Glamorgan Vale History
Orchids on a cart at Glamorgan Vale, Queensland, December 1921 (State Library of Qld)
Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld), Saturday, 20 January 1872, page 4
AGRICULTURE IN WEST MORETON
Glamorgan Vale
The growing importance of this district, which has been but recently settled, induced use to pay a visit to the locality with a view to ascertain by personal observation the progress that had been made. The route chosen was that by which the mail is at present despatched to Glamorgan Vale, viz., by Walloon, but this we found was a great round about, the Vale being situated several miles away in quite a different direction.
At Walloon we noticed a new hotel recently erected in close proximity to the railway station, the proprietor of which is Mr. Henry Tinsley. The hotel has been opened to the public a little more than a month, and in spite of the dullness of the times a fair amount of business has been transacted. Mr. Tinsley also carries on the butchering business at the same place. There is a new horse shoeing forge and blacksmith’s shop erected across the road from the hotel, the proprietor of which formerly carried on business at the Four Mile crossing. The present situation is found more central, and much more suitable to the convenience of the district.
From the hotel the Government road lies in a northerly direction to wards the saw mills, and the most notable attraction is Mr. Peters’ property on the right hand side of the road. There is splendid set of buildings on this land, amply sufficient for the requirements of any settler they have been erected in a very superior style, and include every convenience, the dwelling house being very large and complete, and the offices numerous and conveniently arranged. There is an excellent supply of good water, and the property, which is neatly fenced, presents an appearance of thrifty management. There are various farms between this and the sawmills more or less cultivated; the cotton on the whole looks well, but the late rains have induced a most vigorous and luxurious growth of weeds and summer grass, the destruction of which at present engrosses the farmers’ sole attention. After passing Mr. Smiths sawmill there is considerable difficulty in following up the Government road, on account of the innumerable fences which have been erected by the selectors upon their homesteads.
Having pursued the road for some distance we were oblige to diverge on account of these fences, and, after making several circuits in what afterwards turned out to be vain attempts to strike a road, we found ourselves in the centre of the Rosewood Scrub, amongst a lot of German settlers. Here the difficulties of the position were not much lessened, as very few of the settlers were able to talk English even sufficiently intelligibly to speak of the position of the country. However, we endeavoured to make the best of matters, and proceeded to take a look at several of the farms, trusting to something favourable turning up to put as on our direct route again.
The homesteads have all been selected out of the very heart of the scrub, which is in most places particularly dense, and the difficulty of getting from one farm to another is very great, even upon horseback. The settlers have bridle-tracks which they follow, and in going to their neighbours sometimes take a route directly into the heart of a scrub, beyond which one would imagine there was no possibility of coming upon a habitation; to a stranger the task of finding out the whereabouts would be a complete impossibility. And yet all the scrub for miles round has been taken up, and it will only be a question of time the clearing and cultivation of it.
We made our way on to several of the patches of cultivated land, and it was perfectly astonishing to see the work which these persevering Germans have accomplished. In little over a year many of them have cleared and fenced, upon their homestead selections, from five to eighteen acres of dense scrub, and have now in a very forward state crops of as fine cotton and maize as could be found in any part of the colony. Others are busy in clearing and preparing for burning off, &c., and in all directions there appears to have been no time wasted, and every energy is being put forth to reduce the wild bush, so as to make it sub serve the purposes of the settlers and their families. In all cases substantial though not imposing residences have been erected, with, in most cases, garden-plots for growing vegetables, &c., for human use. The fencing around the cultivation is, in a great many cases, of a very rude description, and has only been erected for the time being, but all the people speak hopefully of soon overcoming the difficulties of their positions, and putting up suitable and substantial fencing by-and-bye.
The settlers in the immediate vicinity which we visited were Messrs. Henslein, Ballin, Roub, Stumer (three families), Claus, Schuble, Ritschley, Kries, Voss, Springer, Lamprecht, and others. We spent the entire afternoon amongst these farms, and towards nightfall, not having accomplished the object of our visit, we returned to Walloon, and availed ourselves of a kind invitation from Mr. Smith, of the Sawmills, to “hang-out” for the night, and were treated in a most friendly and hospitable manner.
Next morning we started again for Glamorgan Vale this time with a map and pocket-compass, and made our way to the back of the Rosewood Scrub in a westerly direction. The outside settler at this point is Mr. Josias Hancock, who has a 640-acre selection of good land. He has erected a very large and substantial bush residence, and has several acres of cotton under cultivation. From Mr. Hancock’s, a bridle track leads direct into the district of Glamorgan Vale, which name has been given to it by one of the settlers on account of the appearance of the locality.
The situation is a very pleasant one, and the country appears to great advantage after emerging from the monotony of the scrub scenery. There is a rich flat, of limited extent, however, upon which there is a very scant growth of timber, and in the centre is a chain of waterholes, the largest of which is reserved for the use of the district, and is a very great boon, as in dry sea sons there is no water available save on this flat. The flat is surrounded by high ridges on all sides, and is a portion of a 640 acre selection belonging to Mr. Smith, 600 acres of it being scrub land. This flat, then, is the commencement of the district on that side.
