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*Ormiston House

1841 Brisbane Valley was opened to Free Settlers

The first settlers to arrive in the upper valley were Sir Evan and Colin John Mackenzie, sons of Sir Colin Mackenzie, from Kilcoy in Scotland. Their family had held lands in Kilcoy Scotland since 1618 ran a type of sheep they called “Kilcoythen” sheep, owned their own ships, and were financiers. Their lands were adjacent to the Black Isle which in fact is not an island but a peninsula, in the Scottish Highlands, situated just to the north of Inverness.

As the third son of Sir Colin, eighteen-year-old Colin John apparently rejected the prospects of a commission in the family regiment in order to enter upon a quest to gain independence as a pastoralist in the colonies. His brother, Sir Evan, accompanied him to share in, and lighten the hardships and discomfort of his first settlement in this new land of promise. Colin was almost certainly influenced by correspondence with his former schoolmates, John and James Balfour, who had taken out squatting licences for the Lachlan and Wellington districts of New South Wales.

J.A. Balfour, who spent seven years as a pastoralist in the colony advised would-be investors that “Australia presented many inducements to families having capital of about £8,000”. Balfour was convinced that with determination and hard work a person might double his capital in five years.

When the McKenzie’s arrived in Sydney accompanied by several sheep herding families from their Scottish estates together with a small flock of Kilcoythen sheep, they were advised to head for the Morton Bay District which was on the eve of being thrown open for free settlement. Evan Mackenzie then demonstrated some intelligent, divergent thinking aimed at outmanoeuvring potential competitors by dividing the party. One group led by Colin Mackenzie, consisting of assigned convicts, ticket of leave labour, and workers hired in Sydney would proceed along the conventional route driving their sheep overland through the New England District, across the Darling Downs, and then over the Dividing Range via Hodgson's Gap. The party under Evan Mackenzie would proceed to Brisbane by sea, arriving several months ahead of the overland group. Exercising the paternalism typical of his interaction with his Scottish workforce, Mackenzie spared his Kilcoy labourers the long and arduous land trek. His aim was to familiarise himself with the idiosyncrasies of the area, gain the most reliable intelligence, and seek the best assistance to select a good run with easy access to Brisbane's port facilities before the arrival of the main party.

The land they selected and named The Kilcoy Run was on the northern side of the Stanley River and was 43,000 acres in area.

John and David McConnel also arrived 1841 and the land they had selected was midway up the valley; they named their selection Cressbrock Station which became the largest beef cattle station in the Brisbane Valley. In 1900 Cressbrock Station was resumed for close settlement and the township of Toogoolawah was proclaimed.

Some months after the arrival of the Mackenzies, the Archer family arrived and selected their land. This land was also on the Stanley River but was located well to the east (near modern day Woodford). They call the selection Durundur Station.

The Archers also ran sheep and logged timber.

1842 The Kilcoy Run had acquired a bad reputation because of the harsh treatment of local aborigines who were said to be killing lambs and stealing food. Late in 1842, when the Mackenzie Brothers were in Sydney on business, two of their shepherds left poisoned flour out for the aborigines resulting in the death of thirty of their number. Revenge was swift and fatal; sixteen white men in the Brisbane Valley were speared to death in the following three years. The aborigines were gradually driven north at gunpoint and eventually they were removed to reserves at Cherbourg.

Late in 1842 more workers arrived from the Kilcoy estates in Scotland. They consisted of six single farm labours, together with six married shepherds and their families. The Mackenzie’s were typical of the sons of wealthy Scottish Aristocrats who settled in the Brisbane Valley, the Pine Rivers and the Redlands areas during the 1840’s to 1860’s they fully believed in the British class system. This ingrained ‘snobbishness’ probably was the root cause of their problems with the aborigines as the other settlers were not having the same troubles. They wanted to recreate this aristocratic system in their new land and retain their position within that society. Many became local Magistrates; almost all became members of the “Separation Movement” and later some became parliamentarians

The majority of the labour recruited for The Kilcoy Run in the next seven years came from the Kilcoy and Belmaduthy Estates just below Inverness and from the Black Isle, therefore they were used to being workers for the Mackenzie family and did not have the independent attitude of local free labour.

The good thing abut these typical aristocrats was that they worked very hard to try to equal the fortunes made by their forefathers

The Mackenzie’s and the Archers were by now firm friends and they visited each other on horseback. They jointly investigated the trails used for hundred of years by aborigines to skirt the D’Aguilar range, and then, selecting the most suitable trails, they blazed a wagon track between The Kilcoy Run and Durendur Station.

1843 The Mackenzie’s purchased a wool store in Brisbane and built the first licensed hotel in South Brisbane. They later acquired hotels in Brisbane City and in Ipswich

1848 Captain Louis Hope (the seventh son of the Fourth Earl of Hopetoun) having left the Coldstream Guards Regiment arrived in the Brisbane Valley. The land he selected was at the western side of Kilcoy as we know it today, and he named the estate Hopetoun Station after the family estate in Scotland. Louis Hope used the land predominately to breed horses for sale to the British Army in India although he also ran sheep and beef cattle.

