Historic homestead hits the market
Inside one of the region’s most iconic coastal properties
Bundaberg
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WHILE the walls of the historic Barolin Homestead can’t talk, the owner can.
And what a story the home holds.
From the land being secured in 1863 by Arthur Brown to 1912 when Caroline and Sidney North Innes bought the land and saw architect of Barolin Homestead, F.H. Fairclough, set the homestead on the highest point along the coast, on a rocky bluff overlooking the sea, there’s no shortage of history to the home.
And the next chapter of this home’s tale could involve you.
Soozi Imer is the current owner and is selling the Homestead, which is linked with the early development of the Bundaberg district.
She said Mrs Innes was the first registered female pharmacist in Queensland while Mr Innes was one of the leading authorities on cattle in Queensland and used Barolin to breed prizewinning Hereford cattle.
Ms Imer said during the Innes’ time in the homestead, they were joined by Bert Hinkler who dined with Mr Innes.
Ms Imer’s story with home began 3½ years ago after looking along the east coast of Australia for an old house with charm to call home.
And she found it in Coral Cove.
“It took my breath away,” she said.
Despite being a bit “run down” with gardens resembling jungle, Ms Imer was taken with the property which has four bedrooms, four lock up garages and a vine covered carport, two fireplaces, high ceilings, “rare crows ash floors” and an in-ground swimming pool all on a
2329 sqm block with an ocean view.
There is also a Kanaka-built rock wall on the property with its own heritage Ms Imer said.
When she moved in, they took out tonnes of green waste tidying up the gardens.
Ms Imer said there were numerous elements to the home she was fond of, from the fireplace to seeing whales breach from the kitchen window, fruit trees and the wildlife that also called Coral Cove home.
While selling the home to move to Brisbane for family reasons, Ms Imer plans to publish a book detailing the history of the homestead.
During her time at Barolin Homestead, she was visited by the grandchildren of the former Innes owners who gave an insight into what life was like.
Sharing some of her research into the property, she wrote in the 1860s the Barolin Pastoral Head Station covered thousands of acres; all the way from the Elliott River in the south to the Burnett River in the north.
“‘Barolin’ was ‘discovered’ by the young Australian-born Nugent Wade Brown, son of the wealthy ‘Browns of Coulston’ family of Scotland and Denmark and in Australia, of the Hunter region in NSW,” she wrote.
“Nugent had been led to the area by his young Aboriginal guide, who by his own admission, had kidnapped from a local clan.
“At the time, Nugent was ‘getting experience with stock’ at Gin Gin Station owned by another Brown family, the two brothers Alfred and Arthur from Bristol, England.”
According to her research, after the lease of Barolin had been secured by Arthur Brown in 1863 on Nugent’s advice, Short Horn and Devon stud cattle were bred and a ‘fine’ house was built by Nugent Wade Brown around 1875 from which he managed the property.
“By 1881, Nugent had sold Barolin on behalf of Arthur Brown and bought Ban Ban Springs. Barolin was sold to a Maryborough syndicate,” she wrote.
“However, it was Sidney North Innes originally from Oxfordshire in England and his wife Caroline from Stanthorpe, already owners of Walla Station, who purchased Barolin with 1200 acres in September 1912.
They commissioned the design and building of a new house to replace the already dilapidated house that Nugent had built.
“In September 1928, Bert Hinkler, who had not long before completed his record breaking flight from England to Australia, with his wife, landed his aircraft on Barolin Station, dined with Mr Innes and after lunch took Sidney for a flight to view the Station from the air.”
Her research goes on to 1929, when 23 acres around Palmer’s Creek, now Innes Park, were donated by Caroline and Sidney to the Woongarra Shire for use as a public park.
“Sidney and Caroline’s son Sidney Burnett, inherited Barolin and set about subdividing the land,” she wrote.
He sold the Barolin Homestead on 281 acres to Charles Young, son of Ernest and Margaret Young of Fairymead fame. Charles’s daughter Penny created the Barolin Pony Stud and ran brood mares.
“In 1977 a bridge was built over Palmer’s Creek and a further 50 blocks including 21 with absolute sea frontage were subdivided by the Barolin Property Trust owned by the Youngs. “Later a further 44 blocks were created south to Barolin Rocks.
“The Youngs sold the balance of the property to Pacific Shores PL in 1987 and ultimately Coral Cove was developed.”
Ms Imer said Barolin Homestead now stands as a “charming reminder” of the area’s early pioneering days and sits on just over half an acre.
“Now Barolin Homestead just needs creative new owners to put their personal finishing touches on the property,” she said.
Meanwhile the iconic name ‘Barolin’ appears in street names, business names, the Barolin Rocks Dive site, Barolin Nature Reserve and the Esplanade on which it is located.
Barolin Homestead is at 105 Barolin Esplanade Coral Cove currently selling for offers over $825,000.
It also has a Facebook page with more stories from the property.
For more details about buying this home, click here.
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