It appears the old TALE of convicts building the Flagstaff Road is just that – a TALE.

This might be a good time to remind readers that this is exactly what Taroom Tales is all about… sharing the stories and memories of Taroom’s eldest residents. I’m no historian, and I don’t claim historical fact with any story shared, but I’m happy to learn alternative stories from sources who do.

A number of people have commented on my reel (07/03/26) “Flagstaff Road, built by the hands of CONVICTS for our pioneer teamsters”, which has sent me down a few historic rabbit-holes, so I now know that statement is not factually correct. However, I haven’t been able to prove anything (regarding who built the road) one way or another.

I’ve since found the actual origins of the story about the Flagstaff road and “the Convict working gangs” that built it, which I’ve always believed to be true.

It actually began with the discovery of convict leg irons somewhere along the old Roma-Rockhampton Road (exact location unknown); and best guess by locals of the time was that convict labour gangs were used to help build the flagstone range crossing, since that is what convict working gangs had been used for in the NSW Colony until the 1850s. I can understand how it was assumed convict labour was used, given the enormous physical effort it would have taken to engineer this flagstone road, and the fact that there were only 44 men and 19 women living in Taroom district in 1860.  I doubt there would have been enough local labour to get this job done without outside help.

SO, WHO BUILT THE ROAD?

There is very little documented evidence about the Flagstaff Road, so some things still need to be assumed. However, the pattern of the day in late 1850s to early 1860s was for private contractors to build bush roads between inland stations and ports.  Pastoral settlement was expanding rapidly across the Dawson and Maranoa districts and stations around Roma and Taroom produced large quantities of Wool, but there was no reliable road to the coastal ports.

Since I’ve been unable to find documented evidence of Convict labour being used to build roads in the early 1860s, it is believed that men were employed by the road contractor H.C. Gregory, with financial and physical help of station owners and station hands, and possibly some Aboriginal labour.  A few decades later, around 1905, Chinese work gangs were used to build the Staircase Range cutting around Springsure, neighbouring town to Taroom. 

It was roughly 220 miles from Taroom via station tracks and  stock routes, to Springsure – about two weeks for  bullock teams, or one week on horseback, following the water sources.  While Chinese labourers were commonly employed in the late 1800s for heavy manual work, such as road building in remote areas, I have not yet found any suggestion that they were used for the Flagstaff Range crossing contract.

H.C. Gregory was almost certainly a pastoral leaseholder (or station manager); a local Justice of the Peace magistrate; and a member of the small elite group of early squatting families controlling the district. He was a contractor with connections to pastoral families and the Gregory exploration family, who is recorded in early Queensland directories at Palm Tree Creek, near Taroom. [studylib.net]

This contractor – Henry Churchman GREGORY – is not to be confused with his brother, the explorer Augustus Charles Gregory, but he most likely benefited from that relationship. 

In 1858, explorer Augustus Gregory, a government Surveyor, reached Adelaide, South Australia, from the Dawson district. He became the first Surveyor-General of Queensland after separation in 1859. His work determined where Pastoral runs could be established, and where practical routes through ranges and river valleys could be developed for future transport corridors – suitable for stock routes and drays.

Ludwig Leichhardt’s 1844 expedition did not map the Flagstaff pass, but it did open the Taroom district to pastoral settlement, and his route demonstrated the possibility of getting through the Dawson Valley to Coastal ports (Rockhampton).

In the 1850’s, Taroom was the junction of 4 major inland tracks going:
South to Juandah (Wandoan);
South-west to Roma;
East towards Gayndah; and
North-east towards Banana and Rockhampton.

Pastoral settlement expanded rapidly across the Dawson and Maranoa districts and the stations around Roma and Taroom were producing large quantities of wool, but no reliable road to coastal ports existed.

