Caboonbah Homestead - QLD

Caboonbah Homestead is situated 12km northeast of Esk in the Brisbane Valley, along the road to Somerset and Kilcoy.

Sadly on the evening of the 10th of May the beautifully restored historic homestead was razed to the ground, with all of its contents. Despite the best efforts by Adam the Caretaker attempting to put out the fire with a garden hose, the building was too far gone by the time the Toogoolawah and Esk Fire Units had arrived. The rest of the buildings in the complex were untouched. Please still stop in and visit, and help the Historical Society raise funds to rebuild.

Adam has said that people involved with the homestead have been talking about rebuilding it, and we hope the Brisbane Valley Historical Society can do this. We'll be talking with Adam and Kerryn soon about how Come Travel Australia can help with this. So watch this space and see how You can help.

The Caboonbah Homestead was built in 1890 for Henry Plantagenet Somerset and his wife Katherine Rose. The homestead is now the headquarters of the Brisbane Valley Historical Society Inc, and they have established an important local folk museum in the complex which consists of seven buildings, including Caboonbah Homestead, Cement Building, Caretakers Cottage (private), the original Worker's Cottage, McGrath Cottage, Police Station and Cell Block. The museum is open every day except Thursday. For details tel: (07) 5423 1553.
Because of its situation on top of a hill, the Caboonbah Homestead Complex enjoys superb views. Since the building of Wivenhoe Dam, a lake was created by the flooded valley below. This view can be enjoyed from a viewing platform a short walk at the back of the Homestead.

History

Henry Plantagenet Somerset was decendant from an important English military family, whose ancestry has been traced as far back as "Rollo, The Norse Sea King", Grand Sire of William the Conqueror; Also in his ancestry were John of Gaunt and Katherine of Swanford, and a long line of English Kings. He was born in South Africa and understood the colonial experience from early childhood. He arrived in Morteon Bay in 1871 at the age of 19 years, where he intended to stay only until he could obtain an English army commission, but instead he took up stock work and station management in Queensland and New South Wales. In 1879 he married Katherine Rose, daughter of pioneer Brisbane Valley squatter David Cannon McConnel of Cressbrook Station, for whom he had worked during 1872 learning station skills and then managing Mount Marlow Station. During the 1880's Somerset managed a New South Wales station and meatworks before returning to Queensland to purchase a property of his own.
By 1888 he had obtained 20,000 acres near Mount Stanley in the Brisbane River Valley to run as a grazing farm, and intended to build a family home there. He had a brickmaker start making bricks for the chimneys and employed men to pit-saw pine logs to build the house. His father-in-law, David McConnels suggested that the two families should avoid the 19 river crossings between Cressbrook and Mount Stanley, and Somerset agreed to exchange 10,000 acres of his Mount Stanley land for 5,000 acres of freehold Cressbrook land at the junction of the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers. He called the property Caboonbah, a derivitive of the local Aboriginal words "Cabon gibba" or "Caaboonbar", which mean big rock, describing the steep, 35 metre high bank of the Brisbane River on which the homestead was built. Somerset divided the property's mostly rich alluvial flats into 7 paddocks, on which he fattened bullocks, ran dairy cattle and bred horses. He also ran sheep for a while but replaced them with goats. The first cattle to cross the d'Aguilar Range in 1892 were a mob of fat bullocks from Caboonbah. The building of Caboonbah Homestead commenced in late 1889 and was completed during the summer floods of 1890. The 30,000 bricks for the service building, which contained a bakery, washhouse and storerooms., were made to the west of the house at the head of Sapphire Gully, by the brickmaker Somerset had employed at Mount Stanley. Interestingly, water was heated by the oven fire and piped to the adjoining washhouse. The locally produced bricks proved to be very brittle, so bricks from Dinmore (near Ipswich) were ordered for the house chimneys. Most of the milled timber for the construction of the house was brought from the Nicholson Mill near Villeneuve, but some of the pine sawn at Mount Stanley was used in construction of the loft. The roof was originally shingle clad, but these warped and shrank over time. The family moved into the house in March 1890, remaining there until Katherine's death in 1935.
During the 1893 Brisbane River floods Henry Somerset was in a unique position at Caboonbah to observe the rapidly rising flood waters and their potential danger to surrounding districts. When 36 inches of rain fell in the Blackall ranges in February 1893 and raised the river level to 74 feet 3 inches at Caboonbah Homestead, Somerset dispatched a messenger on horseback to Esk to telegraph Brisbane of the impending danger. Two weeks later the Brisbane River rose again, and finding the Esk telegraph line down, Somerset rowed across the flooded Brisbane River, two horses swimming in tow, to send a rider across the d'Aguilar Range to Caboolture to telegraph Brisbane. The first message was ignored or misinterpreted, but as a result of Somerset's efforts Caboonbah was made Queensland's first flood warning station, with a telegraph line to Cressbrook Station carrying a family operated Morse for 8½ years until a telephone line was installed in the early 1900s. The flood warning station was manned by the Somersets for 40 years, 1893-1933, without remuneration. The 1893 floods caused heavy financial losses, estimated at about £11,000, for Henry Somerset and he sold his Mount Stanley holdings in order to secure the family homestead at Caboonbah against debt.
Henry and Katherine Somerset were very community minded, doing a large amount of work in the local area. Henry was a member of the Esk Divisional Board/Shire Council from 1890 to 1904, including sitting as its' chairman. From 1904 to 1920 Somerset served as MLA for the Stanley electorate, being returned 6 times by his electorate. Due to his representations the Brisbane Valley railway was extended to Blackbutt in 1911 and finally to Yarraman in 1913. He was also a prominent supporter of the rural schools movement. His contributions to the District's welfare were honoured when the Stanley electorate became part of a larger electorate of Somerset. Katherine was co-founder of the Stanley Memorial Hospital, which is now the Esk and District Hospital, with Mrs Lumley-Hill of Bellevue Station. In 1905 the Somersets founded the Caboonbah Undenominational Church and donated the land for it to be built on. Standing timber on the property was exchanged for seasoned timber from Lars Andersen's sawmill at Esk. Prior to construction of the church, Henry had held services every second Sunday either at Caboonbah or in barns on neighbouring properties and Katherine played the organ at these services. The Church is part of the Caboonbah Homestead complex. Henry and Katherine had ten children, two of which are buried in the small cemetery at Caboonbah Homestead.
Following the devastion of the 1893 floods on the Brisbane River Valley, a variety of flood mitigation schemes were proposed to control the run-off of the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers. The 1901-1902 drought highlighted the need for water storage above Mt Crosby pumping station to meet Brisbane's growing water consumption. In 1906, when the Brisbane Water Board was proposing to utilise the lake on Stradbroke Island to augment Brisbane's water supply, Somerset invited the Board to send an engineer to inspect the Stanley Gorge, suggesting that a dam across the gorge would serve two purposes: flood mitigation in the Brisbane River Valley, and increased storage for Brisbane's water supply. An eminent American engineer, Allan Hazen, inspected the site and agreed that it had potential for future development, but recommended that a dam on Cabbage Tree Creek would solve Brisbane's more immediate needs. Lake Manchester, on Cabbage Tree Creek, was completed in 1916, putting the Stanley River proposal on hold. The 1928 Gutteridge commission of enquiry into Brisbane's Water Supply recommended that reservoirs be constructed on the Brisbane River at Middle Creek and on the Stanley River at Little Mount Brisbane, but no action was taken until 1933, when the Forgan-Smith Labor Government adopted the Brisbane River Valley flood mitigation and water supply scheme (Stanley Dam) as a major employment-generating project during an era of severe economic depression. By 1935 work on the dam itself had commenced, and in that year district residents requested that the name of the dam be changed to Somerset, honouring the man who first proposed the site. The town established for the dam workers was also named Somerset. Henry Plantagenet Somerset passed away in 1936 having seen the commencement of his idea. The dam structure was largely in place by 1941, but in 1943 the workforce was diverted to the war effort. The dam was eventually opened in 1953, and in late 1958 Premier Nicklin unveiled a memorial plaque officially naming the dam after Henry Plantagenet Somerset. Following Katherine Somerset's death in 1935, the Somerset home and a small portion of the original property of 5,000 acres was sold to the Grieve family, who operated Caboonbah as a guest house until 1962. In 1963 the house was purchased as a private residence by Neville Carseldine. Caboonbah was resumed in 1973 by the Premier's Department as part of the Wivenhoe Dam project and was leased for 10 years by Mr Carseldine's brother Max until 1983, when the Brisbane Valley Historical Society obtained an occupation permit. The property was transferred later to the Brisbane and Area Water Board, which removed all but one of the original timber outbuildings associated with the homestead. Caboonbah Homestead remains today as the headquarters of the Brisbane Valley Historical Society.

