Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station

About

Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station is a heritage-listed former horse stud farm at Rewan Road, Rewan, Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1911 by Queensland Police Force, used until 1934. It is also known as Rewan Police Horse Stud, Rewan Remount Breeding Station, and Rewan Station. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 May 2019.

The former Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station, located approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of the town of Rolleston in the Springsure district of Central Queensland, was established as a police horse stud in 1909. Comprising 108,000 acres (43,706ha) at its largest, the reserve was home to up to 771 horses and up to 2850 cattle until its closure in 1934. It was also a sanctuary for native birds and animals. It retains the stables (1911), the commissioner's cottage (1911) and a meat house (1918) from its stud era. Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station is the only surviving site of a police horse stud in Queensland. It is important in demonstrating the Queensland Government's policy of breeding horses, which were essential as transport, for the Queensland Police Force between 1904 and 1934. It has a special association with the Queensland Police Force, an important organisation in Queensland history.

A police presence in the geographical area that became the Colony of Queensland began in 1843, not long after free settlement commenced in at the former Moreton Bay penal settlement (now the city of Brisbane ). The Police Act 1863 created a centralised system under a Commissioner of Police, who controlled the Queensland Police Force (QPF) and the Native Police (the Native Police were disbanded by the early 1900s). The Commissioner headed a hierarchy of inspectors and sub-inspectors who were in charge of sergeants and constables working in police districts throughout Queensland. However, the Commissioner of Police did not control the Water Police.

Until the mid-20th century, horses were essential equipment for the QPF. From 1864 the care of police horses was regulated and any town with a police station also had a police horse paddock. The QPF also supplied horses for ceremonial occasions, such as the 1901 proclamation of the Commonwealth, the visit of Imperial troops in 1901 and the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York (later George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother ) and in 1927; as well as for the annual Royal National Association show in Brisbane. Horses were purchased for the QPF by the commissioner or by inspectors for their own districts. The care and replacement of police mounts was a significant part of the police budget each year.

Several factors provided the impetus for the Queensland Police Department to begin a horse breeding program. By 1904, Commissioner of Police, William Edward Parry-Okeden (Commissioner 1895–1905), was urging that the QPF breed its own horses to overcome the high cost of purchasing suitable ones. A good horse cost between £7 and £10. These horses were scarce due to stock losses during the Federation Drought (1898–1902); demand for horses during the Boer War (1899–1902); and because agents of the Indian, Japanese, Dutch and American armies were competing in the Australian market for remounts. Meanwhile, the QPF's need for horses remained high, as a significant proportion of its horses were old and needed replacing. The QPF in 1904 numbered 888 men including trackers, and over 1000 horses.

In 1904, the QPF commenced breeding remounts for its mounted police at Woodford, 79 kilometres (49 mi) north of Brisbane, using a 2,130-acre (860 ha) Reserve for a Police Paddock (formerly part of Durundur Station ). Stallions were hired for stud work at Woodford between 1904 and 1908 for between £20 and £30 per stallion per year. Costs were kept down by growing feed on-site.

In January 1909, a report on the supply of police remounts in the other Australian states found that only the Northern Territory, which was forming five small, horse-breeding stations, was engaged in breeding police remounts. Victoria reportedly had discontinued the breeding of remounts 40 years previously, as it had proved costly and unsuccessful. However, there is evidence that a stud operated at Dandenong Police Paddocks 1853–1930 then at Bundoora 1930– c. 1949. No studs in the Northern Territory are known to remain.

