[1] The major impetus to development in Stanthorpe occurred in 1872 with the start of the practice of alluvial tin mining after discoveries of the valuable metal in the area earlier in the mid 1850s.

Allan and his brother, Henry George Chauvel, later knighted, were born in Tabulam, New South Wales and grew up on a cattle station on the Clarence River.

After the attack on Maghaba the Light Horse Brigade found themselves without water and returned to a small village, El Arish where they re-stocked and celebrated their victory.

[1] According to family history, Allan and Isabella Chauvel had a cottage moved to its present location at El Arish soon after they acquired the property.

Stanthorpe at this time was experiencing a transitional period when it became well known as a "sanatorium" and the destination of many summer holiday makers seeking retreat from city life.

A general concern with one's health, after the influenza epidemic and the war, was manifest in the advertising of developing holiday destinations who claimed that fresh air, either by the sea or in the mountains was beneficial to one's well-being.

Stanthorpe, like the other towns developing at this time in the southeastern region of Queensland became serviced with an infrastructure vital for its role as holiday destination.

Such services included private boarding houses and hotels, as well as facilities for a wide range of leisure activities such as golf, tennis, bowling, swimming, bush walking, horse racing and picnicking.

[1] The Chauvels used El Arish as a summer residence where they could take advantage of, not only a more temperate climate, but increased social activity which was developing in Stanthorpe at the time.

The Chauvels' garden in Stanthorpe took great advantage of many of the site's intrinsic qualities; making a feature of the aspect and incline of the land and the natural granite outcrops.

These paths terminate at a natural lookout on the highest point in the garden, from which one can orient oneself not only within the confines of the El Arish property but within Stanthorpe.

These writings are thought to have influenced garden design in Australia, most evident in the work of acclaimed landscape architect, Edna Walling.

[1] Many gardening ideas of the time are apparent at El Arish; contrived "wild" sections of plantings; emphasis on contrasting foliage, particularly involving sub-tropical plants and the use of rock- gardening, along with planning and layout ideas including the use of local quarried stone walling, a sense of enclosure, a myriad of paths and terraces and a consciousness of the local environment.

The plantings in this area were carefully planned in symmetrically composed beds with the manicured cypress hedge contributing to the general geometric nature of this section.

The Chauvels planned pathways through this area with several visual focal points, like specimen planting and small garden structures constructed from natural timbers and covered with wisteria and grape vines.

Several hedges were planted, the most noticeable along Greenup Street; cypress (× Cupressocyparis leylandii), and several smaller sections scattered throughout the garden; woodland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata), yellow jasmine (Jasminum fruticans) and pink may bush (Spiraea × bumalda).

There are similarities between the extant house at El Arish and an early photograph of the Scholz residence, both are single skinned buildings with external framing and bracing, though many other details have been altered.

Early photographs of the house from the Chauvel family, show a simple asymmetrical timber dwelling with low pitched hipped roof extending over a verandah on the principal entrance facade.

[1] By the early 1930s it seems that Isabella was living at El Arish permanently, preferring the climate of Stanthorpe and the social opportunities the town presented, to that in the Fassifern Valley, where Allan still maintained the family property.

[1] The task of maintaining the large garden and house at El Arish was an onerous one and Jean Chauvel subdivided the property a number of times, to reduce the scope of maintenance and to offset the financial burdens caused by death duties.

[1] El Arish consists of a single-storeyed chamferboard residence, with a corrugated iron roof, set amidst a structured garden comprising distinct formal, informal and service areas.

Entry to El Arish is via a narrow arched opening in the hedge, facing northwest along the axis of Lock Street opposite, with a rustic timber gate with metal fittings.

The remains of a fish pond is located amidst remnant rose bushes, and hedges and shrubs divide the garden spatially with an accent on content and form.

A large Black Bamboo, enclosing secluded pathways with stone edgings, screens the adjacent service garden compartment to the south of the residence.

The stroll garden contains narrow paths with several arched trellises, and a non- original concrete water tank has been constructed in the southeast corner.

This section of the garden contains tall Oak and Cedar trees, with low stone walls and areas planted with bulbs and containing remnant rose bushes.

A gabled projecting bay on the northern side of the entry has casement windows, and the verandah wall has single-skin exposed framing and French doors.

The development of Stanthorpe is unique within the pastoral and agricultural Darling Downs region, initially owing its growth and prosperity to tin mining, and in the early twentieth century to market gardening and summer holiday making.

[1] El Arish is a characteristic and rare example of a summer residence established in Stanthorpe in the 1920s during a period of intense tourist activity which saw many buildings constructed to support this new industry.

El Arish is a characteristic and rare example of a summer residence established in Stanthorpe in the 1920s during a period of intense tourist activity which saw many buildings constructed to support this new industry.