WAIRUNA Homestead and Cemetery, located about 80km south of Mount Garnet, have been entered in the Queensland Heritage Register.
Queensland Heritage Council Chair, Professor Peter Coaldrake, said the homestead was an important piece of the north Queensland cattle industry’s history.
“Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery are important because of their association with James Atkinson and his descendants who played a significant role in the development of Australia’s beef cattle industry,” Professor Coaldrake said.
“The Atkinson family and the place are synonymous with the Queensland cattle industry and their contribution to creating the Australian Brahman breed is legendary.
“It was the first registered property in Australia for breeding of Brahman cattle and for more than two decades it was the home of Kenneth Atkinson, a significant initiator of the breed.”
Wairuna Homestead consists of a cluster of buildings set high on a flood-free knoll overlooking and almost surrounded by wildlife-filled lagoons encircled by low hills.
“The views to and from Wairuna Homestead evoke tranquility and a sense of seclusion and remoteness,” Professor Coaldrake said.
“The station homestead includes a 1940s timber residence with wide verandahs attached to a small homestead building, workers’ quarters, yards, sheds and a small cemetery.
“The cemetery contains graves dating to the late nineteenth century where members of the family who established the property are buried.
“The property is adjacent to Girringun National Park and was purchased by the Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing in 2010.”
Professor Coaldrake said two natural disasters have affected Wairuna in recent years.
“In 2011 Cyclone Yasi caused some damage to buildings at Wairuna Homestead and in 2012 fire damaged all five of Wairuna’s outlying yards and dips, and boundary fences,” he said.
“The Queensland Heritage Council is very conscious of the implications of the listing for the Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing and we are working with them to establish a Heritage Agreement for the future management of the property.”
Professor Coaldrake said there was community and local council support for the listing of the place.
The Queensland Heritage Council is the State’s independent advisor on heritage matters and determines what places are entered in the Queensland Heritage Register.
Places entered in the Heritage Register are considered of importance to Queensland’s history and are protected under heritage legislation.
Fast facts
-Wairuna station was established on leasehold land in 1879.
-From 1881 to 1976 Wairuna was operated as a beef cattle property by the Atkinson family, an important north Queensland pastoral family.
-From the 1930s Wairuna station was a centre for Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-partnered research into the suitability of Brahman-cross cattle in northern Australia and later for the establishment of the Australian Brahman breed.
-For more than two decades it was the home of Kenneth Edward James Atkinson, who played a significant role in the creation of the Australian Brahman breed, who co-established the Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association in 1946 and played an important role in the development of Brahman and Brahman-cross cattle in Australia and in the wider cattle industry.
