Jimbour House

Jimbour
A region noted for the remarkable and gracious Jimbour House.
Jimbour is a tiny town 27 km north from Dalby and 238 km northwest of Brisbane. Although it is now only a hamlet of a few houses, in the early days Jimbour was one of the great properties of the Darling Downs. In 1848 the Government Gazette listed it as an area of 200 000 acres owned by Thomas Bell and prior to that (it had been reduced in size in 1844) it had stretched from the Bunya Mountains to the Condamine and from the present site of Dalby to Jandowae.

Jimbour has two major claims to fame. Firstly it was the property from which Ludwig Leichhardt commenced his journey across western Queensland which eventually arrived at Port Essington in the Northern Territory. And secondly, in 1874 the owner, Thomas Bell, built one of the largest and most prestigious houses in rural Australia. It may be a small settlement but the claims it makes in the history of early Queensland are large.

Jimbour Station came into existence in 1842 when Henry Scougall settled in the area. Scougall's stay at Jimbour was brief. In 1845 an Irishman, Thomas Bell, purchased the property including all sheep and cattle, for £3 000. It was registered at this time as 'Gimba' or 'Jimba'. Both words were said to be the local Aboriginal word for 'good pastures'. A few years later the spelling was changed to Jimbour.

It was to this property that Ludwig Leichhardt came in August 1844.

Leichhardt had been in Australia for two years when he heard of plans for an expedition from Sydney to Port Essington - an outpost on the coast of the Northern Territory. The expedition was to be led by Sir Thomas Mitchell but governor of the time, Governor Gipps, declared that it was 'an expedition of so hazardous and expensive a nature, without the knowledge and consent of the Colonial Office.' Irritated by this delay Leichhardt organised his own expedition. With a party of six he left Sydney on 13 August 1844. They were joined by another four people in Moreton Bay. They then rode to Jimbour which, at the time was the last outpost of settlement. On 1 October they left Jimbour and for the next fifteen months they traversed western Queensland and the northeastern section of the Northern Territory (a distance of nearly 5000 km) arriving at Port Essington exhausted on 17 December 1845. When they finally returned to Sydney on 25 March 1846 Leichhardt was greeted as a hero and hailed as the 'Prince of Explorers'. By this time people in Sydney had assumed that the party had perished so much of their delight was based on surprise as much as an acknowledgement of Leichhardt's achievements. As a result of Leichhardt's glowing reports on the land beyond Jimbour there was a push for settlement of the Darling Downs, the Dawson River area and the Central Western region of Queensland.

Leichhardt's life was the subject of Patrick White's novel Voss. In the novel White describes Voss' (Leichhardt's) arrival at Jimbour in a wonderfully evocative passage which conjurs the riches that the Darling Downs still have to offer: 'By now the tall grass was almost dry, so that there issued from it a sharper sighing when the wind blew. The wind bent the grass into tawny waves, on the crests of which floated the last survivors of flowers, which shrivelled and were sucked under by the swell.'

The house in which Leichhardt stayed was a primitive slab hut which sadly burnt down in 1867. There is now a small timber cottage on the site which probably approximates to what the original dwelling was like.

Things to see:  

Jimbour House
Jimbour House was built by Thomas Bell. Bell had already built a substantial home from bluestone and cedar in 1870 (parts of it can still be seen at the back of Jimbour House) but it was the mansion which would leave its mark.

In his excellent book Beyond the Crossing: A History of Dalby and District, Tony Matthews describes the construction: 'The work of building the present Jimbour House was begun late in 1874 and, according to the late Mr Harry Ensor, who supervised the whole of the building operations, the cedar was obtained from the Bunya Mountains and was brought down to Cattle Creek, where it was sawn, dressed, and worked up as it is now to be seen in the building. Other timbers used in the building were spotted gum, blue gum, ironbark, bunya, cypress, hoop pine, and some satinwood.

'The stone and sand were procured from Bunjinnie about six miles from Jimbour.

'The cost of the building was about £30 000, which was a fabulous sum for those days. Skilled tradesmen were paid only £3/10/- per week, the labourers £1 a week and hours of work were from daylight to dark.

'Jimbour was constructed with the most modern ideas of the day for comfort and convenience. Water and gas were laid on, the gas being generated from coal won from a mine on the property. Water was pumped to the top of a 40 ft tower by the first windmill erected in Queensland. This tower is in use today and is a landmark for approaching aircraft.'

Of particular interest are the beautiful slender Tuscan columns at the front of the building, the beautiful French doors, the broad 'verandahs' on the front and side, and the roof which is covered with imported Welsh slate.

In recent times the home achieved some fame when it was used as a major location in the successful TV mini-series Return to Eden.

As well as Jimbour House and the Leichhardt house the settlement also has a church, a very unusual wooden three storey house (which contains the original water tower) and a huge propellor.

Leichhardt plaque
Entering the hamlet of Jimbour from Dalby there is a sign pointing towards a plaque laid in 1955 by the Royal Geographical Society which recalls Leichhardt's journey. Near the plaque is an interesting old engine known as the Jimbour Tractor and over the road is the Jimbour Butcher who claims, rather disarmingly, to be a 'Private Kill Specialist'.

	Tourist Information
	Hampton Visitor Information Centre 8623 New England Hwy Hampton Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: 1800 009 066
	Hotels
	Club Hotel George St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5306
	Exchange Hotel High St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5390
	Jandowae Hotel High St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5206
	Restaurants
	Club Hotel George St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5306
	Exchange Hotel High St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5390
	Jandowae Hotel High St, Jandowae via Jimbour QLD 4352 Telephone: (07) 4668 5206