1850 Surveyor James Warner surveyed Emu Point (Cleveland) and some months later he produced working drawings for a proposed wharf and a customs house to be built there

Captain Louis Hopes purchased the land that in 1861 would became the Ormiston Plantation

1851 All major investments and business were situated in Ipswich as all the prominent people expected Ipswich to be the capital of the new state which was to be called ‘Cooksland’, and that Cleveland would be the major port for the state. Captain Louis Hope and Francis Bigg certainly expected Cleveland to be the port. Louis Hope purchased ten blocks of land at Emu Point Cleveland. Francis Bigg purchased sufficient land to enable him to build the Grandview Hotel and later, in the 1860s, a saw mill.

A public meeting was held in Ipswich to which all the prominent Ipswich businessmen were invited together with all the major property owners from the Brisbane Valley. Present were R. M. Mackenzie, Captain Louis Hope, the Leslie brothers, John Balfour, David McConnell, Walter Gray, Robert Ramsey, Dr. Dorsey and the Rev John Dunmore Lang. At the conclusion of this meeting it was decided that a small delegation, (namely John Dunmore Lang, George Leslie and Captain Louis Hope) should go to England to lobby parliament regarding new settlers for the area and that they should also visit the appropriate towns in England and Scotland, contacting tradesmen and small crop farmers to impress upon them the benefits of settling in the Brisbane Valley or Ipswich. The three men would leave Brisbane early in 1852 on Dunmore Lang’s ship the Fortitude.

1852 Louis Hope bought Shafston House but he never ever lived there.

1853 In September Captain Louis Hope returned to his property in the Brisbane Valley. During his absence spear grass had become rampant throughout the district particularly on the riverfront areas of the Mackenzie’s Kilcoy Run; this made the shearing of sheep almost impossible as the spear grass was tangled in the wool.

The Mackenzie’s had had enough so they sold out to Louis Hope and Robert Ramsey. Sheep farming was abandoned and the property now became known as Kilcoy Station. Hope and Ramsey diversified, breeding both horses and beef cattle and growing small crops. Captain Hope at this time built the famous ‘Slab Hut’ at Ormiston.

Captain Hope and Francis Bigg both wrote to the Colonial Secretary asking that convicts from Port Macquarie prison be made available to construct a stone jetty at Emu Point in Cleveland.

Durendur Station had also been affected by the invasion of spear grass, so Thomas and Colin Archer explored further north where they discovered the Fitzroy River valley.

1855 The Archers moved to the Fitzroy River valley, Thomas designed their new homestead which they named Gracemere.

Robert Towns was by now a Director of the Bank of N.S.W. and a member of Legislative Council of N.S.W. He owned a fleet of South Sea Island trading ships, wharfing facilities, and a Bond store in Sydney. Towns built a paddle steamer to use for the Brisbane to Ipswich trade and named her Breadalbane.

1856 Louis Hope was by now the sole owner of Kilcoy Station.

Louis Hope and Robert Towns formed a company know as the Brisbane Navigation Company. They purchased two steam ships to ferry supplies and passengers between Brisbane and Ipswich.

1857 Louis Hope started to build Kilcoy Homestead which was designed by the same architect who later designed Ormiston House.

1859 Louis Hope married Susan Dumaresque, daughter of a prominent family from Vaucluse in Sydney. At this time Louis Hope returned to Ormiston, extended the slab hut, and cleared thirty acres of land to the south east of the hut.

1860 Hope returned once again to Ormiston, prepared the soil and planted twenty acres of cotton and ten acres of corn.

1861 Louis Hope started building Ormiston House, using tradesmen he brought over from Scotland.

1862 The cotton crop failed so he employed Brazilian, John Buhot to supervise the planting of the first 20 acres of sugar cane.

By December the first section of the house was completed and Captain Whish visited Ormiston Plantation and saw that the sugar cane was growing well. Hope offered to sell him the house and the complete plantation but Whish declined the offer as he believed the price was too high. Instead he also used the expertise of John Buhot and started a sugar plantation at Caboolture.

The sailing ship the Don Juan arrived at Stradbroke Island. The ship was one of ten trading ships owned by Captain Robert Towns and the skipper was the notorious blackbirder Ross Lewin. The cargo included the first Kanakas bought to Australia, 87 in number. They were taken to Robert Towns Townsvale cotton plantation, which was located east of Beaudesert

In November Francis Biggs started building a timber mill at Emu Point, Cleveland.

1863 With the sugar cane growing extremely well Louis Hope now ordered the mill machinery from Scotland.

1864 The mill machinery eventually arrived on the Clipper ship the Southern Cloud and the construction of the mill was completed in November. The machinery was very basic indeed. Single stalks of sugar cane were handed up to each of four men standing on a platform and they then feed the cane into a nest of ‘iron bark’ rollers for crushing. The juice collected was next poured into boilers where it was boiled for a week to extract the sugar.

The second ship load of Roberts Town’s ‘kanakas’ arrived and Hope purchased eight of them at £6.00 per head

1865 Ormiston House was completed, and the Hopes, together with their first two children Florence Mary and Reginald William, moved to the Ormiston Sugar Plantation. Susan went on to produce eight children.

