Kidman's Tree of Knowledge is a heritage-listed

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

at Glengyle Station,

Bedourie Bedourie is a town and a locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bedourie had a population of 122 people. Geography Bedourie is located in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland, Australia, lying on Eyr ...

Shire of Diamantina The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie. Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It is also known as Tree of Knowledge. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. A ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

Kidman's Tree of Knowledge is located on Glengyle Station in Queensland's

Diamantina Diamantina may refer to: Geography Australia * Diamantina Bowen (1833-1893), ''grande dame'' of Queensland and the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. * ''Diamantina Cocktail'', 1976 album by Little River Band * Diam ...

district and has become associated with Sir

Sidney Kidman Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 18572 September 1935), known as Sid Kidman and popularly named "the Cattle King", was an Australian pastoralist and entrepreneur who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime. Early life Sidne ...

and the vast pastoral empire he established in the Australian interior in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The mature coolibah ( Eucalyptus coolibah) is reputedly the tree under which Sidney Kidman camped when contemplating the development of his pastoral empire in

Western Queensland Western Queensland encompasses the three western regions in the Australian state of Queensland: * North West Queensland, often known as Gulf Country; * Central West Queensland; and * South West Queensland. History Karuwali (also known as ' ...

. Glengyle Station on which the tree is situated subsequently proved to be the most important in Kidman's chain of properties that eventually stretched from the

Barkly Tableland The Barkly Tableland is a rolling plain of grassland in Australia. It runs from the eastern part of the Northern Territory into western Queensland. It is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory and covers , 21% of the Northern Terr ...

through to the

Barrier Range A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something. Barrier may also refer to: Places * Barrier, Kentucky, a community in the United States * Barrier, Voerendaal, a place in the municipality of Voerendaal, Netherla ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. However, while Kidman visited and purchased stock from Glengyle he did not acquire the leasehold until 1913. Although European explorers had passed through the Diamantina district in the 1840s and early 1860s, pastoralists did not occupy this

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

region until the mid-1870s. In 1876 Patrick Drinan took up

Annandale Station Annandale Station most commonly known as Annandale is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in central west Queensland. It is located on the tribal lands of the Wongkamala. The property is located west Birdsville and south of B ...

and

Duncan McGregor Duncan McGregor (16 July 188111 March 1947), was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks and later converted to rugby league when he went on the 1907 New Zealand league ...

took up Glengyle. Also taken up at this period were Sandringham and Carcory in 1877 and

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and G ...

Downs in 1878. The towns of

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point a ...

and Bedourie developed in the late 1870s/early 1880s to service these newly established

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region, ...

runs. The

and Georgina rivers,

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ' ...

and

Eyre Eyre may refer to: Name *Eyre (given name) *Eyre (surname) Places Australia National *Eyre Highway, a highway connecting South Australia and Western Australia South Australia * Eyre Peninsula (disambiguation) *Eyre, South Australia, a suburb * ...

creeks are part of a network of western Queensland waterways known as the Channel Country. They draw water from an area of 566,000 square kilometres. These systems contain innumerable waterholes of various depth and length that generally last throughout the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

, however, after rain, the network of rivers, creeks and channels links together, stretching out over a vast

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

like fingers, hence the name Channel Country. While some of the properties such as Glengyle border the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Australian desert, with an area of . The desert is underlain by the ...

and have many square kilometres of

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

, the natural irrigation following the tropical north

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the se ...

means the land is ideal for grazing cattle. Sidney Kidman was born on 9 May 1857 at Athelstone near

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

, the son of English immigrants. At about 13 years of age he left home and made his way north to Poolamacca Station in the Barrier Range where he met up with his brother, George. He acquired work with George Raines, a landless bushman who travelled the countryside taking advantage of unfenced lands where there was good feeding for his stock. It was at this time that Kidman learnt numerous bush survival skills and came to appreciate the knowledge and skills of the

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

people. In the early 1870s Kidman obtained work on various stations, drove cattle and bullocks, carted goods, opened a butcher's shop at

Cobar Cobar is a town in central western New South Wales, Australia whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier ...

shortly after the rush started and soon after went into business with his brother droving, buying stock and dealing. They took on mail contracts, ran a butchery in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. I ...

and in the 1890s started buying pastoral leaseholds as

Kidman Brothers Kidman may refer to: People * Antonia Kidman (born 1970), Australian journalist, daughter of Antony Kidman * Antony Kidman (1938–2014), Australian biochemist and psychologist * Fiona Kidman (born 1940), New Zealand novelist, poet, and scriptwrite ...

