Australia, Travel

A Historic Village in Herberton

Suzanne

Queensland Roadtrip Part 6

Within 16 acres outside of Herberton is where vintage Australia comes alive as their pioneers climb out of the history books.  The village puts the fun back into history with a nature trail incorporating houses and machinery.

The grounds have around 60 lovingly restored period buildings, including the 130-year-old Elderslie House as well as antique motor vehicles, turn of the century machinery, small engines and rare John Deere tractors.  All depicting a 1870s tin-mining town where the restored buildings are filled with memorabilia.

There’s a pub, bank, chemist shop, grocer, printer, school, dress shop, jail and more.  Not forgetting a stop into the Bakerville Tearooms for a spot of homemade cooking to be washed down with a reasonable cup of coffee.  Which of course we did, would have been rude not to, don’t you think?

What this experience gave us an extensive visual insight into the life of the Australian Pioneer days.  With the added bonus of the Squire finding tractors that his grandfather/father used on the family farm when he was a land.  They even had a tractor resembling one that we owned, swore at numerous times for not working correctly and one that I loved to “zoom” around our orchard many moons ago.

An enjoyable time reminiscing had by both of us.  Here are some of the highlights.

The Grounds

The suspension bridge.jpg

A 70-metre suspension bridge links the two sides of Wild River on the Village’s 16-acre property. Made entirely from locally cut Moreton Bay Ash, Carbeen and Blue Gum timbers, the two big towers, which feature 12-metre high poles with thick 500mm diameters, support the weight of the suspension bridge. We walked across to discover a range of attractions such as the line up of tractors and a vast English Electric Generator.

This generator was made in Preston, in the U.K., this 16-cylinder, V configuration diesel engine, with its massive brass radiator weighs in at close to 40 tonnes. It is designated as 16SVG – the 16 indicates a number of cylinders, S indicates that it is supercharged, V describes the cylinder arrangement and G states that it is set up for power generation.

The engine is fitted with four Napier superchargers and supplies power to an English Electric 1350 KVA generator.

Then there was the bushwalk tracks and the Pioneer Camp which generated much more interest for me.

The windmill and river

There is something about a windmill that catches my eye, this one was part of the Nature Trail.  It’s reflections on the Wild River.

The Buildings

Coming out of the cafe

Leaving the Bakerville Pub, which is now tearooms the view from there is of the jail and lockup.  For those that cause trouble in the tearooms.

Les walking around the village

The Squire walking on past the frock salon for some reason it didn’t interest him, me, on the other hand, did a right turn instead of going straight on.

The old homestead

Above is the 130-year-old Elderslie House, beautifully restored.

The old pub

Tin Pannikin Pub with not a level line in sight.  Very quirky and fun.

Machinery

Les by a vintage car

One of the mechanics brought the car out to that spot so I could take a photo of the Squire with the newly restored car.  Dreams are free, not so much these cars.

Les by the row of old tractors

The line up of tractors and which resulted in us laughing and sharing our thoughts of time gone past.

Photography

Photographer sign_edited

As you know, I am intrigued by photography and the history of how it all started.  Interesting to learn more via our stop in Herberton.

Old cameras_edited

With the crazy festive season coming up rather fast let me leave you with what Kodak suggests you do.

Have a “Give and Take” Christmas. By merely giving a Kodak gift and taking an image of your festive season.

A Historic Village in Herberton.jpg

 

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

38 thoughts on “A Historic Village in Herberton”

    1. Hi Donna, yes the place was well thought out. Just fixed a few mistakes, whoops! Easy to justify a cafe stop after a walk, it’s like the icing on the cake for being outdoors exercising 🙂

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  5. Hi Suzanne – what a quaint and beautiful little township. I love the house being restored – but it cetainly contrasted with the other “rustic” buildings – and I’d have made a right turn into that frock shop too (while my husband strolled past!)
    Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 🙂

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    1. Hi Leanne, thanks for commenting and for doing the linkup. It made us smile that when we visit these “vintage” places how much “stuff” there is from our earlier lives 🙂

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  10. I just googled Heberton to find out some more about it. It looks (and sounds) absolutely fascinating. And youre photos are, as always, great. I’m loving this series you’re doing on Queensland and learning so much about places we’re yet to visit.

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    1. Hi Jo, apologies for the delay in replying. Thanks Jo it is fun remembering the highlights of our trip. I have a few more, just need a bit more time to organise myself to get them completed!

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  12. A very interesting post, Suzanne. Especially, since it brings back actual memories from your childhood. The photo with the windmill depicts an idyllic area. Beautiful! Interesting about the history of photography and photographic supplies. I enjoyed all of your photos. Thank you for sharing:)

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    1. Apologies for the late reply Deb, back now catching up 🙂 The frock shop was fun and the detail of some were extraordinary. I just couldn’t imagine how they endured the hot climate wearing layers of clothing.

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