The first house to be seen is one which was erected by Mr. Smith for the accommodation of his teams and drivers when out for the purpose of timber-getting; the bullock-teams have ample scope for feed on the flat, and the house is used by the drivers, and is found a great convenience. The next house is that of Mr. Nairn, who has 22 acres of his homestead cleared, five of it under cultivation, and is at present completing a new house upon the property. Mr. Pratt’s farm adjoins that of Mr. Nairn; it is here that a new post office is situated, being the most central in the district, and near the main Tarampa road. Mr. Pratt, who was one of the earliest settlers here, has 7 acres of cotton and 6 acres of corn under cultivation, the crops looking very well, and in a clean and tidy state. Mr. Charles Denning’s farm comes next, 9 acres having been cleared, fenced, and put under cultivation, the crops being cotton and corn. Mr. Charles Palmer has 10 acres under cultivation, and 16 acres surrounded by a good fence. Mr. William Day has about 7 acres under cotton and corn; and his neighbour, Mr. George Baulch, has 6 acres cleared, and a portion of it under crop. Mr. Michael Nolan has about 8 acres cleared and fenced, 61 of which are under cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, and various garden vegetables. The cotton on this farm is about the finest in the district, and picking will be commenced in the course of a month or so. James Tully’s farm is the next in order; there are 14 acres cleared and fenced, and about 10 under cotton and corn, looking excellent crops, and very clean. Daniel Dwyer has some 20 acres cleared and fenced, and 12 acres under cotton, 2 of which are pruned and looking well, although a good number of misses might be counted. Christian Spann one of the first settlers in the neighbourhood, has about 40 acres of his homestead fenced, and 16 acres under cotton and corn. Hugh Cavanagh has 12 acres fenced and under cultivation. Mr. Daniel O’Brien has some 50 acres fenced, and about 15 under crop. John Flynn has about 11 acres of cotton, and is busily engaged fencing in. Mr. K. Maloney has about 80 acres fenced, and 12 under cotton, corn, and potatoes. Mr. A. Tasman has about 16 acres under cultivation, looking a remarkably fine crop. Mr. Robert Brown’s, team-owner, Bald Hills, was the last place we visited. He has a very large area of land, which he uses for grazing purposes; he has upwards of 800 acres fenced in, and has just finished a new house close to where his former residence is situated.
We were informed that there were other farmers a little farther out in the scrub, whose places we did not visit. Amongst these were Mr. R. Wilkinson of the Queen’s Arms, Ipswich, who has about 12 acres of scrub felled and burnt, which will soon be ready for planting corn. Mr. Andrew Hawley has about 10 or 12 acres of the finest cotton in the district on scrub land. Mr. Thomas Jones is busy clearing and getting ready for the plough, and has got a little corn in; and Mr. Charles Cutter is also engaged in clearing work. Mr. McGimpsy and Mr. John Kelly have each a quantity of cotton and corn; and Messrs. Doab, Little, Schules, Stankey, and Barratt are all busily engaged clearing and otherwise preparing for cultivation. The majority of the farmers referred to in this report reside in the parish of North.
Glamorgan Vale was formerly known as “The Scrub Paddock,” and was famous in the annals of the neighbourhood for the incursions of wild scrub cattle; it was also notorious as being a very convenient locality for carrying on the game of “horse planting.” Within the last three years, however, a great change has been brought about by the settlement of the neighbourhood. The scrub is being gradually pushed back in a westerly direction towards Tarampa; and the district is becoming gradually cleared and fenced, and by degrees has assumed the appearance of a thrifty cultivated district. Only three years ago the locality was looked upon as almost out of the pale of civilization, but now it is the centre of a hardworking, persevering, and successful agricultural population. The land is excellent, and there is little of it but what can be turned to advantage. There is not much grass in the neighbourhood, and what little there is the wallabies and scrub cattle appropriate to a great extent, to the annoyance of the settlers, who are obliged to turn their herds out upon the Bald Ridges for better feed.
A post-office has been established in Glamorgan Vale since the beginning of this month. It is situated at Mr. Pratt’s house, and is under that gentleman’s management. Mails are received by horse, from Walloon, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, at a quarter-past 1 o’clock, and the return mail is sent out at 2.30 on the same afternoons.
In July last a small chapel in connection with the Wesleyan body was erected in the district, on the Tarampa road. It is a slab building, and was built by the co-operation of the residents, who joined heartily in assisting to forward the good work. The following gentlemen assisted in building the chapel, viz. :–Messrs. Day, Denning, Baulch, Palmer, Barratt, Macalister, Nairn, McGimpsy, Hawley, Jones, Tully, and Pratt. The work of drawing and preparing the stuff, and putting the building together, was divided amongst them according as it suited the convenience of each. Divine service is conducted in the chapel every Sunday morning by the ministers of the Wesleyan body from Ipswich; and the congregation numbers from thirty to forty persons. There is also a Sunday-school held every week, morning and after noon, at which about forty children are generally in attendance, some of whom walk several miles to be present. Preaching was formerly held for about two years at Mr. Pratt’s residence, various gentlemen from Ipswich attending to conduct the exercises. Mr. J. C. Foote was the first to begin the good work in the district.
There is as yet no day school in the locality, although the necessity for one is very much felt. There are a large numbers of children in the district, but the people are obliged to struggle too hard at present to be able to take the necessary steps for the securing of a school house and teacher’s residence.
The main road from Ipswich to Glamorgan Vale is by Hungry Flat-Brassall-through the Black Soil, over the Iron-bark Ridges, then to the left through the bush, across two Sandy Creeks running from the sawmills at Walloon to the Brisbane River, and thence direct by the old Tarampa road. The road is a very fair one, with the exception of a little difficulty which is to be met with at the crossing of the largest of the Sandy Creeks. The road has been lately cleared on the original survey in compliance with a petition sent from the neighbourhood; but there is a general complaint in regard to the crossing referred to, the late rains having rendered it almost totally impassable for drays. The settlers all complain of the want of a bridge, which would be the only means of effecting a permanent improvement.