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The original dwelling at Jimbour was a primitive hut built by Henry Dennis. Later a residence was built by Richard Scougall.
It was a wooden slab house which was burnt down in 1867. After the fire the Bells built a new residence in stone. This was a two-storey building, built principally of blue stone and cedar. It was finished in 1870 and was occupied by the family until the present Jimbour House was completed. The lower storey of this original blue stone house still stands at the back of the main House and now serves as staff quarters.
The work of building the present Jimbour House, a lofty and handsome sandstone mansion of two stories, was started late in 1874.
Although no conclusive evidence in the form of plans now remains, it seems likely that the architect was Richard Suter, of the firm of Suter and Voysey. He was a prominent architect of his day, having designed major buildings on the Darling Downs including Talgai and (possibly) Glengallan, as well as extensions for the Queensland Club of which Joshua Peter Bell served as President.
The principal building contractor (who assisted with the design work) was Joseph de Warren.
Building proceeded under the general direction of Harry Ensor, the superintendent of the property, who supervised the whole of the building operations from start to finish.
The cedar was obtained from the Bunya Mountains and brought down to Cattle Creek where it was sawn, dressed and worked up as it now appears in the building. Other timbers used in the building were spotted gum, blue gum, ironbark, bunya, cypress, hoop pine, and some satin wood.
The stone and sand were procured from Bunjinnie, about six miles from Jimbour House. The lime was all burnt from limestone on the property within a mile of the site. The slates for the roof were imported from Ireland.
The building operations, which lasted about two years, were all done by day labour and the best tradesmen procurable were engaged on the work. There were about ten stonemasons, nine carpenters and sufficient labourers to keep the skilled workmen occupied.The total number of men employed in quarrying, timber getting, carting and handling other raw materials was about 200.
In 1877 Joshua Peter and his family took up residence in the new house, which had taken two years to build.
The cost of the building was about £30,000 - a significant sum when it is realised that the skilled tradesmen were paid only £3 /10 per week, the labourers £1, and the hours of work were from daylight until dark.
Features
There were originally 24 rooms in the house. The area of the floor space in the building is approximately 23,000 square metres.
It is not known whether it was intended to extend the building scheme to include kitchen and staff quarters. Plans of the building, if still in existence, cannot be found.
Kitchen and staff facilities were made available in the old bluestone house which had constituted the second original homestead, with a covered way for communication between the two buildings.
The house is designed on a lavish scale. The rooms are spacious and the ceilings high. Those in the main rooms were richly decorated by heavy cornices and there were elaborate gas chandeliers.
A characteristic feature of some of the rooms is a curved portion which opens by French lights on to the balcony or verandah as the case may be.
A restricted veranda, which runs practically the whole length of the building in front, is a feature of the architecture. Lofty stone pillars in the colonial style form a picturesque colonade and wide, semi-circular stone steps lead down to the garden.
On the other side all the rooms open on to long, wide corridors, which run the full length of the building, both upstairs and downstairs. In the middle of each corridor is a fireplace and there is a fireplace in nearly every room.
Most of the mantel pieces over the fireplaces are in cedar but, in the main rooms, there are somewhat more elaborate ones made from white sandstone. All visible woodwork, other than the floors, is of cedar.
The furniture was largely constructed on the property out of the good quality cedar then obtainable in the Bunya Mountains.
Jimbour was modern in its day and the designers strove for comfort and convenience. Gas and water were laid on. The gas was generated from coal won from a mine on the property and water was pumped to the top of a forty foot tower by the first windmill erected in Queensland.
There was quite a little town at the station homestead - a church, school, butcher, blacksmith, a general store, men's quarters and housing for married employees. In the old days 200 people lived and worked on the property, with 45 shepherds tending 300,000 sheep.
Most of these buildings were taken away or demolished after the resumption of Jimbour by the Crown in 1907-11. From that time, with the coming of the railway, the village was moved to its present location 2 km from the House and movable buildings were acquired by some of the new settlers on lands formerly part of the property.
Three of these buildings still remain and are in use today: the Station Store, the Chapel and the Water Tower. The Bell Family Monument also remains.
The Station Store
"There was a very good store at the station, in the charge of S. Grimley, where almost everything in reason, including grocery, clothing, boots etc., was stocked. All extras required by the shepherd could be ordered by him and delivered with his ration, next trip of the carrier."
G.H. Routley, Old Jimbour and the Darling Downs
The Bulletin, 1953
The Station Store dates from around 1864 and was part of the earliest period of development ay Jimbour.
Bluestone Building
The Bluestone Building (1868) was the third dwelling to be built at Jimbour Station.
The first was a small hut erected in the 1840's which served as a residence for the then Manager, Mr Henry Dennis.
Another residence, a wooden slab house, was built for Jimbour's first owner, Richard Scougall. The Bell family occupied the home on arrival in 1847 until the building was destroyed by fire in June 1868.
The original bluestone cottage which replaced that residence was of two storeys. The building appears to have faced north with a central hall. Other rooms opened from a southern veranda on two levels. An external stair provided access to the upper level and a covered way connected the homestead to a detached kitchen to the south.
The plan was unconventional for Australian homesteads of that time. It related more to the English farm house in which rooms were arranged lineally and stock was housed under the same roof as family and staff.
The Bluestone Building served as the Bell family residence until the present Jimbour House was ready for occupancy in 1877.
In the 1930's the upper level was found to be beyond repair and was removed to re-establish the integrity of the structure you see today.
The building is now used as staff quarters.
The Chapel
The Jimbour Chapel was constructed in 1868.
It is rectangular in plan with the sanctuary under a separate roof at one end and the porch at the other. Inside, the main roof is supported by scissor trusses with a ceiling of local timber. The nave is lit by small lancet windows with original coloured glass. Carved alter rails, font and timber pews enhance the setting.
Religious observance was an important and continuing part of life a Jimbour from the time of its establishment in 1841.The Reverend Benjamin Glennie, pioneering Anglican priest of the Darling Downs, recorded celebrating a "hearty service" at Jimbour in 1851.
In addition to providing the venue for services for various denominations, the Chapel served as the first Jimbour School in 1873 at a time when many families lived and worked on the vast property which then covered some 300,000 acres.
The Chapel was also used as a cinema in the 1940's and 1950's. To accommodate this use the porch roof was raised to include a small film projection room above the door.
Today this part of Jimbour's living history is available for weddings with catering provided from the Cellar Door.
The Water Tower
The Water Tower was erected in the 1870's and provided pressurised water to the whole of the station settlement.
The Tower was supplied with water from the first windmill to be built on the Darling Downs. Today it remains an integral part of Jimbour Station's water supply system.
The tank is cast iron and the supports are eight single spotted gum tree trunks. The chamfer-board cladding has been part of the structure from the time of its construction.
In the 1950's the inside of the Tower was refurbished as accommodation for station staff. The extension on the southern side was added in the 1970's.
Since 2002 the Water Tower has been utilised as a Visitor Centre and Cellar Door.
The Bell Family Monument
Also dating from the Station's early period is the monument erected by the Bell family to Sir Joshua Peter Bell following upon his death in 1881, to which a further tablet was added in memory of Joshua Thomas Bell upon his death in 1911. |
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