page_title: Shire of Sherwood
section_title: Early Exploration and Settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Shire of Sherwood / Early Exploration and Settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Subdivision map of land in what was called West Oxley in 1860 which now constitute the suburbs of Coorinda, Sherwood, Graceville and Chelmer.
context_page_description: The Shire of Sherwood is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in south-western Brisbane in and around the suburb of Sherwood.
context_section_description: The white man first exploited the local area during the convict era, extracting pine and other building materials. Between 1825 and 1829, convicts quarried a portion of Corinda Hill for sandstone, which was used in the construction of the Commissariat and Windmill in the penal colony. This quarry is located at the western point of Quarry Street. In 1851, Thomas Boyland leased land of what became the Shire, where he grazed cattle and sheep. The land became to then be known as Boyland’s Pocket. After Queensland became a colony in 1859, Boyland declined and offer to purchase the land.
  In May 1860, the land was subdivided into 25 portions. Each portion averaged 60 acres and initially sold for £1 an acre, the area being eventually known as Oxley West. Between 1861 and 1864, 96 portions of land, were offered for sale in the area known as Oxley. In 1851, Lands Commissioner, Dr. Stephen Simpson leased 5,500 acres of land in the south-western section and purchased 640 acres where he erected his home Wolston House, near Wolston Creek. After using the property as a horse stud, he returned to England in 1860 after the death of his nephew, James Ommaney, killed when thrown from a horse while riding on the Wolston property. A hill close to where the fatality occurred was named Mt. Ommaney. Grazier, Matthew Goggs senior, purchased Simpsons holding, and enlarged it.
  Following the subdivision of Oxley West, the subsequent land sale attracted both speculators and immigrant settlers. There were three categories of land purchasers during the 1860s: the speculators the immigrant; and immigrants arriving after most of the land had been sold. Speculators included Governor Bowen’s secretary, John Bramston, who purchased land at Oxley Point and Charles Blakeney, Frank McDougall and Arnold Wienholt, who served in either the upper or lower houses of the colonial legislature during the 1860s, but did not reside locally.
  Several immigrants paid their fare to Australia from Britain and on arrival received land orders which equaled the cost of their fares. However, the initial price of land, £1 per acre rose to £3, then to £6, thereby reducing the purchasing power of land orders. Original land purchasers such as Alexander Boyd, William Gray and Arthur Francis settled on or near elevated land now known as Corinda Hill.
  Despite their farming intentions, Boyd, Gray and Francis lacked experience. Having persevered, their contribution lay outside the local area: Boyd, a school inspector; Gray, a Congregational minister; and Francis, a magistrate. Other original land purchasers being the Strong and Orr families, (Oxley West), and the Lucock and Brodie families, (Oxley), continued to earn their living in the local area as farmers. They instead chose the fertile river and creek flats.
  The third category of land purchaser acquired their land from either speculators or selectors. The Berry and Sinnamon families who financed their trip from Northern Ireland, initially worked for original settlers, William Gray and William Dart. Unmarried migrants, John Donaldson assisted government surveyor John Payne and John A. Dunlop labouring for William Gray. They gained an intimate knowledge of the area, and along with the Berry and Sinnamon families and other latecomers like the Nosworthy and Trotter families they farmed the fertile land adjoining the Brisbane River and Oxley Creek.
caption: Corinda to Chelmer Initial Landowners 1860s
exif: {"Image Artist": "Argus Tuft", "Image ExifOffset": "2134", "Image XPAuthor": "Argus Tuft", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:02:26 10:34:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:02:26 10:34:58", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "79", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "79", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}