File:MacDonald family, Bromelton House, Albert River district, 1872 (5013319907).jpg

Location: Albert River District, Queensland, Australia
Description: Bromelton House, near Beaudesert, was the main residence of a large run acquired by Hugh Henry Robertson Aikman in 1842 and named after his home in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Aikman later entered into partnership with the pastoralist and politician Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior. Murray-Priors daughter, the future novelist Rosa Campbell Praed was born at Bromelton. By 1872, large tracts of the property had been resumed by the Government for closer settlement, and Bromelton was in the possession of Campbell Livingstone MacDonald, in partnership with Thomas and Francis Coulsen. MacDonald and his wife Rachel raised their 14 children (including sons Macquarie, Campbell Livingstone and Hugh Livingstone) at Bromelton and it remained in the family until the beginning of World War II.
The house was constructed near a large lagoon known to local aboriginal people as 'Bungropin' (place of parrots) for the great parrot flocks that used to haunt the area. The property was largely self-sufficient (except for stores which arrived twice a year by boat from Ipswich). There was a dairy, a blacksmith, and a shop. Bread was made, meat was preserved, and fruit and vegetables were home-grown. The fence which can be seen behind family members in the photograph was covered with grapevines which reportedly were planted by the wife of T.L. Murray-Prior.
View this image at the State Library of Queensland: http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/9187