Rosemount 2017

Why have a family history blog?  It is amazing the contacts that can be made and additional information gained when people locate your blog posts in a Google search. 

Original Rosemount homestead

Yesterday I received a message from a Queensland real estate agent who is selling a property owned by my family in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had discovered my blog posts about Rosemount (from 2013) when searching online for information about the property and thought that I might be interested in seeing pictures of the property today. 

Out-buildings near the Homestead

Obviously there have been many changes to the property in the past 60 years. Some of the land has been sold, the old barn has gone to be replaced by a more modern building, the water tanks are much more substantial and do not look as if they will blow off the stand during a cyclone. However the original homestead, with alterations, still stands with newer accommodation built nearby.

Mount Archer

There are many images provided in the information about the property including some providing a 360 degree view.

Neurum Creek - where we used to swim

There is also a map of the land of the current property.
Looking at the images brought back many happy memories of a child spending family holidays on my grandparents' farm.

If Annette from Cloud Real Estate had not found the blog posts and contacted me I would possibly not have had the opportunity to see what the property looks like today. Needless to say I have shared the link with other family members who may remember time spent at Rosemount.The link to the real estate blog - http://cloudre.com.au/rosemount/

Restoring family photographs

This afternoon I attended a meeting of Vic GUM (Genealogists using Microcomputers). GUM is celebrating its 30th anniversary next month and during the past 30 years has held regular meetings and workshops on using technology to assist family history research.

Carol Heath from Pixel by Pixel provided a demonstration on how photographs can be restored using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. A number of members had brought their own photos and Carol used three to demonstrate how she would restore a photograph that was torn, restore colour to a faded colour photograph using masks and levels and also colour a photograph. Carol's blog contains examples of photographs that have been restored including a post, Top tips for restoring photographs.

Carol runs courses on photo restoration and, of course, restores photographs as a business. More details can be obtained from her website.

Unlocking family stories - Beriley

Once again, notes from an interview, family photographs and the use of newspaper article found in Trove combined to provide information about this part of the family story.

Beriley 1947

In the interview I did with my mother approximately twenty-five years ago she mentioned that Gran, Grandad, Lortie and Michael lived at Toogoolawah when I was a baby.

Beriley 1950

 They had cows, a few pigs and grew lots of vegetables. Berily was on a tributary of the Brisbane River. The house wasn't much when they went there but it was quite roomy. There was a lovely billiard table table which could be used as a dining room table. ... They found the vegetables were terrific but they weren't getting the right price for them.

Beriley 1952

The three photographs above show the improvements made to the property over five years. A garden was also created around the house.

Garden at Beriley 1952

Articles in Trove provide information about the change of ownership of the property plus developments made to the property after 1947. The articles also demonstrate the need to be aware of possible alternative spellings of names (Berily / Beriley) in order to locate all the available information.

 

An article in the Queensland Times Thursday 21 November 1946 page 6 mentioned that Mr Stan Nagel from Berily Farm, Scrub Creek, had returned home from hospital but was still confined to bed. As family photographs show images of Berily in 1947 when the Lord family moved to the farm the sale of Berily probably took place early 1947.

An article entitled 'Left sheep for lucerne on Brisbane River' in the Queensland Country Life Thursday 23 December 1948 page 6 described the crops being grown at Beriley.

Lucerne growing is the main purpose of Berily Farm, Toogoolawah, now owned by Mr. A. B. Lord, who formerly owned Meta Vale in the Cunnamulla district. Like so many other westerners who have moved closer to the city, the Lord family appreciates the convenience of electricity and the availability of water.

In the lucerne paddock

  Berily Farm comprises 220 acres on the Brisbane River, directly opposite Cressbrook Station, with much of its frontage suitable for lucerne and potatoes. Of 90 acres under cultivation, 35 acres is lucerne. During the warm weather the average has been a cut of a ton to 25 cwt. every five weeks.

The lucerne is mown and carted into the shed and allowed a few days to cure before being baled. When "Queensland Country Life" called, the baler was hard at work. With three men fully occupied, it was estimated that 10 tons would be baled in the day.

Harvesting the lucerne

 The bulk of the lucerne is sent to Victoria Downs, Morven, and already 40 tons this year has been sent out to feed the stud sheep. It is also intended that a reserve of fodder shall be built up on the property to tide over any future dry spells.

