One of the homes linked to Grandchester’s long pastoral and railway history stands in the corridor mapped for the Inland Rail project.
The home, Brucedale, will become the property of the Queensland Government this month as the Department of Transport and Main Roads continues to secure land which falls within the future rail corridor.
The current owner of Brucedale, Brian Desjardins, is from a family whose heritage is also entwined with the history of the town.
And the town can trace its history back to the day more than 100 years ago when Governor Sir George Bowen named it Grandchester when he officially opened the first section of railway in the State.
Brian grew up in Brucedale, which stood across the road from the store run by his family.
AND HE IS more than conversant with the history of the home and store.
That history began in 1893 when a creamery was built by Charles Mort.
“One year after Mr Mort built the creamery, it was sold to Henry Simpson who built the Brucedale homestead, then in 1909 John Pender bought the two buildings and converted the creamery building into a general store,” Brian said.
The store didn’t fare well and closed three years later.
That closure turned out to be a fortunate happenstance for the community.
When the school burned down, the empty store building served as a classroom for the students while a new school was constructed.
“In 1917 Mr Pender sold both the store and Brucedale to Reg Sellars who placed one of his employees Reg Henning as manager and operator of the store,” Brian said.
And a decade later, Reg Henning purchased both buildings.
THE STORE building was put to a number of uses through to 1946 when Walter and Annie Desjardins from Mt Mort purchased it as a package with Brucedale.
“Our Desjardins family consisted of nine children,” Brian said. “There was Irene, Audrey, Col, Don, Eileen, Marilyn, Reg, me [Brian] and Noel.”
The children delighted in the space the home offered.
“We’d been living in a little house at Mt Mort. That house is now with the Laidley Historical Society and it’s called the Desjardins Cottage,” he said.
Brucedale and the store holds many childhood memories for Brian.
“There were the years with no electricity, searching for cows all through the area when it was milking time and rounding up the chickens.
“Friends from the area would join me as we explored the mountains including caves in the hills behind Baanga Railway Station.”
Brian finds a lot of joy in his upbringing.
“We were a large family and our parents were strict but they taught us all the right things which included community responsibilities. Its made me realise how lucky I was to have had such a great upbringing.
“As I got older, I was given more tasks such as collecting the daily papers from the railway station on my bike and delivering them to the local residents.
“When our car broke down, we had to use a horse and cart and I was assigned the task of regularly driving it down to the railway station to collect bread, groceries, fruit and bags of animal food.”
Brian recalls one day when his father was gored by a bull and was taken to hospital.
“I had to take on more responsibility.
“I’d have to drive the horse and cart to pick up essentials for the business during my school lunch break.
“Three times a week the cream carter would come in from Mt Mort and take all the cream along the way to the Laidley Butter Factory,” he said.
“On his way back, he would collect ice for our cooling cabinets and also some meat for us from the Laidley butcher.”
THE DESJARDINS mode of transport was not unusual.
“Many of the people who came to the shop came in horse and sulky, because cars were not so common in those days,” Brian recalls.
“Grandchester had a permanent Puffing Billy, the PB15 at the Railway Station to help push the long goods trains up the Little Liverpool Range to Yurongmulu Station.
“I can recall being taken on a trip on the Puffing Billy a few times because we knew the driver and fireman well.
“My main memory was going through the tunnels and the steam engine at the rear … we got all the smoke from the larger front engine … it was difficult to breathe when in the tunnel.
“We were also friends with the station master and he used to pay me a penny to polish all the signal levers in the station for him.”
That was just one aspect of the close country community.
“Grandchester was a great community, everyone was safe and dishonesty was very rare.
“We had good cricket and tennis teams and Saturday night dances.
“My brother Don actually came back to Grandchester in his later years as the local station master.”
The Desjardins family operated the store together with a fuel depot until 1968 when it was sold to Mrs Williams.
THIS MONTH Brucedale will be sold to the Department of Transport and Main Roads and so we contacted it to find out the future of the home.
“The Australian Government is delivering Inland Rail through the Australian Rail Track Corporation,” a spokesman said.
“The property at 6 Grandchester Mount Mort Road, Grandchester, is identified as within the corridor that forms part of the Inland Rail project.
“Information relating to any proposed purchase or its status is confidential.
“In cases where TMR purchases properties for a project, typically the property will be managed by TMR until the delivery of the project is imminent.”