The fertile lands around the upper reaches of the Condamine River provided an excellent site for the home of early settler, Patrick Leslie.

Such was the intention of many young British men who saw opportunities for earning sufficient money and returning to their homeland financially secure with an assured income from the established property.

[1] Upon his arrival in Australia, Patrick spent several years employed on stations first by the Macarthurs of Camden and then by his uncle WS Davidson at Collaroi.

When Patrick's younger brothers, Walter and George, arrived in Australia in 1839, the three decided to explore the unsettled Darling Downs in search of land for a station of their own.

[1] Though all three brothers were in fact partners in the Canning Downs run, Patrick's name was omitted from all documentation regarding occupation of the place owing to his financial troubles.

An arrangement formalising the ownership or lease of the Canning Downs run by the Leslies was slow in coming and their tenuous hold over the land was a source of constant worry as demonstrated in the letters written by the brothers to their family in Scotland.

Patrick wrote in April 1841 that the Commissioner for Crown Lands had visited the station and given the brothers a letter of authorisation allowing them to retain the run.

[1] Further financial concerns saw Patrick withdraw from Canning Downs and purchase a block of land in Brisbane on which he built a cottage which was to become Newstead House.

She continues on to say that a church service was held in a small hall of the house every Sunday at 11.00am for "several of our neighbours...employees and friends which produced quite a congregation".

[1] In 1847 the New South Wales government asked Patrick Leslie selected a part of the property to divide into smaller allotments for a township, which was to be called 'Cannington,' although the name 'Warwick' was eventually chosen.

Early searches for gold were carried out on the Darling Downs, not only with the intention of actually finding mineral rich fields, but also in a desperate attempt to lure workers and servants into the area.

The Davidson managed and owned various pastoral stations in New South Wales, including Collaroi on which Patrick Leslie worked upon his arrival in Australia.

The report continues to say that "a large range of buildings, nearly forty yards long, and comprising hayloft and coach house, were entirely consumed...It was apparently owing to the direction of the wind that the dwelling-houses were not also destroyed".

A default on repayments to Alexander McDonald and Charles Smith, merchants of Sydney, who loaned money to Wildash for the property, saw Canning Downs sold again on 4 June 1874 to John Donald Macansh.

The architects, a partnership of William Wallace and Richard Gibson, designed many buildings in and around Warwick including St George's Masonic Hall and the Barnes & Co department store in Palmerin Street.

[1] The Canning Downs estate was then subdivided, and that portions containing the residence and stables was sold to Henry Richard Needham on 2 March 1906 who owned it only until 9 January 1918 the ownership of the Canning Downs Homestead was transferred to John Hawkins Smith and Sara Barnes, parents of the present owner Charles Edward Barnes.

[1] Soon after the Barnes family moved to Canning Downs in 1918 a large porch was added to the house, in the popular Californian Bungalow style.

[1] The Canning Downs Homestead is a complex of buildings including a timber residence with kitchen wing, brick stables and outbuildings.

Adjacent to these doors evidence is retained of the c. 1920 Bungalow additions to the house, with grouped chamfered columns on tapering stuccoed masonry bases.

[1] The rear of the central core is lined with a verandah supported on timber posts and joined at roof level to the covered walkway linking this building with the kitchen wing.

[1] This central core is abutted on the north and south ends by added wings also with hipped roofs and with overhanging verandah awnings all clad with slate grey decromastic tiles.

The wings are constructed from horizontal chamfered timber boarding, and several full length vertical sash windows and French doors open onto the verandah from the various internal rooms.

Under the verandah awning access is provided to the three major rooms which constitute the wing, through single doorways housing timber doors.

A tapering brick chimney shaft abuts the eastern side of the wing, and this is flanked by a rendered masonry wall section.

[1] To the south of the residence complex is a large fenced area containing established trees and planting and remnants of an early trellis and garden walkway.

[1] Extending from the south elevation is a low one storeyed timber wing, of vertical slab construction, providing further equine accommodation which is more exposed to the weather.

The brick stables are rare in their form and age, and may have some of the earliest corrugated iron roofing used in Queensland, demonstrating the development of this technology.

Great potential exists for further archaeological research on both the buildings and grounds at Canning Downs which are intact despite a long and varied history.

The residence and the stables, with associated grounds including the gardens, paddocks and driveway, provide a good example of a mid-nineteenth century pastoral run.

The brick stables are rare in their form and age, and may have some of the earliest corrugated iron roofing used in Queensland, demonstrating the development of this technology.