Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Boswell Lee Bancroft was born on the 10th April 1919, at Wellington Flats, Charters Towers. He was the third son of Alfred and Emily Bancroft, who resided at Braceburgh Station, 20 kilometres south of the Balfes Creek Railway Siding. Mr Duncan McConnell, who also owned Cressbrook in the Brisbane River Valley, then owned Braceburgh.
Boswell’s father worked at Bracebrugh for fifteen years, and was paid off during the Great Depression of 1929-1932. Boswell’s mother was cook for the homestead besides attending to her own family.
“I have always understood that Mr McConnell had joined the Army, (he already held a rank of officer). My father took over the management of Bracebrugh Station in 1917, having come from a station called Red Bank not far away.
In 1918 Mr McConnell returned and took over the running of Bracebrugh again. He bought Aldridge’s selection, which had been a block of land resumed off Bracebrugh Station. I understand that the land law at that time did not allow Mr McConnell to own it, so he got my father to take over as bailiff for him. So the family moved on to the property. (My father could have kept this selection if he had been a dishonest person, but he was a very honest man, his word and a handshake was never broken).
“After my father gave notice in mid-1932 we had all gone off to Homestead township on mail day (Saturday). On returning he found his papers had been gone through and the bailiff deeds had been taken. My father never had much to say, but he was terribly hurt because Mr McConnell must have been behind the move to have the papers removed.
My father wrote to him thanking him for this trust, and telling him of the taking of the deeds by an unknown person. He also sent a letter of forfeit of ownership witnessed by James Rollinson. “Mr McConnell moved back to Cressbrook, and Mr Kercy, a returned soldier, became manager.
“After the death of my brother Neil, my mother was not happy at the selection, so we moved back to Bracebrugh homestead. “Mr Kercy, the manager of Bracebrugh, left and Mr Lamond took over. When Mr Lamond left Mr Hood became manager. My mother and Mrs Hood did not get on well, so we moved back to the selection again.
“My father was a noted horse and cattle man. He broke in many polo horses for Mr McConnell, (which he bred at Bracebrugh Station), which were sent to the Royal Sydney Show and sold there. As a small boy I watched and admired him for his ability in training these horses to follow the ball whichever way he drove it. He always had good stockhorses and handled stock gently, and always used dogs, which were trained by Charlie Bolton.
Many times he would muster on his own with the dogs. The writer H.G. Lamond, who managed Bracebrugh from 1921-1924, wrote about his ability. Other men who knew him often spoke about his ability with horses and cattle with admiration, and would say to me, “you’ll never be as good as your old man”. I tried hard to be, and to pass his ability with all types of stock, but by the time I mastered the game with all types of horses and cattle there was no one of his era around to say if I had become as good or better.
One thing I never tried to beat him at, which he would do for bets on drinks, was to go down on hands and knees behind a horse and bite it on the heel, and dodge the kick.
“At the end of 1925, we moved from the head-station to a dwelling five miles west on the Aldridge selection. The place was known as Dew Drop Inn, because the roof leaked whenever the rains came, but that seemed to be seldom during the 1920s. This was home until October 1932 when we moved to Homestead.
My schooling was by correspondence supervised by my mother. The teacher, George Gilmore, visited every six months, travelling by horse and buggy, and then every six weeks when he bought a Model-A Ford. This was followed by five more months at Homestead State School.
“On the 3rd June, 1933, at the age of 14 years, I was sent to work at Nosnillon Station, owned by Robert Rollinson, being paid at the rate of 7 shillings (70c) a week, and under instruction to stay there. He was a hard taskmaster. It was anything up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week. He would use boot, stick or whip for not doing his bidding properly.
I left there in December 1936 and went to Wambiana Station, owned by Myles Lyons. I gave my age as 18 years and received 1 pound 5/2d ($2.52) a week. I did well and learned a lot about horse breaking, mustering and droving bullocks to Alligator Creek Meat Works under a very experienced drover. After World War II the meatworks were moved to Stuart.
“In 1939 I went to work for George Woodburn at the Bluff Station, Charters Towers, until May 1940 when, having turned 21 years of age, was paid off because my wages rose to 2 pound 8 shillings ($4.80) a week.
