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Contributor
- News of the day
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Townsville Daily Bulletin, Wednesday 11 July 1934, page 12
ELDERSLIE RESUMPTION.
Land for Selection : Elderslie Resumption.
On Tuesday, August 21, at Winton, a Grazing Homestead on Elderslie resumption will be Opened for Selection. It comprises 25,428 acres, and the rent is l ¾ d per acre. The improvements are estimated at £3167. The centre of the homestead, in a direct line, is 35 miles South-west of Winton. The country is described as follows: — 'Well grassed, with patches of Gidya, Coolibah, Whitewood, etc brown soil, pebbly in places.' Three mountains are thrown in, Mt. Capo, Mt Tony, and Mt Boorooma. The North-east of the homestead is watered by a flowing bore, whose drains flow extensively South and North-west. The Western portion is watered by a sub-artesian bore.
- Background
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Elderslie Homestead was entered on the Queensland Heritage Register 21 October 1992.
Elderslie Homestead is about 60 kms west of Winton and is a complex of accommodation and working buildings set against the backdrop of Mt Booka Booka in an otherwise flat landscape. Three of the surviving buildings were constructed of local stone in the early 1880s as the nucleus of Elderslie Station.
The area in which Elderslie station is located was explored by William Landsborough and surveyor George Phillips in 1866, although some pioneer pastoralists had settled in the area as early as 1863. Severe drought in the late 1860s compelled some to leave, but there was a new wave of settlement in the early 1870s when the drought broke and interest in pastoralism grew due to rising wool prices. 1n 1873 the area was declared a pastoral district and a detailed survey of the Western River and environs was carried out in 1876.
he homestead complex has been, and continues to be, the subject of studies including a conservation plan prepared in 1991. In 1993 some conservation work was carried out on the blacksmiths building and quarters. The buildings have continued to suffer through storms which are common in this area due to the thermal conditions.
Although the homestead complex serves an area very much reduced from the original holding, it continues its original role as it has for a hundred and twenty years.
