King's Boarding House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids King's Boarding House |
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King's Boarding House, 2008
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| Location | Maidenwell-Cooyar Road, Maidenwell, South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1889 |
| Official name: King's Boarding House (former) | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 17 September 2010 |
| Reference no. | 602747 |
| Significant period | 1880s onwards |
| Significant components | coach house, cellar, kitchen/kitchen house, tank - water (underground) |
| Builders | John King |
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The King's Boarding House is a very old building in Maidenwell, Queensland, Australia. It was built way back in 1889 by a man named John King. This building is special because it's listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, which means it's an important part of Queensland's history. It used to be a place where travelers could stay, eat, and even pick up their mail!
Contents
A Look Back at King's Boarding House
The King's Boarding House is a historic building made of horizontal timber slabs. It has a gabled roof and a separate kitchen building. John King, who built it in 1889, was one of the first settlers in the Maidenwell area. This area is close to the Bunya Mountains and the Cooyar Range.
Early Days and Mail Routes
The land around Maidenwell was first settled in the 1840s. Back then, there were huge cattle stations like Tarong. These big properties helped create Queensland's early transport system. Mail was often carried along tracks that connected these stations.
By the 1850s, people living in the Burnett district wanted proper mail services. In 1859, mail routes were set up to Nanango. One important route went through places like Cooyar and Tarong.
The Arrival of Railways
When railways started to be built in Queensland from the 1860s, they changed how goods and mail were moved. The Western railway line reached Jondaryan in 1867. Soon after, a mail service connected Nanango to Jondaryan. This made Jondaryan a key hub for getting goods to Nanango and the surrounding areas.
John King and His Land
In 1878, some land from the large Tarong station was opened up for new settlers. On April 10, 1883, John King applied to lease a large block of land, about 640 acres. He was one of the first "closer settlers" in the area, meaning he settled on a smaller, more manageable piece of land compared to the huge stations.
John King was born in England in 1853 and later moved to Australia. He worked on railways and in a brick factory before settling in Maidenwell. He married Mary Chalklin in 1875 and later Caroline Rutsch in 1898. He had many children, some born right there in Maidenwell.
John King's land was later increased to 724 acres. This gave his property direct access to the important Jondaryan-Nanango road.
The House and Its Features
The house we see today was likely built in 1889. It replaced an older hut that was further from the road. The new house was made of strong hardwood slabs and had a front veranda. Its roof was originally covered with wooden shingles. There was a separate kitchen building at the back, connected by a covered walkway.
John King built a fireplace and chimney using stone, lime, and loam. He also had an underground water tank. The space under the kitchen was used as a cellar. Here, the family stored homemade wine, jams, and preserves from their farm. A large pile of spent carbide near the house suggests they used carbide lamps for lighting.
The name "Maidenwell" actually came from a well on John King's property! It was 26 feet deep. This name was first used for his property, and then later for the whole district and the town that grew there.
A Hub for Travelers
Because King's house was so close to the main road, it was perfect for business. By 1899, and maybe even earlier, the Kings were running a boarding house. This meant they offered rooms and meals to travelers. They also ran the Pinpinbugie Receiving Office, which was like a small post office, and a general store.
Coach services were very important for travel back then. Coaches carried mail and people between towns. These routes had "stages" or "posts" where horses could be changed. At these stops, travelers could find food, drinks, and a place to sleep. King's Boarding House was one of these vital stops. It was a place for people to rest, socialize, and get information about the road ahead.
The location of King's Boarding House was ideal. It was on level ground, easy to see from the road, and near a water crossing. You can still faintly see the words "King's Boarding House" painted on the side of the building facing the road.
The Post Office and Store
Even though John King was the official "Receiving Office Keeper," his wife Caroline likely handled most of the post office duties. They handled about 120 letters each month! In 1906, the office was renamed the Maidenwell Receiving Office. A part of the front veranda was even enclosed to create the post office, with a mail slot in the wall.
The King's store was located in the cellar under the kitchen. It served the local settlers, whose numbers grew as more land became available. An interesting detail in the old store area is an inscription that says "Big Druth (sic) 1902" with John King's initials. This seems to be a record of a terrible drought that happened across Australia in the early 1900s.
Changes Over Time
As new railway lines were built to Nanango (1911), Cooyar (1913), and Tarong (1915), Jondaryan stopped being the main railway hub for the area.
