Cuppacumbalong Homestead

At the time this region was situated outside the Nineteen Counties of New South Wales and despite the uncertainty of land tenure, many squatters ran large numbers of sheep and cattle beyond the boundaries.

De Salis was educated at the English public school Eton College, before completing further studies in sheep farming near Jedburgh, in Scotland.

In 1840 at the age of 24, De Salis emigrated to New South Wales where he acquired with a partner the 'Darbalara Station' located on the Murrumbidgee River near Yass.

[2] He married Charlotte MacDonald in 1844 with whom he had five children; Leopold William (1845–1930), Rodolph (1841–1876), George Arthur Charles, Henry Gubert (1858–1931) and Henrietta Nina (1848-1929).

[3] De Salis undertook a number of property improvements such as crop irrigation and was a local pioneer in the use of stock dams.

The homestead was situated low to the river and was subsequently inundated on a number of occasions by flood waters during de Salis' time.

[4] Within six years of the family's arrival in the Queanbeyan district the Robertson Land Acts was passed into law in New South Wales.

Leopold's immediate elder brother William Fane De Salis, who visited New South Wales in 1842, 1844 and 1848, was an important collaborator, and held a number of prominent positions including the chairmanship of the London Chartered Bank of Australia and P&O.

In a political career spanning 24 years, De Salis pursued taxation reform, specifically income tax, that required labourers contribute 'as an insurance against misfortune or improvidence'.

This modern bungalow offered beautiful views of the surrounding country side from the terraces where frilly petunias cascaded over the walls and brightly coloured parrots amongst the hawthorns and the giant arbutus.

[3] The Snow family played host to a number of international guests most notably the then UK Opposition Leader and future Prime Minister Anthony Eden and later still Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during their 1952 Australian Royal tour.

In 2007, the current lessees planned to convert the homestead to a private residence and to build a separate gallery and bakery cafe.

[17] The current homestead which dates from 1923 is a good, relatively rare and reasonably intact example of the Inter-War California Bungalow style in the ACT.