Accommodation

There are many types of accommodation to choose from near Caboonbah, at Esk, Somerset and Toogoolawah, including Bed & Breakfast, Hotel, Camping, Cabins and Caravan Parks are available.

Whatever your style, you'll find a great place to stay near Caboonbah.

Tours at Caboonbah

Take a Tour of the Caboonbah Homestead Complex and help the Brisbane Valley Historical Society raise money to preserve this historic building.

Things To See and Do

There are many other Things To See and Do around Caboonbah.

Visit the Information Centre in Esk.

Esk Visitor Information Centre

82 Ipswich Road,
Esk
Queensland, 4312
Phone 07 5424 2923
Email: tourism@esk.qld.gov.au www.somerset.qld.gov.au

Other Information Centres in the Brisbane Valley are:

Fernvale Visitor Information Centre

1483 Brisbane Valley Highway
Fernvale
Queensland, 4306
Phone 07 54270200
Fax 07 54270211
Email: fernvalefutures@esk.qld.gov.au
www.esk.qld.gov.au

Ipswich Visitor Information Centre

14 Queen Victoria Parade,
PO Box 243
Ipswich
Queensland, 4305
Phone 07 3281 0555
Fax 07 3281 0199
Email: info@ipswichtourism.com.au www.ipswichtourism.com.au

Here are some possibilities:

• Take a walk around the peaceful township of Esk.
• Visit Bellevue Historic Homestead at Coominya, built in the 1870's on the banks of the Brisbane River and moved to its present site in the late 1970's, the homestead is now run by the National Trust.
• Visit Lake Wivenhoe.
• Visit Lake Somerset.
• Take a walk around Toogoolawah.

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