Welford Homestead is a heritage-listed
homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
* Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...
in the
Welford National Park
Welford is a national park in Central West Queensland, Australia, 991 km west of Brisbane. It is located 30km to the South-east of Jundah, Queensland, Jundah. The park was established in 1994 to protect the biodiversity of the mulga lands, M ...
,
Jundah
Jundah is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. Jundah is the administrative centre of the Shire of Barcoo, Barcoo Shire local government area. In the , the locality of Junda ...
,
Shire of Barcoo
The Shire of Barcoo is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia.
It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. It is named for the Barcoo River which reaches ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia. 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. As ...
on 21 August 1992.
History
The Walton pastoral run was taken up by Richard Welford in , having migrated to Australia from Britain in 1863.
Welford held the Walton run for only two years before he and his stockman, Henry Hall were murdered by
aborigines in about May 1872. Welford was buried on the property with a marble headstone which said:
In memory of Richard Welford, B.A., Edinburgh, barrister of Lincoln's Inn, only son of Richard G. Welford, County Court Judge at Birmingham, England, murdered by blacks at Walton, 21st April, 1872, in the thirty third year of his age.
In August 1872, the property was sold to the Rome brothers, who, by 1875, were calling it Welford Downs.
The homestead is thought to be constructed in 1882-83 (at the time of Welford's murder there was only a hut).
In 1956, the homestead was destroyed by fire, and the roof was replaced with a flatter
hip roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...
. Following heavy rain in 1963, the stone kitchen was demolished. In 1989, major renovations brought the building to its present state.
The homestead is now used as staff quarters for the Welford National Park.
Heritage listing
Welford Homestead was listed on 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. As ...
on 21 August 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.
[
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
Welford Homestead illustrates the early exploration and settlement of Queensland as pastoral land, later instrumental in the formation of towns throughout Queensland. Welford Homestead is constructed using the pise methods and is a rare surviving example of its type. It demonstrates a high degree of creative achievement in using natural resources for construction purposes. It has the potential to yield information through historical and archaeological research that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history. It is also an uncommon example of an intact homestead setting. As such, it demonstrates the principal characteristics of its class and contributes to an understanding of early station life. Welford Station has special associations with the community as one of the first stations in the region.][
]
References
Attribution
Further reading
* — a detailed account of Richard Welford and his murder written by a friend, Edward Decimus Harries
External links
{{Commons category-inline, Welford Homestead
Queensland Heritage Register
Shire of Barcoo
Homesteads in Queensland
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register