By ROBERT MACMAURICE
THE first European Settlers at Stanthorpe were probably Bartholomew and Mary Ross, in 1849.
The town didn’t exist when they lived here, but that’s just a minor technicality. The site of the Inn was half-way between Warwick and Tenterfield on the stage coach run.
Bartholomew and Mary Ross built the Golden Fleece Inn and started trading next to Quart Pot Creek in October 1849. The location is indicated in the Southern Downs Regional Council Cultural Heritage Study as being in the paddock at the corner of Railway Street and Creek Street, Stanthorpe.
It’s not clear how well the Golden Fleece Inn prospered. Most of the news about the inn centred around cattle and horse thieving. In a December 1849 advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald, a reward was offered for stolen horses.
Bartholomew described his address as, “Maryland, Darling Downs.” The “Maryland” reference being to Maryland Station. The Inn was actually located on Folkestone Station, but in practice Folkestone and Maryland were both run by Matthew Henry Marsh.
From that time onwards, there were many advertisements signed by Bartholomew Ross, offering rewards for stolen horses and cattle.
He also joined the Border Land Association for the Prevention of Horse and Cattle Stealing.
Ironically the association in 1862, was paying the expenses of another member, Mr Edward Baker, for costs incurred in successfully prosecuting Bartholomew Ross for cattle stealing. In 1864 Bartholomew Ross was charged with horse stealing. For reasons unexplained, he was discharged from the court because the Crown Prosecutor decided not to prosecute.
At this distance of time, this writer has something of an impression that there was a bit of sport and payback involved in horse and cattle stealing, despite the fact it was a serious matter, as it is today.
Bartholomew Ross was obviously something of an entrepreneur, as well as a publican. Aside from a good number of horses and cattle run around the inn, he was also interested in the purchase of freehold land, some of which he purchased in Tenterfield and Warwick.
He also wrote a report for the newspapers of his visit to the Rocky River goldfields near Armidale. His favourable report is possibly tinged with self interest in attracting more travellers and visitors via his inn. Another of his main pursuits was obviously horse racing, of which he appears to have had some success.
All was not so rosy for Bartholomew and Mary Ross, however, because in July 1865 the Golden Fleece Inn was up for sale, and by December of that year Bartholomew was declared insolvent, in the Supreme Court of Queensland.
At the time of the sale, the Golden Fleece Inn was described in the following terms – “The Golden Fleece Hotel, situated 40 miles from Warwick and 40 miles from Tenterfield, being the halfway house on the main thoroughfare between those two important Border towns.
The hotel is beautifully situated on the margin of the creek, in which there is a never-failing supply of the best pure water.
It contains seven bedrooms, four sitting rooms, bar, and tap room, and has a splendid seven feet wide verandah extending the whole length of the main building, which is 103 feet long and 20 feet wide-a hall four feet wide running through the centre; also, a kitchen of three rooms, 26 feet by 14 feet, communicating with the house by a covered way.
The chimneys are of stone, and the ovens of brick. The stable contains six stalls and two loose boxes, with hay loft and other conveniences.
In connection with those there are in the yard a fowl-house, piggery, dairy, laundry, and hut; the whole being enclosed with a substantial three-railed fence, paled. A good kitchen garden of 1/2 acre adjoins the house.
The purchased land, on which the whole of the above-mentioned premises is situated, contains 160 acres, on which a first-class stockyard of three compartments and a calf-pen are constructed.
In connection with the above property, there are two large grass paddocks, securely fenced in, and divided by the creek, which is always a running stream. One of these paddocks contains 700 acres, and the other 500, in both of which there is an abundant supply of food throughout the year. Also, a cultivated paddock, containing about 20 acres, within one mile of the hotel.
In the immediate neighborhood of this first class hotel, there are six stations, namely, Maryland, distance 9 miles ; Nundubbermere, 14 miles ; Undercliffe, 14 miles; Pikedale, 16 miles ; Ballandeen, 15 miles ; and Pike’s Creek, 20 miles.”
I’ve often thought that if an archaeological dig was ever to occur in Stanthorpe, the site of the Golden Fleece Inn would be a good one.
Presumably Bartholomew worked his way out of his troubles, because by February 1866 the Supreme Court found he had no debts, and he was farming on a 76-acre property on the Warwick Agricultural Reserve, Campbell’s Plains. James Lethbridge, who owned the Royal Hotel in Warwick took up the licence for the Golden Fleece Inn.
Around this time, Bartholomew was also reported in the press as having been speared by Aboriginals. As far away as Sydney the press there, were happy to report his survival.
In the preceding few years, there is quite a record of court appearances either as a witness or being involved in various legal entanglements. He was apparently known as something of a “bush lawyer.”
After James Lethbridge took over the Golden Fleece Inn in1866, Bartholomew and Mary Ross continued living in the Warwick area and increased their property holdings. They seemed to have faded out of the record and into quiet prosperity. Mary died in 1895. Bartholomew died in 1902 at the age of 90 years, leaving a sizeable estate. A son who survived them, Tom Ross was a noted trainer of race horses. Their passing represented the passing of the first handful of pioneers of this district.
