1847 Squatters leased "wasteland" under the 1847 land laws. "Waste Lands of the Crown" applied to northern pastoral districts. Shepherds' out station built at "Springdale" and shepherds would have been the first settlers living in the Alton Downs district.

8 May 1853 Alton Downs District was discovered by Charles & William ARCHER

10 Jan 1854 NSW proclamation that pastoral lands of Port Curtis & Leichhardt were open for settlement; Lands in question at time of tendering were not open for occupation nor were they surveyed.

1854 Archers applied for land (proclamation at the beginning of the year). O'Connell sent request on to Colonial Secretary.

1855-1864 Wiseman was the Land Commissioner for Rockhampton.

Aug 1855 Wiseman approved Patrick MCKAY's application for Morinish. Brother was with him – Colin Campbell.

The Elliot Bros. first settled the area after the Archer Bros. –they camped at Nile-Mile before taking up Canoona. At that camp they were attacked by the aborigines – one of their men was killed & one of the Elliots badly wounded. About 1857, Hobby Elliot sold Canoona to Ramsay & Gaden.

Nov 1855 Archer Bros. vessel Elida loaded the first wool clippings from Gracemere

14 July 1855 O'Connell stated that there was no need for the erection of a Court of Petty Sessions at Rockhampton. Didn't believe that Rockhampton should exist.

Two squatter establishments, Charles ARCHER & Mess. ELLIOT had moved out to the Fitzroy sometime previously.

1857 Mention of newly arrived land seeker: James ATHERTON

1858 William LANDSBOROUGH followed the Comet to its watershed in company with John Cameron MACDONALD ("Hoppy") & P.J. MACDONALD, who had formed a temporary & ill-fated partnership. (John Cameron MacDonald took up land on the Reserve)

1858 Discovery of gold at Canoona

10 Dec 1859 Colony of Queensland proclaimed

1860 Crown Lands Occupation Act allowed runs of not less than 25 sq. miles and not more than 100 sq. miles. First applicant for a run received a licence to hold it for 12 months, and then 9-12 months later he could apply for the lease for a period of 14 years, provided he stocked it to a quarter of its capacity – impractical as impossible to administer.

1860 Clauses in the 1860 Land Act - intended to encourage agricultural settlement on special reserves set aside "within 5 miles of a town of which the population was more than 500"

23 Jul 1861 William ORR first to apply for an allotment (at 10 am) – leased for 5 years (ending 31 Dec 1866) & paid a half-year rent. Took up maximum of 320 acres. Took up more land in 1870.

Non agriculturalists also took up land on the Reserve:

Frederick BYERLEY , William & Colin ARCHER.

Embryo farmers on the Reserve:

John SCOTT, Sir Charles NICHOLSON

1862 The following took up blocks on the Reserve:

Thomas BURNET, Robert PACEY (came to Gracemere in 1856 with second contingent of Archer stock. (Drowned April 1868 (aged 29) -18 Mile Island in the Fitzroy), Charles HAYNES (seaman), Matthew Sandor RUNDLE

1862 Edward Hampton BAKER ("Cranky Baker") paid full fee of $107 to purchase 52 acres. Also had a selection on Peninsula River (north of Yeppoon), Andrew BERTRAM (Landed in Sydney in 1857 from Scotland & came to Rockhampton in 1859), P.F. MACDONALD (Peter Fitzallen), John Henry GEDDES, Robert McGAVIN

PINK LILY: (SMALL ACREAGES on the road to ALTON DOWNS)

KAHL, Andrew KOHLER (prominent member of the Farmers' &Settlers" Association. By 1868, he had 16 of his 25 acres under cultivation and the remaining land let to A.H. TOON & CO. for 4 dollars per week. His crop consisted of 10,000 pineapples, 2,000 bananas. Peach tree, vines & a dairy with 35 milking cows., C. GOLTZ, C. PLAHN

1864 MURRAY Bros. arrived in Rockhampton

1866 Gold discovered at Morinish

1867 Aboriginal reprisals -Aboriginal women & children hid in a building on McKenzie's Callioran property, Mrs McKenzie hid the children in her bedroom.

