Rosedale, Country pub and Gold fever

Saturday 27th February 2021

After a shocking 4 wake ups overnight we woke up tired and unslept. so tired was Madeline that she fell asleep in the car at 1030am.

Today we left Platypus Park Riverside Retreat and headed slightly northwest to Rosedale.

Rosedale

Rosedale is 58km northwest of Bundaberg and covers 2 local government areas, Gladstone region and Bundaberg region. it has a population of 448 people (2011 census.)

We pulled up to the local hotel and pub to spend a night. We were met by some very Aussie locals and a quaint little country town.

History

In July 1853, John Little and his family made camp with their large herd of sheep overlanded from New South Wales and selected a site overlooking a large creek (now known as Baffle Creek).

John Little’s wife, Catherine, suggested the name “Rosedale” for the property and a vertical slab house, stock yards, sheep pens were constructed in 1854.

Lieutenant John Murray of the “Native Police” married John Little’s daughter, Rachel. After a raid by the Native Police, the Murray family adopted an Aboriginal child who was found in a hollow log.

On 29 August 1863 John Little was struck by a falling limb from a burning tree and died the next day.

The settlement of Rosedale, named after the station, became an important town in the 1890s. In 1892, Rosedale became the terminus of the North Coast Railway; for the next five years, people travelling north would board a coach from Rosedale. A number of hotels flourished due to the increased trade and the first school opened in 1896, reflecting a general increase of closer settlement in the district.

The railway was extended to Gladstone in 1897 and Rosedale ceased to be the rail terminus.

Rosedale Station remained in the Little family until approximately 1979.

The afternoon

We played with Playdoh again this afternoon.

Eva set up her MindLab metal detector ready for some gold and gemstone fossicking and detecting. you may not know but Eva is a mad keen Gold enthusiast and gemstone fossicker. She has aspirations to learn lapidary in the not to distant future. One of her big purchases was a Metal Detector for her 30th birthday.

We went spotlighting first frogs. Actual frogs, not just toads. Eva found a frog in the toilet which later went to sit on the window sill.