Colonsay Farm facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Colonsay Farm
Colonsay Farm (former Doolong Farm), 2006
Location	125 Doolong Road, Kawungan, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia
Design period	1900 - 1914 (early 20th century)
Built	1909
Queensland Heritage Register
Official name: Colonsay Farm (former Doolong Farm)
Type	state heritage (built)
Designated	11 March 2011
Reference no.	602771
Significant components	cow bails
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Colonsay Farm is a special old farm in Kawungan, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1909 and used to be called Doolong Farm. This farm is so important that it's listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. This means it's protected because of its history.

The Farm's Story: A Look Back

Colonsay Farm is located in Hervey Bay. It sits on about 63 hectares (155 acres) of land. This land was first chosen by a Danish immigrant in 1879. The buildings you see today were built in the early 1900s. This was when dairy farming was very popular in Queensland. The farm shows us how dairy farming used to be done in the Wide Bay region.

Early Days: Settlers and Sugar

Europeans started settling in Hervey Bay in the mid-1850s. They began cutting timber in the area around 1860. Later, large land areas were divided into smaller blocks for sale. Many Danish immigrants came to Hervey Bay from 1871. They were part of a special program to help people move to Australia.

Farmers in the Pialba area grew fruits, corn, and potatoes. But their farms didn't do very well until a railway opened in 1896. Sugar was another important crop. Small sugar mills operated in Pialba in the 1880s. Even after these mills closed, the area became a big supplier of sugar cane to larger factories.

The Rise of Dairy Farming

Dairy farming became a major industry in Queensland in the early 1900s. At first, farmers only kept a few cows for their own families. They sold milk and butter to local markets. But new technologies and better transport helped dairy farming grow.

New inventions like mechanical cream separators in the 1880s changed things. These machines separated cream from milk. The Babcock butterfat test in the 1890s also helped. It allowed farmers to check the quality of their milk. Refrigerated shipping from Brisbane in 1884 meant butter could be sent further away.

The railway network also helped. Cream could be easily sent to butter factories. Butter could then be transported to ports for export. Farmers also joined together in "Co-operative" groups. They owned parts of the businesses that processed their milk.

By 1926, most of Queensland's milk was used to make butter. In 1928, about 10% of Queensland's people depended on the dairy industry. The Wide Bay area was a top milk producer. However, dairy farming later declined from the 1950s. Many farmers switched to other types of farming or left the industry.

Anders Jensen and Doolong Farm

Both sugar and cream were produced on Colonsay Farm. The farm was first started by Anders Jensen. He was born in Denmark in 1848. He came to Queensland in 1871. Many Danes came to Queensland and were important in the dairy industry.

Jensen bought land in 1879. His first house was a four-room home made of pine. He also had a kitchen, fowl house, stable, and pig house. He grew sugar cane, corn, potatoes, and fruit trees. He also raised cattle and horses.

Jensen sold the farm in 1884 but bought it back in 1902. He then sold part of it to Hans Jorgensen. Anders Jensen was known as a farmer at Pialba until 1910. He lived at Doolong Farm until he passed away in 1923.

New Owners and Farm Changes

Doolong Farm was sold to Alexander Macpherson in 1909. The current farmhouse was built around this time. The Macphersons used timber from their own property to build it. They lived in another house nearby while the new one was being built.

The Macpherson family grew sugar on the southern part of the farm. They used the front part for grazing animals. The old slab barn, where cows were hand-milked, was likely built by the Macphersons.

Later, the farm was sold to Harold Spall in 1945, then to Heinrich Steinhardt in 1949. Steinhardt grew sugar cane, had a small dairy herd, and grew other crops. The "walk-through" dairy, which used electricity, was probably built in the 1940s. This type of dairy is now old-fashioned.

The farm was later owned by the Dunn and Cornwell families. In 1968, Marshall and Mavis McFie bought the farm. They named it "Colonsay" after their family's ancestral home in Scotland. The McFies made some changes to the house. Today, the farm is used for beef cattle. It is slowly being surrounded by new houses as Hervey Bay grows.

What Colonsay Farm Looks Like

Colonsay Farm is on Doolong Road in Kawungan. The farm buildings are reached by a track from the road.

• The 1940s dairy is about 170 meters north of the house.
• The separator shed is about 20 meters southeast of the house.
• The slab barn is about 60 meters southeast of the house.
• Two piggeries are just south of the barn.

The Dairy Buildings

The 1940s dairy is a rectangular timber building. It has wooden walls and a metal roof. Inside, it has three sections: a hay storage room, a "walk-through" milking area with four bails (stalls for cows), and a milk room. The milk room has equipment like a cream separator and milk cooling machines. The floors are made of concrete. Outside, there are yards for the cows with timber fences.

The separator shed/cream house is a small wooden building. It has no windows and stands on a concrete slab. It has a steeply sloped metal roof. There are special gaps at the top of the walls for air to flow through. Inside, there are timber shelves.

The slab barn has a gabled roof. It has two side rooms with sloped roofs. The main part of the barn has large timber posts and metal walls. The side rooms have walls made of vertical timber slabs. The eastern side room has four cow bails. Small openings in the wall allowed cows to be fed.

The two piggeries are south of the slab barn. They have timber yards and small shelters with sloped roofs.

Other buildings on the farm, like a vehicle shed, are not considered part of its historical importance.

Why Colonsay Farm is Special

Colonsay Farm is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because it is very important.

Showing Queensland's History

Colonsay Farm is a great example of a small family dairy farm from the early 1900s. It shows how dairy farming grew in the Wide Bay area. This region became the second-highest milk producer in Queensland. Dairy farming was once a very important job in Queensland.

The farm has two types of dairy sheds. The old hand-milking bails in the slab barn show early dairy methods. The later "walk-through" dairy with electric milking machines shows how technology changed. This helps us understand how dairy farming developed over time.

A Rare Glimpse into the Past

Colonsay Farm shows a way of life that is now uncommon. Small-scale dairy farming used to be a common way for farmers to earn money. But when dairy farming declined, many old dairy buildings were destroyed or changed.

It's rare to find a farm like Colonsay that still has all its main parts from before 1950. This includes the house, a walk-through dairy, a piggery, and a separator shed. This makes Colonsay Farm a special and rare example of Queensland's history.

Key Features of a Dairy Farm

Colonsay Farm is a complete example of a small family-run dairy farm from the early 20th century. It has all the main features you would expect. These include:

• A house built around 1909 with a fenced front yard.
• An old slab barn with cow bails.
• A 1940s walk-through dairy with yards for cows.
• A separator shed/cream house under a large fig tree.
• Two piggeries for pigs.

All these parts together show us what an early dairy farm was like.