MAPPING THE ROMA – ROCKHAMPTON DRAY ROAD

It is believed a combination of knowledge from explorers, pastoralists, drovers, packhorse mailmen, and travelling Aboriginals was used to establish the route for the Roma to Rockhampton Dray Road. It was mapped using access to reliable water sources, best river crossings, connection to pastoral runs, and the easiest range crossing through a natural saddle in the sandstone escarpment.

How they Built the Road

The stone-paved section through the natural saddle in the range is known as the Flagstaff Road. It climbs the range north of Taroom and crosses the gap towards the Dawson Valley. This remarkable section of the road was built with large sandstone slabs, hand laid to form a firm surface, using little more than chisel, hammer, and physical strength.
Stone drains were added to carry rainwater away from the road. It was designed specifically for heavy bullock wagons carrying wool to port. Soil eroded easily from the extremely steep slope, so builders created a stone causeway (a cobbled ramp), up the range. The original drainage channels still work today, standing the test of time.
This road was well engineered!

THE ROUTE started at ROMA (the main wool centre of Maranoa) and travelled to JUANDAH Station (near modern Wandoan). Next camp was TAROOM Station (est 1845) to a popular camp on the Dawson River near the natural Stoney Crossing,  providing watering and grazing for teams. This is the site where the first bridge was built over the Dawson River in 1863, and where the Taroom tent town sprang up in the early 1850s. It was the assembly point for wool drays, loading wool from surrounding stations. The settlement around the Dawson River camping place was originally known as Bonners Knob.

170 Years since Taroom Settlement in 1856

By 1856, the first Post Office opened and a permanent settlement around the Stoney Crossing was now known as Taroom, from either the aboriginal word meaning “native fig tree” or the word meaning “lime bush”.  Both the large fig trees and thorny native citrus trees commonly grew on the riverbank and alluvial flats in the district. The word “tarum” referred to the native lime, but different Aboriginal languages existed in the Dawson Valley and early settlers often recorded the words imperfectly.  A small government police camp and a more permanent Tent Town was established in 1856 near the Dawson River Stoney Crossing – 170 years ago.  The settlement town of Taroom was officially surveyed and proclaimed in 1857.

The CHAIN LAGOONS CAMP north of Taroom on gently rising country was the next major camp for teams – a reliable water source and a staging point with overnight grazing for the bullocks and horses. (It’s also known as the site of an original settlement Police camp, perhaps for the Native Police.)

In the 1850s – 1870s, the route between Roma and Rockhampton was not a constructed highway. It was essentially a chain of station tracks and stock routes through pastoral leases.

The road most likely followed a direct route from Roma to Euromba to Glenhaughton (where there are still signs of a staging camp near swampy ground on the Glenleigh/Glenhaughton boundary) and then to the base of the range crossing. It’s thought that the other dray roads from stations and major staging camps would have linked into this direct route following the easiest topography and relieable water sources.

Bullock Teams travelled approximately 10-15 miles (15-25 km) per day. 2-3 weeks were allowed for travel between Roma and Rockhampton, and 4-5 days from Taroom to Banana.

Large stations such Glenhaughton, Palm Tree, Broadwater/The Glebe, Gwambegwine and Ghinghinda runs all provided essential informal rest stops for water, grazing, camping, blacksmith or repair facilities along the way.

When they got as far as the range crossing, bullocks were rested at the FLAGSTAFF RANGE BASE CAMP, at the foot of the stone-paved road, before the heavy climb. Sometimes teamsters waited here for another team so they could double up, using 20 bullocks to pull one load over the pass, before returning for the next wagon. Others would break the load up here before the climb and make multiple trips.

The teams then descended into the Upper Dawson Valley country after the challenging crossing  and would camp on the NORTH SIDE OF THE RANGE at many temporary camps along creeks and waterholes before continuing on to the Banana district.

BANANA STATION CAMP was named from a famous yellow (dun) coloured bullock, that roamed the district and was known to lead other wandering stock to water. Stockmen so respected the quiet, intelligent animal that when he was found dead in a gully in 1855, his name was given to the town springing up there in honour of his feats.

