the western boundary of the locality. The Bruce Highway and North Coast railway line pass through the south-west corner of the locality, which was served by the Milman railway station () which opened in 1913 but has since been abandoned.
The land use is farming, predominantly cattle grazing.
History
The locality is named after its railway station, which was named Milman on 20 October 1918 having previously been known as Jardine. It is thought that the Milman name refers to public servant Hugh Miles Milman who married Katherine Maule Jardine in 1871.
Jardine Provisional School opened on 11 August 1913, becoming Jardine State School on 1 December 1914. It was renamed Milman State School about 1934.
Settlement by the German immigrants Milman was established as a settlement by German immigrants, arising from the initiative of Queensland Premier William Kidson of Queensland (19 January 1906 to 19 November 1907 and 18 February 1908 to 7 February 1911) who established a program to bring immigrants to Queensland to open the rural land. Kidson established a program calling for immigrants including Nominated Immigrants who were sponsored by residents of Queensland and the Queensland Government provided passage assistance.
There was much adversity for the immigrants to get to Australia.Letter from Albert Mudrich, Berlin O, 112, Mirbachstrasse 55, Germany dated 18 February 1910 The immigrants for Jardine came principally from the impoverished working class residents of eastern Berlin. With the diplomatic conflict between Germany and England tensions high in the mid-1910s, owing to Germany's military expansionism, and the German Kaiser had forbidden any immigrants leaving Germany to other than German colonies.Letter from A. Lohmann, Lloyds Shipping Bremen, to Mr. Bryant of Messrs. Keller, Wallis & Co, 2 King William St, London dated 21 February 1910 This meant immigrants had to first get to a foreign port to immigrate. The Jardine immigrants had to secretly leave Berlin and travel to London, through Amsterdam Holland, to board a ship for Queensland with the assistance of The Queensland Agent General. All communication prior to departure from Berlin was necessary by word of mouth to select the immigrants and secretly. No one could tell anyone they were leaving otherwise the police would have jailed the intending immigrants; school children could not tell their friends they would not be at school the next day.Handwritten document provided by Pauline Loose, daughter of Walter Loose an 11 year old Alligator Creek Group immigrant, undated possibly written by someone close to Walter Loose circa 1980s
Economic factors in Germany were a motivation for immigration. Germany has been a booming industrial power from the formation of Germany in 1871 up to 1900. From the beginning of 1908 something of a revival occurred to the German migration to Queensland, with a total of 778 settlers landing in Brisbane between February 1908 and the middle of 1910. This phenomenon was not unconnected with the downturn of the business cycle in Germany that commenced in 1907. While Niemeyer's emigrants were poor, they were positively well-off in comparison to most of those brought out by Bernoth. The latter included, according to Berlin police, persons who had been on poor relief; number of the Jardine immigrants would have been unemployed.Two Pastor’s and Their Flocks, An Episode in the European Settlement of Queensland, 10 October 1984, John Perkins Senior Lecturer in Economic History, and Jūrgen Tampke Senior Lecturer in History, pp379 to 387
The first ship load of immigrants (brought to Australia from London aboard the S.S. Omrah) arrived on the banks of Alligator Creek on 11 January 1910.14 January 1910 Subject: Jardine Estate Improvement Report by Inspector in Charge of Works M. Turner to The Engineer in Charge handwritten The second ship load of immigrants departed London on Friday 28 January 1910 and arrived on the banks of the Alligator Creek in late April 1910 having berthed in Brisbane aboard the S.S. Oswestry Grange on 23 March 1910. These immigrants had travelled by train from Berlin to Amsterdam to get to London undetected by the German authorities. The first ship's immigrants were affected by dengue fever upon arrival in Brisbane.Letter from Immigration Agent Brisbane to Under Secretary, Chief Secretary’s Department dated 6 January 1910. Chief Secretary’s Office ID00098 6 January 1910. When the second ship arrived the immigrants complained to the Imperial German Consul about the poor and contaminated food, and the poor hygiene of catering staff, on the vessel – this resulted in a Government inquiry and the complaint was upheld.Department of Immigration letter from the Immigration Agent to Chief Secretary’s Department Brisbane dated 31 March 1910. ID02159 Queensland State Archives
While in most other districts land would be surveyed and buyers would purchase surveyed blocks, the land in Jardine had not been surveyed before immigrants arrivedMorning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Wednesday 20 October 1909, page 6Truth, Brisbane, Sunday 20 February 1910, p9 and therefore the portions were unknown. On 18 November 1909 Mr. Staff Surveyor Ellis was instructed to ‘at once design the area’ - about 22,000 acres for Agricultural Farm selection; the scrub land into 160 acres; superior forest into 320 acres, and inferior forest into 640 to 1280 acre blocks. On 29 November 1909 Mr Ellis was additionally requested to make out one or more of the principal roads so that the Germans may be employed in clearing and forming the roads immediately on their arrival; permanent survey of the farms would follow. As early as mid November 1909 there was agreement by the Government, in response to Rev. M. Bernoth's request, that the immigrant men be employed clearing roads and ‘otherwise improving the area reserved for them’ but the Government directed that the cost of such improvement is added to the price of the land.The Brisbane Courier Saturday 4 June 1910 Page 4. If this had not been done the immigrants would have needed to find paid employment elsewhere. Mr. Ellis commenced the survey work on 29 November.Handwritten file memo dated 2.12.09 Works No. 14??? (copy) Subject: Proposed Road Works Jardine; Rockhampton Lands Dept.
