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Pioneers of Snowtown, S.A.

 

Pastoral pioneers - 6

 

Charles Burney Young at Mount Templeton

Mt Templeton Homestead.jpg
Mt Templeton estate homestead. Probably built in the 1870s when the property totalled 41,000 acres.

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The first pastoralists at Mount Templeton were Philip Butler (of Mallala) and Alexander Grant who took up a 27 square mile leasehold in 1851 which covered most of what were to become the Hundreds of Stow, Everard and Goyder.

 

In 1854 a trig point for surveyors was established on the highest peak here which was called Mount Templeton, probably after one of the surveyors.

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In the early 1860s most of the run was resumed and taken up by Edmund Bowman of Werocata on the Wakefield River. He used the name Mount Templeton for it.

(Read more about Edmund Bowman)

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In 1868 Charles Burney Young (7 July 1824 – 29 September 1904) bought up land previously held by Bowman when he purchased most of the Hundred of Stow and parts of the Hundred of Everard. He called his freehold property Mount Templeton Station.

  • He acquired extensive landholdings, including Mount Templeton Station, Macumba Station, and large tracts in areas like The Hummocks, Andamooka, Port Broughton, and Port Pirie.

  • Young was also involved in early agricultural practices, leasing land for farming and cultivating wheat on a large scale.

  • He recognized the potential of Port Pirie early on, purchasing a significant portion of the town and subsequently profiting from its development. 

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The Young family had left for South Australia on 16 November 1854, in the Flora Kerr.

  • In February 1856 Young was appointed Draughtsman with the Public Works Department, and by September 1856 was working as a surveyor.

  • ​In June 1884 Charles Burney Young sold his Mount Templeton Station to Messrs Freebairn, Hall and Young.

  • He had been elected to the SA Legislative Council in 1878 and began disposing of his lands. (Served 09 Sep 1878 - 31 May 1880)

 

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Chronicle (Adelaide, SA), Saturday 9 October 1897, page 23

MOUNT TEMPLETON STATION.

"The members of the Bundaleer Royal Commission were courteously received and right royally entertained at Mount Templeton station by Mr. John Young and his daughter,' said Mr. R. W. Foster, M.P. (the chairman), on Monday.

The station was reached a little after dark on Thursday night, and the party found Mr. Young and Mr. W. H. Hall, of Snowtown (Mr. Young's partner), on the lookout for them.

At 6 in the morning a start was made to inspect the head station buildings and the magnificent reservoirs and tanks which have put the question of water provision for the run on a very satisfactory basis." 

"The run consists of 42,000 acres, 28 of which are freehold and the balance a Government lease.

Near the house is a big underground tank with a capacity of 200,000 gallons and under the ranges, about a mile from the station, are two large dams, from which water is conducted to the station-tank by pipes.

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In other parts of the run similar dams are constructed, each of which deserves to be dignified by the title of 'reservoir,' and from these storage supplies water is conveyed to troughs in the various paddocks by piping. A valve and ball cock secures the filling of troughs automatically, and the paddocks are of such size as would secure for Messrs. John Young & Co. the highest commendation of experts like Mr. Peter Waite, who believes in giving sheep undisturbed opportunities to produce wool and carcass of the best quality and largest quantity.

 

Something like £3,750 has been expended in water conservation, and the storage capacity is 9 3/4 million gallons at present. Mr. Young estimates that he has a supply on hand without further rains for two years. It is not unreasonable, therefore, that the Mount Templeton owners are against the Bundaleer scheme, which would mean to them a tax of £400 a year without increasing their carrying capacity." 

"Mr. Young is a fine type of a sucessful English country gentleman, and if the best way to get success is to deserve it, then there is little doubt that his share of good things should be large indeed.

After an inspection of Miss Young's well-kept flower garden and the splendid avenues of gums and other trees, and with heartiest acknowledgments of hospitable treatment, the Commission sped their way from refreshment to labor." 

Eventually two Young brothers, not related to Charles Burney Young, in partnership with Mr Hall of Snowtown, owned Mount Templeton Station which they in turn sold to the state government in 1906. They sold over 20,000 acres freehold for £54,000 and they surrendered almost 11,000 acres of other land.

The estate was resurveyed and 30 new farms and sections of land were created. These sections were sold in 1907 ranging in size from 400 acres to 1,000 acres.

The acreage under wheat in the Hundred of Everard doubled from 1907 to 1912. At first farmers carted their wheat to a rail siding near Bowmans but from 1923 they carted it to nearby Bumbunga siding, around the hill named Mt Templeton.

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In 1908 a pipeline from the Bundaleer Reservoir (located on the Broughton River near Spalding) was constructed down the western side of the Hundred of Everett to the newly surveyed farming blocks at Mt Templeton. (It is no longer used as drinking water).

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Methodist Church, Mount Templeton

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A Wesleyan Church was built in 1872 on an acre of donated land. A new Wesleyan Church was built across the road from this early one in 1885 and it still exists. In 1937 the organ from the closing Watchman Methodist Church was donated to this church. It closed as a church in 1969.

 

A government school opened next to here in 1881 to the north of the later 1885 church. When the school closed in 1951 the last teacher lived in the schoolroom and drove the school bus to Balaklava until 1973.

 

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A few kilometres to the north is the Mount Templeton Peace Hall. It was built in 1921. The land was donated by Patrick Howard and the building cost £1,000. Patrick Howard had purchased 1,048 acres from the Mount Templeton Station in 1907.

 

Apart from social functions the Peace Hall was used for Catholic masses for 1923 to 1937. In 1954 a galvanised iron supper room was added to the rear of it. By 1977 the hall had few members and was about to close. It is now a vacant ruin and is private property.

 

The old Mount Templeton Station homestead is down the road to the east of the Peace Hall and it dates from around 1860 and the property included a chapel, styles, coach shed and a school.

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The area of the Mount Templeton includes grazing land on the hills, arable land below the hills, and sampfire and unusable land to the east, difficult country.

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References:

Snowtown, The First Century 1878-1978, Alan Jones for the Snowtown Centenary Committee, 1978, reprinted 2003.

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User denisbin on Flikr - "Mount Templeton"

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Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904)  Sat 9 Oct 1897  Page 45 

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