Junction Park, Theodore, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Notes:
Theodore is a town and a locality in the Shire of Banana, Queensland, Australia. It was established as part of Queensland Premier Ted Theodore's ambitious Dawson River Irrigation Scheme. At the 2011 census, Theodore had a population of 452.



Theodore is situated on the Dawson River just off the Leichhardt Highway 565 kilometres (351 mi) north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. Castle Creek flows through the town and into the Dawson River immediately south of the town centre.



The Aboriginal inhabitants of the area were the Kangulu people.[4] The first European settler in the district was Joseph Thompson who amassed a number of pastoral leases from 1850 to his death in 1857, including Oxtrack Creek, Okangal, Coteeda, Delusion Creek, Macoom, Hope, Thalba and Woolthorpe.[5][6] He entered a partnership with James Reid who acquired the Boam run and acquired Thompson's runs after his death and then acquired further runs, before beginning to sell out to new settlers.[7][8]



In 1864 a town called Woolthorpe was surveyed and town lots offered for sale,[9] but few were sold and no town developed at that time.[7]



In 1893, William Woolrych acquired 13,000 acres (53 km2) of land alongside the Dawson River and gradually built it up through further land acquisitions into the very large Woolthorpe Station.[7]



Dawson River Irrigation Scheme

In 1905, the Queensland Minister for Lands Joshua Thomas Bell and fellow Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Robert Herbertson conducted a tour of the district. Herbertson reported that Woolthorpe was "a splendid property, consisting of downs and black soil flats" used for sheep grazing. Herbertson also reported favourably on an experiment to raise lucerne by irrigating 70?80 acres (28?32 ha) of cleared land beside the Dawson River. His opinion was that there was plenty of water available in the Dawson River for irrigation and the land could grow almost any crop. Herbertson believed that, with irrigation, the district would be capable of supporting a large population, provided there was cheap, easy and quick transport to the coast.[10] This comment about transport followed Minister Bell's earlier criticism of the condition of the roads west of Gladstone which were the responsibility of the Banana Shire and the Taroom Shire.[11]



The idea of a major irrigation scheme involving the Dawson River continued to be considered by the Queensland Parliament over a number of years.[12][13][14] However, it was not until February 1920, that the Premier of Queensland Ted Theodore announced his support for a Dawson River irrigation scheme.[15] Later that year, in September 1920, Ted Theodore announced that a dam would be built at The Gorge on the Dawson River (25.44645?S 150.14909?E) enabling 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of fertile land to be created through irrigation along 65 kilometres (40 mi) of the Dawson River.[16] The irrigated area would be organised into five zones: Isla, Castle Creek (later Theodore), Huon, Moura and Coolibah, with each zone having a central township.[17] There would be irrigated farms closer to the river and dry (non-irrigated) blocks further away. It was estimated that there would be about 5000 farms and that, together with those living in the towns providing services to the farmers, the irrigation scheme would support about 50,000 people.[17] Each town would be a "model garden city" as the local population would be sufficient to enable all modern amenities and recreational facilities; this was seen as important to attract younger people, who were believed to be abandoning rural towns in favour of cities to which many had been exposed during the Great War.[18][19]



In 1922 it was announced that the gorge and the dam would both be named after Matthew Nathan, the (then) Governor of Queensland.[20] The dam would be the second largest in the world, submerging over 83,200 acres (337 km2) and capable of storing 2,485,000 acre feet (3.065 cubic kilometres) of water.[17] (For comparison, the present day Wivenhoe Dam has an area of 109.4 square kilometres and a capacity of 2.61 cubic kilometres).



Also in 1922, it was announced that, in addition to the dam, the Dawson Valley Irrigation scheme would include the construction of a railway line to service the Dawson Valley. The funding for the overall scheme was to be through a loan from America for approximately ?2.5 million.[21]



Creating the town of Theodore

As it would take some time to build the Nathan Dam, it was decided to commence on a smaller scale by initiating the Castle Creek irrigation zone by building a small low-cost weir nearby on the Dawson River, from which water would be pumped along canals to the irrigated farms. A power station was also built beside the river. The land offered for initial settlement was 264 irrigated farms of average size 13 acres (5.3 ha) and 109 dry blocks of average size 211 acres (85 ha).[17]



The town was initially called Castle Creek after the local railway station, which in turn took its name from the creek which flowed into the Dawson River just south of the town. However, in November 1926, it was renamed in honour of Ted Theodore, who as Premier of Queensland had given so much support to the irrigation scheme.[2][3][22]



Theodore State School opened on 6 May 1924.[23]



The Castle Creek receiving office opened on 1 December 1924, but was upgraded to a post office on 15 December 1924. It was renamed Theodore Post Office on 1 July 1927.[24]



The Hotel Theodore was originally built as a boarding house to accommodate new residents to the district.[25]



Postponement of Nathan Dam

However, Ted Theodore never obtained funding for the Nathan Dam and in 1925 he resigned as Queensland Premier in order to move into federal parliament. In 1933, the Nathan Dam was postponed for 25 years. Without the water needed for irrigation, many of the small farm blocks around Theodore became economically unviable and many sold at a loss. This enabled others to enlarge their holdings to a size where it became possible to support a family with dry farming. However, with fewer families, the population estimates used for Theodore's planning could not be achieved in practice, making many aspects of the town's existing and planned infrastructure economically unviable to the disappointment of the settlers attracted by the government's promotional material of a model garden city.[29][30][31][32]

Death

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Death		Person ID
1	Boyle, James	31 Jul 1917	Junction Park, Theodore, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	I2086