Swan Manor - A Dick Howard Project

Swan Manor Development Warwick Qld Australia
The historic Queensland city of Warwick was founded when this region was still part of the colony of New South Wales

The region was discovered on 6th June, 1827, by Alan Cunningham - the highway from here to the coastal lowlands bears his name in honour of that achievement.

The Leslie brothers arrived in 1840, having their herds overland from the south, and they selected the rich lands along the Condamine River. Their "Canning Downs" property, and its homestead, still functions in the hands of the Barnes family, raising bloodstock horses. On "Canning Downs" the famous gun shearer,Jackie Howe, was born in 1861, and it was here he learned to shear.

In 1847, the site for Warwick was selected by Patrick Leslie; it was the first town outside Brisbane, in the future State of Queensland.

In 1917, a "mystery man" threw an egg at Prime Minister Billy Hughes as he arrived on the train at Warwick Railway Station, dislodging his hat. Subsequently, this act led to the formation of the Commonwealth Police Force, when a local constable refused to arrest the assailant, despite the order to do so from the Prime Minister.

From the Great Dividing Range there is a valley through which flows Swan Creek to its confluence with the Condamine River , just upstream of the "Canning Downs" homestead, and only a mile or so from the heart of Warwick.

Warwick's fine old sandstone buildings, mostly still in daily use, are testimony to the graciousness of a bygone era.

Now comes a gracious, spacious mansion, built in the glorious Swan Creek valley, adjoining the creek bank.
You can live in great comfort surrounded by the beauty and history of the Darling Downs.

Only ten minutes from Warwick CBD, yet private and isolated, it is on the floor of this fertile valley, beside Swan Creek. It looks to the ranges , blue and soft, to the South, East, and North, and down the valley to the South West towards "Canning Downs" and Warwick city.

It will be brand new, built to your preferences, set out precisely as you wish, with landscaped grounds of six and a quarter acres. It will be the envy of your visitors, and the apple of your eye. It will be your castle, your hideaway, and your home, convenient, spacious un-troubled, safe and secure. Space for you and yours, in safety, on your own patch, in your own parklands.

Room to land a helicopter, fly a model plane or kite, play cricket and football, tennis, golf practice, exercise your animals, almost anything you can imagine is possible here, without leaving your front gate.

Just a few yards behind the mansion runs Swan Creek. You will have your own unlimited bore water supply for gardens and for stock. There is a vast reservoir of soft, filtered, purified rainwater supply to the home for beautiful hair and soft skin, the softest towels and cleanest washing you ever have seen.

The climate here is congenial. Summer days are hot, but not unbearably humid, and the nights are pleasantly cool - you are 1500 feet above sea level here, with lower humidity, and a temperate climate. Winter days are sunny, and you have not lived until your nights are just glorious in front of a log fire.

Roses flourish in our climate, and less than an hour away, around Stanthorpe, are some of the best vineyards in Australia. The Darling Downs is a patchwork of black soil, brown and green and golden crops, changing like a kaleidoscope weekly, as the crops are planted and harvested, for this is farming country. The seasons remind you that you are alive, here.

I found this magic place 45 years ago - now it is the time to share my secret.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• swan
• manor
• warwick
• queensland
• australia