COOMINYA SOLDIER SETTLEMENT, QUEENSLAND Australian Soldier Settlements All Australian States became involved with the provision of land for discharged servicemen during a meeting between the Commonwealth Government and the six Australian States in February 1916 (in the middle of the First World War). By 1924 approximately 23 million acres had been allotted to approximately 23,000 farms across all States 1. Queensland Soldier Settlements Queensland enacted the ‘Discharged Soldiers Land Settlement Act’ in 1917. By 1920 land had been set aside and subdivided into Soldier Settler blocks in 18 different locations in the State (see Table) 2. LOCALITIES OF SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS IN QUEENSLAND NO. OF SETTLERS ENOGGERA 42 HIGHLANDS 57 MT GRAVATT 56 COOMINYA 100 BEERBURRUM 396 STANTHORPE 77 PIKEDALE 150 COTTONVALE 74 CECIL PLAINS 88 MT HUTTON 92 TAROMEO 23 CHARLESTOWN 10 GORDONBROOK 23 BURRANDOWAN 37 BOYNE VALLEY RIDGELANDS 67 BARMOYA AND ROSSLYN 35 ATHERTON - TOLGA 180 TOTAL 1507 1 The Queensland Minister of Public Lands was proud enough of the Department’s efforts in 1920 to issue a Christmas and New Year’s Greeting card mapping the above localities and farm numbers (see picture 2) By 1924, approximately 700,000 acres were allotted to 2000 farms in Queensland 1. 2 Coominya Soldier Settlement Approximately 3,000 acres of land was purchased from Messrs Robert, Samuel and William Watson on both sides of the Coominya railway line (Portions 94 to 141, Parish of Buaraba, and Portions 126 to 151 and 107 to 125, Parish of Wivenhoe). Part of the cattle station Bellevue (Portion 152 to 166, Parish of Wivenhoe) was also purchased and the total surveyed into 109 blocks of between 22 to 37 acres (9-15 ha) and opened for settlement on 1 June 1920 3 (see map 3 and table 4 below). 3 COOMINYA SOLDIER SETTLER LIST Number Block No. Parish Index No. Initials/First Names SURNAME References A 1 135 Buaraba 66 J AULD B 2 154 Wivenhoe 87 T BAKER 3 162 Wivenhoe 95 W J N BARNETT 4 98 Buaraba 5 O A BROOKS 5 131 Buaraba 58 A G BROWN 6 157 Wivenhoe 90 S BOBY 7 132 Wivenhoe 60 W J BURKE 8 135 Wivenhoe 67 A E BURTON C 9 118 Wivenhoe 34 T CARROL 10 113 Wivenhoe 25 J CASEY 11 110 Wivenhoe 20 H C COOPER 12 140 Wivenhoe 76 E J CRICKMORE D 13 159 Wivenhoe 92 H DAVIS 14 95 Buaraba 2 J DEMPSEY 15 113 Buaraba 25 T DENT E 16 127 Wivenhoe 50 A H EARL F 17 141 Buaraba 77 J W FUNNELL G 18 114 Wivenhoe 28 J A GILLESPIE 19 111 Wivenhoe 22 W G GREEN 20 136 Wivenhoe 68 H GRIFFITH 21 62 Wivenhoe 133 A GRIMES 22 165 Wivenhoe 98 J J GUTTERIDGE H 23 120 Wivenhoe 38 M HARRIGAN 24 156 Wivenhoe 89 A G HAWKER 25 166 Wivenhoe 99 W HEWITT 26 166 Wivenhoe 100 W G HILL 27 146 K C S HOBBS 28 111 Wivenhoe 22 M J HOBBIN 29 134 Wivenhoe 64 P HUMPHRIES I 30 117 Wivenhoe 32 H J INCE 31 124 Wivenhoe 46 S INSTONE J 32 121 Wivenhoe 40 T JOHNSON 33 122 Wivenhoe 42 T JOHNSON 4 34 108 Buaraba 15 THOMAS H JOHNSON K 35 112 Buaraba 24 J A KELLY 36 109 Wivenhoe 17 D KENNEDY 37 108 Wivenhoe 16 J KENNEDY 38 103 Buaraba 10 A KEYS 39 153 Wivenhoe 86 E KLAEHN 40 161 Wivenhoe 94 J E KNIGHT 41 117 Buaraba 33 C E KOKKINN 42 116 31 A G KOKKINN L 43 109 Buaraba 18 L D LEACH 44 118 Buaraba 35 A LIVETT M 45 113 Wivenhoe 26 F McCAFFREY 46 111 Buaraba 21 G McCLURE 47 137 Wivenhoe 70 A T R MacDONALD 48 122 Wivenhoe 42 V H McDONALD 49 123 Wivenhoe 45 V H McDONALD 50 113 Wivenhoe 26 J MacFARLANE 51 131 Wivenhoe 58 WILLIAM McKAY 52 110 Wivenhoe 20 A McROBBIE 53 123 Buaraba 44 A M McROBBIE 54 163 Wivenhoe 96 W MEAGHER 55 151 Wivenhoe 84 D MITCHELL 56 97 Buaraba 4 A MOLONEY 57 158 Wivenhoe 91 G M MONEY 58 107 Buaraba 14 W J MOORE 59 137 Buaraba 71 E C MORRIS 60 111 Buaraba 21 F H MORRIS N 61 115 Buaraba 29 W T W NEILL 62 145 Wivenhoe 79 W NOLAN 63 148 Wivenhoe 81 J NOLAN O P 64 121 Wivenhoe 40 F E PASHLEY 65 104 Buaraba 11 GEORGE PATTERSON 66 105 Buaraba 12 J A PEPPARD 67 115 Wivenhoe 30 W J PHILLIPS 68 102 Buaraba 9 J PITTER 69 133 Buaraba 63 L POWELL 70 120 Wivenhoe 38 H C PRYOR Q 71 136 Buaraba 69 ALFRED