The Rise and fall of Bullamon Station


 

The history of Bullamon goes back to the 1850s, before Queensland separated from New South Wales, and pre-dates all of the present towns in the Balonne Shire.

It is not known exactly when Bullamon Homestead was built, but there was mention of a dwelling of some kind on the site in 1854 when surveyor P.H Henderson mapped the area.

The ownership and boundaries of the first squatter's runs changed often in the early years in the area, when it was mainly cattle that were run. The spelling of the names of these large parcels of land also often varied and eventually settled into what we know them as today. 

The homestead site was, at first, probably part of John Johnston’s station Gunningundi: Johnston was running cattle on country along this section of the Moonie River when explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell passed through in 1846. 

Soon after, the homestead site became part of a run called Gerar, taken up in 1857 by a man named Richard Bligh from Warialda until a person by the name of Robert Dunn bought the lease.  Dunn was in residence by 1859 and probably preparing to build the homestead that stands today.

These runs, known as Gerar and Gerar South, were purchased in 1864 by a couple named Duncan and Leonora Mackay whose family had had stations on the Moonie River south of Nindigully for around 20 years already. The runs were initially in Leonora's name and by March 1865 the family had moved into Bullamon Homestead. 

Mackays continued to expand their holdings over the next ten years, with acquisitions of adjoining pastoral blocks along the Moonie River and beyond until they had control of all of the river front from just south of present day Thallon to Nindigully. This area comprised around 23 separately named runs, several of which still retain those names today and are significant enterprises in their own right. 

In 1875 this parcel of runs was sold to Hurtle Fisher as "Bullamon Station". Over the next decade, the partnership of Fisher and Hill continued to acquire additional runs until in 1888 the Bullamon aggregation comprised over 3,500 square kilometres and stretched from around 12 km south of Thallon to just north of the Moonie Highway east of St George, west almost to Noondoo, east to Daymar and north-east to just beyond Weengallon. Bullamon was initially run by one of the partners, James Hill, who lived in the homestead. James was manager till 1882, when his brother Edward Hill replaced him and remained as manager after the station was taken over by the Australian Pastoral Company in late 1888. Bullamon became part of a vast area of land held by the AP Co in this district.

It was during the Fisher and Hill era that Bullamon was converted from a cattle station to predominantly running merino sheep and a 64-stand shearing shed was built, which stood just north of the "Nine Mile Lagoon" on the St George road, not far west of the road.

More than half of Bullamon was resumed by the Government in 1888 and although the AP Co retained the right to use that land until opened up for selection, some prime areas, including the land just north of Nindigully, were quickly converted to individual properties and taken up by selectors. This was the beginning of the end of the huge and mighty station, with land resumption followed by first a disastrous flood in 1890 of a level not seen before or since, terrible droughts around the turn of the century and much of the country being taken over by invasive prickly pear cactus, which more or less rendered the land useless until a couple of insect species destructive to pear were introduced, those being cactoblastis and to a lesser extent, cochineal.




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