Tungkillo Soldier Settler Scheme

Tungkillo Soldier Settler Scheme

There were many Soldier Settlement Schemes throughout Australia.

Tungkillo Soldier Settler Scheme was established on land previously owned by the Melrose brothers, and was a part of Rosebank Estate, and situated in the Hundred of Tungkillo. Another in our region was the Jutland Soldier Settlement Scheme situated on land once owned by Joseph Gilbert to the east of Eden Valley and Springton.

The Soldier Settlement Scheme was available to all members of the Australian Imperial Forces or any other forces which had been formed within Australia, and for those who served overseas and were honorably discharge. The Scheme was administered by the Department of Agriculture until 1919, when the Lands and Survey Department took over responsibility.

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 25 December 1920, page 29

ROSEBANK ESTATE PURCHASES.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands (Hon. G. R. Laffer) stated on Monday that the Government had purchased about 10,177 acres of the Rosebank Estate in the Hundred of Tungkillo, from Messrs. G. T., R. T., and A. Melrose. As the Land Board report that the land cannot be subdivided into areas which would enable the values of the respective blocks to come within the limit of £3,000 allowed, under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, the property has been purchased, under Part x. of the Crown Lands Act, 1915, but when dealing with the applications the Land Board will give preference to discharged soldiers who may apply. Arrangements are being made to take possession of the property on March 1 next. In the meantime the land will be surveyed and gazetted.

Tungkillo soldier settlement saw a dozen or so farms become available on rough sandstone hills covered with gums and demobbed personnel were not tempted to take them up. Alfred Burgess, Ancell Britten-Jones, Joseph Dall and the brothers Fred and Jack Ayres did take the opportunity, and Ross Hobbs, a local AIF returned serviceman also applied for land adjacent to his family property. Hermann Bottroff, Wilhelm Nitschke, Wilhelm Oertel, Ellis Rollond, Frank Rose and Jack Strauss took over the remaining, but these men had not served at all.

With incomes from outside their farming pursuits many of these men made a reasonable living although soil and climatic conditions did not auger well. These farmers took on the Barwell Boys from England to assist with daily work, and with Ancell Britten-Jones as a Tungkillo District Councillor the property owners were not forgotten.