1866 Sugar from the Ormiston Mill was sold at a Brisbane auction. Prior to this, because of production problems, only molasses had been produced.

1867 Captain Talbert became manager of Kilcoy Station.

1868 A church (now St. Andrews) was built on the Ormiston estate.

Louis Hope’s fourth child Eleanor Alice died at one year old.

1869 Louis Hope purchased 2,650 acres of land located at the entrance to the Coomera River, and leased it out for cane growing. Today it is the multimillion Hope Island Resort and a prestige housing estate.

1870 Ormiston Mill was at the height of its production, employing fifteen white men and thirty kanakas. At this time Robert Towns had two hundred and sixty kanakas working on his cotton plantation near Beaudesert

1871 William Butler (Wild Fire Billy, so called for his habit of burning off pastures to encourage regrowth) became the long time manager of Kilcoy Station.

1876 The mill machinery at Ormiston Mill broke down, parts were not available in Australia, and the mill machinery was never repaired.

1882 Louis Hope began to sell off his many properties, starting with Shafston House which was sold to Mr and Mrs Parker. Ormiston Plantation was sold to Gilbert Barnett, however the Hopes retained an 80 acre block which contained Ormiston House and gardens.

1884 Louis Hope and family left Australia and returned to the British Isles, settling in Derbyshire. Most of his land had been sold but he still owned Ormiston House and Kilcoy Station. William Butler remained in Kilcoy to manage Kilcoy Station .

1890 A devastating flood hit the Upper Brisbane Valley and the small hamlet of Hazeldene, located 20 kilometres east of Kilcoy Station, was completely wiped out. William Butler heroically organised the rescue of people and livestock and found shelter for the homeless.

Later that year the Queensland Government resumed 5,000 acres of Kilcoy Station for the establishment of a new township. After consulting with William Butler a town plan was drawn up and the new town was called ‘Hopetoun’.

1902 Durendur Station was resumed for close settlement.

1903 The final resumption of Kilcoy Station took place, the largest blocks being reduced to only 500 acres in area.

1908 Herbert Hope (the youngest son of Louis Hope) arrived back in Queensland to sell off the Kilcoy Homestead and Ormiston House. Although he was offered both properties, William Butler bought the Kilcoy Homestead in preference to Ormiston House, which remained unsold until 1913 when it is purchased by the McCartney family

1909 ‘Hopetoun’ township had its name changed to Kilcoy.

1909 Jeremiah Kennedy settled in Kilcoy. He named his cattle property Monte Cassino.

1915 William Butler’s youngest son, a medic, was the tenth person to step ashore at Gallipoli.

1917 William Butler died and a four sided sandstone memorial clock was erected in Kilcoy to commemorate his heroism during the 1890 flood and his long time contribution to the growth of the area.

1922 Jeremiah Kennedy bought Kilcoy Station.

1959 The property, which by now had been reduced to 36 acres and Ormiston House, was purchased by the Carmelite nuns and became part of the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Spirit. The nuns being vegetarians grew many of their own fruit and vegetables in the rich red volcanic soil of ‘The Redlands’.

1960s The Kennedy family restored Kilcoy Homestead as it was intended to be a wedding gift for Jeremiah’s grandson. However the young man was killed in a horse riding accident two weeks before the day set down for the wedding. The Kennedy family still owns Kilcoy Homestead.

Ormiston House became a ‘heritage house museum’.

Brief History of the Parish of Ormiston - Scotland

The parish of Ormiston is located on the left bank of the river Tyne, about 18 miles north east of Edinburgh.

It is 44 miles in length and only 4 miles wide, consisting chiefly of a broad open straight Main Street with a row of double story houses along each side.

The word ‘Ormiston’ is derived from a half mythical Saxon settler called ‘Orm’. The latter part of the name formerly spelt “toun” is likely to have come from its Scottish meaning as farmstead rather than meaning “town”.

Ormiston was Scotland’s first planned village, built in 1735 on the model of an English village by one of the initiators of the ‘Agricultural Revolution’, John Cockburn (1685-1758). Using strict guidelines for its appearance he built houses for the then cottage industries of spinning and weaving linen from locally grown flax. A distillery was also built.

When he did not achieve the expected return on his investment, in 1747 he sold the town to John Hope, the 2nd Earl of Hopetoun.

The linen trade failured and by 1811 the distillery had also been shut down. A brewery and one of Scotland’s first bleachfields were built, but also failed and Ormiston later became a coal mining village.

Ormiston Hall was built by Cockburn and later extended by the Earl of Hopetoun.

The land is very fertile and in the main is occupied by tenant farmers

Captain Patrick Logan

Those of us who were educated in Queensland would remember hearing or reading about the notorious Captain Patrick Logan, commandant of the Morton Bay Penal Colony from 1826 to 1831. However few would know he was a lieutenant in General Sir John Hope’s (Captain Louis Hope’s father) army at the famous Battle of Corunna during the Peninsular war against Napoleon in 1809.