In the 1910s, a small town called Maidenwell started to grow on land that John King had selected nearby. The services that King had offered at his original boarding house eventually moved to this new town. In 1913, John King even built the Maidenwell Hotel, which opened in 1914. The Maidenwell Receiving Office stayed at the original King's Boarding House until 1918.
John King passed away in 1934. His sons, Walter and James, inherited the property. Walter King later built another house nearby and continued farming and dairying. The property was divided in 1970, and the boarding house is now used for storage. Even with some changes, the King's Boarding House is still mostly intact and shows us a lot about its past.
What King's Boarding House Looks Like
The King's Boarding House sits on a raised piece of land, looking over the Maidenwell-Cooyar Road. It's made up of two main buildings connected by a covered walkway. The building closer to the road is the original boarding house, and the one behind it is the old kitchen.
Around the buildings, you can see some plants, including a large Bunya Pine tree and a palm tree. In the courtyard area, there are still remains of a stone-lined well. You can also spot a mound of spent carbide near the kitchen building.
The Buildings Up Close
Both the boarding house and the kitchen are raised off the ground. The boarding house has a simple rectangular shape with enclosed verandas on the west and partly enclosed verandas on the east. The main part of the building has a gabled roof, and the verandas have simpler lean-to roofs.
The kitchen building also has a central rectangular shape with a gabled roof. It has a partly enclosed veranda on the west side. There used to be a veranda on the east side too, but it's gone now. A stone fireplace and chimney are attached to the northern end of the kitchen. All the roofs on the complex are now covered with corrugated metal.
The buildings are built on strong timber frames with hardwood stumps and floorboards. The outside walls are made of timber. They use a special method where vertical hardwood posts have grooves, and horizontal timber slabs are stacked into these grooves to form the walls.
Some parts of the walls are different. For example, the kitchen's southern veranda wall is made of rough vertical timber slabs. The boarding house's eastern veranda has been enclosed with smooth, vertical timber boards. The ends of the gabled roofs are covered with hardwood weatherboards. If you look closely at the southern end of the boarding house, you can still see faint painted letters that say "King's Boarding House."
Some windows are missing, but the ones that remain include double-hung timber windows in the boarding house and fixed or casement windows in the kitchen. Many windows have timber awnings covered with corrugated iron to protect them from the weather.
Inside the Buildings
Even though some inside walls and ceilings have been removed, you can still see how the buildings were originally laid out.
In the boarding house, you can see where timber walls once divided the main part and the enclosed southern veranda into several rooms. The enclosed part of the northern veranda was where the post office was located. The ceilings and inside walls were likely lined with timber boards, but the external walls inside were left unlined, showing the timber post and slab construction.
The kitchen building has an open central area with the stone fireplace for cooking. It also has the partly enclosed western veranda and the cellar underneath. A high wall inside suggests the main kitchen area might have been divided into two rooms. The veranda is at ground level with an earth floor. The cellar walls are also made of vertical timber slabs. You can get into the cellar through timber doors.
The timber roof structure is visible inside the kitchen. It's not clear if the ceiling was ever lined. Like the boarding house, the external walls inside the kitchen were left unlined, showing the timber post and slab construction.
Why King's Boarding House is Important
King's Boarding House was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on September 17, 2010. It's important for several reasons:
- It shows how Queensland developed: This place helps us understand how closer settlement began in the South Burnett region from the 1880s. It was not just a home, but also a boarding house for travelers, a mail office, and a store for the growing community.
- It shows how transport and communication changed: Located on an old mail route, the boarding house, mail office, and store show how roadside services grew. This happened as coach services became popular and more people settled in the area during the 1890s.
- It's a rare example of a coach stop: King's Boarding House is a special and uncommon example of an old coach stop. These stops were vital for travel before cars became common. Even with some changes, the building still shows how it worked as a boarding house, mail office, and store.
- It helps us learn about old building methods: The building can teach us about horizontal timber slab construction, a common building method in 19th-century Queensland.
- It's a great example of its kind: It's a good example of a coach stop on an important travel route. Its location, on a flat part of a hilly road, visible to travelers, and near water, was perfect for a coach stop.
- It's beautiful and historic: King's Boarding House has a strong visual appeal. It has been a well-known landmark on the Maidenwell-Cooyar Road for over 100 years.
