Memories of trees

Memories can be triggered by many, often unexpected, events or objects - in this case, trees. When we moved into our home in Bayswater in 1976 the house was two years old but the previous owners had planted many trees and shrubs at random in the garden. For years, for example, we would discover an azalea growing under a larger azalea.

One of the first plants that I recognised, when we first parked the car in the driveway of our new house, was a liquid amber tree growing in the corner of the front garden. My parents had planted one of these trees in their front garden twenty years previously. Each autumn the tree was covered in large orange leaves which before long covered the small front lawn. As a child it was fun to play in the accumulation of leaves however I am sure that my parents soon tired of raking the leaves into piles to cart them away in the wheelbarrow.  In the 1950s it was customary to burn off debris such as autumn leaves instead of composting them - different times - therefore smoke from burning autumn leaves forms part of  the memories of childhood.  Apart from the colour of the leaves in autumn I remembered how large these trees grew, and the extent of the root system, so my husband removed the innocent looking little tree shortly after we moved in.

Next to where the liquid amber had been planted was, to my surprise, a cassia which I recognised as cassias had grown in the back garden of my grandparents' farm in southern Queensland. I had childhood memories of the mass of yellow flowers among the small green leaves that appeared in late summer. There were also memories of the back garden where the cassias were to be found. The main garden at the front of the house was full of colourful flowers and shrubs while the back garden was more utilitarian  - mainly lawn. The all important outside toilet was housed in the corner of the garden while the gate from the house to the farm was opposite the back door. However there was still plenty of room for children to play and even, on occasion, dance with the two cattle dogs, Sally and Hope. 

By the back door were two tall trees - pawpaw or papaya we were told. It was the wrong season for the fruit when we were on holiday however I now often enjoy eating pawpaw with muesli and yoghurt.

Immediately outside the gate was a large Moreton Bay fig tree. The branches provided lots of shade and the ducks enjoyed fossicking among the roots.  The only problem was that the flying foxes also liked the tree and took up residence in its branches. The noise at night was constant and they made a mess. My grandfather, uncle and father devised numerous plans, including exploding fireworks, to persuade the flying foxes to relocate, without success. The flying foxes stayed.

The memories of past Christmas holidays and childhood adventures produced by the cassia tree that I found in the garden ensured that I treasured it and looked forward to its annual flowering, not just because of the colour added to the garden but because of the memories created by the mass of golden flowers.

However, this year the cassia died. Maybe it was its time or maybe it was the dry summer, though it had survived droughts in the past. Anyway the cassia is no more and the branches and trunk have been cut up ready for the next clearance of garden rubbish. A search on Google for information about cassias shows that some Councils consider these small trees as weeds. Although it produced seed pods from time to time, our cassia does not appear to have had any offspring. I now need to find another bush to fill the space left by the cassia but whatever we plant will not have the memories generated by this departed tree.

#52Ancestors - Week 16 - Storms

When a child, our summer holidays were spent visiting my grandparents farm, Rosemount, near Kilcoy in south east Queensland. Rosemount was a timber farmhouse with a metal roof. Wide verandahs were on three sides of the house. The farmhouse, situated on about six hundred acres of land, dated from 1875. This was a great opportunity for children from Melbourne to experience and enjoy a totally different lifestyle. My grandparents owned the property for about ten years from 1954.

Rosemount

I slept on the side verandah which fortunately was enclosed. We always went to bed early as the property was a dairy farm and the men had to get up early in the morning to milk the cows. Also, as the power supply was produced by the generator in the dairy, the lights tended to dim by eight o'clock.

Late one night I woke to hear heavy rain on the metal roof and the sound of adults moving about the house. Getting up to investigate I discovered my grandmother and other family members distributing pots and pans throughout the house to catch the drips of rain invading the house via the roof. I was told that there was a cyclone and the rain and strong winds, which I now noticed, would continue for some time.

There was really nothing that the family could do except congregate on the front verandah and watch the storm. I had never experienced anything like it before. At one stage the wind was so strong that the rain did not touch the ground. To test what was happening my father went down the verandah steps, took a few steps into the garden, and crouching down did not get wet.

