Stepping back in time

Imagine taking a step back in time to the 1800s. Every year on the first weekend in May, that’s exactly what many thousands do.

For the last 37 years, the Woolshed at Jondaryan in South West Queensland, comes back to life in the same way it may have been in the 1890s showcasing the skills and the life of the farm. Whether it be steam driven butter churners, horsedrawn wagons and other long forgotten machinery; they all take pride of place at the annual “Heritage Festival”.

“We find that families and kids absolutely love it” Shana Rogers Business manager of the Jondaryan Woolshed said “It’s things that some of them have never ever seen before and just have no idea that the clothes we wear come from sheep or animals we see out in the yard.”

From a family perspective this day offers something for even the younger kids. A chance to see a massive Clydesdale up close and watch it pulling a wagon, noisy smelly steam engines that chuff along wheezing and whooshing, a flock of sheep being herded in by a kelpie ready to be shorn or good old fashioned billy cart races, sack races or bobbing for apples.



The best part though is that there is wide open space unspoilt by city traffic, plenty of room to run around and the smell of fresh air mixed with the aroma of smoke from old fashioned wood fires and the occasional whiff of horse flesh as the stagecoach comes rolling by.

But there are plenty of other sounds, smells and tastes that bring the woolshed back to life. Fresh damper cooking in the coals, homemade scones baking in a wood stove in a tiny kitchen, served with a generous helping of homemade butter and jam or good old fashioned stews bubbling in a camp kitchen in the back paddock near the shearing shed.

The Old Swaggie pushing his cart

“The whole village is in recreation so we have spinners and weavers here and many of our volunteers dress in (period) costume which is lovely to see” Ms Rogers said “everything, every building that’s on the woolshed site was original from the Jondaryan Station which was around 300 000 acres at its peak in the late 1890s and the history of the place is just incredible”.