When the Queensland Department of Public Lands wished to dispose of the reserve as Agricultural Farms and Perpetual Lease Selections, the QPF, under Commissioner William Geoffrey Cahill (Commissioner 1905–16), decided it would continue to breed its own remounts. Efforts to secure another, larger site near Brisbane were unsuccessful, but a suitable location in Central Queensland was found. In 1908, the Commissioner of Police announced he had obtained "a very fine reserve at Carnarvon (named 'Rewan') of 78,000 acres, resumed from the Consuelo leasehold for the purpose of breeding police remounts". Rewan Station, situated about 160 miles (260 km) north of Roma and 95 miles (153 km) south of Springsure, the nearest railway station, was proclaimed as a "reserve for stud farm for breeding police horses" in April 1909. Additionally, Rewan was to operate as a police station, conducting patrols in the district. The land was regarded as suitable for breeding horses because of its variety of grasses and good natural water supply from Carnarvon Creek, Johnny Woods Creek, Charcoal Creek, and Boggarawalla Creek, all with permanent water holes. As well as several permanent lagoons and swamps accessible to stock, Rewan was also declared a Reserve for the Protection and Preservation of Native Birds, under the Native Birds Protection Acts 1877–1884. Acting Sergeant John Joseph Campbell and Constable J. Ruthenberg were appointed as rangers of the reserve. The reserve later came under new legislation, which protected native animals and birds.

The nearest town to Rewan was Rolleston, established in 1862, at the crossing point on the Brown River (a tributary of the Comet River ) that teamsters used when travelling between inland districts and Rockhampton. Charles Frederick Gregory, brother of the Queensland Surveyor General, Augustus Charles Gregory, surveyed Rolleston town site in 1865. It was later named after Christopher Rolleston (1817–88), a local landholder. Rolleston was a former Commissioner of Crowns Land for the Darling Downs, and brother-in-law of the Leslie brothers, who lead the settlement of Darling Downs from 1840. From 1860, Rolleston, with Louis Hope and Alfred Denison, acquired extensive runs in the Leichhardt district centred upon Springsure Station near Rolleston. A branch railway line to Springsure opened from Emerald (on the Central Western railway line ) in August 1887, improving transport to the district. In the first two decades of the 20th century, the large pastoral leases in the Springsure district (within the Bauhinia Shire from 1902) were resumed for closer settlement.

Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station commenced in mid-1909 when the Woodford horses, together with all available mares owned by the QPF in the various police districts, were transferred there. These totalled 76 mares, 37 geldings and 24 foals. Three stallions were purchased: "Mack" (£215), "Libertine" (£157/10) and "Bonny Boy" (£63). Another 35 mares were purchased from Jimbour Station and Salisbury Plains Station, and breeding operations commenced in the 1909 breeding season.

At the time of the QPF's takeover of Rewan in mid-1909, some improvements were already on site. These included a 5-room, iron-bark slab stockman's hut, suffering from white ant attack, and other out-house buildings, which were "rough and not considered of any value and should be pulled down". A good stockyard was sited on a sand ridge behind the stockman's hut, which, after repair, would meet the stud's requirements for some years. Fencing consisted of about 25 miles (40 km) of outer boundaries and two horse paddocks, which were in a poor state of repair.

Requirements to make it habitable and functional were: accommodation for staff, animals and equipment; a telephone connection for the property to function as a police station; and boundary fencing. The work was undertaken by the police constables, who cut the trees, pit-sawed the timber, and erected the buildings. The only materials imported were the window sashes and iron. By the end of 1909, mustering yards had been erected and fencing had commenced. By December 1910, the existing slab stockman's hut had been repaired for constables' quarters, and a house with detached kitchen was erected for use by Acting Sergeant John Joseph Campbell, who was in charge of the stud and the remount breeding program. The sergeant's quarters and constables' quarters are no longer on site.

Stables were erected about 100 yards (91 m) behind the sergeant's quarters. The building was 78 by 13 feet (23.8 m × 4.0 m) with a skillion roof of iron, with guttering to its front. The frame was sawn timber, with dressed split slabs for its walls and partitions. The stables were divided into two stalls for stallions 14 by 13 feet (4.3 m × 4.0 m), one at each end of the building; a forage room 10 by 13 feet (3.0 m × 4.0 m); a buggy shed; a dray shed; and three stalls each 8 by 13 feet (2.4 m × 4.0 m). The buggy shed was enclosed by two hardwood doors. Immediately in front of the two stallion stalls were two substantial yards.

