heritage

Don't miss out on the headlines from Property. Followed categories will be added to My News. Follow A PIECE of Queensland's history that sits on Ipswich's doorstep is up for sale. The historic Bellevue Homestead at Coominya has been put up on the market offering a rare opportunity to own one of the state's oldest homesteads. Bellevue was established in the early 1840s as part of the Wivenhoe run and by the early 1900s was the social center of the district. The property changed hands a couple of times before it was bought by William North Snr who established a 2,000-hectare section of the Wivenhoe run as the separate Bellevue Station. None of the original buildings have survived. In the early days, sheep grazing was the main industry but in the 1870s sheep gave way to cattle and the Taylor family took over Bellevue Homestead. During the Taylors' time, the Brisbane River flooded, in 1893, destroying parts of the timber-framed house which was later restored. In 1899 the owner George Taylor died but his widow remained at the station and in 1901 re-married a man named Charles Lumley Hill. The pair extended the homestead, adding a new dining room, a guest suite, and servants' quarters, as well as renovating the earlier sections of the home. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Bellevue was the social center of the district. Today the homestead has three separate buildings. The original slab hut was built in 1840 and still has the original kitchen landowners used. The second building is Victorian design and has six bedrooms. The third building, the Federation-style guest house, was built in 1903 and contains an enormous dining room, smoking room, and guest suite. The owners use the property as their private home and parts of the homestead have been set up for a business with an approved commercial kitchen to cater for weddings, private functions, bed and breakfast, wine tasting, home-style dining, and 'Devonshire Tea'. Source: www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ipswich/property/a...

Doomadgee is a largely Indigenous community located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, approximately 140km from the Northern Territory border and 93km west of Burketown. The community is positioned alongside the Nicholson River and provides access to the coast, freshwater rivers, and Lawn Hill National Park, one of the Gulf’s most popular natural tourist attractions. The Waanyi and Gangalidda people are recognized as the Traditional Owners of the region surrounding Doomadgee. The original mission, known as ‘Old Doomadgee’, was established in 1933 by a non-Indigenous family, the Akehurst family, with the support of the Christian Brethren Assemblies and Chief Protector of Aboriginals[2]. The mission was located at ‘Dumaji’ at Bayley Point Aboriginal reserve, on Gangalidda land. Archival records and personal accounts by residents describe the restrictive and difficult conditions at Doomadgee. In 1950, a government report severely criticized practices in use in the dormitory. At the time, mission policy required that all children over 6 years old lived in dormitories[14]. Boys left the dormitory around the age of 14 to take up station work. Girls were trained in domestic duties and often remained in the dormitories until they married. By the late 1950s, many residents left Doomadgee and went to the Mornington Island mission, where the practice of separating children from parents in dormitories had been abandoned. During the 1960s, older, unmarried girls began returning to their parents[16]. The dormitories closed at some point in the late 1960s. Source: www.qld.gov.au/firstnations/cultural-awareness-heritage-a...

Nestled away in a leafy, cottage-lined street of Spring Hill, sits the oldest surviving swimming bath in the southern hemisphere. Designed by Thomas Kirk and built between 1886 and 1913, the cosy and convivial appeal of the baths is enhanced by the brightly coloured Victorian dressing booths that circle the 23.43 metre pool. Adding to its historical appeal, the heritage listed baths feature stepped wooden bleachers, an upper gallery and a two-storey caretaker’s residence which sits at the eastern end of the building. The open roof is designed so that spectators can keep dry and shaded, but also allows sunlight to spill in, illuminating the swimming pool on sunny days entire project cost £2,526, approximately $330,483.07 in today’s currency. The Spring Hill Municipal baths were commissioned to replace the city’s increasingly polluted floating river baths that lined the Brisbane River from the mid 19th century. With a key focus on sanitation, the new Spring Hill baths were emptied nightly and fresh water was piped in from large holding tanks that sat at the end of the baths. This outdated practice was finally replaced by a modern, and less wasteful filtration system in 1961. Originally only accessible to men, the baths began admitting women 12 months after opening – but with strict swimming times enforced. It was not until 1928 that ‘mixed’ swimming was introduced. Modern day swimmers can still admire the vintage signage dotted around the pool’s edge with amusing directives like “Men must not loiter on this end of the pool”. Source: www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/mob-sunday-stories-spring-hil...