By Jenel Hunt
There is no such thing as resting on your laurels for the Amiens Legacy Centre. The picturesque little historical precinct, situated on Goldfields Road just past the main village area of Amiens, always seems to be finding something new to feature about the past.
But this time the Amiens Historical Association members have their work cut out for them, because they’ve just built something brand new on the site. And while it might seem tactless to mention it, the structure looks somewhat out of place.
Previously the committee has had projects like the old Pullman railway carriage, which can be dated back to 1909 and its days as a second-class passenger carriage trundling around Brisbane before World War 2. It became a hospital carriage during the war, did a stint with the Queensland Arts Council and was a camp wagon for railway employees before finally sitting derelict awaiting TLC at the Warwick Steam Train Precinct. It was bought by the Amiens History Association for $1 (and the rest, as they say, is history … and one heck of a lot of work for the many, many volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring the old girl back to life).
Another structure at the historical precinct is the Passchendaele Shed, a rather aged timber structure from just down the road at the Passchendaele Forestry area where it was once used as a storage shed for the forestry workers. The little building was picked up for just $250 and moved to the site. The outside is painted a eucalyptus green and a small roofed area has been added to one side in a sympathetic manner to protect the black-on-white art by local artist Franco Arcidiacono, depicting a family scene inside an old cottage. The interior is original unpainted timber and people can currently watch up to nine short films about history while seated in the simple interior.
In complete contrast, stretched out between the two structures, is a brand new building in shale grey Colorbond, complete with sliding aluminium doors and windows. The interior is fitted with gyprock walls and vinyl flooring. Even though it’s not a particularly imposing building, it’s jarringly obvious that it doesn’t belong.
But that’s just today, Amiens History Association secretary Morwenna Harslett says. The project isn’t finished yet – not by a long way – and when it is, something will have been done to soften the effect so the newbie doesn’t stand out like the brash young thing it is.
You can’t doubt her, because everything that has been accomplished on this little block has been done well.
From the carpark, a three-quarter-sized model of a Bailey Bridge leads the way to back in time. The bridge doesn’t quite fit the original commission as it’s from World War 2 and the Legacy Centre is more about the Pikedale Soldier Settlers era after World War 1. Interestingly, though, a full size Bailey Bridge is currently being constructed at Amiens – that is, the one on the Somme in France.) Still, it’s a bridge over a gully so is an appreciated addition to the precinct. It also adds a subtle feeling that you are leaving behind the present day to cross into yesteryear. To one side is a garden growing the plants used by the Kambuwal people who visited the area for its brush-tailed possums, which were an important resource and trading item for them. Another garden represents the original government farm where fruit trees were grown and training was given to the returned soldiers as they started their adventure in horticulture. Tin mining gets a nod too, as it was a big part of the area’s history.
But back to that new shed. The building is in two sections. One part will house a little shop (it might be a little while before that’s ready for its first customer but we already know there will be locally handmade tin jewellery on sale because that’s available already). The larger area is the resource centre, which is already home to giant replica maps from the era of 1920 to 1930, most of which feature the parishes of the County of Bentinck from which the soldier settlement blocks were carved for the Pikedale Soldier Settlement after World War 1.
This is hoped to be a serious research area where people can do a deep dive to see what they can find about the families of the Soldier Settlers. There were 550 Soldier Settler blocks and the first project is to marry the block numbers to available military information about the soldiers who took up each block.
Combing through military records takes time but it’s all in the name of building on these scant beginnings, because as time passes the information gets harder and harder to find.
Morwenna calls the new building The ARC, which stands for Amiens Resource Centre. (She reckons there isn’t much competition for naming rights. The other structures are called The Carriage and Passchendale Shed, after all.)
Another corner of The ARC will feature a miniature reproduction of the Pikedale Station homestead. The model was built by Shane Donnelly after old movie reels were found to include footage of the rooms. The old homestead, which had 54 rooms, burned down about 60 years ago. The pastoralists’ story is finding a home in the centre too – graziers like the Smiths and the Tullochs, who were in the area a long time before the soldier settlements.
The Pikedale Soldier Settlement was the original reason for the birth of the Amiens Legacy Centre. Resident Roger Willis wanted to save the history and stories of this fascinating part of Australia’s past and his enthusiasm infected many locals who answered the call. The soldier blocks – each was an area of 40 acres of which 5 acres were cleared land – had been offered by the government to honourably discharged soldiers who had fought for the Commonwealth (they didn’t have to be Australian to qualify) so they could learn to farm, raise their families and heal – both physically and mentally – from the war. These were the men who had fought at Gallipolli and the Western Front. Many of them had fought in major battles in France and Belgium, and when a railway spur line was built from Cottonvale out to Amiens for the transport of the fruit the farms would produce, the returned soldiers called the little villages that grew around the railway sidings after places where they had fought their battles. So there was Fleurbaix, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Passchendale, Bapaume, Messines and the end of the line, Amiens.
It’s fitting that the Amiens Legacy Centre sits on this particular piece of land, as it’s actually the Amiens railway station site. Amiens was considered the headquarters of the Soldier Settlements.
Walking around the precinct with Alec and Denise Harslett, who have been a driving force behind the project, makes you realise how close to the heart these topics are for them. Alec can clearly trace his own family history to the soldier settlers and is one of the few people whose family still owns the exact piece of land that was taken up by his grandfather … and more. Obviously, 40 acres wasn’t really enough land from which to make a living when generally a large portion was granite rock and not arable.
“My grandfather was one of those who came back from the war and took up a block. They left one battle to fight another. The Soldier Settlements were largely considered a failure, but the idea of growing apples wasn’t a silly idea. We still grow 14 per cent of Australia’s apples in this district,” he said.
Apart from the Harsletts, there are still many Soldier Settler descendants living in the Granite Belt. Maybe you’re one of them.
The Amiens Legacy Centre is open on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.