A windmill was erected near Carnarvon Creek, where there was a good quantity of water, about 200 yards (180 m) from the sergeant's quarters. Water was pumped into a 2,000-imperial-gallon (9,100 L; 2,400 US gal) galvanised iron tank erected behind these quarters, on a stand 9 feet (2.7 m) high. Pipes from this tank lead to the sergeant's quarters and both stallion stalls. A meat house, for meat processing, was also erected, as an essential component of the station.

The accommodation for the two to four police Aboriginal trackers employed on Rewan between 1909 and 1934 was inferior to that provided for other staff. An image from c. 1909 –17 of one residence shows a dirt-floored, slab-walled and bark-roofed hut, with boughs and rocks used to hold the roof in place. Their accommodation in 1920 was described as "big, comfortable and waterproof huts". The trackers on Rewan are known to have undertaken horse- and cattle-related duties, and fence- and yard-building. Elsewhere in Queensland, trackers performed kitchen duties, cared for horses, checked fences and looked for trespassing stock. By early 1911, a second dwelling had been constructed southeast of the sergeant's quarters, to accommodate the Commissioner of Police and other government officials when they inspected the property. Initially it was called the commissioner's cottage, but was later referred to as the officers' quarters. This timber-framed and -clad building with verandahs to its north and west elevations, had a corrugated metal roof with acroteria, and post-and-rail verandah balustrades. As it was intended for periodic short-term use by official visitors, it comprised only two bedrooms and a bathroom. By the end of April 1911, the sergeant's quarters and the commissioner's cottage, along with well-tended gardens to the front, had been fenced in with 124 feet (38 m) of painted picket fence, including two wicket gates and two large double gates, at the front and the back of the buildings; as well as 369 feet (112 m) of split paling fence.

Periodic visits by officers of the QPF and the Home Department, and dignitaries took place. The first occurred in April 1911, when Chief Inspector Frederic Urquhart reported excellent progress had been made in building, fencing, clearing and ring-barking on Rewan. As intended, Rewan also served as a police station and patrols were being made. Constable P. Lee was appointed ranger of the reserve for native birds and native animals at the stud farm at Rewan after the transfer of Constable Rothenburg to another station. Prickly pear of the tree variety was present on the property, but was confined to an area of about 200 acres (81 ha) of brigalow scrub about 14 miles (23 km) from the station. Urquhart recommended doubling the herd of cows and adding 50 mares and another stallion before August 1911, and further fencing. He was convinced the place would be profitable and of immense service in providing police remounts.

Additions were subsequently made to the stud. Horse numbers rose to 331 by 31 July 1911, then to 400 by 31 July 1912. In 1913, the thoroughbred stallion "Turkish Lad" was purchased at the National Exhibition in Brisbane and sent with 12 mares to Rewan, and two further mares were purchased from Eulolo and Roxborough Downs Stations. By 1914, the number of stud mares had reached 215.

Rewan-bred horses were first supplied to the mounted police in 1912, when 69 trained remounts were provided. The Commissioner of Police reported that in the 1912–13 financial year the cost of purchasing horses for the department had decreased by £500, and he expected Rewan would produce well-bred horses in fair numbers in the future. In 1913 there was praise for the 20 Woodford- and Rewan-bred horses sent to Brisbane for use in escort work in the metropolitan area. In June 1913, 17 horses from Rewan were also despatched to Longreach.

Farming activities commenced on Rewan in 1913. In June, a new timber shed stored its crop of pumpkins. Farm implements were sent there, to enable ploughing of 13 or 14 acres (5.3 or 5.7 ha) of land for lucerne and other crops, including oats. In May 1918, Rewan was growing lucerne and had already stored lucerne hay for feed.

However, during 1915 and 1916, environmental factors hampered Rewan's development. Drought halted agriculture and reduced foal numbers, while dingoes killed calves. In this period only 20 foals were born from 124 brood mares. Flooding late in 1916, which destroyed three tons of panicum hay at Rewan, ended the drought.