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Ballandean Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead at Ballandean, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to 1890s circa. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == Old Ballandean Homestead comprises a residence, detached kitchen, creamery, killing shed, milking shed, yards, stables and remnants of a blacksmith's shed and forge. It was the third head station constructed on Ballandean run, established in the New England district.〔 Ballandean was among the earliest pastoral runs taken up in that part of the north-eastern districts of New South Wales that later became Queensland. Some reports claim occupation as early as 1839.〔 From 1837 Robert Ramsay Mackenzie held an interest in a number of New England runs, but resided in Sydney, leaving his New England properties in the hands of managers. Sometime prior to 1844 Mackenzie either established or acquired an interest in Ballandean. Documents and notices pertaining to Mackenzie's bankruptcy, declared in April 1844, indicate that he held an interest in and 400 head of cattle running on Ballandean under the charge of Mr HH Nicol. Mackenzie later recovered his financial position and became a prominent Queensland politician, but his association with Ballandean appears to have concluded in 1844.〔 In November 1845 Henry Hayter Nicol, who had been managing Ballandean for Mackenzie, was granted a licence to depasture stock on Ballandean and in 1851 he was granted an official lease. The establishment of Ballandean as a successful pastoral property is attributed to Nicol. His first home on the run was a bark-roofed slab hut close to Washpool Creek. Reputedly, when the creek silted up and formed a swamp, Nicol constructed a four-roomed slab cottage with a stone fireplace and a shingle roof closer to the site of the later head station. An early traveller on the Darling Downs, writing in 1926 of a journey through the Granite Belt, recalled that Nicol had not yet built the rendered brick house and that he still resided in a slab building.〔 Nicol's lease passed to John Brown Watt in 1863. Like Mackenzie, Watt was an absentee squatter who owned a large number of runs. He was a prominent Sydney businessman and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1861 to 1866 and from 1874 to 1890. It appears that Nicol continued to manage the property for Watt, and likely still held an interest in it, voting in the district until 1868 under his licence to depasture stock at Ballandean.〔 Robert Reid Cunninghame Robertson acquired the lease to Ballandean in 1865. Robertson was from Wellington Vale, west of Deepwater in northern New South Wales.〔 Donald Gunn, whose father owned nearby Pikedale station, visited the homestead as a child and later recalled it as one of the best houses in the district. Gunn attributed the improvements on Ballandean to Nicols, not Robertson, whom he believed spent little on the property. Timber used in the new dwelling was cut on the property and limestone for the mortar is believed to have been quarried from a Ballandean paddock.〔 During Robertson's occupation the colonial government commenced a process of large-scale resumption of lease-hold pastoral land for closer agricultural selection. Under the Pastoral Leases Act of 1869, squatters had the option of protecting their homesteads and permanent improvements from this process by making a pre-emptive purchase of 2560 acres (1036 hectares) of their lease. In 1872 Robertson purchased the land surrounding Ballandean head station, which included the home station, meat station, woolshed, stockyards and most of the improvements.〔 In the 1870s the Ballandean lease encompassed 133,202 acres (53,905.52 hectares) extending north to Folkstone and south to the New South Wales border. In 1877 about half the leasehold, 98 square miles (25,382 hectares), was resumed for closer settlement.〔 While Robertson maintained Wellington Vale as his principal place of residence he also took an interest in the affairs of Ballandean. He appears to have spent some time there and used his freehold title to vote in the district from 1874. After his death in 1883 Robertson's executors consolidated Ballandean run concurrently with further government resumptions of the lease in March 1886. In 1889 they transferred the homestead and leasehold rights to James Fletcher, who erected a dingo proof fence on the property and cleared much of the run.〔 In 1889 the roads through Ballandean were surveyed. The Surveyor-General instructed that the road from Nundubbermere passing through the Ballandean pre-emptive should join the Red Rock Road near the head station, and Fletcher requested that the road pass the gate on the east side of his paddock. The road survey map shows the buildings of Ballandean head station near the gate and on the southern side of the new road. A woolshed was located some distance south and stockyards to the southwest.〔 Ballandean was acquired by John William Luke in 1906. Luke had been manager at Ballandean from about 1898 and did much to improve the property. He became a prominent public figure in the area, at one time serving as chairman of the Stanthorpe Shire Council. By the 1920s he had stocked the run with merino sheep. The property was noted for its high quality wool, a reputation based largely on the fact that it was free of many of the pests common elsewhere in pastures. At one time the run achieved a record price for its wool clip. Luke also ran ponies and Devon cattle on the property.〔 During Luke's ownership The Queenslander featured "''the picturesque homestead of Ballandean station"'' in its issue of 24 May 1924. The author described the main residence as having been constructed in the mid-19th century, but the offices, stores, stables and yards were of more recent date. Although much reduced in size, the station still had 22 paddocks and a "park-like" appearance with rich grasses and abundant water.〔 Since the late 1920s Ballandean has undergone several changes in ownership. Between 1967 and 1973 a cavity brick house was built on the property for use as the main residence. This is not considered to be of cultural heritage significance and is not included in the heritage boundary for Ballandean Homestead.〔 Between 1973 and 1977 new owners renovated the homestead.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ballandean Homestead」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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