Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station is a heritage-listed former horse stud farm at Rewan Road, Rewan, Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1911 by Queensland Police Service. It is also known as Rewan Police Horse Stud, Rewan Remount Breeding Station, and Rewan Station. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 May 2019.
History
The former Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station, located approximately southwest of the town of Rolleston in the Springsure district of Central Queensland, was established as a police horse stud in 1909. Comprising 108,000 acres (43,706ha) at its largest, the reserve was home to up to 771 horses and up to 2850 cattle until its closure in 1934. It was also a sanctuary for native birds and animals. It retains the stables (1911), the commissioner's cottage (1911) and a meat house (1918) from its stud era. Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station is the only surviving site of a police horse stud in Queensland. It is important in demonstrating the Queensland Government's policy of breeding horses, which were essential as transport, for the Queensland Police Force between 1904 and 1934. It has a special association with the Queensland Police Force, an important organisation in Queensland history.
A police presence in the geographical area that became the Colony of Queensland began in 1843, not long after free settlement commenced in at the former Moreton Bay penal settlement (now the city of Brisbane). The Police Act 1863 created a centralised system under a Commissioner of Police, who controlled the Queensland Police Force (QPF) and the Native Police (The Native Police were disbanded by the early 1900s.). The commissioner headed a hierarchy of inspectors and sub-inspectors who were in charge of sergeants and constables working in police districts throughout Queensland. However, the Commissioner of Police did not control the water police.
Until the mid-20th century, horses were essential equipment for the QPF. From 1864 the care of police horses was regulated and any town with a police station also had a police horse paddock. The QPF also supplied horses for ceremonial occasions, such as the 1901 proclamation of the Commonwealth, the visit of Imperial troops in 1901 and the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York (later George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) and in 1927; as well as for the annual Royal National Association show in Brisbane. Horses were purchased for the QPF by the commissioner or by inspectors for their own districts. The care and replacement of police mounts was a significant part of the police budget each year.
Several factors provided the impetus for the Queensland Police Department to begin a horse breeding program. By 1904, Commissioner of Police, William Edward Parry-Okeden (Commissioner 1895–1905), was urging that the QPF breed its own horses to overcome the high cost of purchasing suitable ones. A good horse cost between £7 and £10. These horses were scarce due to stock losses during the Federation Drought (1898-1902); demand for horses during the Boer War (1899-1902); and because agents of the Indian, Japanese, Dutch and American armies were competing in the Australian market for remounts. Meanwhile, the QPF's need for horses remained high, as a significant proportion of its horses were old and needed replacing. The QPF in 1904 numbered 888 men including trackers, and over 1000 horses.
In 1904, the QPF commenced breeding remounts for its mounted police at Woodford, north of Brisbane, using a Reserve for a Police Paddock (formerly part of Durundur Station). Stallions were hired for stud work at Woodford between 1904 and 1908 for between £20 and £30 per stallion per year. Costs were kept down by growing feed on-site.
In January 1909, a report on the supply of police remounts in the other Australian states found that only the Northern Territory, which was forming five small, horse-breeding stations, was engaged in breeding police remounts. Victoria reportedly had discontinued the breeding of remounts 40 years previously, as it had proved costly and unsuccessful. However, there is evidence that a stud operated at Dandenong Police Paddocks 1853-1930 then at Bundoora 1930-. No studs in the Northern Territory are known to remain.