Rosewood History

Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, Qld., Tuesday 18 April 1871, page 3

AGRICULTURE IN WEST MORETON.
[BY AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. ]
ALFRED TO GRANDCHESTER.

The village of Alfred, originally known as, the ” Old Man’s Waterhole,” and at one time a favourite camping place for bullock-drivers, consists of about a dozen houses, the largest of which was once a public-house, doing is very good roadside business, but it has not been used for that purpose for some years past.

Efforts are being made to establish a school in the district, which is much wanted, as there are about 200 inhabitants between Alfred and Grandchester. Most of the money required has been either collected or promised.

On the right-hand side of the line going from Ipswich, the Rosewood Scrub runs parallel with the railway for some distance, and, although several farms have been taken up on the strip of land between the line and the scrub, and even in the scrub, there are at present only two or three settlers who have made a beginning on that side. Mr. C. F. D. Parkinson’s fine homestead is a prominent feature on this side of the line; he has a very excellent garden, but little, if any, other land under cultivation. Bunan has 8 or 10 acres of corn at the edge of the scrub, up the road, nearer Ipswich.

Most of the farms are on the banks of Mort’s Creek, a portion of the resumed half of Franklyn Vale run. A very large portion of the district is adapted only for grazing, consisting of stony ridges or swampy flats, but the banks of the creek and the lower parts of some of the ridges are well adapted for cotton, being generally a light blackish loam, in some places – near the ridges especially – considerably mixed with sand; scarcely any maize, and very few potatoes, are grown.

The farmers generally are old inhabitants of the district, having been either carriers on the road, residents of Alfred, or employees on the neighbouring stations, and most of these have large herds of cattle; others leave their wives to look after their crops while they take contracts for fencing and go shearing in the season. Cultivation being, therefore, quite a subordinate occupation with most of them, is conducted in anything but a proper manner, and slovenly farming is the rule and not the exception. The fields are decidedly the worst-tilled, most dirty, and generally worst managed I have seen in the district; yet so well is the light loamy soil adapted for cotton-especially in such a wet season as this has been – that a fair average crop will doubtless be picked, as many of the settlers have already picked half-a-bale of seed to the acre. Owing to the low price, very little extra labour is employed to pick the crop, the settlers straining every nerve to gather it by the help of their own families only. Scarcely any of the farms have been taken up above two or three years; yet even here the settler’s early bark humpy is rapidly being replaced by really good substantial slab houses, some of which will cost a considerable sum.

This district produces large quantities of butter for the Ipswich and Brisbane markets; bacon also is produced in large quantities. One cannot help wondering that the farmers do not combine together and import a boar of the Berkshire or some other good breed of pigs, use him only for their best sows, and cut the throats of the long-legged, razor backed, ugly-headed brutes now reared in the district as soon as possible. It is astonishing to see the utter indifference too often shown as to the breed of both cattle and pigs, the farmers principal support about here. Were a few to combine and purchase a thoroughbred bull for their best cows, and establish a heifer paddock between them, they would soon find a very consider able increase in the value of their herds.

On crossing Western Creek, behind the village of Alfred, signs of settlement soon present themselves. A few decent houses are going up here, and land is being cleared for next year’s crop. One of these new settlers is Mr. John Jones, who has already placed a fine herd of cattle on his land, and is building a comfortable homestead.

The first cultivation on Mort’s Creek is that of Mr. Walter Power, who has 10 acres of young cotton. Mr. Power, who resides in Alfred, however, believes principally in his cattle, of which he has a large quantity, and milks thirty cows daily. He also fattens many pigs. The next farms are those of two Germans, August Linman and Ernest Weiland, who have each 4 acres of pruned and 6 of young cotton.

Mr. Francis McKeon has 20 acres seed cotton looking well. Though some of it is anything but clean, it will compare favourably with the other farms in the neighbourhood, and promises a large yield, seven or eight bales seed having been already picked; he has also 1 acre of maize and 1 of potatoes. This land, though low, and in parts liable to be flooded, seems well adapted for the growth of cotton, especially in wet seasons, as last year and the year before the crops taken off it were much larger than the average of the district generally. The McKeons between them have about 800 acres of land, and 150 head of cattle.

Mr. John Hughes (the adjoining farm) has 20 acres of cotton, only 10 of which appear to be worth much, the remainder being choked with weeds. He is building a substantial comfortable homestead; and has a selection of 500 acres of land for his herd of 100 head of cattle to graze on. 

On crossing Mort’s Creek, the first farm is that of James Madden, who has 7 acres of cotton, and is busy erecting a house; Patrick Moore has 6 acres of cotton; Patrick Hogan, 18 acres of cotton and 2 of corn; Matthew Toohey, 20 acres of cotton; and Martin Carmody, 25 acres of cotton; Michael Kelly has 25 acres under cotton, some of which looks well: he is building a large house of six rooms, the timber of which is of such strength and thickness that he evidently intends it to serve more than one generation of Kellys.

Leaving Mort’s Creek and taking the road to Grandchester, we come upon a cluster of farms, the first of which belongs to J. Mullis, who has 9 acres of cotton; John Keefe has 7 acres of cotton; and Patrick O’Keefe, 7 acres of cotton and 2 of corn. Mr. John Cook, the host of the hotel at Grandchester, has done what all bush bonifaces should do and what is frequently done in the country districts of England, and almost universally in the country districts of Tasmania-united the calling of host with that of farmer. Mr. Cook’s 6 acres of cotton, though put in late, looks very well indeed, and is much cleaner than most about this district. The soil is light and sandy, and, as appears invariably to be the case on such soil, the seed is smaller than the average, and will yield more clean cotton per 100 lbs of seed than most around here. Whether the cause which prevents the development of the seed also injures the staple of the cotton would require an experienced judge to decide. Mr. Cook has also an acre of corn.

Between Grandchester and Alfred are several of what may be called dairy farmers and cattle-dealers, their cultivation evidently being of minor importance to them. One of these is John Creedy, who has leased a large area of land for his cattle; he has no land under tillage. James Portley has also a large selection of pastoral land for his cattle, and sends considerable quantities of butter and bacon to market. Mr. Portley is building a new house, and has a fine well-stocked garden of about 3 acres.

Denis Dwyer has 700 acres of land, of which 10 acres are under cotton. He has 200 head of cattle, and makes large quantities of butter for the Ipswich and Brisbane markets. Denis Creedy also cultivates a little land, having 8 acres under cotton, and has a large herd of cattle. Robert Johnstone is a new beginner, this being his first year’s experience in cotton-growing. He has the best 7 acres of cotton we saw in the district; it was one mass of open pods, though 3½ bales seed have already been picked off it. The seeds of this cotton were also remarkably small.

In the immediate neighbourhood of Alfred, James McAuliffe has 7 acres of cotton, Richard Andrew 5 acres, and Edward Pender has 4 acres of corn – he has also a herd of cattle.