. As a young man Sidney Kidman had talked widely with cattlemen about the Australian interior and in his travels buying and selling stock, realised the value of Channel Country land. His aim was to acquire a chain of properties so that in times of drought cattle could be moved from properties badly affected to areas with good grass. Eventually Kidman acquired two strings of properties. The first or "main chain" stretched from the Barkly Tablelands near the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary ...

down through the Channel Country of western Queensland and along the

Birdsville Track The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the ...

to the rail head at Maree in South Australia. The second chain of stations followed the

Overland Telegraph line The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of ...

from the Fitzroy River and

Victoria River Downs Station Victoria River Downs Station, also known as Victoria Downs and often referred to as The Big Run, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Location It is located about south east of Timb ...

in the north to Wilpena Station in the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

near Adelaide. The development of the Kidman empire in Queensland stems from Kidman Brothers' acquisition of

Annandale Annandale is a name for several places around the world: United Kingdom *Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway, a strath in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Australia *Annandale, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Annandale, Queensland, a suburb of ...

in the Channel Country in 1896. As result of his acquisitions, his knowledge of the bush and his business acumen Kidman's empire was able to survive the depression of the 1890s and the drought of 1899-1902. The Pastoralists' Review of 16 September 1903 featured an interview with Sidney Kidman, the "Cattle King". It included biographical information about his life and detailed the properties he then owned: In the Northern Territory: Victoria Downs, with its 45,000 head of cattle,

Newcastle Waters Newcastle Waters is a town and locality off the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory. The nearest petrol station and accommodation is found south at Elliott. The Newcastle Waters School draws most of its few students from the Marlinja hom ...

Austral Downs Austral Downs Station most commonly known as Austral Downs is a cattle station on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is situated approximately west of Camooweal and north west of Mount Isa. Description The Stat ...

; South Australia: Lake Albert,

Eringa Eringa Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the outback of South Australia, once owned by Sir Sidney Kidman. Its land is gazetted as a locality called Eringa in 2013. It is situated south of Aputula and eas ...

, Peake,

Macumba ''Makumba'' () is a term that has been used to describe various religions of the African diaspora found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is sometimes considered by non-practitioners to be a form of witchcraft or black magic. The ...

, Mount Nor'-West, Clayton, Coongy on the cooper, Pandie Pandyie on the Diamantina, Alton Downs; and Queensland:

, Collegwairi,

, Cartrey, Rocklands, Monkira, Bulla Downs; in New South Wales: Wompah and Tickelara. Kidman continued to buy properties, buy and sell cattle and horses and manage his properties while almost continuously on the move. He kept abreast of market fluctuations, weather conditions and what was happening on his properties, via the telegraph. While Kidman abhorred wastefulness and was known to sack employees who exhibited such traits, he was also known to be generous to deserving causes. He gained a reputation for munificence to the war effort, his

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

donations including wool, meat, horses, ambulances and warplanes. In monetary terms this patriotic generosity amounted to hundreds of thousands of pounds. In 1921 he was knighted for his contribution to the war effort. The leasehold to Glengyle Station was transferred several times after Duncan McGregor took up the run in 1876. The

London Bank of Australia The London Chartered Bank of Australia (from 1893 the London Bank of Australia) was an English-run Australian bank which operated from 1852 to 1921. History It was formed in October 1852, with the issuing of a prospectus and granting of a Roya ...

