Early Tinnenburra blocks, 1863

Cunnamulla, QLD
Australia
28° 4' 4.3896" S, 145° 41' 0.996" E
1 January 1863
1 June 2011
1 June 2011

Location

Cunnamulla, QLD
Australia
28° 4' 4.3896" S, 145° 41' 0.996" E
Department of Lands

Department of Environment and Resource Management, 2011

Early Tinnenburra blocks, 1863. The first surveys of the Warrego River were conducted a few years after European settlers crossed from the Darling River. Drafted in 1863, this map shows the boundaries of early pastoral runs. The location of town reserves, sheep yards, waterholes, blazed trees and the Queensland-New South Wales border are also shown as well as the tentative outline of watercourses. Pastoral interests were closely tied to water as blocks rarely extend more than ten miles away from creeks and rivers. In this map, three ‘Tinnenburra’ blocks line the banks of Cuttaburra Creek, an offshoot of the Warrego River. These were later taken up by James Tyson and formed one of the largest pastoral stations in the world. The name ‘Tinnenburra’ probably comes from ‘Dinnenbooroo’, the Aboriginal name for a waterhole on the Cuttaburra. While both place and name were appropriated by Europeans, its appearance alludes to an Indigenous landscape beyond what is conventionally represented by maps. Collection of the Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying, DERM, Brisbane

Venus block, Tinnenburra, 1935

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E
27 November 1935
9 May 2011
9 May 2011

Location

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E

Collection of the Noel Butlin Archives, Canberra

Venus block, Tinnenburra, 1935. This map shows two of Queensland’s major pastoral investment companies abutting one another. Bordering with Thurulgoona, ‘Venus block’ was the most easterly paddock of Tinnenburra. Thurulgoona was owned by the Squatting Investment Company and had leased this land for a number of years. In 1934, the AML&F manager in Sydney, Mr R. Sinclair Smith, informed the Squatting Investment Company of their intention to terminate the agreement and fence off the block within Tinnenburra. In anticipation of the transfer, the local manager of Thurulgoona inspected the fences and found that they did not correspond with the surveyed boundaries. In a letter to his superiors in the Squatting Investment Company, the manager provided this rough map and explained that altering the existing agreement would be complicated. The pegs and original blazed trees were all non-existent and would need re-surveying. This would cost at least £50. The existing north-south fence would then have to be moved 50 chains west. In addition to over seven miles of new fencing, this would cost approximately £250. According to the Thurulgoona manger, the fences were probably put in the wrong place to evade the high sand hill country in the area, not suitable for erecting rabbit proof netting over. As both parties had only limited tenure on their respective leases, changing the arrangement would have no benefit. A more pragmatic solution was therefore chosen. As compensation for keeping Venus, Thurulgoona exchanged a small square parcel of land with Tinnenburra. This provided access to one of Thurulgoona’s bore drains from Tinnenburra’s ‘Gidgie Camp’ paddock and remained a novel feature of the ‘Bluegrass’ pastoral holding after Tinnenburra was sub-divided. Held in archives around Australia, pastoral run files often contain rough hand drawn maps. In this instance they demonstrate how boundaries can be a physical reminder of past activities and corporate decisions. Collection of the Noel Butlin Archives, Canberra

Tinnenburra resumptions, 1906-14

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E
1 April 2011
1 April 2011

Location

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E
Lands Department

Collection of the Queensland State Archives

Tinnenburra resumptions, 1906-14. In 1906, 515.5 square miles was resumed from Tinnenburra. This was followed by another resumption of approximately 396 square miles in 1914. This map includes details on pastoral infrastructure and vegetation. AML&F purchased the remaining lease in 1922. Collection of the Queensland State Archives, Item 27786, File pastoral run

Paddock map of Tinnenburra, 1924

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E
28 January 1924
1 April 2011
1 April 2011

Location

Tinnenburra, QLD
Australia
28° 44' 14.928" S, 145° 36' 14.6808" E
Sydney
New South Wales Department of Lands

Collection of the Noel Butlin Archives, Canberra

Paddock map of Tinnenburra, 1924. Drafted after AML&F purchased the lease in 1922, this map depicts existing pastoral infrastructure. Details were later added to the map in red pen, probably by the manager. This included two new bores and the flow rate of Tyson’s ninth bore which had diminished significantly since it was first drilled. Bore No17 is described as a ‘practical failure’ supplying water for 10,000 sheep. The Tinnenburra lease expired in 1944, however, due to war time commitments the Lands Department delayed its decision about whether another 40 years would be granted. This allowed AML&F to continue running Tinnenburra during its most profitable phase, during a postwar boom in wool prices. Until the lease expired, AML&F had spent £60,556 on improvements and upkeep. Despite this investment, in 1949 the Lands Department initiated plans to sub-divide the property. Breaking Tinnenburra into numerous blocks constituted a major turning point in the economic and social history of the landscape. However, the cultural ramifications were arguably most acute in relation to Aboriginal people who, until that point, played an active role in the landscape. Collection of the Noel Butlin Archives, Canberra, 132/17

Mr Hempsall’s sketch of Mill Point

Mill Point, QLD
Australia
26° 3' 45.198" S, 151° 6' 29.4336" E
2 December 2010
2 December 2010

Location

Mill Point, QLD
Australia
26° 3' 45.198" S, 151° 6' 29.4336" E

Collection of A. Hibbard & E. Crosby 

Mr Hempsall’s undated sketch of Mill Point. Mr Hempsall’s father or grandfather worked at the mill and he went there as a child, with the family remaining in the local Noosa district. The map is drawn from memory, but closely resembles the panoramic photograph taken in the 1880s. Collection of A. Hibbard & E. Crosby 

The lake scenery of Noosa, 1887

‘The lake scenery of Noosa’ as recorded in a wood engraving by A.J. Boyd in 1887.

Location

Cootharaba, QLD
Australia
26° 19' 41.1492" S, 152° 54' 13.3884" E

Panoramic view, possibly taken from the water tower, of the Cootharaba Sawmill at Elanda Point, c1880s. Note the neat row of worker’s cottages disappearing into the distance at right.

Collection of the Queensland Women’s Historical Association

Berajondo, showing the Williams family outside the slab kitchen built by John Williams in the late 1920s close to the family homestead.

Collection of Michael Williams

Berajondo, 2008

Australia
1 January 2008
2 December 2010
2 December 2010

Location

Australia

Collection of Michael Williams, Sean Ulm, Susan O'Brien

Berajondo showing existing (black) and past (grey) structures and features in the immediate vicinity of the family homestead. Many of the named trees were planted to mark the births and 21st birthdays of children and grandchildren. The red line is a fire break constructed around the features held as most significant by the owners. The map shows a layering of histories over the century that the family has engaged with this landscape. Collection of Michael Williams, Sean Ulm, Susan O'Brien.

The Graves at Mill Point

Alf Watt is in his grave

These eighty years.

From his bones a bloodwood grows

With long leaves like tears.

 

His girl grew weary long ago;

She’s

Location

Mill Point, QLD
Australia
26° 3' 45.198" S, 151° 6' 29.4336" E
1 January 1956
2 December 2010
2 December 2010
The Bulletin
Mill Point, QLD
Australia
26° 3' 45.198" S, 151° 6' 29.4336" E

Australian poet Judith Wright visited the Mill Point cemetery and wrote a poem about life as she imagined it at the settlement during the late 1800s. The poem was written about the life of a man from the settlement known as Alfred Watt. In fact, Alfred was one of the first infants to be buried at the cemetery in 1874 at the tender age of four months and 20 days.

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