EDWARD QUINNEY R 72 107 Wivenhoe H ROBERTS 73 94 Buaraba 1 A J RODD 74 119 Wivenhoe 37 P RYAN S 75 96 Buaraba 3 G P SEKACHOFF 76 101 Buaraba 8 W J SCOTT 5 77 94 Buaraba 1 J SHARPE 78 125 Wivenhoe 47 WILLIAM SHAW 79 164 Wivenhoe 97 H SHAW 80 142 Wivenhoe 78 P E SMITH 81 150 Wivenhoe 83 R F SMITH 82 96 Buaraba 3 A C SNEATH 83 129 Wivenhoe 54 V J G SUTCLIFFE T 84 110 Wivenhoe 20 W T W TAYLOR 85 147 Wivenhoe W TEEBUTT 86 120 Buaraba 39 W THEMOR 87 106 Buaraba 13 A TOWNSLEY 88 121 Buaraba 41 ALEXIS TUPICOFF 89 114 Buaraba 27 NICHOLAS TUPICOFF U V 90 143 Wivenhoe E VOSS W 91 132 Buaraba 61 D WALLACE 92 130 Wivenhoe 57 J WALSH 93 119 Buaraba 36 CHARLES A WHITE 94 99 Buaraba 6 G F WILLS 95 95,96,97,98, Buaraba 1 G F WILLS 100,101,102 103,104,105 96 100 Buaraba 7 A H WITTINGTON 97 160 Wivenhoe 93 A H WOOLSTON 98 110 Buaraba 19 E WRAY 99 112 Wivenhoe 23 S WYNN X Y Z 100 111 Wivenhoe 22 J G G ZROFF Nicoloas Tupicoff Coominya soldier settler 6 Based on existing successful farms in the district, soldier settlers were encouraged to grow grapes and citrus trees. Each soldier was granted favourable terms to purchase land and equipment up to the value of £625 ($1250). This covered the purchase of the land, a four roomed house, a horse and cart, a 6” hand plough, a hand scuffler, a single section harrow and citrus trees and grape cuttings. A total of 83 houses were built, plus a project office, supervisor’s residence, bulk stores and stables and a Bush Nurses cottage and dispensary. The first overseer was Mr A E Murray followed by Mr Dean. The supervisor’s residence still exists next to the camp draft grounds. Three of the settlement houses were later moved to the Coominya township opposite the school and timber from settlement houses formed the basis of the original part of the public hall. Many of the other settlement houses were moved to Redcliffe by the Mayor of Redcliffe, Mr Wylie. 3,5 Although only started in 1920, the Coominya project ceased in 1924, when there were only two soldier settlers still on the land, Mr C Wills and Mr P Smith. Settlers were offered land in other settlement schemes such as Kingaroy, Ridgelands, Roma, Nanango, Cecil Plains, the Callide and Burnett valleys and the Atherton tableland. The Coominya Soldier Settlement Scheme cost approximately £90,000, of which only approximately £10,000 was recovered. The State legislation was rescinded in 1929 5. The causes of failure were ascribed to firstly the poor sandy soil selected for the farms, leading to a lack of response to fertilizers in many cases, lack of water, the inexperience of the settlers in farming methods, the delay in planting trees and vines due to the need to clear and fence the land first, the grapevine disease ‘Downy Mildew’ and poor prices for produce due to the start of the depression in the 1920s. 4,5 Although short lived, the soldier settlement had a profound effect on the development of Coominya because of the influx of over 80 families. Churches were built for each denomination, shops were built, the school was extended and an extra teacher was appointed and a Bush Nursing Centre was established. 3 References 1. Anon. (n.d.) Soldier settlement (Australia) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_settlement_(Australia)) 2. Minister and Officers, Department of Public Lands, Brisbane (1920) Christmas and New Year Greetings, Queensland Government, Brisbane 3. Butterfield, Barbara and Frank, and Barrum, Don. (2012) Coominya – from Settlement to Subdivision and Beyond. (Coominya State School Centenary Committee, Coominya, Queensland) 4. Anon. (1921-1929) Soldier Settlement Ledger, 14September 1921 – 30 October 1929. Coominya. Queensland State Archives, Brisbane 5. Kerr, Ruth (1988) Confidence and Tradition. A History of the Esk Shire. (Council of the Shire of Esk, Queensland) 6. Johnson, Murray (2009) The failure of post-World War 1 Soldier Settlement in Queensland: case studies of Bald Hills and Coominya. Queensland History Journal 20 (9): 405-424. 7.