held the lease until

William Frederick Buchanan William Frederick Buchanan (21 June 1824 – 2 May 1911) was an Australian pastoralist and gold prospector. Buchanan was born in Dublin to Lieutenant Charles Henry Buchanan and Annie White. On 16 January 1837 the ''Statesman'' arrived in Sy ...

had purchased the Glengyle holding by October 1907. Following the death of this

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highwa ...

grazier in 1911 the lease was transferred to William Buchanan and Charles Henry Buchanan. The 1008 square mile Glengyle leasehold became part of the Kidman empire in 1913 when he purchased the lease from the Buchanans for . Kidman had long wanted Glengyle Station for its size and its permanent deep waterholes on the

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Geor ...

, its plains and flats of

lignum Lignum is Latin for wood and may refer to: * '' Gmelina lignum-vitreum'', plant endemic to New Caledonia * Lignum, common name of '' Muehlenbeckia florulenta'', plant native to inland Australia * Lignum Crucis, remnants of the True Cross * Lignum L ...

and

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to '' Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

, and its strategic position adjoining his Queensland properties of Sandringham, Kaliduwarry, Dubbo Downs and Annandale. Moreover, Glengyle, between Eyre Creek and the sand hills of the

, did not always need to rely on local rainfall. In good seasons it is drained by channels fed by the northern monsoon. The property proved pivotal to the Kidman holdings in the

Lake Eyre Basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...

and is still held by the family firm S Kidman and Company. Kidman had married in 1885 and raised a family of 3 daughters and one son in Adelaide. Kidman retired in 1927 but his children continued to run the family business empire from Adelaide. On 2 September 1935, aged 78 years, Sir Sidney Kidman passed away in Adelaide and his only son, Walter Sidney Palethorpe (b.1900) took over as chairman of the Kidman empire. The Kidman Tree of Knowledge has been described as "one of the state's most famous living monuments to the king". It is valued by both the local community and visitors as a tangible link with Sir Sidney Kidman, a pioneer who successfully created a pastoral empire in the vast remote interior of Australia, encompassing approximately 3.5% of the Australian continent.

Description

Kidman's Tree of Knowledge is situated on Glengyle Station on the western bank of Eyre Creek, about south of Bedourie. It is located in the centre of a grassed square formed by Glengyle homestead and associated buildings and is healthy and mature.

Heritage listing

Kidman's Tree of Knowledge was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. For the many people who worked for Sir Sidney Kidman and for those who continue to be associated with Kidman Holdings, Kidman's Tree of Knowledge on Glengyle Station is significant for its association with Sir Sidney Kidman.For local people and visitors alike Kidman's tree of Knowledge is a tangible link with Sir Sidney Kidman, a pioneer who is recognised as having created a successful pastoral empire in the vast remote interior of Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Tree of Knowledge is significant for its association with prominent Australian pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman, who through business acumen, knowledge of the land he traversed and hard work, acquired a string of pastoral runs in the Australian interior (in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia), where his stock could be moved from property to property to withstand the impact of drought. Whether Sir Sidney Kidman sat under this Coolibah tree near the Glengyle homestead is not known. It is, however, the perception or mythology of Kidman's association with this tree that is significant. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. For the many people who worked for Sir Sidney Kidman and for those who continue to be associated with Kidman Holdings, Kidman's Tree of Knowledge on Glengyle Station is significant for its association with Sir Sidney Kidman.For local people and visitors alike Kidman's tree of Knowledge is a tangible link with Sir Sidney Kidman, a pioneer who is recognised as having created a successful pastoral empire in the vast remote interior of Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. The Tree of Knowledge is significant for its association with prominent Australian pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman, who through business acumen, knowledge of the land he traversed and hard work, acquired a string of pastoral runs in the Australian interior (in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia), where his stock could be moved from property to property to withstand the impact of drought. Whether Sir Sidney Kidman sat under this Coolibah tree near the Glengyle homestead is not known. It is, however, the perception or mythology of Kidman's association with this tree that is significant.

References

Attribution

External links