Growing up at Wilmont House was filled with adventure for Allan Rosser.
The 102-year-old recalls playing in the trees in the backyard as a young boy.
Today those trees still stand on the property, albeit much taller, and instead of being in the backyard, they provide shelter over the front of a new house owned by the Jones family.
Tamborine Mountain is filled with pioneering history and the land which became Wilmont House in 1895 has been an important part of that history.
Wilmont house was one of the first houses on the southern end of the mountain.
In 1893, Hugh Montgomery Davidson purchased the land to grow an orchard. In 1895 he was joined by his surveyor brother William Henry Davidson.
The property was transferred solely to William in 1902 who became a pioneer in growing citrus and stone fruit on Tamborine Mountain and kept meteorological records for the mountain.
In 1903 William married Grace Rosser. The couple raised three children, Jack, Stan (Allan’s father) and Dorothy Rosser at Wilmont.
William and Grace opened a telegraph, telephone and mail receiving office in 1914 from their home which provided a vital communication link between Tamborine Mountain and Canungra.
Wilmont House officially became Tamborine Mountain’s first post office in 1924 with Grace Davidson (nee Rosser) the first post mistress.
Now it is home to Nev and Corinne, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Madeline and Nev’s mother May, who purchased the property in 2012.
“We loved it straight away and the history behind it was a real selling point for us. We feel like custodians of the history, rather than owners,” Nev said.
“The kids love the history, they are both history nuts, they are like old people in young people’s bodies. They are a bit romantic about the history and are tickled about the wedding that was here in 1914.
“They like to imagine they lived back then and climbed the same trees that Allan climbed.”
Nev said it has been a privilege to have had Allan over to walk them through what life was like back then. “There are a lot of mysteries that pop up,” he smiled.
“He was able to tell me about the history of the property and what life was like back then.”
This includes the mystery of what the concrete slabs on the floor in the blacksmith shed were for, which Allan told him were used to separate the cream on the dairy farm.
Nev has also searched the Qld state archives and gathered information from the Heritage Centre and the previous owners, but speaking to Allan has been the greatest source of information.
Nev has set up his blacksmith shed in what was the milking shed.
Many of the items Nev has found on the land, including old horseshoes, bottles and glass pre-war artefacts are now on display in the milking shed.
These will be available for the public to view when the Jones family opens up their historic property for the first time for Springtime on the Mountain in September.
“The emphasis for us is sharing some of that history,” Nev said.
Wilmont House will remain their home forever.
“We are not going anywhere,” he said.
“Our eldest, Elizabeth, is not letting us sell it because she wants to take it over when she gets married so we are under strict orders not to sell it.”not to sell it.”