Eventually the wind and rain stopped and a calm descended on the farm. However we were warned that this was the eye of the storm passing over us and eventually the wind and rain returned with a vengeance before passing on. During the storm all the adults remained calm so I was just interested in seeing what would happen next. There was certainly no way that I was going back to bed.

By now it was early morning. Once the rain had stopped the pots and pans were removed, emptied and returned to their cupboard. It was time to investigate the damage left by the storm. Apart from some fallen trees and the telegraph line being down the most dramatic event was that one of the large water tanks had been blown off its stand and relocated some distance from its original site. The water tank was now lying on its side and it appeared very large to us children. Not surprisingly everything was very wet and muddy and no doubt there would have been some flooding near the creek. However the damage could have been much worse.

In the general scheme of things it was not as large as the cyclones that impact northern Australia each summer. However, for those of us who had never experienced anything like it before, it was an exciting and dramatic night.

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/

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.

Unlocking family stories - Rosemount

When looking at a map of the Sunshine Coast recently I noticed in the left lower corner the words Kilcoy, Woodford and Villeneuve, places near where my grandparents had a farm in the 1950s and early 1960s. The initial postal address was Rosemount, Villeneuve via Kilcoy until some of the land around Villeneuve was reclaimed for the expansion of the Somerset Dam.

Queensland Places has a detailed article about Kilcoy which mentions flooding part of the Villeneuve area in 1958 and Woodford which were the closest large towns to the farm. There is also an entry for D'aguilar and Neurum. Access to Rosemount was via Neurum Road.

Checking the electoral rolls using Ancestry.com.au helps to narrow when my grandparents were at Rosemount. There are two entries in the 1954 electoral rolls - one for Beriley at Toogoolawah and the second at Rosemount, Villeneuve so the move must have been made that year. A search in Trove using the terms Beriley and Toogoolawah for 1953 to 1954 produced two articles showing that after the sale of the property, the new owners were changing to farming sheep.

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. All surplus farm machinery went at satisfactory prices. In future the holding will be used for fat lamb raising and agriculture. (Queensland Times 4 May 1954, page 4.)

As well as confirming the sale of Beriley the above article is useful for describing the type of farming previously carried out on the farm.

A search in Google for Rosemount Neurum provided a link to photograph of Rosemount, possibly taken in the 1990s, in Trove, plus the information that the property named Rosemount at Neurum near Woodford, was taken up by John Doyle in December 1875, and was still operating as a dairy farm in 1998. The house was lined and had ceilings of silky-oak.

Trove also helps provide information about Rosemount.

In 1949 two of the three properties, including Rosemount, owned by Mr Eager were put on the market. He had purchased Rosemount from Miss B V Doyle in March 1942.

Queensland Country Life 24 November 1949

An earlier sale notice for the property in 1952 provided additional information.

Queensland Country Life 11 September 1952

The property was advertised again in 1954.

Queensland Country Life 28 January 1954.

These three notices provide information about Rosemount when it was finally purchased by Arthur Lord in 1954. Rosemount backed on to Mount Archer. Mount Archer is a mountain within the Mount Mee Forest Reserve in southeast Queensland and is at an altitude of about 545m above sea level. 

The 1963 electoral roll shows that my grandparents were at Rosemount that year but five years later were living in Buderim. As Queensland newspapers for this time frame have not yet been digitised it may be necessary to wait a while to narrow the date range.

A Google search for Rosemount Neurum produced references to Rosemount Dairy, Neurum at 51 Doyles Road, which initially I ignored but when I checked this using Google Maps I found the original homestead among other buildings.
Doyles Road (named after John Doyle) probably follows the original private road that ran from Neurum Road to the main gate of the property.

A Google search for Doyles Road Mount Archer provided the sales history for a selection of properties on the road starting from 1993. According to this search number 51 was last sold in 2006.

So utilising general Google searches, examining maps, reading about the development of local towns in Queensland Places and exploring newspaper articles and an image in Trove has helped to discover some of the history of Rosemount including the time when my family farmed the property.