Harvesting the lucerne

 Mr. Lord said that he had found that superphosphate applied at the rate of one cwt. to the acre gave a most satisfactory return.

Irrigation at Beriley

  All lucerne is grown under irrigation, and power is supplied to the 3% inch pump by an electric motor.

In addition to the potato and lucerne crops, the farm runs 40 head of A.I.S. dairy cattle, using Chelmer Red Prince as the sire, and the herd includes several pedigreed cows purchased with the aim of building up a strong herd of milkers. All cows in the herd are tested under the new herd recording scheme.

Farm buildings

The following year the Queensland Times Friday 24 June 1949 page 4 reported that additional crops were also being grown.

Mr. A. B. Lord of "Berily," Scrub Creek, has commenced growing small crops - carrots, beet and white turnip - for the Brisbane market. At present he has half an acre of carrots, 2 acres of turnips, and half an acre of beet grown under Irrigation. Supplies so far sent to market have met a good demand. 'During the current week, Mr. Lord expects to send 100 bags to market.

 

Beriley was a mixed farm and dairy cattle and pigs were also part of the farming operations. When Arthur Lord sold Beriley in 1954 the Queensland Times Tuesday 4 May 1954 page 4 reported that the new owners sold the existing stock.

Dairymen from all over the Brisbane Valley and Ipswich attended a dispersal sale of Messrs. R. and F. Moyse's A.I.S. dairy herd conducted by New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. Ltd. on the property, "Berily," recently purchased from  Mr. A. B. Lord. The whole herd of 60 head was sold at satisfactory prices which were in advance of those at recent local sales. A stud bull brought £33/12/, cows in profit £24, cows and calves £25, springers to £27/10/ Jersey heifers to £22, and vealers £7 to £10. There was also keen competition for the stud pigs. Brood sows brought £25. AIl surplus farm machinery went at satisfactory prices. In future the holding will be used for fat lamb raising and agriculture.

The Lord family were at Beriley for seven years and during that time improvements were made to the property. In 1949 the Queensland Country Life reported on progress with pumping for irrigation.

However as the following photograph shows, irrigation was not always needed.

1950 flood

Crops of carrots, beets and onions disappeared under the flood waters. The trees show where the river banks should be.

Unlocking family stories - Rosemount

Many years ago I recorded an interview with my mother including some of her memories of Rosemount. I also found some photos that were taken on holidays at Rosemount.

Rosemount in the 1950s

Rosemount was a dairy farm with some pigs. It was a lovely spot. The house was very old. There was a creek at the bottom of the property where we used to swim on occasions. There were platypuses in the creek. There was a big mountain, Mount Archer, behind the property... Behind the main house, part way up the mountain was the share farmer's cottage (not always occupied).

Rosemount 1962

When the family first went to Rosemount they had their own generator for electricity. There was a large wood stove in the kitchen. The house had three bedrooms downstairs with Mother's bedroom upstairs and another room off that that Dad had. Mother had a lovely view from her room as she was up the top of the house. There was a little narrow staircase. Downstairs there was a big lounge, dining area and a verandah on three sides of the house.

Inside Rosemount 1962

There was huge Morton Bay fig outside the back gate. Down the side of the house was an old orchard, very neglected. It was where the clothes line was - wires with branches of trees holding them up. There was a huge barn. Aunt and Dad had about eighty sheep between them and we had to go out every evening and bring them in. They were often by the creek. We used to go for walks in a wooded area near the creek - Fairy Dell, Gran called it . It was great going in there, shady with many paths. Some of the walks were hilly but always pretty.

View from front verandah looking towards creek

My childhood memories of Rosemount were that it was a great place for a holiday. Living in Melbourne most of the year it was a different experience spending the summer holidays on a farm in southern Queensland. Lots of space, lots of animals, a very different environment from the city.

Madam, one of the pigs, liked to socialise with the cattle

As well as the dairy cows, pigs and sheep there was assorted poultry to feed and look after and, of course, eggs to gather.

Feeding the ducks

The Chev utility in the background of the above photograph is the one mentioned in one of the sale notices for Rosemount and came with the property. 

Many of the coloured photographs taken at Rosemount in 1962 have faded but they still provide a glimpse of what the house and farm was like. The photographs and my mother's recollections help record this part of the family story.