Inspector Turner of the Department of Works oversaw the settling-in of the immigrants and the road building works; his tenure was almost 12 months. He worked closely with the Lands Department, the surveyor and the Government in Brisbane. He was highly critical of the immigrant's manual skills both initially and even in his final report.Jardine Estate Final report on works completed. 28 November 1910 handwritten signed M. Turner Inspector 30 November 1910 Department of Works.
Inspector Turner can be credited with an enormous effort on his part to help them establish and even helping them during periods of extremely heavy rain and flooding of Alligator Creek (at one time swimming two flooded creeks to report their safety and arrange safety checking by the Yaamba PoliceA typed memo dated 11 February 1910, Subject: Report by Inspector in charge of works respecting effect of flood in Fitzroy River to Under Secretary Dept of Public Lands; providing M. Turner’s report dated 6 February to H.H. Hamley Engineer in Charge Jardine Estate Improvement Works. ). The first ship load of immigrants arrived amid torrential rain on 11 January 1910 and already local flooding of streams feeding the Alligator Creek required that the settlers had to be taken by dray an additional distance of about 1½ Miles through the bush (expected to be along ridge lines to avoid flooded creeks). It was so boggy (‘4½ miles of sludge’) on the dirt tracks that the Inspector had to abandon the transfer from the landing point (forde – probably what is now Plentiful Creek Rd) on the Alligator Creek to the German Camp No 1 on the first day. The rain was so persistent that the balance of their goods, were not be delivered to their camp until 22 January.Handwritten memo from M. Turner dated 20 January 1910 to the Engineer in Charge Jardine Estate Improvement Works; Subject: German Settlement Jardine Estate
On 18 January 1910 he reported finding ‘their camp in such an insanitary condition’. The immigrants had no bush skills, and the excessive rain would have inundated the site even though it was on a rise. He spent the day helping to reorganise the camp rather than starting work on the roads.Handwritten memo from M. Turner dated 20 January 1910 to the Engineer in Charge Jardine Estate Improvement Works: Subject: German Settlement Jardine Estate
Camp 1 was an area 184’ [60 metres] by 99’ [32 metres] with a "bough shed 40’ (12m) by 13’ (4m) [presumably a common gathering place] in the middle, and eight fireplaces behind two rows of tents on each long side; a total of 30 tents for 25 families. These settlers had come from the poor areas of eastern Berlin (principally but not entirely) to canvas tents in the middle of heavy summer rains in virgin scrub. The conditions must have been unbearable as the rain was torrential; six families abandoned the camp by 20 January and a scathing letter was published in the Truth newspaper Brisbane about the conditions.
The first survey map was not published until about 11 April 1910.Preliminary Lithograph Design of Portions 24 to 64 Parish of Jardine, County of Livingstone, Land Agents District Rockhampton Cat No. Lo.341. signed Medio Ellis, Staff Surveyor
The Parish was initially reserved for those known as "The Alligator Creek Group" and when the Government advertised the land for sale it was publicly listed for purchase exclusively by that group. There is no documentation to substantiate this but there are suggestions that the first group of immigrants believed they should have been given priority for the selection of the land because they had been working hard for almost four months building the roads before the second group arrived. There was in fact a ‘ballot’ conducted within The Alligator Creek Group, presumably overseen by Reverend Bernoth, who must have negotiated an equitable outcome; held sometime after the second boat load of settlers arrived but before August. The ballot was in fact only for the 160-acre lots because the one 512 acre lot (Portion 45), five surveyed 320 acre blocks (Portions 42, 43, 44, 46 and 47), and two unsurveyed blocks (Portions 71 and 72 - also 320 acres) were ‘agreed’ (as to who would get them), under some controversy, before the ballot. Also, there must have been an agreement with the Government that the outcome of this ballot within the Group would be accepted as applicants for the land once it came to be released by the Rockhampton Land Court. Most settlers moved from their Camps progressively and by mid SeptemberMorning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Saturday 20 September 1910 p5 only three families remained in camps. The first release of the land in the Land Court was not until 7 December 1911 in the Government Gazette.The Queensland Government Gazette of 7 October 1911, Page 931
The financial structure required the selector signing a lease with the Government to pay the Rent and Survey Fee and also a mortgage to the Agricultural Bank of Queensland. While the bank did not receive payments they had the power to foreclose if the selector fell behind in payments; this occurred, for example, to Friedrich Herrmann Richard Lamain (Portion 54) when the bank disposed of the property to James Stafford Heaslip on 18 September 1929. Mr. Heaslip then continued the payments until freehold title was granted on 3 January 1936.Queensland State Archives Old Land File Agricultural Farm AF2736 Parish of Jardine Portion 54