1868 Crown Lands Alienation Act divided up each vast run and opened the resumed halves for selection.

Much confusion over this Act – Colin & Patrick McKAY (Morinish) had taken up a homestead selection, adjoining pre-emptive leasehold & Surveyor F.H Fitzgerald said would be OK as it would be considered actual residence within the meaning of the Act. But in 1878, McKAY discovered that his selection was liable to forfeiture & so requested an exchange, Had to bid for his own land.

1868 Crown Lands Alienation Act (Government Gazette 1868 p.1158). Leasees of land in the late Agricultural Reserve held under the 12th section of the Act to have holdings brought to the 67^th clause. Affected: J. MURRAY – lots 297,302, 303, 305, 296)

1868 Establishment of the Meat Canning Works at Laurel Bank

Aug 1868 Hunt Club filled a cart with provisions & drove it to the Archer Bros. Wells Station near the Agricultural Reserve. Hunting kangaroos, they rode into Black Gin Creek to water the dogs & horses. One of the hunters got lost and was located at the Six-Mile Shanty.

4 Nov 1868 Robert DUNCAN selects allotments 145,146 called "Coolarah"

6 Jan 1869 Flora PACEY (nee - MACDONALD), first woman to obtained additional land on Gracemere run. Wife of Robert PACEY (drowned in 1868) – 5 young children left for Flora to look after.

1869 Peter MURRAY first selected land on the Reserve. By 1875 his sons had also selected runs (some of the Gracemere resumption – this could be part of the Murray estate in Karkol Parish).

17 Jun 1869 Augustus MUNDT settled on allotments 61,62 & 63. Arrived Port Alma 1862 from Prussia per Caesar Godfried.

1873 (And early 1874,) 78 applicants all up, sought land on Gracemere Run

John MACKENZIE selected unoccupied Crown Land in small parcels to build up the property he called Callioran

19 Aug 1876 Alexander KENNEDY took up quite a few blocks on the Reserve. (Intended to grow sugarcane Married to Marion Murray. First passenger on QANTAS, Had land at Longreach.)

1880 Murray sold Pandora SugarCane farm

1882 McGAVIN still growing sugarcane on Alton (Property name gave Alton Downs its name). Married into Murray family.

12 Jun 1882 Provisional School established known as the Lilymere School.

1888 Provisional school opened, opposite the cemetery. The first teacher, Miss Mary Marsh lived with her uncles at "Alton"

1899 Peter MURRAY sold Fitzroy Park Estate to the government.

1900-1902 Great drought -William HUNT of Alton Downs carted bottle-tree fodder in drays, cut it up in his chaff cutter & mixed it with hay imported from South Africa & so kept his cattle alive

1907 Cotton still grown in Alton Downs

2 Nov 1908 Alton Downs school opened on the corner of Hunts Road & Ridgelands Road. Head teacher was Mr F. W. Whittington.

1911 St James Church dedicated by Bishop Halford (it stood alongside the school & school house on land given by the MURRAY family. - in 1955, moved to Denham Street Extended. 10 years later , the school was purchased by Mr. Walter Hunt and set up alongside the church to become the church hall.

22 May, 1913 Marriage of William Arthur Lankester ORR & Marion Campbell MURRAY was the first marriage solemnised at St. James Church, Alton Downs

9 Oct 1916 Alton Downs Railway line opened.

1919 Edward HARDING took up block at Dalma Scrub. Neighbour, Bryan SHAW very helpful. Of the original 80 soldiers who took up blocks at Alton Downs only 10 remained.

REFERENCES:

1. Golding, W.R. (1966) The Birth of Central Queensland. W.R. Smith & Paterson, Brisbane

2. McDonald, Lorna (1981) Rockhampton; a history of city and district. UQ Pr., Brisbane.

3. Pattison, J. Grant (1939) "Battler's tales of early Rockhampton. Fraser & Jenkinson, Melbourne

4. McDonald, Lorna (1999) Over earth and ocean CQU 1999

MAP