[1] Myendetta (1910), located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south-west of Charleville, was designed by eminent architect Robert Smith (Robin) Dods for grazier Charles Decimus Edmund Francis.

The town developed as a major service centre for the surrounding pastoral industry and Cobb & Co established stables and a factory there for the construction of mail coaches.

[1] Charles Francis, born in 1860, was the youngest son of a prominent Cambridge legal family and was educated at Eton and Oxford.

[1][6] Family lore tells that Francis received an inheritance of £3,000 following his mother's death, which "enabled him to build something of quality".

[7] Circa 1906 Francis decided to build a new homestead on his large property, away from the flood-prone Warrego River, and chose Dods as the architect.

To enable the new construction, a 1,890-foot-deep (580 m) artesian bore was sunk in 1908 near the future homestead and around the same time a woolshed and shearers' quarters were erected.

He attended evening classes at the Edinburgh Architectural Association until 1890 and formed a lasting friendship with (Sir) Robert Lorimer (1864–1929), eminent Scottish architect and fellow proponent of Arts and Crafts.

Dods has been acknowledged as "one of the most significant early 20th century Australian architects"[10] and unique as a rare practitioner of the Arts and Crafts style in Queensland.

It was led by artist and writer William Morris and architect Charles Voysey and was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and Augustus Pugin.

[1] Dods' residential work employed local building techniques combined with a sophisticated discipline and a common-sense response to climate.

The plans were generated through a consideration of aspect, with living spaces well-oriented and internal layouts permitting cross ventilation.

Operable shading and enclosure of the piazza was sometimes achieved by adding timber vertical louvres above the verandah handrail, creating a room habitable in most weather.

[1] The composition of facades and circulation routes are a more nuanced element of Dods' houses and highlights his originality and artistic skill.

As funds became available over time, they built comfortable, architect-designed homes or extended their earlier homesteads into residences more befitting their status.

[1][15] Rural homesteads built in Queensland in the early part of the 20th century were large homes, often on elevated (flood-free) sites with a scenic outlook, surrounded by gardens.

An outbuilding was equipped with a cold room, insulated with charcoal and sealed with a layer of cork then cooled by air forced through water-soaked hessian curtains by an electric fan.

The wing had a north-western verandah approximately 8 feet (2.4 m) wide accessed from the large kitchen via French doors.

[1][17] In an almost featureless landscape, the roof, which was the largest element with a massive 40-degree pitch that flattened to 25 degrees over the verandah made a powerful visual statement.

The whole composition was further enhanced by the placement of water tanks on stands of varying height that were fed from either the bore or rainwater from the roof.

[1][20] Analysis of Myendetta reveals Dods' deft architectural response to the harsh, variable climate of Charleville, which is relatively dry and hot with large temperature variations annually and diurnally.

Conversely, the dining room and adjacent piazza, primarily used in the evening, are on the north-eastern corner of the building away from the south-western afternoon sun.

All rooms opened onto the hall on one side and the verandah on the other with doors and operable fanlights to allow access to any breeze regardless of its direction.

To the north-east of the service wing was a small, detached building containing a dairy and butcher shop, to the south-west of the house was a grass tennis court, and to the south-east was a rose garden and orchard.

Some time after 1950 the tennis court was moved from the south-western side of the house to the south-eastern, replacing the rose garden and citrus orchard.

[1] The south-east-facing entry is prominent, sheltered under its own projecting hip roof and is reached by short flight of concrete stairs.

All rooms have wide French windows with broad fanlights opening onto the verandah with timber framed flyscreen doors.

It is a timber building with a steep, hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and a ventilated ridge cap.

Myendetta (1910) is important in illustrating the contribution of notable architect, Robert Smith (Robin) Dods, to the evolution of Queensland architecture.

Myendetta is a fine, intact example of the high-quality residential work of Dods that is characterised by a pervading sense of tradition, solidity, and an honest use of materials.

The low-set house with dominant, large roof, generous verandahs and garden stands dramatically in the extensive, flat landscape.