The History of Hidden Vale

The first white settler to take up Franklyn Vale (part of which is now Hidden Vale) was Mr James Phelps Robinson in 1841. He was followed by Henry and Maria Mort, who then purchased Franklyn Vale in 1849 - Maria was the daughter of James Laidley after whom Laidley town was named. The Morts started by running 13 000 head of sheep on Franklyn Vale which was then 384 000 acres that extended from Walloon in the east to Tent Hill scrub in the west, Mt Mistake in the south and Marburg Range in the north. At the time of separation of Queensland from its parent state, the new Queensland government resumed a great deal of leasehold land which included about half of the original Franklyn Vale property. The country north of the Little Liverpool range was transferred to James Laidley, further sub division followed and by 1869 the Morts only had 10 000 of their original 384 000 acres.

Philip Jost who was a butcher from Ipswich, was first to free-hold Hidden Vale in 1871 when the property was around 10 000 acres. Jost renamed the property ‘Jost Vale’. He bred sheep, cattle, and fine racehorses. In 1883/84 Jost won seven major horse races in Sydney and Brisbane including the A.J.C Derby and the Queensland Cup.

A.J. Cotton purchased Jost Vale in 1900. He renamed the property ‘Hidden Vale’ and was the first to take up residence in the valley below the current Homestead. Mrs Cotton at that time had announced “This is a beautiful Hidden Valley, we shouldn’t live in the valley but rather on the Hill which over looks this beautiful valley” and so it was that Mr Cotton replaced the original Jost home with a substantial two storey building in 1908 on the site of the current Homestead. Their previous residence was then used as the Manager’s House.

On the 13th July 1916 the first head teacher, Ms Ellen Tait, opened Hidden Vale Provisional School, which was located opposite St Ann’s Church on the corner of Hidden Vale road. By 1918 the average attendance had risen to 13, it was then the school became Hidden Vale State School. It was an open-air building with canvas blinds in place of walls and windows. These blinds proved to be unsatisfactory as the canvas soon deteriorated so they were replaced in 1923 with sash windows. It was recorded that the School also held dances during the 1920’s to 1930’s. On February 12th 1943 the School was closed due to the average attendance dropping to 8.

Mr Cotton donated the land for St Ann’s Hidden Vale church that was erected on the 11th of July 1937 (located opposite Hidden Vale’s entrance).

A.J. Cotton sold the property in 1911 to return to England to educate his children. He then repurchased it in 1914 for £27 500 and established his office in the Chinese Cottage (previously known as the Butcher’s hut) that was built by some of the 250 Chinese Coolies who were used to clear Hidden Vale land. It was around this time that he and the Morts from Franklyn Vale shared the cost of £600 to bring the phone line from Ipswich to the Valley in 1904.

During A.J. Cotton’s life in Queensland he owned and operated a number of properties in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Many of these were controlled from his Hidden Vale office such as Mt Spencer, Woodstock, Lawn Hill and Tent Hill and Brunette Downs. During his work with stock, he was involved in all sorts of deals. He moved into cattle hide exports and shipped £220 000 worth overseas in 22 months. He also bred horses for the remount trade and exported about 10 000 horses to the Seventh Dragon Guards, who were then in South Africa fighting the Boer War. 2 000 head were sent to the Boxer Rebellion in China and others to the India Campaign. 16 000 horses in all were sold overseas.

A.J. Cotton’s son Sidney distinguished himself by becoming a Wing Commander with the Fledging Royal Naval Air Service in England. When he started he bluffed his way into being allowed to fly solo before qualifying to allow him to enrol in the Air Force. He pioneered Airmail and Survey work and in the 1920’s mounted an expedition to rescue Augustine Cauthould from the Greenland Ice Cap. He revolutionised photography and also developed the ‘Sidcot’ flying suit, which he used in the Second World War, when he became Air Marshall. As the story goes war was declared and all aircraft movement in Berlin was halted as the Germans wanted to control permissions to take off - Sidney Cotton’s ‘Lockheed’ was the last civil aeroplane to leave Berlin in August 1939. When he died he was buried in the local Tallegalla cemetery next to his parents in 1969.

A.J. Cotton’s house burnt down in 1921, eight years before he sold Hidden Vale to the Day family in 1929. (Hidden Vale’s name then changed to Sutton Royal). The original kitchen attached to the homestead that was burnt down has been completely refurbished and still stands in immaculate condition as the Santa Gertrudis Cottage.

Murdo Mackenzie purchased ‘Sutton Royal’ from the Day family in 1938 and returned the property’s original name ‘Hidden Vale’. There had been a caveat on the name ‘Hidden Vale’ but this was overcome by adding the word ‘Old’. The property was then only 7500 acres. Hereford cattle were purchased and run on the property. Murdo Mackenzie replaced the old homestead with a 228-metre long house. Mackenzie’s wife, Lila considered it to difficult to care for so she had it pulled down and rebuilt with the front section over the original site and quite a bit smaller. The remodelled homestead was a gracious single storeyed building with wide verandas and superb view now with years gone by it has been extended and renovated to the exquisite homestead is now is.

Mackenzie was the first to bring Bos Indicus cattle south of Rockhampton in 1948. He then acquired three Santa Gertrudis bulls from the then King Ranch Risdon property near Warwick. These bulls were the first shipment of the Santa Gertrudis breed to arrive in Australia from the King Ranch in Texas, USA in 1952. Mackenzie died in 1957, his daughters Margaret Crombie and Patricia Bothrane carried on adding a 1800 acre parcel to the Old Hidden Vale Station and also the 1000 acre Klienschmidt block thus bringing the station back to the size it was in 1871. The sisters sold a considerable portion of the property in 1964 to Allan Cowley leaving 6000 acres in the Crombie name.

In January 1992 the Crombies sold Old Hidden Vale to the Cole family of Mt Mistake. They also purchased the Miline Block of 800 acres in the middle of Old Hidden Vale land. A further 1800 acres was purchased in 1993 from the Huth Family making the property once again almost the same size as when it was Jost Vale.

The Turner family then purchased ‘Old Hidden Vale’ from the Cole Family at the end of 1999 and Peppers Retreats and Resorts began managing the newly refurbished ‘Peppers Hidden Vale’ in February 2001.