Banana Station was a major staging point before continuing to Rockhampton. Wool loads joined other drays at this point and continued to RANNES district stations and onto the Port Curtis port of ROCKHAMPTON – the main wool shipping port of central Queensland.

WHO WAS THE ROAD BUILT FOR?

The entire pastoral districts of Maranoa (Roma) and Dawson (Taroom) stood to benefit from improvements to the road from Roma to Rockhampton. The station network most likely connected to assisting with the building of the Flagstaff Road were Taroom Station (est 1845),  Gwambegwine Station (est 1854-1856), Ghinghinda and Palm Tree Stations (est mid-1850s),  and Glenhaughton Station (est 1856).

There were major problems for bullock teams crossing the steep sandstone ranges in the Dawson Valley. Before the stone paving, bullocks would churn the soil into mud, drays would dig ruts, and the range track would quickly be impassable. Old teamsters described it as “The most difficult part of the Taroom to Rockhampton wool route, needing to crawl up the range inch by inch.”

A SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE CROSSING

 A serious Bullock team accident on the range crossing after the Flagstaff road was built, nearly stopped the wool trade route. (The following story is not found in formal government reports but is preserved in local oral and regional history.)

When the new road was first used, the climb up the sandstone range was extremely steep and bullock teams had trouble negotiating the stone-paved incline. It was especially slippery when wet. A team lost traction on the paving and the dray began to slide backwards down the slope. The driver tried to control the team, but the wagon jack-knifed. Wool bales spilled down the slope, and the wagon was badly damaged. It is reported that some bullocks were badly injured and some were killed. Somehow the driver narrowly escaped being crushed.

This showed how dangerous the crossing could be, and it changed the techniques used by teamsters. After the accident, they started:

Double-Teaming – Two bullock teams were used to pull one dray up the steepest section;
Breaking the Load – Wool bales were unloaded and taken up in separate trips;
Using Wheel Chains or Drag Logs when descending – Teamsters would chain wheels or drag a log behind the dray to stop runaway wagons.
These became common practices on steep inland routes throughout Queensland.

Despite these difficulties, the new road made the 298-mile (480km) trip much safer. Before the dray road existed, drays would bog or overturn and they struggled to make it up the range at all. Wool was sometimes packed on horseback to reach easier wagon routes. Flagstaff road transformed the whole regional economy, allowing large dray loads to move through the district. The stone road was a critical link connecting Dawson River stations with the coastal track system.

THE MYSTERY REMAINS

I guess the myth of convicts building the road has possibly been busted, but it remains unproven either way.
We still don’t know who was responsible for all that hard work. How the convict leg irons came to be in the area is still a mystery. They bear the British “Broad arrow” mark and date roughly around 1840-1850. [Local story from Taroom and District Historical Museum]

I’ve read that “Queensland did not normally use transported convicts in the 1860’s, so the leg irons could have been used on a prisoner some time earlier in another Colony, or they could have belonged to prisoners transported by police escort.” Or they may have even been used by prisoners working on this road. (Possibly  an escapee?  I wonder if that has ever been investigated?)

The origin of the convict chains is something that may remain a mystery forever.

 So too, the question of who  is responsible for this remarkable engineering achievement, and who actually built the Flagstaff Road which still stands today for us to marvel at? As stated earlier, I’ve been unable to find anything documented about who did, or did not, work on building the road.

The fact remains that the Flagstaff/Flagstone Road is an impressive feat. To build a stone-paved road over a steep range crossing using a hammer, chisel, physical strength, and engineering resourcefulness is truly worth reflecting on. One thing is certain – they succeeded because of the awesome pioneering Spirit of Australia… and I am mighty proud of them!

Information Sources:
aumuseums.com
studylib.net
Pugh’s Qld Almanac Directory & Law Calendar 1864
sandstonewonders.com
Tourist Information at Glebe Weir State Forest – Flagstaff Section rest stop