“I then decided to join the army. Being small in build and little more than 7 stone in weight, they were not interested in me, so I went back to work for Morris Costello of Fanning Downs, Macrossan, mustering and droving bullocks to the meatworks. In October 1940 I tried again for the army, and did three months training in the 31st Militia Battalion at Meoviera. This included guard duties at an explosives magazine at Brook Hill, west of Townsville.
“In February 1941, I went to Brisbane with the A.I.F. and on April 8th embarked from Sydney on the Queen Mary for the Middle East. We were the first Queenslanders to join a Victorian unit - the 2/8 Infantry Battalion. When Japan entered the war we returned to Australia, and were sent to the Northern Territory and then on to New Guinea. With the end of hostilities in August 1945 I returned to Australia and was discharged back into civvystreet, and was back home for Christmas 1945.
In 1946 I was working again on Wambiana Station, owned by John Lyons. After a while I became restless and began wandering around. In January 1947 I went to Wandovale Station, which was managed by Jack Shafford, and worked mainly at Craigie outcrop, under head stockman Fred Edwards, until July 1948.
“I had done some amateur horse race riding, and had won a few events. Being so light I had to carry lead, and in those days owners were reluctant to put on too much “dead” weight on their mounts, so I turned to professional riding. I rode a few winners and had a few places before becoming a trainer. In 1949 I won the Townsville Cup with “Wee Duncan” for Nugget Stanley, and also won several races for him with “Idle Speech” and “Wee Macgregor”.
“By October 1950 the call of the bush and horse and cattle work became too strong, so I went back to horse-breaking at Wandovale Station, then under the management of Charlie E. Freeston, working once again in Craigie Stock Camp under Kevin Naughton, who later managed Wandovale and Miranda Downs.
“In November 1951 I took over the Craigie Camp as head stockman, holding the position until November 30th 1959. I enjoyed mustering, and there were many outcamps in those days - all packhorse plants with lots of hobble-out camps. Whilst there I put into shape a good plant of working and camp horses. Cattle were well under control, as I kept the branding burns hot. While at Wandovale I attended Oak Park race meetings, with horses for Charles Freeston, having trained many winners off grass.
“After leaving Wandovale I did a short time as head stockman at Glenprairie, a Marlborough bullock fattening depot, which was owned by the Angliss Group. After that I accepted a position as overseer on Mt Emu and Mt Sturgeon, north of Hughenden, both owned by the Scottish Australian Company. I then managed Oak Vale Station, Pentland for a short period.
“Went back to Bracebrugh, then owned by Mark Oliver, mustering and horse handling, that brought back memories of my childhood days. In 1962 I helped with the horse breaking on a place outside of Ayr, then on to Dotswood Station. From there I went out to Banka Banka in the Northern Territory as senior stockman. After mustering was completed I went on to Victoria River Downs, then managed by George Lewis, and after that worked on Mt Tamford under Alma Lewis.
“Robert Morrison, manager of Dotswood, wrote asking me to take over the bullock camp, so in April 1963 I went back to Dotswood where I stayed until December 1969. While at Dotswood I trained horses bred there for the Mingelo and Charters Towers amateur race meetings, and have many trophies from those wins.
“In 1970 I went to Hillgrove Station, north of Charters Towers, as assistant manager for Bill Allingham. This position was short-lived as his son-in-law and daughter took over Hillgrove Station.
“Mr and Mrs Allingham took up a farm near Biloela, and made a horse stud of it. I worked there until the recession of 1975-76. Then worked on stations in the Charters Towers district, returning to Dotswood and doing all the jobs on the station - mustering, breaking horses, windmill work, fencing, etc.
“In 1978 Bob Morrison left and Scott Debney became manager. After Queensland stations were sold to the Coutts family things changed, and because of my age I was asked to resign in July 1986. So ended my time with Queensland Stations, working for them on and off for 29 years, leaving memories of wet years and dry years, good horses, big mobs of cattle, and some good men I worked with.
“The new manager of Dotswood, Brian Gough and the head stockman, Greg Hamlyn, had me back for the bullock turn-off in 1987.
“I now own a small house outside Charters Towers, where I live with my old dog as a companion.

(Information added 29/01/04) - Boswell relocated to Ipswich, Queensland in 1998 to be closer to family. He was a true “old bushie” and missed the Charters Towers area immensely. In 2003, he moved into the Riverview Gardens Nursing Home.
Boswell passed away peacefully on 20th January 2004, aged 84 years.